We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Linda Scrofano a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Linda, appreciate you joining us today. So, one thing many business owners consider is donating a percentage of sales or profits to an organization or cause. We’d love to hear your thoughts and the story behind how and why you chose the cause or organization you donate to.

A portion of my profits from my reiki jewelry business goes to the Unstoppable Foundation. Details about them can be found on their website: https://unstoppablefoundation.org, but in general, contributions go to build schools in third world countries as well as helping them gain access to clean water and sanitation, food and nutrition, healthcare and alternative income training for parents.

It’s my belief that we’re all in this together and therefore, philanthropy is very important to me. My husband and I own a few small businesses and all of them contribute to charity.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

My name is Linda Scrofano, I am a Reiki Master who gave up my reiki studio in Sun City, Arizona to pursue my passion for creating reiki infused gemstone jewelry full time. I worked for more than 20 years in Corporate America as a Human Resources professional. Every day was challenging and toward the end of my career I found that it was a challenge to get up every day to go to work. I took some reiki training in an effort to help calm myself and also to be able to share positive energy with others. Shortly after beginning my reiki journey, I simply woke up one day and knew that I needed to make reiki infused jewelry. I had no experience creating jewelry so I had to start from scratch to learn. This began in 2015. I started out selling on Etsy. Today, my business Healing Earth Reiki still has a presence on Etsy, but the bulk of my sales is through my own website healingearthreiki.com.
Recently, I created a division of Healing Earth Reiki which is known as Crystal Breeze Studio. This particular business features jewelry that does not include reiki in an effort to provide the same quality handcrafted jewelry to those who may not feel a connection to reiki. Crystal Breeze Studio is hosted by GoImagine.com. GoImagine is a caring marketplace that donates all profits to children’s charities, so it is in harmony with my philanthropic nature. All seller fees on the platform from sales go directly to charity.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I’ve been involved in jewelry creation since 2015 and believed initially that it would be just a great side hustle, something to bring in some extra money. My real money was coming from my work as a Human Resources professional with over 20 years’ experience. Things changed in 2020, as they have with many people, to make a long story short, I was 60 years old in 2020 when I recognized that the company I was working for put no guidelines in place for Covid. People were getting sick and I was at risk as an asthmatic. I left the organization with the firm belief that I would land another role with an organization that put safety first for all employees. I soon came to realize that I simply couldn’t even get an interview for roles that I could do very easily. In my opinion, age discrimination is alive and well. At first I was really stressed out and tried everything to get interviews. Eventually, I recognized that the Universe was sending me a clear message: retire from Corporate America. So, I did. I applied for my retirement benefits and began working on my jewelry business fulltime. Sometimes we need to let go of one thing to find another more satisfying situation. I’d encourage folks to do what they love. So many are trapped in those 9-5 jobs and are miserable. Life is too short for that. I’d say, start a side hustle and let it grow. Give up the time you spend watching tv and do something that can earn you an extra income.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.

In the past, I sold on Amazon Handmade and Bonanza in addition to Etsy and my own website. Recently, I opened a business on Go Imagine. I have information to share on all of these because I don’t want anyone to have to kind of figure it out on their own if they can learn from my experience. First, it’s important that you not put all your eggs in one basket. My Healing Earth Reiki jewelry business sells on its own website and on Etsy today. My website is hosted by GoDaddy and there is an integration with Etsy.

I gave up on Amazon Handmade because their policies really aren’t geared for a one person business. I paid a lot in fees to Amazon and occasionally they would tell me that I needed to provide overnight delivery for customers in other states meaning that I had to foot the bill for express delivery at Amazon’s discretion. That meant that if I sold a $20 pair of earrings, it would cost me $37.50 to get it to TX. Additionally, Amazon’s very liberal return policy meant that people could shop on a whim (or under the influence) and then just return the items. I had jewelry coming and going nonstop. After 6 months, I found that I had made very little for my extraordinary effort, so I left Amazon behind. In my opinion, if you don’t have a team of people working with you, it’s really hard to meet Amazon’s expectations.

I gave up on Bonanza because no matter what I did, it seemed that people didn’t have enough awareness of and confidence in Bonanza. To be fair to them, I was doing Amazon and Etsy at the same time I was trying to sell on Bonanza, so I know I didn’t give them the very best opportunity, but after about 4 months of trying to promote my site on Bonanza, I stopped and hadn’t even made a single sale there.

I’ve been with Etsy since the beginning of my jewelry business. Etsy has more pros than cons. Etsy is an excellent place for someone to start an online business if they have no experience selling online. Their system is easy to use, the shops are easy to set up, the fees are reasonable and there are a lot of people shopping on Etsy. Things were different when I first started with Etsy, it was right around the time they decided to become a publicly traded company. They had a small company feel back in 2015, that has changed and as someone who spent decades in leadership roles in Corporate America, I can feel the corporate share holders influencing the direction Etsy is taking. However, I’m still a solid Etsy supporter and I still get a great amount of sales on Etsy. They have the ability to promote my listings on Google which has been great, but it’s important to remember that Google takes 15% for that honor. I recommend anyone starting out on Etsy to set up a spreadsheet and work the numbers to make sure that their selling price can support Etsy’s fees and Google’s if they determine to utilize that option. I’m always amazed when sellers tell me that they can’t run a 10% off sale because they won’t make any money. This is a business, it has to sustain itself otherwise you’re doing charity work.

Go Imagine is a relatively new marketplace and my newest jewelry business Crystal Breeze Studio is currently being set up out there. You can visit this segment of my business at crystalbreezestudio.com Go Imagine is going to be a great platform. It’s led by dedicated people who are in love with the business model and that makes a huge difference. I will say that their support is far superior to Etsy or Amazon. If I have a question, I get an answer typically the same day where I might wait a week for Etsy to get back to me. If someone chooses to join Go Imagine, my advice would be to be patient. The business is 18 months old and they are working out some kinks in the platform. If you’re looking for turnkey with zero glitches, you’ll do better on Etsy. But, if you want to be part of something big, join Go Imagine while it’s in its infancy.

Primarily, I sell on my own website for Healing Earth Reiki. My website started out on SquareSpace, but because of technical issues with the way my listings were showing up on my ecommerce site, I decided to make a change to GoDaddy about 2 years ago and I have no regrets. I built the site from their templates myself and I find it easy to administer. My customers love shopping there and I have a lot of return customers. They all know that I sell on Etsy, but they prefer the website’s set up. My pricing is slightly lower on my website, but not enough to make a real difference if someone wants to shop on Etsy. I offer all of my repeat customers the opportunity to use a discount coupon for 15% off. Some use it and some don’t bother.

In general, for folks starting out, I’d recommend Etsy for those who are in the handmade or vintage business. If you love it, then branch out to your own website. If you’re handmade, Go Imagine is a great place to add to your offerings as well. No matter where you sell, outstanding customer service is an absolute necessity.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://healingearthreiki.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/healingearthreiki
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HealingEarthReiki
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindascrofano/
• Other: For jewelry that does not include reiki: www.crystalbreezestudio.com

Image Credits
Charles Scrofano of Mockingbird Imagery