We recently connected with Lisa Muhlestein and have shared our conversation below.
Lisa, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So, what do you think about family businesses? Would you want your children or other family members to one day join your business?
We started a family retail business 12 years ago after running a wholesale business with a big shop and workers for 35 years. As we contrast the two types of businesses, there is much to love and appreciate about the family business. Our six kids learned jewelry making skills during the years of our wholesale business so when we finally sold our wholesale business, they were ready to start a retail family business online. The beauty of having an online shop is that each family member could work out of their own home and set up their own shop. We knew each others skills and strengths so we distributed the work of the business. Three shops make jewelry and ship out what they make. Another just makes jewelry for another sibling to ship. One handles the communication with the buyers. Another takes photos, makes listings and designs the website. We, as the parents, handle the finances and new designs. We are in constant communication with each other. We cover for each other. It keeps us close together.
We don’t have to worry about making a big payroll and keeping workers busy and helping them all get along like with our wholesale business. In our family business, we are all owners so we care about the quality of our work. Our accountant warned us about how difficult a family business can be. We work hard to communicate openly and kindly, and each family has truly been blessed to have an income while staying home with their young families.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
OUR STORY
Hello! Hoops By Hand is founded and run by a family of expert artisan jewelers. Mark and Diane began making jewelry in their early 20s, shortly after their marriage. As their six children grew, each were given age appropriate jobs to help them earn money and learn a skill. Now each child has grown into their own families, and we have all come together to offer our jewelry, that has been developed over decades of experience.
OUR JEWELRY
All of our materials are sourced from the United States. And since we get to work with the source of our materials (rather than a middleman), we get to pay the creators and skilled jewelry artisans directly for our wire, chains, and solder—all of which are ethically sourced.
Did you know all of our jewelry is 100% recycled, and recyclable? All of our metal is recycled by two methods: recovered or diverted from the waste stream during the manufacturing process, and after consumer use (usually melted down, and reformed into an entirely new product).
We even modify and hand make our own tools. Your jewelry is entirely designed and handcrafted from start to finish in our little farm house in Utah. Our ear model, toe ring model, and finger model—also made all of your jewelry! We take our own pictures of our beloved designs that we have been making since childhood.
OUR AMAZING CUSTOMERS
Connecting with our amazing customers has definitely become our “why” for Hoops By Hand. After so many years of working on the wholesale side of jewelry, the joy we get from working directly with our customers has been a game changer! Thank you for making it possible for us to do what we love each and every day!
From our hands to yours, at Hoops By Hand.
We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.
I wanted to work with my hands so I first tried to be a dental technologist that did casting of teeth. While waiting for a lab to open, I decided to enroll in college. My brother had a professor who made jewelry so I started to work with him inlaying turquoise in silver. He also showed me how to solder. I didn’t start college and wanted to be a full time jeweler. I was introduced to a silversmith who helped me develop my skills further. A friend suggested I contact a store in a local mall, and I looked over their jewelry and told them I could make it for less. Now I had a place to sell my jewelry and that motivated me further to learn to make simple fabricated jewelry in silver and gold filled. From there I got more accounts and slowly grew my business making and selling the jewelry myself at first, and then getting partners and shops full of workers. I learned that the best way to make it in manufacturing jewelry is to make big batches and get the time down. That helps your quality and making sure you can make a profit.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Mark founded a wholesale jewelry manufacturing business in 1980. After they married, Diane joined him in the business. Over the years we had 6 kids that learned the jewelry skills and and helped in our wholesale manufacturing business to earn money for college and LDS missions.
In 2012 after selling our wholesale manufacturing business, the 6 kids wanted to start an online retail jewelry business, Hoops by Hand, and Mark and Diane joined them in the new venture. Since our kids were busy with young families, Mark and Diane owned and operated over 50% of the business. In 2019 Mark had a heart attack and in 2023 Diane had an episode of amnesia. They realized as they were nearing 70 years old that they needed to train and empower their kids to more fully run the business.
This training and transition took several months. This Christmas season was the first time that all 6 of our children took care of the day to day operations of the business, and Mark and Diane are more in a supporting role. That is a thrill to us knowing that this business has been passed on to the next generation to bless their families.
