We were lucky to catch up with Lyndsey Rieple recently and have shared our conversation below.

Lyndsey, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

I think success begins when I decide that I already am successful. This perspective has helped take out the illusion that success is “out there.” Longing for something tends to perpetuate itself creating a distancing effect from my goals. Aligning my thinking in the present with who I want to be, shortens the time it takes to fulfill my authentic desires. This isn’t to be taken too literally, after all, I will fail, doubt, regret, and cringe at some of my behaviors. It’s just that these things are no big deals- I can choose again. And again, and again. And again!

On the day-to-day, I have great teachers show me how to be more skillful. Some things they have taught me that I use fairly consistently are:

– removing “I have to…” from my speech. I use, “I get to…” instead.
– keeping in mind that I get out what I put in. If I work 10 hours a week, I will get a certain result. If I work quite a bit, I will get a different result.
– A successful business is mostly time management.
– People first, product second. If I don’t have time for customer service and gratitude, then I have no business having a business.
– Listening. We often know what we already want, and I get immediate feedback if people do not want my product or do want my product. Asking probing questions when appropriate is not only necessary, it helps keep my ego sitting in a doll chair rather than a thrown.
– Embracing perfectionism where it is useful. And detaching failure from my own self worth. An ongoing practice.
– Laughing. I can take myself too seriously. *insert geeky emoji face here*

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?

I was going to be an illustrator, but I suspect after the 10,000th hour of drawing, my brain needed an artform that fed my mechanical inclinations. Come to find out, jewelry-making is a type of engineering.

My work started with buttons, leather scraps, and craft wire 16 years ago in the costume shop at Alfred University. And today, I have a jewelry line for sale on the innerwebs and at meaningful markets, 4 topic-based metalsmithing classes, and a consistent fine jewelry-making thread, mostly through word of mouth.

Work and life intertwine. It all feeds into one soup of inspiration, connection, a sense of home, and stuff the brain can chew on.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

This is the main question that I kept trying to get answers to while I was working full time and selling my jewelry on the side. I felt like no one would directly answer this and break it down! I think what I actually wanted was a 10 minute formula for success, and who doesn’t? Well, by the time I decided to be a full time entrepreneur in 2021, I realized I had sought out that question enough and knew enough to do it.

Also, nothing goes to waste. I think of all my employers, teachers, and people who do things better than me regularly. If you’re not around people who are more successful than you (ouch to the ego), than you’re probably not going to grow. Like my art teacher said in high school, “Art isn’t created in a vacuum.” And businesses aren’t either. I am very glad that the answers on how to write a grant or _fill-in-the-blank_ are already out there, and then we add our own flare and magic to the answers we find. Noteworthy: I have applied for 4 grants and received none. I know others who have applied for dozens of grants and received 2-3.

I am more of a persistent and calculated entrepreneur than a milestone one. I have DoorDashed, shopped at the food pantry, done trades, accepted help from family and friends, asked many shops, museums, businesses I follow on Instagram, fellow vendors, professors, neighbors, students, and customers lots of questions, have written many thank you notes, and observed life like an everyday tourist. I think asking questions is how I encourage others and satisfy my own curiosity. Curiosity is key to my success. Pretty much everything else takes care of itself. It helps that I have a good visual memory, like a map.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

I’ll pass on advice that was given to me a couple years ago. “Don’t be an arrogant artist. There are too many of those.” After I heard this from a SCORE mentor, begrudgingly, I started to listen to my customers better and think more like a business person instead of a self-centered artist. Do people like gold or silver better? Do they even like leather cords? What kind of information do they want to know? What gap in the jewelry industry is there that I could accommodate? And this will continue on and on as I refine the business. It’s a tricky balance being an artist and business owner- I think it’s important to me that I’m both and it tends to be working out so far as I believe I have the very best customers. They are the reason I get to do what I love. They’re so fun!

x

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lyndseyrieple.com/
• Instagram: @LyndseyRiepleJewelry
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/lyndsey-rieple-16289534
• Other: A variety of fun silversmithing and lapidary classes can be found here where I teach: https://cottonwoodsls.com/intro-metalsmithing-workshop/