Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Michael McGoey. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Michael, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?

For every empowering, enlightening day I experienced in the corporate world, there were at least five days of frustration and stress. Adding up a career in tech that spanned over twenty-one years, the balance tips sadly towards a lot of wasted energy. The amount of positivity, insight and inspiration that was sacrificed to conform to short sighted ‘leaders’ or dysfunctional business processes is difficult to account for.

Fortunately for me I’ve had the experience of running my own business and being my own boss. In this light I have been able to make my own decisions and account for my own success (and failures). Following thirteen years of running my business in parallel with my corporate job, I am now taking leave from corporate work and putting all of my energy into my turquoise business. What do I miss? What do I enjoy? How has one benefited the other? The list is endless… being an entrepreneur is a challenging and dynamic path to take and certainly not the easiest choice. That said, I wouldn’t trade the decision for anything.

Here are a few examples that stand out for me comparing these two distinct career paths:

1) Running an online business as an entrepreneur is lonely. Where previously I commuted to a corporate office with a few hundred people actively working, now I can spend an entire day and not see or speak to another soul. Yes, there is social media where my business resides – where round the clock engagement reflects people’s interest and support… it doesn’t take the place of human-to-human engagement (imho). For all the frustrations and difficulty of working in a high stress corporate position, there is something to be said for the shared human experience of seeing your ‘team’ and co-workers daily and sharing the ups and downs of daily life. My days these days are spent taking really engaging high resolution pictures and posting them on social and on the web. It is isolating work, especially during a pandemic.

2) Entrepreneurial work requires a broad diversity of skills. It’s easy to see someone’s online business and think, ‘geez, all they do is take fab pictures of their product, sip lattes and watch the money come in.’ The reality is you have to be very good at marketing, sales, customer service, human resources and accounting. To be successful you have to be accomplished at the nuances of each discipline. These are not skills you simply learn overnight. Each is challenging in its own right, not to mention time consuming. In the corporate world, you’re hired for one discipline that you can focus on while everyone else takes care of the diverse requirements of running a business. It’s easy to lose sight of just how many functions are running at once to allow for a chance at success.

3) The cost of freedom is priceless. I cannot stress this enough. For all the comforts and security that corporate America offers, that company owns you and your time. The higher you climb the corporate ladder, the more responsibility you assume, the greater this is the case. While there are tremendous lessons to be learned on this journey, they come at a tremendous cost. As my own boss, I own the stress I create. The problems (and there are always problems) are my own. I created them; thus, I am responsible for solving them. As someone who has battled chronic illness for over eighteen years, I can take time as I need it. I am empowered to invest energy where I see it is needed and directly reap the benefits of these actions. In the same light I can take full responsibility when my choices lead to problems. I’m only conforming my vision when I see it’s fit. Otherwise, I am free to wake up to each day brand new.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My business is driven by a passion for turquoise. Ever since I was introduced to turquoise jewelry over twenty two years ago I have been inspired to learn (and collect) as much as I can. This passion is complimented by my lifelong love of making jewelry. Initially, as a collector, I had no intention of ever selling the stones I purchased. Instead, I had them tucked away for the rainy day when I would have time to turn them into remarkable pieces of jewelry.  My life battling chronic illness while raising two amazing kids has taken many turns. During some extremely difficult times I was forced to liquidate my stone collection. This process actually revealed an opportunity to me, one in which I could replicate to develop a new revenue stream (outside of corporate work – or in place of when I was too sick to work) while also allowing me to build a new collection of stones without incurring debt.

Here are some examples of what differentiates my business and makes me proud:

1) I’m a maker – I create jewelry myself. I understand first hand how my customers interact with my product (turquoise stones) and what really matters to them.

2) Quality and Consistency – customers can tell the difference in my stones due to the time and energy invested for each stone to be cut and represented with integrity.

3) Always customers first – no matter what the circumstance I invest all of my energy in putting the customers needs first. This is something I’m constantly working on improving.

4) Authenticity – most of my customers are small business owners. They understand the challenges of operating a small business while also trying to keep up with the demands of life. I do my best to interweave my story into my business so that my customers understand that I am in every way just like that them.

5) Love – I love what I do. I love the stone and believe in the energy that it contains. I run a legitimate business and don’t cut corners. Most of the money generated from this business goes back to supporting the miners and the mining families that are responsible for extracting the rock from the earth. I believe 100% that working fairly and honestly with people allows for ‘positive’ energy to reach my customers. This same energy transcends as they create jewelry that is worn and enjoyed by people all over the world.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Selling on Instagram is both a blessing and a curse. One of the challenges you face is you never know who is going to show up each week when you run your sales. I’ve been consistently hosting weekly sales on Sundays for the past five years. Typically in a year I hit on 50 to 51 consecutive weeks. This allows for my customers to be very prepared and aware of what’s coming up, when it’s posting and what to expect. Sadly though, some weeks the rocks just don’t sell. Without any feedback as to why this is the case, I’m left scratching my head and second guessing my product, it’s presentation, my pricing, the format for the sales, my communications… everything. If a few weeks pass and sales have not picked up, I begin to worry about the future of my business and my overall investment in material that is meant to fuel this business for years to come. What if people stop buying turquoise? What am I supposed to do with hundreds of pounds of rock??? HAHA. I have plenty of followers, over 54,000 but without the analytics, I have no idea why some weeks hit and some weeks do not.

What sets my business apart is that I do not quit. I believe in my product and I understand that my customers will come. back. Over the years I’ve seen MANY stone sellers show up on Instagram. Typically they do well when they first arrive but soon they are facing the ebb and flow previously described. It is A LOT OF WORK to post hundreds of pictures each week if no one is buying them. I would say over 70 percent of my ‘competition’ has quit using Instagram which has rewarded my perseverance.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Building an audience on the social platforms is challenging. There was a time before Facebook owned Instagram, in the ‘early days’ when posts were presented in chronological order. If you created an account during this time and took high quality pictures you could see your audience grow from hundreds to thousands in just a few weeks, if not a few months. These days, things are much different. With Facebook (or Meta) in control of Instagram they have adjusted the ‘feed’ of posts using an algorithm that is meant to serve up the posts they feel are most relevant to your interests, not to mention lots of ads. What this does unfortunately is hide a lot of new accounts that are trying to get started and make a splash.

Here are my pointers if you’re getting started:
1) Start with the highest quality product you can. No matter how good your pics are, or how creative you are at posting them, if your product isn’t great, your customers will know it and they won’t follow you, nor share word of your account.
2) Take great pictures. I prefer using natural indirect light with a clean background that offers contrast with my product. Edit your pictures so that they are as sharp as possible.
3) Create content around your product. This can be featured in reels or your Instagram stories. If you’re a jeweler, take pictures or videos that show how you create. Don’t be afraid to include your own story. Customers love to know the person behind the ‘business.’
4) Consider running ads. I was very hesitant for years on ads and whether my customer base would perceive me negatively for creating ads. Once I dove in and started running ads to promote my sales, I found it to be a great way to attract new customers without off-putting my existing customers. This is a delicate balance though so I’d say run some trials and see how it goes. There is no doubt in my mind that the Instagram algorithm favors accounts that are spending on their platform.
5) Don’t give up. If the quality of your product is solid, people will find you. Include links to your social account on your website or other formats where your business is presented.. other platform like Etsy, business cards etc.
6) Finally, don’t associate success with likes or follows. If your products are selling, that is all that matters. Social media is a finicky beast and you can easily be dissuaded when you post a picture of an amazing one of a kind creation that no one ‘likes.’ Separate your emotions from this rollercoaster and keep creating!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.turquoisematrix.com
• Instagram: @turquoisematrix @bendinglightstudio