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

Hi Michelle, thanks for joining us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

The idea of VPQ was born from a philanthropic effort to help the communities of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands after Hurricane Maria hit in 2017. My proceeds still to this day go towards donating to the Islands. Puerto Rico and Virgin Island communities. I didn’t start thinking about how this could scale into a business until a coworker told me, “you should sell this on Etsy Michelle!”. Knowing how saturated Etsy was and is with jewelry makers, I didn’t want these pieces to get lost in the crowd. So I said, “fuck it…why don’t I make my own website and sell them on their own platform?”

I had to figure that out first. How was I going to choose what website to place them in? I attempted fashion blogging for a while during college and after college and remembered using Wix, it was simple but I didn’t like how limited it was. So I had to think about a platform that would allow easy retail development. That’s when I discovered Shopify. This was it! It had an easy website development program, marketing, easy check outs, daily analytics…the works. My website today is still powered by Shopify because they keep evolving and are very progressive for a small growing business. So I was doing things a little backwards, I launched a product before marketing it. So I had to figure out how I was going to market and give more exposure to this brand and these pieces. Thank goodness for word of mouth but I knew that if I wanted to keep this going there was a lot more work to be had. Social media is a great tool for marketing, but it’s just one of the many tools. I had my website, so that was one avenue in which customers could find my jewelry, now social media was giving it a push for exposure and a following. But online can only get you so far, so next up was getting into grass roots marketing. I researched local farmers markets, and pop ups to apply for. I was very lucky to meet some other women of business who invited me to their cocktail party pop ups which allowed me to practice how a pop up worked, what materials I needed, what I lacked,and what I could do better next time. I even perfected my story and pitch to people I spoke to in person. Telling them a story and connecting them with the powers of these pieces that represented community.

My goal a year in was to attend as many pop ups and markets as I could for exposure. There was the Happy Hippo in Richardson, the Flower Mound Farmers Market, Richardson Farmers Market, Dallas Farmers Market, Deep Ellum Market, and I even partnered with the Dallasites and Pipe and Pallete to teach a workshop and show groups of women and men how to make my jewelry. People often asked me if I was worried about copycats, I wasn’t concerned about someone stealing my ideas, because no one can replicate what I’ve created. If they did, then that would be a totally different story and feel to the brand. Without these markets and opportunities to share my product and story within these communities, I wouldn’t have the following and cultivated clientele I have today, and I am grateful.

This gave me tons of traction on Instagram and my business Facebook. This gave me an edge in which I would not only be a jewelry store, but a brand that offers much more. At the time of 2018-2019 I had designed more pieces, like cuffs, earrings, chokers, rings, ear cuffs, and even started incorporating vintage jewelry. Carefully curated vintage with a story and a quality that would last. I’ve always loved vintage items because of the stories they had behind them, and for the brands such as Monet, Jacques Lemans, Geneva, Pulsar, and more they hold onto their shine and quality. Plus the styles are so unique and simple. The VPQ style is simple but sends a statement. The brand meaning is, what my friend .Lexi had said after I described to her where VPQ came from, “it’s taking a risk with a hair flip!”. That’s exactly right! VPQ stands for Venture Polish Quartz. Back in my fashion blogger days my handle was Venturepolish. Thanks to an online name scrambler, I took my top favorite words, adventure and stylish and it came up with Venture and Polished, hence Venturepolish. The fact that I have quartz jewelry, it became Venturepolish Quartz…VPQ.

Launching was easy…because there was an innate need to. I had to make this happen to help out my family. Then I realized I reached the point of no return. I put in so much energy, tears into my pillow for this. Now it’s a baby I want to keep raising to see it grow even more. It’s not my side hustle, it’s my main hustle, my legacy.

Michelle, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Sure! In September 2017 my family and I in Texas found out that a huge Category 5 hurricane was about to hit the Caribbean. We were terrified for our families in Puerto Rico, but knew that they would all be gathering at my aunt’s house on her farm in the countryside which has more elevated hills and mountains to avoid any chance of being caught in any flooding. After it hit, I attempted to get in contact with my grandmother, cousins, aunts and uncles…no one answered. The cell towers were destroyed and power was out. I heard there were people in the states, especially New York who downloaded this Walkie-Talkie to app in order to communicate around the nation to different Puerto Rican families as well as hope to get to speak with those on the island who had downloaded the app as well.

I was one of them among thousands trying to find out information about my family and if they were ok. With my semi broken Spanish I attempted to “walkie-talkie” day and night, even in between my work or on my lunch breaks to hear if there was any update. I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t eat, I was devastated at the thought that I may never speak with my family again. The news wasn’t making things any better either. I was seeing pictures of the floods, land slides, dead bodies, animals and humans being rescued in rivers… I had to stop watching TV and social media. All I had to hold onto was a bit of hope that I would hear the name Quinones, Torres, Ortiz…anything familiar.
Then…there was a light. In the middle of the night, I saw a Facebook Messenger notification. It was my cousin Leo, he lives in San Juan, Puerto Rico the capital of the island. I was elated to see this beautiful display on my phone to see him texting that everyone was OK and his family was safe. I immediately made a list for a care package to send him. I also asked him to check on our grandmother and if I could get a few boxes to him to bring those to her and our family on the other side of the island. After a week, he was able to see her after they cleared the roads and I FINALLY got in touch with my family and discovered they were safe.
USPS packages were $18-$20 bucks a pop to mail over. At the time I was a personal clothing stylist at Trunk Club and wasn’t make a ton of money at the time. So sending these packages weren’t cheap for me. Thanks to my friends at work and family in Dallas, I was able to collect two 3ft boxes full of donations. Now I knew I needed supplemental income to get these shipped. I remembered during a trip to Oklahoma that my mom and I collected raw quartz stones and we would wrap them into gold necklaces. I loved that. I thought to myself, why not make some necklaces and in honor of getting these care packages shipped, people can buy a necklace to help…it was a hit! Coworkers, friends of friends, family, all loved the necklaces and how simply wrapped they were with gold wire and gold chains, and what they were going towards. I went from wrapping milky quartz and began wrapping Rose quartz stones. This would be my signature stone, representing the giving love and receiving love. This is what VPQ would be about, community help and healing through necklaces.
These stones were powerful! I would get requests every week from someone new that would want to have one. Not only requests for the pieces but requests to host private jewelry parties which are my favorite. I would say my top two things to do are attending markets and hosting parties. I get to see how excited everyone gets about making their own stone necklace and having cocktails while doing it! I love being outside, so outdoor markets allow me to do that. Having fresh air and tending to a tent with my jewelry table is all I need in life.
When I was young I would play “store” with my siblings. Have them browse my bedroom for trinkets and goods that were already mine, but pretend to buy them and I would ring them up with my make shift bedside drawer with monopoly money in it. In college I began drawing and I would draw pieces of clothes and title it “Michelle’s Store, or Michelle’s shop, I don’t quite remember, but I have the drawing book somewhere. I loved the idea of having a boutique to call my own.

The future of VPQ is bright, it won’t stop at just a booth in markets or a store front. It’s a community. VPQ stands for venture, a journey or a risk you would take that fulfills your life, and that’s the message we carry. Tourmaline stone for deflecting negative energies, rose quartz to give love receive love, clear quartz to clear energies and clear the mind. These pieces are not just accessories, but tools to help you and guide you on your journey. Giving you that courage and that push to go for what you want. That’s why I’m developing the VPQ Club, this is a community of people that will inspire and being a part of the VPQ fan club means you’re here to elevate yourself and others who are on the lonely road of entrepreneurship, parenthood, relationships, innovation.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Entrepreneurship can be a lonely road. And it’s even lonelier when you get NO’s about what you’re passionate about. You’ll hear these “No’s” from every direction. Partnerships, friends, family, customers…and it makes you want to think twice about, is this something that is even needed? Do I even know what I’m doing?
The part of resilience comes when you can drown out the noise with your positive affirmations and confidence. When you can KEEP GOING forward and tell yourself…I know what I’m doing and I trust my process.

This is the only way companies survive, they were able to look at their model, see what tweaks needed to be made, listen to the audience, and make the changes that were right for the company. This is what I had to do.

I’ve made peace with the fact that there will be times I hear the word NO, but this word to me means you’re still open for negotiation. May sound crazy, but being resilient means you must not fold at the first sign of rejection.
I remember in the beginning as I was applying for farmers markets, that the Dallas Farmers Market was the next step up in markets that I wanted to attend. I was rejected the first try, They told me that my product was not what they needed at that time. So I wrote back and thanked them for the consideration, but would like to prove that I am a unique vendor for the market. The DFM then wrote back saying, “Thank you for your interest in the Dallas Farmers Market. We received your application, and we are asking that you come in for an interview. We would then evaluate your vendor status at the end of the Holiday Market for 2020… it will feature vendors whose products would make great gifts, or who work well with the holiday theme…” I immediately booked an interview date! I had to conduct a full set up with my tent, tables and display.

I watched as the manager went down the line, tent by tent to interview each nervous vendor. I was excited because I couldn’t believe I was actually there interviewing for my next big opportunity! If I could get into the DFM, I could get into any market. They interviewed me, and I told my story, why I started this, how I was a local Dallas resident looking to participate in the community, and what the future of VPQ looked like. I got an email the following week and I was in as a Holiday Vendor, all I had to do next was get a certificate of liability insurance with that covered up to $1 million dollars, and that was enough for me! It took from September to October to get in, and I was so proud of myself. I stayed consistent, I followed up, I was determined and was able to debate my way into the market where my brand was exposed to hundreds of shoppers.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

The pandemic was an awakening for all of us. That was a major time to pivot. Every business owner had to figure out how they were going to survive in the American economy that was now limited and , well pretty much shut down. Thank goodness for social media because that’s where I saw an opportunity to still be out in the world and to show my pieces. As I worked my 9-5 during the day, I was setting up live happy hour shopping sessions in the evenings. Since markets were closed and everyone was on lock down, I didn’t want my brand to be forgotten so I had to do something quick! I would pop on Instagram Live and showcase my jewelry and vintage clothing (at the time when I was experimenting with clothes) every week for an hour. I would announce it in my stories and when the time came, I would press the live button and wait. If no one came on I would just showcase as if I had an audience. Which I did because you could post the recorded live video to your feed afterwards! So I knew I needed to be on point with the live shopping hours. I also had to be creative and engaging, so I would hold flash sales, have music in the background, and even model the clothes and jewelry. I would even have discussions about staying positive during these times, because I knew if someone wasn’t having the best day, I thought ” well they could check out my live video and possibly hear something worthwhile… and not feel so alone during this time.” I did this until the markets opened back up a month later.

By hosting live videos, I was able to keep the brand alive. I didn’t want it to disappear, so I kept it in the forefront and made sure everyone saw what I was doing, even if it was just me, talking to myself, I kept creating content. This was a great learning lesson. It gave me time to practice my why story, ways to promote, and even give meaning to what the VPQ brand is about. It’s about venturing out, it’s a risk you take, a journey you go on for your own fulfillment in life, and inspiring others to do the same.

Contact Info:

• Website: shopvpq.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shopvpq/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shopvpq/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-honkomp-073bb928/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/m_honkomp
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/9aJyCE0nBU4

Image Credits
Dallas Photographer- Cory Moore @eyecreatereality Content Creator- Lis Ledeay @lis_fashionablemiss