We were lucky to catch up with Nikki Allison recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Nikki thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

I started out making jewelry for the store I worked at at that time. I noticed that my designs were selling fairly quickly, and I decided after I left that store that I wanted to sell my designs myself. I knew I was entering a highly competitive area, but I went for it anyway. I’ve been very surprised how much my designs at Align the Stars Creations have resonated with people. I hear back from customers a lot who tell me how much they enjoy wearing my jewelry, which tells me they aren’t just enjoying it as a one off purchase, but are treasuring it as a piece of their regular routines. Me risking starting a business like this could have never prepared me for the genuine appreciation and excitement I have received from my customers. It really feels like I made the right decision in starting this store.

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

Align the Stars Creations focuses on handmade jewelry, most with a K-Pop focus, and spiritual tools. I have a background in jewelry making thanks to my late mother who got me interested in it as a kid. My love for jewelry making was revived when I began to create bracelets and keychains for the K-Pop store I was working at and noticed how well my designs were selling. Early the following year is when I launched Align the Stars Creations, and I have been amazed at the response. I’ve made many piece of custom jewelry for customers, which is one of my favourite things to do, and I am looking forward to expanding my product range with spiritual tools in the very near future, such as crystals, spell jars, oils, tarot reading, and much more.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Once, I received a custom order for several matching bracelets. It was very exciting. I immediately made all six bracelets to the specifications of the customer and sent her photos. She ended up wanting something simpler and suddenly those bracelets I made were unusable. I love doing custom work for people so it was no problem to redesign them, but I didn’t want to just immediately de-string all those six bracelets I spent time on. For the redesign, I only made one bracelet before getting the customer’s approval, and once I did, then made the remaining five. I was also able to repurpose the original six into new bracelets that sold out almost immediately! Everyone was happy! So I did learn to make a sample first if I ever get a multi custom order again!

How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.

I currently sell on Etsy. I would love to get to a point where I can sell on my own site, but the advantage selling on Etsy gives me is the ability to reach customers. Building social media audience tends to take time and can often require hunting for people who might be looking for what you’re offering. With Etsy, the customers come to you. It does require some research on how to name your items, what kind of things to put in your tags, so people can find your products, but once you have a good system going, you can rely on the keywords you’ve used to lead people to your products. I think it’s pretty cool!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://alignthestarscr.etsy.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/AligntheStarsCR
• Twitter: X.com/AligntheStarsCR

Image Credits
Image credit: Nikki Allison