We recently connected with Vinny Belmont and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Vinny thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

I am a happy business owner. And in that same breath I am also tired as hell. I think there’s a really intense duality to entrepreneurship for everyone. The freedom of being your own boss contrasts hard against the background of never being able to really unplug from whatever you have created for yourself.

I don’t know if every other business owner feels this way but I definitely have my days where I feel so liberated from the chains of a traditional office job and I love the life I live, and then I have other days where I’m so emotionally and physically exhausted from having to be accountable for every aspect of my business and my customers experience. From point of contact to execution I am every part of The Stoned Aesthetic and I do it all on my own so sometimes it’s a lot to carry.

But ultimately I can feel it in my soul that I am much more fitted to live a risky, adventurous, reckless life at 100mph than I am riding safely in the slow lane. This just feels more me. Even when I’m tired and beaten down from the grind I notice im still proud of myself in a way I never felt before and I love watching my business grow.

Even if it all fell apart tomorrow I will always be able to look back and know I did my own thing for a few years and I made it happen. This taught me im capable of a lot more than I realized so it will always be worth it.

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?

Well long story short I started The Stoned Aesthetic, which is a crystal custom shoe business, because I was feeling very unfulfilled in my corporate job. I made a great living for myself but it was a thankless job and a toxic environment so this was my idea of a way out and a means to liberate myself from that.

But then about 2 weeks after I created my LLC we went into lockdown. I don’t know if I was lucky or unlucky to have started a business right at the beginning of Covid. On one hand it gave me something to do when there was nothing to do. I was able to really hone in on my craft and I used the skills I was learning like sewing and 3D printing to make masks and 3D printed PPE for our local hospitals and residents. It was a wild year for sure but I was able to help a lot of people and I got pretty good at what I was doing.

I just wanted to create something bold that would bring a little joy out of people. I honestly have no idea how I ended up working with crystal since I’m not a very glamorous individual, haha. If anyone knows me I wear jeans and black t shirts 90% of my life so what I create is very much so the opposite of my own style and I love that.

I like seeing people’s reactions to how loud and outrageous some of my custom shoes are. It’s hard not to stop and look at a pair of shoes covered in 8,000 hand placed crystals so even if you don’t like what I do you will still notice it.

Now that I’ve sort of established myself in my niche and really found my footing I’d love to branch out beyond shoes. Into decor, sculptures, really being the loud elements of what I do to the ermanent fixtures in peoples homes. I love that people can wear my work now with my shoes but I’d love to diversify what I do and bring this stonework I enjoy so much into other avenues of creativity.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Oh God, social media. It’s been such a struggle for me. If you’re a custom artist, especially with shoes, the magic formula to building an audience is process videos. Filming every single part of the process and spending hours on editing and transitions and audio but making sure not to infringe on copyrights and blah blah blah blah blah.

It’s really such a bummer for creators. I don’t like the way I move when I film myself painting or stoning shoes. I’m too aware of the camera and I think it affects how sharp I can be. If you look at my Instagram I rarely post process videos. My page is almost purely my final artwork spinning on display so you can see what I’m capable of.

But I feel like I get less views and likes because I don’t use the trendy audio or post the same kind of videos as everyone else. Social media almost encourages us to all be the same to become popular and I really don’t vibe with that at all. I want to be different. That’s where our originality and our art really lives; in what makes us different.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I am very, very, transparent on social media. Sometimes to a fault, I’m sure. But I think it’s refreshing for people to see someone that’s rough around the edges falling down sometimes and having yo pick themselves up again.

I don’t know what I’m doing, I don’t always make the right choices, but man I am trying and I think people see that in how hard I’ve worked to get better. Plenty of 15-20 hour days and nights working on producing work that I’m super proud of and I’m happy to see that doesn’t go unnoticed with the audience that has found me so far. It’s very cool to see how people have embraced me and my little business.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @TheStonedAesthetic

Image Credits
@FarsightedPhotography @ChigaImaging