Notes from Chris

Episode 1499

Nico Millado is a Chicago-based fashion model who is used to a packed travel schedule as part of his job. Unfortunately, most of that ground to a halt last spring as the COVID-19 pandemic rapidly spread around the globe. Like many of us, he was left to figure out some next steps. Luckily for him he had something waiting in his back pocket—an idea for a side gig that was perfect for a situation like this.

Nico happens to be a graduate of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. After graduating in 2016, he chose to pursue his passion for fashion but never lost his interest in business.

In the summer of 2019 he was looking to expand his wardrobe with more accessories—jewelry in particular. Much of what he found was too generic for his tastes or too expensive for his budget. There seemed to be a serious lack of product in the middle, a category that Nico later came to define as “semi-fine jewelry.” Nico chose to hone in on the marriage of two: jewelry inspired by global experiences.

He reached out to a friend and former business school classmate named Pat, who as luck would have it was also in the market for a side gig. In late 2019, Nico pitched the idea of this new jewelry company to Pat, thinking that Pat’s experience in corporate America would nicely compliment his own background in the fashion industry. Pat agreed, and they decided to start Atlas Jewelry Company.

The initial investment was $900, with the bulk of that money going towards supplies and samples. Nico assembled each piece of jewelry by hand, and he and Pat set up social accounts for the business. Nico did all the photography, and they began with a soft-launch for friends and family instead of a full roll-out. The jewelry is designed to be unisex and Nico found that the majority of Atlas’s early customers were men, so as the holidays approached a decision was made to focus some of the advertising on women in order to continue to grow the company. November was their biggest month of sales, generating more than $8,000.

With that jump in numbers, however, came some growing pains. Nico and Pat scaled back their ad buys in December in order to address concerns about production lead times, operational efficiency, and product availability. Even with decreased advertising they still saw healthy sales, grossing over $6,000 for the month.

For Nico, having his modeling career put on hold during the pandemic turned out to be a bit of a blessing in disguise. It allowed him to bring his dream of his own jewelry line to life and gave him a sense of purpose during an otherwise difficult year. Even with the setbacks, the reward of seeing others wear his designs while building a business with one of his best friends has been well worth it.

 

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  MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Check out Nico's beautiful collection at his website, AtlasJewelryCo.com.

SEE ALSO:

• College Curriculum Developer Makes Minimalist Jewelry: When a professional development specialist can’t find “just the right” piece of jewelry, she makes it herself. Six years later, she’s mined a second income creating minimalist, Boho-chic jewelry.
• Loan Officer Charts New Course With Nautically Inspired Jewelry: A mortgage loan officer combines her nautical roots with a love of design to create geographically personalized jewelry.
• When Fashion Flops, This Designer Follows a Shiny Object: A Los Angeles designer pivots from making clothes to selling vintage, semi-fine jewelry inspired by her love for the beach.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work! Yours in the revolution,

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