This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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As we come to the end of the year, I've been taking time to reflect on how the overall year has been and also to set some goals for next year. So I have a whole process for this. I've been doing it for more than a decade now. It's called an annual review. And you can read more on my blog, chrisguillebeau.com.
You can read lots and lots of posts about this process, some recent years. Pretty soon I'm gonna have a post about my process this year. And there's also a template you can use for your own review if you'd like to look back on the year and look ahead at the year to come and set some goals. And all of this is free, by the way. There's no sales pitch.
I just hope that it's helpful to you in planning your year. This process has been probably the single most important thing for me in terms of goal setting, in terms of trying to live intentionally and so on. And whenever I get off track, I often come back to it. I'm like, oh yeah, I forgot about this. This is helpful.
All right, now for today's story. Drawing on inspiration from the islands of Hawaii, this office manager earns up to $5,000 a month part time with her island-style jewelry creations. Jack and Ginger Admin designs island life jewelry. That's the story. It's coming up after this quick thank you to our sponsor.
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In high school, Michelle Golden was always the girl making hemp necklaces in study hall. In her 20s, she started making jewelry as gifts. Those gifts turned into friends buying for other friends. And a self-taught jeweler then started throwing jewelry parties. She now operates an Etsy shop called Jack and Ginger.
Now people have lots of theories about why Michelle picked that name. Some think it's named for pets or family members. Others assume it's for plants. The truth is she picked up the name after sitting in a bar drinking a Jack and Ginger, a nice simple drink. A friend suggested it and the name stuck.
Now at the time, Michelle was living on the island of Oahu, that would be in Hawaii. So her jewelry was heavily influenced by island style and uses natural materials. She found all of the sea glass and shells herself and loved the element of handpicking what she works with. She describes her customers as those who love an endless summer. The business grew mostly through word of mouth.
She worked in tourism back then. So guests would see and comment on her jewelry. And her coworkers wore it too. Online, Instagram has been the most helpful tool. Her account, High Jack and Ginger has grown slowly but now has over 8,000 loyal followers.
Michelle's customers are always sharing her new work or their orders. She's tried paid advertising on Instagram but hasn't gotten much traction from it. Instead, she's seen much better results from giveaways and collaborations with other small shops. Now the beginning of this process was so informal that Michelle didn't have a special celebration. But now when she hits sales milestones, she includes little gifts with the orders and treats herself to a massage.
She says she'll never stop being excited when she hears that cha-ching sound on her phone. Jack and Ginger is currently sold in two retail shops, one on the big island of Hawaii and another in Florida. She's about to send pieces to a salon on Maui and hopefully expand to another store as well. The shops typically purchase her goods wholesale and she works with them to determine what they want for their demographic. Sometimes she'll make an exclusive that can only be found at that shop.
Michelle also works with customers to create special custom pieces or adds elements that are personal to them. For example, last year she made jewelry out of coins two sisters had collected when they traveled to Europe. Let's talk about the money. Sales fluctuate but they're now averaging $4,000 to $5,000 a month. She works part-time as an office admin three days a week but Jack and Ginger has grown into a nearly full-time job.
Still, all the glitters is not gold and Michelle has experienced some setbacks, haven't we all? On her case, she made a bangle called the mer-wave that was a signature piece of hers for years. And when people in Hawaii saw that bangle they knew it was hers. But a few years later the tool that's used to make the waves was sold commercially and now every jeweler in Hawaii uses it. It took Michelle a long time to get over that.
It was hard to let it go and see so many others making and selling an item that clearly belonged to her. Impostor syndrome is another issue. Michelle says social media can get in your head and cause doubt, especially when she sees her work copied. She says you just need to learn to move on and know that your existing customer base will stick with you. Going forward, she hopes to add more retail accounts so her work can get into more boutiques for people to enjoy.
She also hopes to do more pop-up events so she can get out and meet customers too. Finally, she's in the process of building a Shopify store so she can have her own website separate from Etsy. [Music]
Before we wrap up, I wanted to share some comments from Michelle about why she is moving from Etsy to Shopify. She says, you know, Etsy's been good for lots of things but she dislikes how a customer will be searching on Etsy, searching her page on Etsy rather and then Etsy kind of directs them to competitors. And she says it's a hard thing to avoid just because how they set up their process.
But as a very small business, it's tough to know that Etsy is pushing other businesses or potentially showing customers a cheaper option. She says for her, Etsy doesn't feel like a friend to small business. So that's why she's trying to diversify and move over to Shopify. So just something to keep in mind if you're working on Etsy or planning to sell something, I think it's always good to take advantage of platforms like that. They have a huge audience, of course, and it can be great lots of the time, but it's also good to establish your own shop and bring people to you.
And that's when customers are truly loyal as opposed to being loyal to Etsy or to any other specific platform. All right, that's it for today. Inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is better. Today's show notes are at sidehustleschool.com/1816. We'll include links to Michelle's website, her Instagram, anything else I mentioned in the episode.
If you've got a comment or question for the show, your feedback is welcome. You can leave that there as well. I hope you will subscribe or follow wherever you get your podcasts. We've got new episodes coming out every day. And of course, take care of yourself during this holiday season.
Make sure you plan well for next year. I hope you'll be able to join me for that as well because I've got some cool stuff coming up that I'll tell you about very soon. Okay, all for now. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School.
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From the Onward Project.
