Loan Officer Charts New Course With Nautically Inspired Jewelry

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

[Music]

In today's story, a mortgage officer from Portland, Maine combines her nautical roots with a love of design to create geographically personalized jewelry items. This is a pretty methodical approach. It's a little bit different from the common style that we see, which is like just try a bunch of stuff and see what happens. And hey, that can be my style too. I'm more of a let's try things and see what happens approach.

But I can also appreciate when people take a more strategic intentional direction. And in this case, the person you're gonna hear about, she spent two years preparing to launch the business, learning all about pricing, marketing, building websites, you know, all the things, all while working her job. And then she spends another year working two jobs as the business grows, but get this, it's worth it because the business soon begins bringing in more than a hundred thousand dollars a year. It eventually allows her the chance to relocate and make some even bigger decisions. So there's something to be said for this methodical approach.

I gotta say the story is called Loan Officer Charts New Course with Nautically Inspired Jewelry. My name's Chris Guillebeau, your host of Side Hustle School. That story is coming right up. [Music]

The years before the official launch of her side hustle, Charlotte Guptill had enjoyed making and sharing jewelry with family and friends. Typically working with pearls, semi-precious stones and oxidized silver.

It was after a friend encouraged her that it was something she was meant to do, that the wheel started turning. After taking a course to come up with a business plan to continue to design and sell jewelry with these materials, she was ready to launch. But as many listeners know, it's not always that easy. When she presented her idea to a jeweler at a seminar, they said it would be best to go in a different direction. She was told her designs would be too common.

And listen, I'm all about ignoring the haters, pursuing your own path, et cetera. But in this case, the advice wasn't wrong. So she locked herself away in her studio to brainstorm a new plan. As a lover of sailing and a resident of the state of Maine, Charlotte was a longtime nautical enthusiast. She looked around her studio and found herself surrounded by nautical charts and maps.

How could she combine these two passions? Well, it was here where Chart Metalworks was born. And she found an idea that was far from common. While there were customizable jewelry options available at the time, there was nothing like this. She realized she could highlight and cut out parts of a map that she knew were popular destinations, or that had some personal significance to someone.

When a friend asked if she could capture the beach she got married on, Charlotte knew she had struck gold. She had created a product that would capture a place in someone's memory. Still, she didn't start right away. In fact, she worked on the project for two years before launching. During this time with a day job as a mortgage loan officer, she learned pricing, marketing, how to make a website.

She took Fridays away from the office to focus on the preparation. And because her job was flexible, she was able to work around the clock, often putting in 10 to 12 hour days on Monday through Thursday. But at night and on the weekends, she would cut the charts and place each specific spot into a bezel, like a pendant, then top it off with resin, another boater's tool. She soon began creating both jewelry and non-jewelry items like key rings. Once she had enough interest and individual sales to prove the concept, she took out a business loan of $15,000 to purchase equipment, such as a high-end laser printer and more supplies.

She was able to pay off this loan in just a year and a half. She threw herself into the world of business at full force, signing on 10 accounts after a small trade show. And after doing everything herself for the first eight months, after those two years of pre-launch, her husband joined in to help. Big things were happening at Chart Metalworks, and they were about to get bigger when Coastal Living Magazine featured them in a full-page article. It took the company from three orders a week to over 90 orders a week.

And from there, Charlotte never looked back. Now, all this time, she was still working as a loan officer, but she knew she'd have to let go of one of her roles in order for the other to flourish. So a year after starting, she made the decision to take the plunge and go all in with the business. It was then that Chart Metalworks also brought on their first employee to help with making the actual product. Though Charlotte and her husband were able to make it work with just the two of them, they got to a point where they couldn't keep up.

There were too many orders, which of course is a good thing and no sign of slowing down. This customized jewelry was highly personal to many buyers, proving to Charlotte again and again that she was doing the right thing. She remembers one piece in particular, ordered by a woman who wanted a necklace featuring the burial location at sea of her son, calling it the most important piece of jewelry she would ever own. By year eight, the business had hit over a million dollars in annual sales. Now, it wasn't all smooth waters.

It came with its fair share of challenges. And looking back, Charlotte was able to pinpoint the change in the business that impacted her the most. She and her husband found themselves selling shares to the business and bringing on partners in order to take more time for themselves. Longing to return to the time when they were grossing 600 to $700,000 a year, but understanding that was not the direction of the company, Charlotte resigned from her leadership position in chart, the business she had founded. And in fact, she eventually sold the company after her company partners presented her with an offer from a buyer.

She was happy to see the brand would continue to live on as she knew the impact it had on others. And though her time with the business came to an end, she was excited for what lay ahead. Never one to stay idle, she immediately began looking for new projects. Charlotte and her husband now live in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, a place they'd always loved visiting and imagined living one day. She says, "If you wait for the perfect time, it may never come." [Music]

Well, as you heard, Chart Metalworks actually got acquired.

She built this business to a million dollar level, more than $100,000 a year in annual profit, and then sold to a buyer. I think it may have actually been sold again to another buyer after that. But our story is about Charlotte and the wonderful methodical path she took to grow and build this business. And first of all, to learn about how to run it in the first place and to spend a lot of time in that preparation. So I love the quote at the end, even though she did spend a good amount of time in preparation, she also says, "If you wait for the perfect time, it may never come." So I'm gonna leave you with that today.

That's my encouragement for you listeners. Inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is so much better. What are you waiting for? What are you waiting for? I hope you will take steps today toward a goal that's important to you.

Of course, continue to listen. The podcast is free. You can download or stream the entire archive of 3,300 episodes at sidehustleschool.com. And of course, the new episodes come out seven days a week, wherever you get your shows. My name is Chris Guillebeau.

You're listening to Side Hustle School. [Music]

From the Onward Project.