Fine Handcrafted Jewelry – Meet Joanie Perales of Fairy Tale Jewels

My guest today is Joanie Perales, the founder of Fairy Tales Jewels. She sells fine handcrafted jewelry for children. Joanie started the company in 2003. She makes handcrafted swarovski crystal jewelry, handcrafted pearl jewelry, and handcrafted silver jewelry. Today Joanie’s handcrafted jewelry are sold in many upscale boutiques across United States, Europe and Canada. The jewelry can also be purchased from the online store of Fairy Tales Jewels. In this interview Joanie talks about her unique handmade jewelry business. Read and get inspired.

How did you come up with the idea for a fine handcrafted jewelry business ?

I wasn’t really searching for a business opportunity. When I first became a Stay-At-Home-Mom, I was looking for a way to release my creative energy. I dabbled with painting, sewing, beading…and beading is what I truly enjoyed. When other’s began to take notice of my work and retailers began requesting wholesale information, what once was a hobby slowly turned into a business venture. It definitely didn’t happen overnight.

What was your main motivation behind starting your own jewelry business ?

Again, my intentions were not to begin a business at all. I was lucky to turn something that I am truly passionate about into a thriving business. I think once you find your true passion, it’s reflected in your work and people begin to take notice. When I realized I was doing something that I loved and was still able to be at home with a my babies and bring in an extra income, those three things combined motivated me to take things to the next level.

Achieving work life balance is always tough for a mother with a business. How do you plan your day? What are your time management tips for mothers with businesses who are trying to juggle work and home lives ?

Unfortunately, there’s honestly not a magical formula to balancing work and home. There are just way too many variables for developing a perfect mix of home and work. I know that my children are my #1 priority. With that, just as being a mother in general, we have to make personal sacrifices. Mine happens to be very little sleep. It’s hard to bead during the day with three toddlers running around. Actually, it’s impossible. Everyday is different, with the exception of me staying up until the wee hours of the morning doing orders.

It’s peaceful, no interruptions, and I don’t have to worry about someone coloring on the walls or letting the bathroom sink overflow, or whose rubbing toothpaste all over themselves. I know that when my children are sick and it comes to taking them to the Doctor or mailing out a rush order, it’s my children who take precedence.

Not to say the customer isn’t important, because at the end of the day, they might understand that your child was sick, but that still doesn’t get their order to them any quicker. So in situations like such, I might have to sacrafice financially by absorbing the cost of shipping the item Overnight so my personal life doesn’t affect my business. You just have to take things day by day and know what’s most important.

What is the most enjoyable element of your work ?

I love the whole customer care aspect of my business. The greatest reward for me is knowing that I’m creating a special keepsake for someone’s daughter, granddaugter, niece, etc. I also love the design process. But, with my company growing so quickly right now, I don’t have time to focus on new designs, which is a bummer! I know eventually that’s where I will focus my attention, but for right now, I’ve got to take all the necessary strides in growing my business.

Have you got any tips for women who want to set up an online store ?

I have so many tips that I’ve learned over the past couple of years, I should probably write a book! Oh the things I could do if there were more hours in the day!I think a lot of women shy away from creating an online store because they feel they have to pay someone big bucks for a website. So not true. Now my website may not be the snazziest, but it gets the job done. And the best part…it only costs me $19.99 a month! There are a ton of companies that offer low-cost e-commerce solutions. I personally use Homestead.com.You can purchase your domain name, download their FREE site-building software, integrate a FREE shopping cart from Mals-e.com and literally be online within 24 hours….it’s that easy!

Another free service is setting up a PayPal Premiere Business account, which will allow you to accept credit cards through your website. One last tip for your we graphics and photos…I’m not the best with reading instructions. I prefer the “learn as you go” method. So, those big photo-editing programs like PaintShop Pro are just too in depth for me. I use an old version of Microsoft PictureIt! Publishing (I think the 2002 version) that costs me around $7.00 on Ebay and I love it! It’s what I use to make all of my graphics and funky photos on my site.

In business, what are the most valuable lessons you have learned over time?

Expect to make mistakes and learn as you go. You’re not going to be perfect with every aspect of building your business. For me, I had the product line down, the packaging down, but the financial part was a big hurdle for me. I’m a horrible numbers person.Have faith in what you’re doing and go with your gut. My husband didn’t take my “hobby” turning into a business seriously for a long time. Why? I had only switched hobbies about 80 times before I found what I truly loved. So for him, beading was just the “hobby of the moment”. I stayed strong and believed in what I was doing and eventually made a believer out of him as well.

Not everyone is going to LOVE your product as much as you do. Just because someone turns your product down, don’t get discouraged. There’s always someone else whose ready to take a leap of faith on your product and believe in it as much as you.You don’t have to have a lot of money to start your own business. I literally started with absolutely nothing. .

What you do need it the determination and the positive “I can” attitude. Be willing to take the initiative and do your research. Nobody’s going to come hand you a perfectly packaged business on a silver platter. The journey of building something that’s your own is part of the fun. There’s always something new you learn along the way.

Finally, your five keys to success ?

1. PASSION – To me, this is the most important key to success. You have to truly, truly love what you are doing or you will fail. It’s that simple. This past month I personally hand-crafted over 500 pieces of jewelry, all by myself. Aside from that, I processed each order, ran credit card transactions, invoiced wholesale and dropship accounts, printed shipping labels, maintained my website, answered customer care issues both by phone and online, packaged each jewel in it’s own gift box, and packaged it again for shipping, went to the Post Office at least one time a day (sometimes three), traveled to the bead store (usually a 2.5 hour roundtrip) at least twice a week, ordered shipping supplies, beading materials, packaging materials, took care of customers whose packages were lost in the mail (by re-doing their orders and re-shipping at my expense), the list goes on and on, but I won’t bore you. Oh yes, and did I mention I have a 2 year old, a 3 year old and a 5 year old…and a husband! The point is, I like to bake, but the thought of baking 500 cakes and preparing them to ship and all the other little details above would drive me crazy. I would quit after 5 cakes!
2. EXCEPTIONAL CUSTOMER CARE – This is extremely hard to come by this day and age of e-commerce. People are so easy to place the blame on someone else because there is no face-to-face contact. That’s why you have to go above and beyond to take care of your customers. Point-in-Case: I was at one of my supplier’s a couple of weeks ago and they had sent out the wrong product. Plain and simple, they should have corrected the issue. The customer needed the product asap, but the supplier didn’t want to pay $15.00 to Express the correct item because the item was only $2.00. To me this is POOR customer service. Everytime there is an issue and your name is associated with it, you have an opportunity to make it right. Example: I had shipped two packages for 2nd-Day Delivery (major international shipping company) going to two different destinations. When I checked the status of the packages online, there was no trace of them. So I called, no information. It was basically their word against mine. I was told they would follow up with me, never heard back. So, I assumed they were lost forever. The bad part was that they were engraved items and they were needed by Saturday. It was already Friday afternoon. So, I drove to the bead store (2.5 hour round-trip), re-purchased all three engraved items, paid over $100 for both packages to be re-shipped and delivered in time. Notified the customers not to worry, they would have their product on time for their special occasion and everyone was happy. Guess what, the original packages showed up in their system on Saturday and were scheduled for Monday delivery. So, not only did I lose on re-placing the product, I ended up paying over $100 in shipping them next day, then the company charged me the original shipping fees and the return shipping fees. Horrible customer service. I never want to be so big that I’m not able to provide my customers with exceptional customer service.
3. BELIEVE – You have to believe in yourself and exude confidence or you will fall weak to the competition. Don’t worry about the competition, embrace it and see it as an opportunity for you to become bigger and better.
4. PERSISTENCE – It’s an old cliche, but it’s so true, “If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again”. You’re going to hit a few bumps in the road, but that’s ok and it’s expected. The meaning of persistence is continuing to exist despite interference or treatment. I’ve had many pitfalls, but I’ve learned, I’ve grown and I’m better now for experiencing certain situations.
5. PATIENCE – Be patient and know that “good things come to those who wait”. If you try to do too much or grow too fast, you miss out on the little things. Their are so many business that end up failing because they don’t have the patience to nuture their business in it’s infancy. Just because you are successful in one market doesn’t make you a big hit all over the world. Take the time to do your research and don’t be so consumed with the financial gain that all you see is $$.

Sites Of Interest

Visit Joanie’s website to get more information about her fine handcrafted jewelry business.

This interview was published on 2nd October 2007