251. Redefining Luxury: How Nicole Wegman Built Ring Concierge

Summary

Podcast Summary: How'd She Do That?

Episode 251: Redefining Luxury – How Nicole Wegman Built Ring Concierge
Date: September 30, 2025
Host: Emily Landers
Guest: Nicole Wegman, Founder & CEO of Ring Concierge

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Episode Overview

This inspiring episode centers on the entrepreneurial journey of Nicole Wegman, founder of the acclaimed luxury jewelry brand Ring Concierge. Host Emily Landers guides a candid, in-depth discussion, exploring Nicole's path from a fashion major in upstate New York to launching her own disruptive, female-led fine jewelry company. The conversation provides actionable insights for founders, reflects on the evolving retail landscape, and delves into overcoming industry barriers. Listeners gain both practical takeaways and encouragement for their own professional pursuit.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Nicole’s Upbringing and Early Career (03:25 – 08:51)

• Background: Nicole grew up in Rochester, upstate New York, far from NYC both geographically and culturally.
• Education: Attended Cornell University for its Fiber Science and Apparel Design program.

  “It was actually a bachelor of science, which everyone thought was kind of funny because it, you know, it was quote unquote, a fashion major.” (03:55 – Nicole)

• First Professional Steps: Entered Macy’s Inc. product development training, learning end-to-end process of merchandising, manufacturing, and pricing for mass retail.
• Transition to Buying: Nicole switched to Bloomingdale’s e-commerce division during the early boom in online fashion retail, gaining vital experience in multi-channel merchandising.

The Origins of Ring Concierge (08:16 – 15:50)

• The Spark: Personal frustration with the antiquated, male-dominated jewelry industry—specifically, the unpleasant experience of shopping in Manhattan’s 47th Street Diamond District—made her realize a market gap.
• Company Vision:

  “I could just be this bridal concierge and help couples buy engagement rings and learn how the industry works. So it's really transparent and comfortable.” (10:33 – Nicole)

• Founding the Business: With advice from her now-husband to simply replace her own salary, Nicole bootstrapped the brand. Her initial investments were minimal:

  “I spent $2,000 of our savings on a website...went onto LegalZoom and filed for an LLC, and I think I bought some business cards. That was it.” (15:20–15:49 – Nicole)

Lean Startup & Proof of Concept (15:20 – 16:49)

• Lean Experimentation: Nicole followed principles from The Lean Startup, aiming for fast, scrappy proof of concept rather than pouring resources into a grand launch.
• Early Clients & Model: Friends and their partners became early clients; Nicole developed supplier relationships by offering to help at no extra charge, using service fees as her initial business model.

  “My goal there was to meet different diamond suppliers and jewelers and try to figure out how it all worked by helping people buy their engagement rings.” (16:52 – Nicole)

• Organic Growth: Instagram played a pivotal role, even before business accounts existed. Ring Concierge’s account rapidly built an audience at zero marketing spend (19:10).

Scaling the Brand: From Service to Retail (19:59 – 22:29)

• Customer-Driven Evolution: Requests from clients for additional products led Nicole to expand into lower price-points and eventually launch a retail site.
• Multi-brand Retailer Phase: Initially hosted indie jewelry lines on consignment to avoid carrying inventory.
• Transition to Proprietary Label: Gradually shifted toward developing and carrying only the Ring Concierge label as demand and cashflow grew.

  “It was a slow rollout...until I really was able to commit to the inventory buys...it took a long time to move from multi-brand to solo brand. It wasn't an overnight shift.” (31:36–32:09 – Nicole)

Milestones, Challenges, and Pivots (23:19 – 32:09)

• Early Validation:

  “The very second real paying client I had…had a hundred thousand dollar budget and I was like, oh my God...if that's the caliber of people who are going to use this service, like I think I'm onto something here.” (23:19 – Nicole)

• Bootstrapped Growth: Nicole shares how profitability was a necessity, not a choice, because of her minimal overhead and organic marketing. This allowed the company to remain self-funded for over a decade.
• Reflection on Modern Startup Landscape: She credits her early entry on Instagram as serendipity, acknowledging organic growth on platforms is harder today, but other “early adopter” opportunities still exist (TikTok, etc.).

  “There are definitely ways to make it happen...but I think there is still, still something to being scrappy and patient...the business was tiny for many years.” (27:08–27:56 – Nicole)

• Admitting Failure: Nicole recounts launching a lower-priced “diffusion line” called ‘Vow’ to reach broader budgets, which ultimately failed due to a misunderstanding of her brand audience.

  “It was a total flop...What went wrong is I wasn't talking to the customer enough. We made an assumption...they didn't want that.” (28:27–30:10 – Nicole)

Navigating a Male-Dominated, Insular Industry (32:09 – 34:02)

• Barriers Faced: Nicole details the skepticism and condescension from older, male jewelry suppliers, especially as an industry outsider.

  “All of these men...definitely looked down on me. I think they thought I was this silly girl. I was young, I had no experience...There’s parts of that that are true, but I obviously figured it out.” (32:41 – Nicole)

• Professionalism & Strategy: Nicole consciously set ego aside to achieve her goals, stating the importance of humility for strategic advancement.

Leadership, Team Building, & Lessons Learned (34:43 – 36:44)

• Evolving Team Needs: Nicole’s biggest and ongoing lesson is building the right team for each phase of business growth.

  “The team I needed in the beginning is not the team I need today. And that’s okay. At the end of the day, we’re all people...But my job as CEO...is to put the business first.” (34:43–36:44 – Nicole)

What’s Next for Ring Concierge (37:08 – 38:14)

• Expansion: Upcoming larger retail space in Soho, set to open for the holidays.
• Product Innovation: Introduction of new materials (silver, vermeil) for more accessible luxury.
• Category Expansion: Hints at a totally new product category outside jewelry, to be revealed in 2026.

  “We are exploring more silver in vermeil...And then...working through a line that is a totally different category than jewelry.” (37:27–38:14 – Nicole)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Bootstrapping and Risk:

  “If I could replace my salary by doing this...it just had to be equal to, like, why not try it?” (11:24 – Nicole)

• On Instagram-Driven Growth:

  “The account blew up organically in those early years really fast for $0. It was just my time, my hand, my pictures.” (19:07–19:54 – Nicole)

• On the Importance of the Right Team:

  “I always think about firm first, not what I emotionally need first. Having the right team to scale the company is something I’m constantly looking at.” (34:43 – Nicole)

• On Failure with the Diffusion Line:

  “We spent a lot of time, a lot of money and a lot of effort to launch something without really understanding what our customers wanted in the first place...” (31:02 – Nicole)

• On Humility & Breaking Barriers:

  “There was a lot of mansplaining...But...to try to, you know, fight back, if you will, on their opinion wouldn’t have benefited me at all.” (33:35 – Nicole)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Upbringing, Education & Early Career – 03:25–08:51
• The Spark Behind Ring Concierge – 08:16–10:52
• Bootstrapping and First Steps – 11:24–16:49
• Role of Instagram & Proof of Concept – 19:10–22:29
• Transformation to Retail & Brand Growth – 19:59–22:29
• Early Win and Business Validation – 23:19–24:45
• Team Building & Slow, Profitable Growth – 24:45–26:23
• Modern Startup Lessons and Social Media – 26:45–27:56
• Discussing Failure (Diffusion Line) – 28:27–31:02
• Industry Barriers & Gender Dynamics – 32:09–34:02
• Biggest Lessons on Team & Leadership – 34:43–36:44
• Future Plans – 37:08–38:14
• Where to Connect with Nicole – 38:49–39:05

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Final Thoughts

Nicole Wegman’s journey with Ring Concierge illustrates the power of identifying market gaps, the necessity of risk-taking, the dynamics of shifting from scrappy startup to established brand, and the critical importance of team adaptation at each stage. Her candid stories—of wins, failures, networking, and humility—offer a real-world blueprint and inspiration for aspiring entrepreneurs, especially women breaking into insular or male-dominated spaces.

Connect with Nicole & Ring Concierge:

• @ringconcierge on Instagram (best way to follow the brand story directly)
• ringconcierge.com

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Summary by How’d She Do That? Podcast Summarizer – covering all the key takeaways and gems from Emily Landers’ conversation with Nicole Wegman, September 2025.

Transcript

[A]

Hi everyone. I am Emily Landers and this is How'd she do that? A podcast answering that question each episode.

[B]

Guys, I'm so excited about today's conversation.

[A]

With Ring Concierge founder and CEO Nicole Wegman. It is such a fascinating conversation and I know many of you are very familiar with Ring Concierge and you love it. Well, this conversation is for you.

[B]

But before we dive in, I wanted.

[A]

To give some live updates as I'm heading into. Well, I am in my third trimester of my first pregnancy with our son who is joining us in November. And every time I do these introductions, usually the Monday before Tuesday episode drops. I look at the date and I cannot believe what the date is. So it's September 29, 2025. If you're listening to this tomorrow, that's when the episode drops on the 30th.

[B]

I can't believe it. With a due date in November, it's.

[A]

All happening so quickly. So I've mentioned on the podcast, last week's episode in the introduction, I believe about our upcoming, my upcoming maternity leave through the spring, which is going to be great.

[B]

And I hope you all will check.

[A]

Out our sponsor, shop hsdt.com our e commerce shop that reintroduces you or introduces you to previous and upcoming guests as well as friends of the show. We have new brands added regularly. Do check it out. Shop hsd hsdt.com well another way to make our day. And when I say we, I mean my team here at hsdt. We have an intern, we have an E comm lead and others who support the show. We would love to hear from you. We would love to see a five star review over on itunes and Spotify. It is the greatest gift that you.

[B]

Can give me and as I get.

[A]

A little bit more sentimental further into my pregnancy, I just, I'm so grateful to see those come through. And of course if you are listening live, do snap a photo of wherever you're listening from. We love to see lots of artists. Many of you listen to us while.

[B]

You are on a walk.

[A]

Snap a photo. Be sure to tag myself, the podcast and Nicole, we would love to see what you're up to while you're listening to today's episode. Guys, always more fun and more updates happening in my DMs. Should you have an update for the podcast or an idea, send it my way. Always open to listener feedback. All right, sit back and enjoy the show. Today's guest is Nicole Wegman, the founder and CEO of Ring Concierge, a luxury.

[B]

Jewelry brand Transforming how women shop for.

[A]

Engagement rings and fine jewelry.

[B]

With a background in fashion and a sharp eye for design, Nicole launched the.

[A]

Brand in 2013 to make high quality.

[B]

Customizable pieces more accessible. Her fresh take on bridal and fine.

[A]

Jewelry has built a loyal following and.

[B]

Turned ring concierge into a go to.

[A]

Destination for modern women. Nicole, welcome to How'd she do that?

[B]

Hi.

[C]

Thanks for having me.

[B]

Oh, I've been so excited about this conversation. You have worked with so many of our previous guests and to see your pieces and to see you today, I can't wait to dive in. Listeners love to just get to know our guests right off the bat. So perhaps I pass the mic to you. Maybe you can tell us a little bit about your upbringing and ultimately where you went to school.

[A]

Sure.

[C]

So I grew up in upstate New York. And when I say upstate New York, I mean really up in far west. I was from Rochester, which is closer to Canada than it is to New York City. So people always think, I mean like Westchester area. I don't. I always knew I wanted to do something in fashion. So when I graduated high school, I went to Cornell because they have a fashion program and they weren't too far from home.

[B]

What was the major called?

[C]

Fiber science and apparel design. It was actually a bachelor of science, which everyone thought was kind of funny because it, you know, it was quote unquote, a fashion major. But it was really interesting because we learned a lot about. We did a lot of case studies about different retail companies. It wasn't just kind of the pretty side of things. We also learned about the business side. And I originally wanted to be a designer, and my mom kind of gave me a reality check saying, like it, you don't have that talent, so. So you need to pick something you can actually make money doing. And so when I graduated, I started in a training program at Macy's Inc. Developing their private label brands. And that is where I learned a lot about product development, production, working hand in hand with designers and the design team who actually were good at what they did and kind of learned start to finish the process of manufacturing of apparel and the business behind it and the strategy behind pricing for mass consumers. So that's how I started my career in the first few years.

[B]

Okay, and Was that on 34th Street? The. Their corporate offices are above that store, right?

[C]

It was right by Penn Station. They have a few offices. Not a glamorous part of the city. Kind of elbow through the Penn Station area every day. It was a good learning experience. I. I can't say I wanted to do that forever, though.

[B]

Right. And how long did that program last? And then ultimately, did you stay at Macy's? I know sometimes they can find roles, you know, after those programs, what did that look like?

[C]

So I was there for about three years, and then I realized I wanted to try buying. And so I moved over to Bloomingdale's, which is under the Macy's umbrella. And I did the buying program there for a few years, specifically in their E Comm division. And this was when E Com was starting to blow up for apparel across the industry. It was still very separated from the brick and mortar business. They had an entire different E Comm team than they did the brick and mortar team. Now, today, that's not how it works at any company. You know, the buyers are omnichannel. You buy for, let's say, men's apparel, and you buy it for both stores. You know, maybe you're working with all the other channels you're on as well as E Com. So what was really cool about that, not only did I learn the job of buying, which I still love, that job, I learned about E Com and what works on a website versus what works in stores, and got a lot of really great experience there. That was really instrumental when I launched the website and bring concierge about two, three years later.

[B]

Okay, interesting. Now tell me this. What years are we talking about while you're in the city? When did you start at Macy's and then kind of, what was the. The timeline for perhaps the end at Bloomingdale's?

[C]

I started at Macy's in 2004, and I left Bloomingdale's in 2013, so went through the recession in these jobs, which was also a really good learning experience. What does it look like in retail when the climate's really, really tough and how do you need to operate differently? So an interesting time to be in those businesses.

[B]

Oh, most definitely.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

To be able to say, okay, how are we even?

[C]

It was not 2004.

[B]

2008 is when I. Oh, 2008. Yes, that makes sense. 2008 also.

[C]

No, I wasn't.

[B]

Yes, 2008 to 2013. But still, regardless, that timeline is insane. And for you to be in those roles and to be learning so much. I'm curious, though, during these roles, is this where you're thinking, okay, I'm learning so much? I mean, from the element of mass consumption, as you mentioned earlier, to prices on different elements of what that could look like. What does well in E commerce?

[A]

What.

[B]

What does well in the store. These are lessons that small businesses or entrepreneurs, it takes them years. You got a crash course within this timeframe 2008 to 2013 was what was there, what was it about? Maybe what you were learning or perhaps something in you all along that thought, I'd like to do something, I'd like to do my own thing.

[C]

At some point, well, I really jumped. Think there was an aha moment. I want to be an entrepreneur. What actually happened? I was six, I was engaged and I was getting married. And I knew I wanted to make a change in my career. I enjoyed learning about product development and buying, but I didn't like being at such a big company. I wanted to make a change, maybe somewhere smaller, perhaps a D2C or something like that. And more importantly, I need to focus on planning my wedding.

[A]

So.

[C]

I quit my job thinking I'll just get this wedding in order. I didn't have a planner. And then after I get married, I'll resume looking for a job, get back into fashion, retail and sort it all out. But during this time period, I was also going through the process of buying wedding bands. I had just picked out my engagement ring the prior year with my, my now husband. I was very involved in that. And I had started to think about the jewelry industry. I had never thought about it as a career path because I didn't know anybody working in jewelry. Everyone I graduated with at Cornell in my program all went to apparel companies, apparel or accessories. And I never heard of anyone working with fine jewelry. It didn't even cross my mind. And the reason for that is because it's a very antiquated industry, very close knit, and it's family run and passed down. So there isn't really any room for outsiders. It's also very male dominated. Almost the entire industry are men. And so when I was going through this process and I went to 47th street in Manhattan and I don't know if you've been to the diamond district. Wildly unpleasant. It's a very sketchy experience. You don't know if you're getting ripped off, you don't know if you're even buying a real diamond. And then here, couples are spending tens of thousands of dollars on a ring and it's unpleasant and that's not how the experience should be. And so I started to think about, well, maybe I don't go back into fashion. I was simultaneously applying for jobs, but I was simultaneously thinking about maybe I should try something in jewelry and started to ideate on what ring concierge could be and the reason it's named Ring Concierge is because. Because I thought, you know, I could just be this bridal concierge and help couples buy engagement rings and learn how the industry works. So it's really transparent and comfortable. Started as this small idea to help people buy one off custom engagement rings.

[B]

Oh, I love it. I love to hear the details behind it and the element of what was happening in your personal life at that time.

[A]

Right.

[B]

It's always fascinating to hear from founders like yourself. What is the timeline of the. The personal, you know, elements that are at play that are hugely important and impactful to be 26 and engaged and say, okay, I need to focus on my wedding. What's next for me? Right. So when did it look like? Okay, this. This idea that I'm loving, I think I want it to come to fruition. I think I want to take the steps towards doing this.

[C]

I. I believe I did some temp work at Barney's in their buying office. I really wanted to work at Barney's because in my mind, I was going to be a buyer at Barney's, and they didn't have an open position, but they had a temp position for a buying role. And I went in there and I did, and I thought, okay, this is gonna be my foot in the door. And I lasted five days and realized it's not really about how cool the company is. This just isn't going to make me happy in general. And that's when I thought, I need to probably do something on my own. Like, if I'm not happy in the bar's office, which at the time was like the mecca of fashion, I'm probably not going to be happy doing this anywhere. And my husband had a stable job, and we talked about it, and he's like, all right, try this for a little bit. And we agreed on if I could replace my salary by doing this. It didn't have to be more. It just had to be equal to, like, why not try it? And the good news for me there is I had a pretty low salary coming. Not an industry known for high paychecks.

[B]

Right.

[C]

So I just figured, okay, I just have to replace this. This salary with selling a couple engagement rings. Like, maybe I can try it. And we didn't have money to pour into the business. And at the time, investors or any. Nothing like that crossed my mind. It was way too small of an idea, and I didn't even know about fundraising. So I read a book called the Lean Startup, which at the time is a big trend on how you start a company. And I still am a huge believer in this book. And I think probably now after everything that's happened with D2C's economically over the past few years, people are probably skewing back that direction.

[A]

Welcome to Today's Snack Break. Grab a snack, sit back and relax as I share today's sponsor. Today's episode is brought to you by Shop hsdt, our e Commerce wing of How'd she do that? I'm so excited to share that the shop has been up and running since last October and since doing so we've added new products and brands weekly. Accessories, apparel and more that lifts you up can be found on shophsdt.com when I launched the podcast, I loved it so much.

[B]

I wanted to figure out how I.

[A]

Could make this a substantial business that would allow me to continue on and continue to share these episodes weekly.

[B]

Of course our sponsors are a great.

[A]

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[B]

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[C]

Concept was how do you Start a company and get some proof of concept without putting in a ton of time, a ton of effort, and a ton of money. How do you just check if this thing is gonna work? So I spent $2,000 of our savings on a website from. I don't even remember what the platform was. Some basic platform. I went onto LegalZoom and filed for an LLC, and I think I bought some business cards. Like, I'm not joking. That was it. That's what I spent to start the company.

[B]

Love it.

[C]

And I just started figuring out who in the industry I could work with and pulling clients in for my own network because everybody my age was getting engaged, and that was it. That was the idea, and that was the start of it. It took, like, two months to kick off.

[B]

And even within. I love the lean startup element and the way that you went about it. Extremely lean. Let's find a proof of concept, which some people, myself included, have started different things, and we don't even know what proof of concept is. We're like, let's just see if anyone cares about this. Right? But for you to think through and say, okay, I'm gonna get my clients, my friends, Right? At this age, are you 26 at this time?

[C]

26. Perfect age for friends getting engaged.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Perfect age to say, hey, let's. Let's try this. Help me. Help me. Help you. You help me. Let's figure this out together. So what did those first initial conversations look like with clients, maybe even friends? Were you going to the diamond district with them? Were you pulling items? What did that even look like? And how did you get into the room to do so?

[C]

So it's with friends. I didn't charge them anything.

[A]

My.

[C]

My goal there was to meet different diamond suppliers and jewelers and try to figure out how it all worked by helping people buy their engagement rings. And so I would just say, let me to their boyfriends at the time. Let me come with you. Let me help you. I know what she likes. I have good taste. I understand her aesthetic. And I just spent all this time researching diamonds. I took some online courses at GIA and got some basic certifications. And so, you know, there was no reason for them to not bring me along. And in that process, helping a handful of friends buy rings, I met different jewelers and I met different suppliers, and that's how I figured out who I would and wouldn't want to work with. And then from there, started getting referrals from friends for people I didn't know that were actually paying clients, paying customers. They Paid me at the time a service fee for me to work with them. So I didn't add markup to the engagement ring, but I charged a spot service fee. So it was really more of a service business in the beginning, less so. A retail company.

[B]

Right. Okay, this is really interesting and I love to know how you've pivoted since then. And I know listeners, many of them are likely familiar with you and what we're getting to, where we're at now, which is an incredible company, but to think of you running around making sure that you are getting to know these suppliers, helping clients. And to your point, being more of a service, service based, you know, model and company, what did it look like? What was kind of the timeline that you stayed within that realm? And at this time, are you calling yourself the ring concierge? Is there a website? What did those little pieces and elements of the marketing side look like as you were launching?

[C]

Yes, I called myself ring Concierge. I think that was one of the other expenses that $2,000 went towards buying the domain, getting the trademark really, really basic. But I knew I wanted that name from day one. And I designed the website myself. I want to say I bought stock imagery probably right. Model wearing a ring. It was really basic. And one of the things I did very early on, which now does not sound like that interesting of an idea, but at the time it was, is I started a ring concierge Instagram account. And this is 12, 13 years ago.

[A]

This.

[C]

Business accounts even existed. Right. It was just there was one kind of Instagram and it was really meant for personal use and some fashion world folks were starting to dabble, but absolutely not in the world of luxury and absolutely not in the world of jewelry. It was definitely looked like down upon something like that with a luxury company. But I used it very early on because I obviously recognized that that was what my generation was doing. And the account blew up organically in those early years really fast for $0. It was just my time, my hand, my pictures. And that's how I grew past referrals and grew. Started to grow it to a business where people knew what it was outside of my own network.

[B]

And at that time, was there a website or just the Instagram?

[C]

No, there. Well, there was a website with a contact form, but I didn't offer anything on the website. The website didn't launch until 2017. And that's because I had worked with clients for a few years at that point just doing custom work and they had a good experience and they wanted to Keep shopping for me. But all I was able to accommodate were custom pieces which by default are a higher price price point. And you don't always want to spend $4,000 on a birthday present. You might want to spend $500. And so I realized there was a need for something at a lower price point in a more mass scale. And so that's when I launched website and it started as a multi brand retailer. I reached out to a different, a variety of different indie designers and said, hey, I have this platform, I sell these high end rings. Can I carry your product on the, the site as a consignment model.

[B]

So I didn't have to buy anything.

[C]

And not until to really take off. And I was able to better predict that being a viable revenue stream did I start purchasing my own inventory and developing my own lines. And now it is completely, you know, our own ring concierge label. We're not a multi brand retailer, but that was an evolution over the early years.

[B]

Oh, that's fascinating. And to think too, I mean just, just for listeners sake to think of the original hope and heart behind the business bridal. But as you're, as you're mentioning, you know, I'm sure that couples would come back and say, okay, it's our anniversary, we want to get something from you. And you see this opportunity to think through. Okay, I need to expand. Was that something that you had eyes on from the beginning or was that something that really came to fruition as you continued? I mean, as you learned the business and grew it.

[C]

I did not think past replacing my $42,000 salary in the first place.

[B]

Exactly.

[C]

That was the bar. I'm telling you, the bar was not that high and not until I started. And this is something I've always done and still do. I was reacting to what clients and customers wanted.

[A]

Right.

[C]

First step was I saw a need and I knew my friends didn't like shopping for engagement rings. Great, I'm going to fill that need by helping be your concierge. Then customers saying, I want more from you. And I thought through what could that mean? And then I launched the website and we still operate that way. What do they need? What do they want? Great. How can we service that? So no, it was a very small dream of just not wanting to work at a department store those first few.

[B]

Days and then two to think through it being a multi brand retailer, which makes perfect sense. As you mentioned, you, you didn't have to hold product right at that time. You could say, hey, you know, you look like you'd be a great fit for the website. But then ultimately recognizing, okay, our. My customers even want more luxury and more unique elements and my eye, that's what they're really here for. And then to launch your own. I don't want to get ahead of it though. But I just think it's all fascinating and it's so cool to think about the original hopes and then how it's kind of spiraled out towards then. Do you remember, is there a specific memory or a clip client or moment perhaps during the very specific bridal years that you thought, oh, okay, I am going to be able to continue doing this. Perhaps it was when you replaced your salary. Maybe it was a moment or a specific ring. Does anything come to mind?

[C]

Well, I did replace my salary year one, so that was great. So I didn't have to go, oh, that's huge. But I. The very second real paying client I had that year. So not through friends, the second client I ever had and I'll never forget him and he's, you know, remained a client for many years. He had a hundred thousand dollar budget and I was like, oh my God. I don't actually really know what I'm doing at this point. But if that's the caliber of people who are going to use this service, like I think I'm onto something here. It was very stressful and I remember the whole wholesale. I could draw her ring with my eyes closed. This is, this is over a decade and I realized, oh, there's something here. Like this is a big deal. People like this are saying, I want a different way to shop for this category, right?

[B]

Oh my gosh, yes. And you got the perfect ring, I'm sure.

[C]

Oh, it's gorgeous.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Even to think back the second paying client and to recognize. Okay, yeah, this is something. I'm on to something here. Oh, it's fascinating. Well, tell us a little bit because I'm so curious and interested. I mean, you know, you are bootstrapping the business as you've mentioned, very lean in the beginning. You're starting to see what customers want. And then in 2017 that multi brand retailer element comes into play. You can correct me if I'm wrong. Who was on the team at this point? Who is helping you? What did it look like to begin building out the team?

[C]

So the early years it was just me and I would work with different mentors that I had met in the diamond industry to get access to their wholesale supply of diamonds so that I could provide client rings at really good prices. And the Way I did that is I would give them a profit share because otherwise, you know, why are they giving me diamonds at wholesale? I'm kind of nobody at this point. And I was alone and I would use different offices to meet with clients. Then when I launched the website, I hired my first employee and her name was Tiffany. And I remember in the interview she said, you should hire me because my name is Tiffany, like Tiffany's. And I was like, okay, okay, that makes sense.

[B]

You're like love.

[C]

Yeah. I was like, great, good enough. And we worked out of my apartment and we shipped to the website, orders off of my dining table. And that's where we remained for a good year or two until I finally got some office space, started hiring more people, got support on the diamond sales side of things, a little bit more support with the operations of the website. And it's slowly grew from there. But it was a super slow start. And it's not how people would start a business today. You know, you'd fundraise and you'd hire a team and you'd have this big go to market strategy. But what it accidentally allowed for was to force me to be profitable. I had to make the business profitable from day one. And it wasn't that hard to do because my overhead was super low because I did so much, much of it. So it was a slow grow, but it was a profitable growth. And that is why I was able to bootstrap the business for over a decade and not have to sell a big chunk of the company in order to continue.

[B]

Right. Which is amazing. Now I would be curious your insights on this. Do you think that's still possible for businesses today? Or do you think the timing and whatnot and just your go getter spirit allowed for that to come to fruition? Do you think that's something that people can still do today at the end? I mean, because the way that you built your business. If I were to ever build one, I would hope to do it as lean as you did.

[C]

I do, I have. I don't think it had anything to.

[A]

Do with the climate.

[C]

What I think I got lucky on because I'm a big believer in you can get lucky with something. What I got lucky with was being early on Instagram and not having to pay for ads until many years. Could you grow a business the way I did using Instagram organically now? No, you, it's a pay to play model.

[B]

Right.

[C]

And it wasn't at the time. But that doesn't mean there aren't other ways to do it, you know, four years ago you could have done it on TikTok, no problem. If you're an early adapter to TikTok, you, many companies did, you could blow up without spending a lot pretty quickly. So there are definitely ways to make it happen. Could you rinse and repeat the way I did it now with Instagram? No, definitely not. But I think there is still, still something to being scrappy and patient. That's the other big thing, patience. You know, the business was tiny for many years. It didn't turn into a multi million dollar business until many years into doing it. So if you're trying to blow something up and exit, I mean, I don't think you really want to wait a decade to do it, which is how long it took me to get to the point where I could, you know, had the option to exit if I wanted to.

[B]

Every element that you just shared I think is kind of a pause and rewind moment for listeners who are looking for that encouragement and to think through their own business. But I am curious, you know, there's always elements and I'm sure you would speak to this as a founder and like you said that Patience keeping things moving even as you're looking ahead and curious as to how far, you know, the business can go. I'd love to know, is there any moment of failure that you would say helped shape you ring concierge, your career?

[C]

Yeah, definitely. It was, I want to say it was 2020 and we'd been working on it, I believe before the pandemic even started a diffusion line for bridal. At that time, our opening price to work with us was $10,000 on an engagement ring and the average engagement ring in the country was $5,000. So by default we were skewing to a much higher end clientele. Our average ring was like $30,000. It still is, but we wouldn't even work with clients for less than 10 because we just couldn't accommodate the volume. And so we thought we want a way to accommodate people with a more opening price point budget. How do we do this? And so we started to develop a diffusion line and we spent a year designing it, developing it, producing samples, figuring out how can we make these engagement rings for a little bit less because right now they're all they were and they still are all completely handmade in New York City by Master Bench Jewelers. So it's not an economical way to make a ring, but it's very, very high end way to make a ring. And so we have this huge launch moment for this diffusion line of bridal called vow. And we launched it and we've been building it up on social and we had planned it to do, you know, like 20% of the revenue of the total company. And it was a total, total flop. Total flop. And we kind of let it like ride for two years until we finally said, we have to shut this off. And what went wrong? Ultimately, what went wrong is I wasn't talking to the customer enough. We made an assumption, we made an assumption that they would want something like this to accommodate that average $5,000 budget, but they didn't want that.

[A]

Right.

[C]

We were able to command, and are able to command a higher price point because we are, we are attracting a slightly higher end clientele, that is who is our shopper. And we were not able to accom. We were not able to attract this $5,000 price point. That's not who our followers were and that's not who wanted to work with us. And what was really happening was that they were kind of looking at it as like, well, this isn't really ring concierge and I only want rain concierge, so I'm not even interested in this at all. And they were figuring stretch up to kind of hit that $10,000 rather than going to buy the diffusion line, which is available on our website. And so all of that to say we spent a lot of time, a lot of money and a lot of effort to launch something without really understood, understanding what our customers wanted in the first place. And that ultimately was the biggest mistake.

[B]

Fascinating that you would not have necessarily had that full understanding. It was elements that you likely understood and saw in the business. But then for that launch to happen, and it just reiterated what perhaps were questions around customers and clients and who's willing. But then it just pushed you right back into that base of incredible clients and customers, Customers who love you. So wonderful example. Thank you so much for sharing. I do want to just mention what year did your specific line launch on the website? Do you recall what year that was?

[C]

It was a slow rollout. It wasn't that long after I launched the website. Maybe 2018, I started to do some private label work, but it was my brand as well as the other designers for many years until I had a broad enough assortment and was able to really commit to the inventory buys because in order to work with manufacturers, you have to hit minimums. And so it took a long time to move from multi brand to solo brand. It wasn't an overnight shift. It was a slow progression.

[B]

You had mentioned, too, and earlier in the conversation, how male dominated this industry is. You made a great point on family. You know, family, you know, fathers passing it down to daughters, and on and on and on. And I think we have some examples of that previously on the podcast. But you've really come in and come into the industry. Has it been welcoming? Do you feel as though others recognize ring concierge and what you've brought to the industry today?

[C]

Yes. I mean, everyone in the industry knows who we are. We're a big company for this.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

This industry, the jewelry industry is massive. It's like $80 billion, but it's very fragmented. A ton of mom and pops, a ton of single locations, a ton of smaller jewelry companies. And so at this point, we're well renowned for being one of the bigger players in the space. But in the early years, all of these men, who were typically older men and have been doing it their own whole lives definitely looked down on me. I think they thought I was this silly girl. I was young, I had no experience and just thought, oh, she just kind of thinks jewelry is cool. She has no idea what she's doing. There's parts of that that are true, but I obviously figured it out, and it was. It was pretty demeaning. They would definitely speak down to me. A lot of mansplaining, like, so much mansplaining you could eat, like, ripped your eyeballs out. But, you know, I had to be polite back. I. At that point, I needed them where they needed me.

[A]

Right.

[C]

And I. And to try to, you know, fight back, if you will, on their opinion wouldn't have benefited me at all. Now, today, I can sit down in front of anybody at any company in the whole space, and they're going to take me seriously. But it took a long time to get there, and you really have to put your ego aside in a situation like that and think about, well, what do I really need out of this situation? And is, you know, having an ego going to benefit me or not?

[A]

Usually.

[B]

Right, right. And to even have that humility and understanding of, okay, I need. Even though this guy is being crazy right now, I need him more than he needs me. I think that's a huge lesson that a lot of people can't quite get to that level of understanding that you've got to get there to go to the next level. So I think that's an amazing point. Oh, my gosh. Well, Nicole, this has been so fun to hear about.

[A]

Gosh, the.

[B]

The beginning stages of ring concierge, of course, where it is now. I am curious though, and I love to ask us this question. It's slightly loaded, I give a little heads up. But perhaps what is the greatest lesson that you have learned, whether it be through your career, life, whatever area you may be interested in sharing with us.

[C]

I think the biggest lesson for me, and it's, it applies, it's applied in an evolving way, is how critical having the right team is and how that changes with the growth of the business. The team I needed in the beginning is not the team I need today. And that's okay. And how do you recognize that? How do you make changes or add to your team fast enough? How do you make it the difficult decision that some people you might really like are not the right fit for a business that is of our current or certain of our current size. And it's tough because at the end of the day, we're all people and we're sitting in this office 40 plus hours a week connecting with each other. But my job as the CEO, because I'm not just the founder and get to do the fun things, I'm also the CEO and have to do the hard things, is to put the business first. You always think about firm first, not what I emotionally need first. And having the right team to scale the company is something I'm constantly looking at. So in the early years, what I needed were people that were gonna sit in my apartment with me and pack boxes on the floor, you know, sitting crisscross app sauce until that is not what my current team is probably gonna do. I don't think my cfo, decades of experience would say yes to that. But who I need today are people with experience in scaling a company to the next level. Because the stakes are way higher. The size of the company is bigger. You know, I'm not packing, I will, I'm not above it, but I'm not on the floor packing boxes.

[B]

Right.

[C]

And so we need to be doing long range planning, for example, and having a team that knows how to operate that way. And that for me has been the biggest learning and is still the biggest challenge. Every few years in the business is really critically looking at what team do I need for the business I have today and the business I want this to be in five years from now.

[A]

Well said.

[B]

Like a true leader who I think has many more years ahead of her, steering a fantastic team, adding to it and being prepared for whatever comes your way. So beautifully said, Nicole. And I think this episode is one that I will be rewinding and listening to to some of your insights and just so grateful for your time. And you mentioned a lot of forward thinking just then. I'd love to know what's next for you.

[C]

So I'm really excited about the future of this business. A couple of the more exciting things that would be less expected. We definitely have a retail rollout plan we're thinking about. We are opening a space in Soho this this year that should be really amazing. It'll be our largest store to date that we're super excited about trying to get it open for holiday, knock on wood. We are also exploring new materials for customers. We've only ever worked in gold, platinum and diamonds and now we are exploring more silver in vermeil. Vermeil is silver coated in 18K. So figuring out how to get customers the same look and gorgeous products but maybe at a price. It's a little more attainable in this economic climate. So that's really exciting. And then I'm also really excited about next year. We're working through a line that is a totally different category than jewelry, so I can't really disclose more, but it would be our very first step outside of just selling jewelry.

[B]

I know many listeners are taking notes and are excited and already thinking about a soho visit perhaps. Very exciting. Congratulations on all of it. And Nicole, this has just been so much fun for me to have a little bit of your time again. I so appreciate it. But I do want to know, is there anything that we didn't cover that.

[A]

You had hoped to?

[C]

I don't think so. I think we covered a lot.

[B]

I do too. Years of years of your life and the story behind Ring Concierge. It's just fascinating. And I know I mentioned this earlier in the discussion that many listeners likely are already familiar with you, but please tell us where can they connect with you?

[C]

You can follow us on Reem Concierge on Instagram. You can go to our website rainconciers.com but for me personally, I rec I recommend the Instagram account. It's fun. I'm on there all the time. Our team's on there. I think that's the best way to really understand who we are as a brand.

[A]

Love it.

[B]

Well, I'm sure listeners will head that way shortly if they haven't done so already. And again, Nicole, I cannot thank you enough for your time time.

[A]

This was such a treat to welcome.

[B]

You on How'd she do that?

[C]

Thank you for having me.

[B]

We will talk soon.

[A]

Thank you all for listening to today's episode of how she do that I am Emily Landers. You can follow me on Instagram, Elylanders and the podcast at HowShedo. That podcast, don't forget, today's episode is brought to you by shophsdt.com please be sure to shop over at shophsd before my maternity leave. There are so many amazing brands to familiarize yourself with to listen to while you shop. It's a fantastic experience and I hope you all enjoy. I will talk to you soon. Bye guys.