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Success With Jewelry
145 - Laryssa and Liz on Knowing When (and Whether) to Keep Going With Your Jewelry Business
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Welcome to the Success With Jewelry podcast, hosted by Laryssa Wirstiuk and Liz Kantner — two experts passionate about helping independent jewelry artists thrive. In Episode #145, we’re talking about one of the most universal — yet rarely...
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Welcome to the Success With Jewelry Podcast. Your go to source for real conversations about business marketing and what it actually takes to succeed as a jewelry brand Today. I'm Larissa, the strategist, systems queen and the one who finds joy in turning big marketing challenges into step by step plans that actually work. Email marketing and generating revenue through it is the specialty of my agency, Joy Joya and I'm Liz, your creative compass and advocate for designers doing things differently. I live for brilliant brand storytelling, beautiful visuals, and helping designers confidently show up and shine. I founded the Stay Gold Collective to create community and support for independent jewelry brands. Together, we bring you nearly two decades of jewelry marketing experience. And on this podcast we're pulling back the curtain on everything we've learned. Whether you're just starting out or scaling to your next big milestone, you'll get honest insights, helpful tips, and maybe a few laughs along the way. This is episode 145. Have you ever had one of those moments in your business where you catch yourself wondering, is this a sign I shouldn't be doing this anymore. We've definitely been there. Even with this podcast, it's so easy to look for outside signs to tell us what to do, especially when things feel tough or uncertain. But the real question might not be should I stop? It might actually be how much do I want this? In today's episode, we're getting real about the constant back and forth between doubt and determination that comes with running a business. We'll share our own experiences, talk about how to know when it's time to push through versus when it's time to pivot and give you some questions you can ask yourself the next time you're wondering if you should keep going. Let's get into it. Yay. I feel so excited about this topic today, Liz. Well, it kind of came up because this is the third time we're recording this episode. We've had a few little issues pop up, but we're here now, trying again. And I said to Larissa after the second issue, I was like, should we? Is this a sign? And we've kind of been like full transparency since, I mean, maybe the middle of the summer even. It's kind of like right after we decided we were going to rebrand, we've both been kind of like, should we keep doing this? And we've gone through with the rebrand. We have the rebrand, we're going to launch a rebrand. But we're still kind of seeing these signs and having real conversations about like, should we keep doing this? Podcast? Yeah. Yeah, I think. I mean, Liz and I both have been, like, rethinking parts of our own businesses, and, like, I know for me, I've been going through transition, so I think that all adds to it and brings more questions to the table with all the things we do together also. But, yeah, we had some troubles. We probably wasted at least two hours of our time on recordings that did not work out how they were supposed to. And two hours doesn't seem crazy, but, I mean, we're both really busy and. Yeah. So that's where this topic came about. Yeah. And it. It kind of. It's a good one because I feel like I've talked to a lot of designers recently, and there's a lot going on. I mean, let's acknowledge that it's tough out there. The metal prices alone, the tariffs. There's a lot kind of that feels like it's stacked against small businesses, especially small jewelry businesses. So, you know, a lot of designers I've talked to recently are kind of like, I don't know what I'm doing, or I don't know where to go next. And so it's, I think, a good topic. I think it's also especially hard when you work for yourself and you're just kind of like, I. I have nobody to hold me accountable, you know, and this is hard, and should I keep doing it? And you're your own, like, feedback loop, basically. And in that situation, sometimes the feedback loop in my head is terrifying. Yes, yes, yes, yes. When things are the most stressful, that's when it's really the mental challenge to, like, either stay on course or make really hard decisions. And either way is a thing and is open to you. But I think that's what this episode's about. Yeah. And I think that because the podcast for us is kind of like our fun thing, so two hours is. It's hard to schedule our recordings each week. So two hours is quite a lot. And so when either of us, which I think both of us are experiencing burnout, just in general, you, because you're. You're moving, you're doing a bunch of life changes. And me, just because I'm trying to figure out what a balanced workload looks like with also being. Being a parent, it's. I think we're both burnt out. So it's like doing this on top of it. It's like the first thing that we could cut. We're not going to, but it's something that we've talked about. Yeah. And I don't know how much we want to go into this now versus in the bonus episode, where, side note, in the bonus episode, we're gonna get, like, very, very transparent. But for me, this year, too, I mean, I rebranded, like my other podcast, I changed my business a lot. I went through a lot of growing pains. And there were days where I was like, do I actually want to keep doing this? And so I had to also personally face this question on my own many times this year. I think that also, like, outside of burnout or say, like, for designers out there who are experiencing slow sales right now, which I know there are a lot of, you also, like the imposter syndrome that comes up, the fear of failure, the comparison game. And I know for, for me, with the podcast and putting ourselves out there like this, I hit imposter syndrome a lot. Like, even though I know that we know what we're talking about and we're both good at our jobs, sometimes I'm like, who am I to be on a podcast, Right? No. Should I be here? There are more qualified people. No, but there aren't any other Liz Canners out there. That is true. But that's. This is the feedback loop in my head. Yeah, I get it. I get it. I know. I think when times are easy, like, I would say a lot of jewelry businesses had a peak, like, right Post Covid, maybe 2021, 2022. At least that's what I experienced. When things are easy, you don't have questions like this because why? It's just smooth sailing going along. Life is good, business is good. But when things get difficult, suddenly you're faced with, like, bigger business questions. And there's a saying about that. I can't remember word for word what it is, but that, like, the strongest businesses are built in, like, times of, like, difficulty or recession. Because those are the ones, the ones who do decide they want to stick it out. They have to figure out a way to going. And I'm not saying that's what everyone has to do. And choosing that you want to, you want out of your business doesn't mean you're a failure. Choosing that you want to stop doesn't mean you're a failure. But if you do want to continue, like, this is the time when times are hard to really, like, sink your teeth into it. That's so true. And I think that if you aren't taking signs and questioning things and thinking about pivoting or new ideas, if you're not constantly thinking about your business, then that's when you kind of lose sight. Sight of things. Right. And that's when. That's when you know you could get to a point of no return. Yeah. It's totally healthy to have questions like that. And I think that's where, like, the really positive things will happen in your business because you're forced to, like, make it better and change. Right, Right. So I guess it's kind of shifting from. And I think it's. It's easy to be like, oh, okay, two podcast recordings didn't quite work out the way we want it. Should we just stop this? But it kind of turned into this question for us of, like, do we really want to be doing this? And the answer from both ends was, yes, we do want to do this podcast. We know we have listeners. We love our listeners. We love our insiders. We love coming together and having conversations. And we also think that there's no other podcast quite like ours out there. We're not trying to be this business podcast where we're giving you all of the, you know, ways that you can grow your business from 0 to 2 million overnight. We're trying to have a real conversation with our listeners about the challenges and what it's really like and what does work and what we're seeing is working for our clients. I think what you just said, too, Liz, is a reason why we have doubts about continuing. Because, like, a lot of the quote unquote successful podcasts are so bro y, dare I say, like, very unrealistic, like 5x your business overnight and almost make you feel bad about what you're doing. And we don't want to be that way. So then it makes us wonder, is there space for us? Because we're not sensational, you know, And I think a lot of titles and topics are clickbaity, you know, and that's not a bad thing. Right. When we're talking about SEO and we're talking about what gets people to click on something or listen to something, like, sometimes you do need a hook. You need something that somebody's interested in clicking on. And that's how you grow something quickly. That's how you would grow podcast quickly. And I think that Loris and I are just committed to doing this. We're not trying to grow this to something really, really big. We were in it for the long haul and just the long game. Yeah. And to really build deep relationships with the people we know are listening, because we get the feedback. We know you're out there and listening, and that is really satisfying to us. Yeah. Something I hear time and time again from jewelry designers and makers who are at the bench or in their studio alone. Is that it's just lonely. And it is. It is lonely. I mean, it's lonely being a solopreneur of any kind. Even though I'm on Zoom all day, I'm still alone in my office. And sometimes that feels lonely. You have no one to really chat to or bounce ideas off of. And that's why we launched this podcast in general, because Larissa and I were talking on the phone every week during COVID and we were kind of like, let's record this. That could be really cool. So, yeah, that's how we got here, I guess. And that's kind of what we've decided. That's our why. That's why we keep going. I love that. Me too. So I think that that's a good question to ask yourself when you're kind of like, should I keep going or should I stop? Or is this a sign? Is like, what is my why? And is everything aligning? Am I doing the things that make sense with my why? Totally. I also want to really normalize. Think having a day where you're just like, f this, I don't want to do this anymore, but, like, not being serious about it, but, like, just using that as a way to, like, get out your steam. Like, imagine what. What it would be like if you didn't do what you're doing anymore and just, like, ha, have a pity party and then take a beat and, like, decide what you want to do from there. But I think we all have days like that. No matter what business, no matter what job, no matter what our, like, vocation is, we all have days where we're just like, no, I can't do this anymore. It would be strange if you didn't. I would be shocked if you did not have a day like that. And I think that some of these challenges, too, and that's why it's really good to have someone to talk to about it. Some of them are very temporary, like, and some of them really. For example, one of our misrecordings, one of our issues was kind of this episode that I feel like we had done before. And then a soon as we kind of finished, we. The recording got lost. We couldn't recover it. I got an article about this topic that was like, things are shifting and these new things are happening. So it would have maybe felt like old information anyway. And it was kind of like, well, maybe that happened for a reason. So sometimes these things that feel like Intense challenges at the time, and I think it felt especially challenging because we were so ahead. We took four weeks off this summer. We recorded ahead, and now we're again behind on recording, and we're trying to find time to make it up. And it's just feels frustrating, but I think it was good. I think that where we've gotten to is good, and I'm glad we're aligned on our why and we feel positive about moving forward. Yeah, I like what you said about turning that challenge around, because I think if. And bring this back to, like, how much do you want this? Or whatever. The question is, if you do decide, like, I'm in this for the long haul, then you can shift your mindset around that. So every time you have a challenge or a setback, you could be like, well, maybe there's a good reason for this, or this is just temporary, or, you know, it's a bad day. Okay, whatever. We'll sleep on it. You know what I mean? Sleep on it. Drink some water. You're not alone in questioning your business. It would be concerning if you weren't questioning your business. We all need to question our businesses sometimes. Yeah. If you're not questioning your business ever, I would say it's probably not a business. Maybe. Is that a bold statement? I don't know. Or you're just extremely confident and good for you. But it's still good to feel your feet on the ground and be grounded and think about things and look at things and see what's really working and seeing what's really, you know, again, connecting with your why you're doing what you're doing. I wish I had a good, like, inspirational example on deck because I feel like I've heard stories of, like, big, famous businesses that didn't get to the version they are today without having, like, some crazy, like, existential crisis or big pivot that they had to make, you know, like, a lot of things look so easy and, like, they were overnight successes, but really there was some insane, like, shedding that had to be done. I don't think there is such a thing as an overnight success. And I think that every big business or every business, successful business out there has some kind of pivot moment or some kind of story like that. Yeah. Okay, so the biggest takeaways, Like I said, you're not alone in questioning. You're not alone. We're here with you. Larissa and I are here with you. Remember to focus on what you really want from your business and how much you want it versus, like, these things that might be happening that feel like they're signs and, you know, reconnect with your why, I think that's always a good thing to do. And just make a conscious choice to move forward. That last part is so true. Make a decision, keep moving forward until you get new information, and then make a decision again and keep moving forward. Rinse and repeat. Yes, rinse and repeat. Over and over and over. All right, so have you had moments of doubt? Let us know. Visit successwithjewelry.com and if you love the podcast, we'd love to hear from you. Send us a message or leave us a review. Thanks for being a part of our community.