← Success With Jewelry
Success With Jewelry
157 - Laryssa and Liz Talk 2026 Planning: A Realistic Rhythm That Prevents Burnout
00:20:49
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- [00:00]
A
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.
- [00:09]
B
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 a specialty of my agency, Joy.
- [00:23]
A
Joya and I'm Liz, your creative compass and advocate for designers doing things differently. I live for brilliant brand storytelling, beautiful visual and helping designers confidently show up and shine. I founded the StayGold collective to create community and support for independent jewelry brands.
- [00:40]
B
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 giggles along the way.
- [00:57]
A
This is episode 157. Planning your year shouldn't feel like a constant catch up or shortcut to burnout. In this episode, we're breaking down how to create a realistic rhythm for your jewelry business. One that actually matches buyer behavior, production realities and your creative energy. We'll walk through the jewelry calendar, why most planning systems fail designers, and how to choose a 2026 structure that supports both sales and sustainability. And for our insiders, we're sharing how established jewelry brands really plan their year. We what they prioritize, what they intentionally leave out and how they avoid over committing while still growing. Let's get into it.
- [01:38]
B
What a good topic.
- [01:40]
A
Yeah, I think this is a good one because I think that and I was just talking to a designer before we hopped on here, but just that like energy you get in the end of the year with like ideas of things you want to do next year and all of that and the big things you kind of want to plan but don't know how to plan and then the things that you kind of like over commit to and then by the end of the year you're like, I'm so tired.
- [02:09]
B
Yeah, when you were reading the intro, it reminded me of this Instagram reel I saw yesterday. It was by, it was like this fitness influencer lady I follow and she's more like a realistic, holistic lifestyle fitness person, not one of those like I have abs, like you can't ever look like me kind of people. And she was talking about just like nutrition and sticking to a plan and how it's not going to work unless you can imagine it for yourself, truly for like the long run and if you can't see yourself doing XYZ for a really extended period of time, then no trendy or, like, interesting idea or plan is going to work for you because you have to be able to, like, adapt it to your lifestyle. And I was like, yes, that applies to marketing as well.
- [03:01]
A
And it all comes down to consistency again. I mean, that is just what we always come back to with this kind of stuff. And the same with your example. There is, you know, what kind of workout routine can you stay consistent with? What kind of marketing plan can you stay consistent with? Where you're not going to take on so much that you can't do it anymore.
- [03:22]
B
Exactly. Yeah. And so we want to emphasize that today, like, what's really going to fit realistically into your life, not the version of yourself that you want to be, Maybe something like a little bit more improved, but, like, still within reach.
- [03:40]
A
And I think that's why planning often fails for designers, is they're trying to do too much or they're planning in a way that is a little too idealistic and not rooted in reality of what they, their business was last year, what they feel like they can achieve. And also a vagueness with planning, like, oh, I would love to do these things and I'd love to launch, you know, a group of collections that, you know, are inspired by this thing. And it's like, okay, well, when are you launching those collections? How many pieces will be in those collections? Like, getting to specifics and then once you have the specifics, like plotting them on a calendar.
- [04:20]
B
Yes, that part's so important because even too, with brands that I work with that are super organized and have the best laid plans and the most realistic timelines, I would say nine times out of 10, things have to change and evolve no matter what. So you have to start somewhere to, like, be able to accommodate how things will unfold throughout the year. Right.
- [04:44]
A
And I think understanding what, you know, a year looks like, what the business season kind of looks like, is helpful. And of course, you can do things any which way. And what really matters is how your seasons look and how when your clients are buying or when feels busy for you, or when it makes sense to do pushes and things like that, but also understanding consumers and what they're thinking about and when they're buying too, can be helpful.
- [05:12]
B
Absolutely. And even in your own personal life, when do you want to take vacation? When are your kids busy? When are they in school? Like, when are they not in school? Like, those things also have to be considered in the plan.
- [05:25]
A
Definitely so when we're looking at the calendar, typically January is a quieter time. So I love this for designers to start building their custom list, wait list for the year or start planning out custom projects or inviting people to inquire. I think this is a great time to do that and start looking at the year from that perspective. And then also, like, you know, take the time to plan. I know we've talked about this before, but I know there's like Tucson and there's trade shows in early February and. Or late February if you're doing like an the ACC show or something like that. But, you know, so it's not necessarily that quiet planning time that maybe some businesses have. But if it is for you, if you're not doing those shows, you can take this time to be like, I'm going to take January and really plan ahead and. Because it's a little bit quieter right now.
- [06:17]
B
Absolutely, yeah.
- [06:19]
A
And then spring is typically a wedding season. You know, gifting season. You have Mother's Day, you have fresh energy of people, maybe like getting outside after the winter. You know, warm weather sometimes sends people to want to celebrate. And sometimes buying jewelry is a way to celebrate.
- [06:38]
B
Yes.
- [06:39]
A
And then summer tends to slow down too. And you know, I'd mentioned trade shows. That's something to look at from the jewelry calendar. If you're doing wholesale outreach, you know, there's a big trade show in the very end of May, the beginning of June. So if you're doing outreach for buyers, sometimes spring is a good time to be doing that. And then there's this big show and then typically the summer is like a quieter time. And I think a lot of our listeners feel like summer is one of their slower seasons when it comes to direct to consumer sales as well. So maybe that's a time that you do plan your vacations or you do plan more space to be creative.
- [07:17]
B
Yeah. This is also such a good time to. So I know what happens every year. It's like we forget what happened in the previous year. We forget that, like whatever, August is the slow time or this is when this does well or doesn't do well. You should make like a reminder kind of calendar for yourself too. Like, oh, yeah. Historically, over the past few years this has happened because. And I'm speaking from my own experience too, I'm like, oh, yeah, August is slow. And I always seem to forget that. Yeah, the summer's a great time.
- [07:56]
A
If you run into the problem of not having enough holiday inventory, it could be a good time to plan for creating more Inventory so that you're ready for the holiday season. I think that getting ready for the holiday season earlier and earlier, I want to encourage everyone to do that. July is not too early to start thinking about the end of the year and start preparing for it. So that's something to think about doing in the summer as well. And then once we're in fall, it's like it's sales season prep or like we're ready to like whether you have a self purchasing client or not, like sales just kind of ramp up this time of year and you know, people's mentality about buying changes a little bit because they're getting, you know, they're just in that mindset. So being ready, you're, you know, thinking about popups, thinking about, you know, where you're going to show up. But having, you know, a plan ready to go for that time of year is important.
- [08:49]
B
Yeah, I would say fall is not a good time to start planning your holiday. Oh my. I can't even tell you how, how many clients like this year. I think it was just a difficult year for a lot of brands and we were very behind and we still made it all happen. But I would not recommend. Would not recommend.
- [09:15]
A
Yeah. And just because you made a plan or started planning doesn't mean that's set in stone. Like if that's what's holding you back from making the plan, don't let it. Because you can make changes and tweaks along the way. As long as you have like it going and the core of it or a bulk of it done, it makes it easier to make those changes and tweaks. Yeah, and, and I think that thinking about, you know, now what kind of product launches you want to do this year too and get really specific about it. So figuring out a structure for 2025, or I'm sorry, 2026, sorry everyone, you know, like when are you going to release collections? Are you going to do it in alignment with trade shows because you have a wholesale strategy, or are you going to do, you know, a few drops in the year, maybe three drops to direct to consumer, or are you going to do just slow release, like little launches? Like maybe you have core collections and you're rolling out new products to add to those collections throughout the year or you're doing drops, one of a kind drops that you know, maybe you're doing like small monthly drops and you're building excitement and you have this whole routine that you do kind of every month or every six weeks or every quarter. Think that through and Plot it out on a calendar so. So that you can get ahead of those things.
- [10:35]
B
Absolutely. I think, too, what surprises me a lot. I mean, we're in marketing, so we're always talking about marketing calendars. But I'm always really surprised how a lot of brands don't have a production calendar actually planned out, and they kind of just go by the seat of their pants. I think you need to have both in a really structured way, and they need to be talking to each other. Mm.
- [11:02]
A
And, you know, understanding your operations and your production is such an important part of your business before you market, before you do trade shows, before you do events like that. Because, you know, a store isn't going to necessarily want to buy from a designer who doesn't have all their operations in line. So thinking this through and having a plan when it comes to your product launches and your production schedule is really, really important. You know, if that whole thing kind of feels overwhelming to you, you could also just do one collection a year and then, like, focus on custom or customized pieces or made to order pieces. That's fine, too. Whatever works for your business. You just need to write it down and define it and put that schedule and that plan together.
- [11:49]
B
I'm really curious, because you're talking about wholesalers and how, you know, they would be hesitant or not want to work with a brand that doesn't have the operations part lockdown, or, like, how transparent would you say you have to be with those wholesale partners about what that calendar looks like? Where does that come into, like, the conversation?
- [12:09]
A
I guess so, you know, a lot of times a retailer will walk up to your booth if you're doing a trade show and say, what's new? You know, what. What new do you have here? So sometimes it's just, you know, here are the new pieces I have. I'm working on a new collection for the August show. When I'll see you next kind of thing. So, like, sharing those tidbits. But what I mean, so it's having a handle on if they're ordering, you know, 15 pieces from you, what's the production timeline? What's the turnaround? So having everything, you know, organized in a way where it's like, well, it's four to six weeks. And if you say it's four to six weeks, that order needs to show up in four to six weeks. Right. So making sure that all of that.
- [12:51]
B
Is buttoned up, that makes sense.
- [12:56]
A
And yeah. So think. Think about all of this really, like, rooted in reality, too. What's a realistic. What's realistic for your production flow. You know, building in buffer time. You know, four to six weeks or six to eight weeks is often customary. Customary. That's not a word. Oh my gosh.
- [13:18]
B
I think that's a word.
- [13:20]
A
Customary. It is, isn't it?
- [13:22]
B
I think it is.
- [13:26]
A
Anyway, six to eight weeks is totally valid. You can put that on your website too. Communicating those types of timelines are important, not just for wholesalers, but for your end consumer as well. If you're doing made to order products. But you know, thinking really realistically, really realistically, I'm doing great today because, you know, you could do like little, a little five piece drop. You have to have products to sell. What do you want to be making? Tapping into the core of what do you really want to be making. Looking at sales data too, of course, is important and figuring all of that out. There's so many things to think about when it comes to production. And you're right, Larissa. I don't know how much time smaller brands necessarily put into this work, but it's really important.
- [14:17]
B
Another layer of that too is potentially phasing out products or moving out or whatever. Having a sale, getting rid of stuff like that I think is also kind of considered production too and should be worked into the calendar.
- [14:33]
A
Yes, definitely. And you know, January or the beginning of the year is a good time to like, look back at last year's sales data and phase out some pieces. Maybe do you know, sunset sale or something like that to. To move some pieces along because you had just made it through the holiday season and you have all that sales data from the previous year. So that's a good point too. Thinking about what you want to be making, what you don't want to be making, obviously understanding what's selling as well and what your customers are looking for, but really, you know, knowing what, what you want to be creating and what you want to be putting out there, I think is really important. And this year, you know, making time for creative creativity, like blocking that off on your calendar, time to sit and sketch or design or I talk to designers a lot who just like want to be at their bench just experimenting or just trying stuff out, you can do that, just block it off on a calendar.
- [15:28]
B
That's such a good point because I think the more you lean into operations and thinking more from like that true, like business owner hat perspective, it probably is harder to carve out the time for creativity. So plotting that in is a great.
- [15:43]
A
Idea and communicate this stuff with your audience too. So once you have a clear Plan and you know, what you're going to be launching and when, you know, putting then that marketing plan together of when are you going to share with your audience about these things? Like, you know, having it all in place. Like, okay, well, if I'm going to do quarterly drops of 10 pieces each drop, then I want it to come out on, you know, May 15th. But then I'll need, you know, two weeks to take photos and write product descriptions and get things on my website. So you need to back it out so that you know that you'll have all the pieces ready to do the photos and write the descriptions and do all of that. So thinking about the marketing plan in tandem with your production schedule too, so that you are able to communicate with.
- [16:33]
B
Your audience, it will reduce so much stress in your life too, because you won't be scrambling to, like, do these things and like, oops, I just remembered I need to do xyz.
- [16:45]
A
Yes. I like the night before, like your launch that you communicate it with your audience. You're like, like have a hundred more products to add to the website. I mean, you probably don't have a hundred products, but you don't want to be in that position. And something else is that I've been talking to designers about recently is that, you know, just because when you launch something, it doesn't sell out immediately doesn't mean that it's a flop. It doesn't mean that it's something that you need to walk away from. It takes a long time for things to catch on, especially depending on the price point. It takes a while for things to sell. So give it time and keep talking about it. And I know it's hard when you're feeling like, oh, gosh, nobody wants to buy this, or nobody cares about the work I'm creating. But that's where planning can be helpful too. Because if you have your marketing plan in place, you're going to keep posting and keep telling people and somebody needs to see something quite a few times before they purchase.
- [17:40]
B
I know it's so hard, especially if you've been working on the pieces for a long time. You're like, oh, but I'm so familiar with them. Like, this has been in my world for months. But for your customer, like, they're just learning about it. Like, they're not in your head.
- [17:55]
A
Yeah. So after this episode, I want everyone to look at their year or even the next six months and put a plan together with, you know, what you want to be making, what your capacity is, and when you're Wanting to do these launches. Yeah. Get a handle on it or get an idea around what you want to do. And then, you know, once you have the big picture plan, you can start getting more specifics together.
- [18:26]
B
What do you think about a designer that maybe just wants to leave room for the creativity of launching? When they feel like they want to launch something, I think that's fine.
- [18:38]
A
I mean, so here's the truth. We can set our businesses up any way we want. Like, and that's. I think one of the hard things about being a solopreneur is an entrepreneur and someone who's running, building a business, running a company. Like we can have, we can set things up any which way we want. And sometimes I get caught up in that spiral too of like, I could do anything. I could launch a new product, I could run a sale, I could, you know, there's a lot of things I could do. I think getting clear about what would feel good to you is most important. So you obviously, well, you don't, you don't necessarily need to sell something. Maybe you have a part time job. Maybe you just want to be creative and see where your business takes you this year.
- [19:21]
B
That's great.
- [19:22]
A
I would still set kind of sales goals or understanding of like how much you might want to sell. So maybe you just want time to be creative or. But you also want to produce like five pieces a month or something like that. Maybe you could have some sort of looser guidelines around what you're trying to do, but I would still have some kind of structure for yourself. Mm.
- [19:45]
B
Yeah. Or if not being realistic about what kind of results you might get from being more spontaneous.
- [19:53]
A
Right. Because I, I get that impulse too. Like that's a great question because I understand that impulse of just wanting to be creative and seeing what comes out. Maybe it's having a, like a core collection that's a made to order core collection. Or maybe you have some of those pieces in stock and then your drops are maybe a little bit less planned out and they're kind of like just from you blocking off time to be at your bench. But you know, you want to do two drops of this creative project a year, you know? Yeah, just having some sort of, some.
- [20:26]
B
Sort of structure for yourself.
- [20:28]
A
It doesn't have to be like hardcore structure but just something so you know where you're going.
- [20:34]
B
Yeah, that's a great answer.
- [20:37]
A
All right, do you have a plan for the year? Let us know. Visit successwithjori.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 part of our community.