SPEAKER_01
Today is an extra special episode as our guest is Eva Woon, the founder and designer behind Nari Jewelry, who is a member of the Jewelry Business Academy. She's going to be sharing her experience in the academy as well as all the lessons she's learned in her first seven months of business and how she's been able to surpass her goals since launching. And I just wanted to remind you that if you want my eyes on your business every single week, then the Jewelry Business Academy is the place to do it.

It is the most expensive container for jewelry business owners wanting to grow their business, wanting to build those solid foundations in your business. Within the academy, you're going to get all the systems, proven strategies, structures and tools that you need to build those solid foundations and scale your business. You are going to get my eyes on your business every single week in our group coaching calls.

You are going to be put into a community of other jewelry business owners all doing the exact same thing as you. And it is one of the most supportive communities out there. So if that's something that feels expansive to you, if it feels exciting to you, if you are ready for growth, if you are ready to hit some big goals over the next year, then head to jewelrybusinessacademy.

ca to learn more. And I'll also link that in the show notes for you. My name is Robin Clark and I'm a jewelry designer turned jewelry business coach and podcaster.

I'm the founder and CEO of the Jewelry Business Academy, the host of the Jewelry Business Academy podcast. And I help women around the world scale their jewelry business to six figures and beyond without burning out. If you're a jewelry business owner looking to break through to the next level, then my coaching program and podcast are for you.

You will get lots of optional tips to level up your business, your mindset and your life. So grab your notebooks and let's dive in. Hello, hello and welcome back to the podcast.

I'm actually recording in the middle of a snowstorm today and it is so, so beautiful, but it's definitely not one of those days you want to be out and about. So it's a perfect studio day recording. And I am really, really excited to share this episode with you because it's an extra special episode.

I actually have a member of the Jewelry Business Academy joining me today. So I'm going to share a little bit more of the details about that. But before we dive into the episode, I wanted to just remind you that, you know, I was talking to someone about this the other day, success is so much more simpler than we often think.

The best way for you to approach success in your business and the things that you're doing on a daily basis, which are the things that are going to either lead you towards success or not is ask yourself, are these things that I'm doing on a daily basis? Are these decisions that I'm making on a daily basis, moving me closer towards my goals or further away from it? It's such a simple question to ask yourself, but it really helps put things in perspective. And it really helps make sure that you are working on things that are going to move you closer towards your goals and your business and in your life. And, you know, so often we just think it's this big, massive process to be successful in business or be successful in life, but it's really not that hard or complicated at all.

It's really looking at the little day-to-day things you are doing. Same thing as if you know, I use this example quite often, but it's if you, to you, success is running a marathon. And a year from now, well, what are you actually doing on a day-to-day basis to prepare for that marathon? What foods are you eating? How often are you working out? You know, what does your what does your day look like on a daily basis? And are you consistent in that? And are you making decisions that support you being in optimal health when it comes to the time of the marathons that you can actually run it successfully? And so if we take that into business and we look at like, what are you doing on a daily basis? What decisions are you making? A really good approach to making decisions in your business.

And I use this myself is ask yourself if the decisions that you're making in your business and life feel expansive. Does it feel like they're going to help you grow? Does it make you feel like you're constricted and stuck and small? That's one thing I always like to do is just like, think about how does this make me feel? Does it feel expansive? Are the things that are going to help you grow? Is it going to move me closer to my goals? Is it going to make me up level as an individual? Is it going to lead me to becoming my highest self and stepping into that next level version of myself, the more authentic version of myself? You know, it doesn't have to be that complicated. So stop overthinking it.

And if you want to write those little prompts down in your phone and on a daily basis, ask yourself, are the things I'm doing today actually moving me towards my goals? Are the decisions I'm making moving me towards your goals? And you'll see very quickly if you are actively moving towards your goals or if you're just playing it safe or if you're actually making decisions that aren't supporting you in your journey. So I really recommend doing that prompt. And if you do, I'd love to hear from you.

You can always message me on Instagram. It's Robin Clark coaching. And I always love connecting with you and hearing more about your entrepreneurial journey over there as well.

But let's dive into today's episode. As I said, it was, it's a really, really special episode. Today, I'm chatting to Eva Woon, who is a management consultant turned jewelry business owner.

So Eva is actually the founder and designer behind an Ari jewelry, which is a Demi Fine jewelry brand based in Malaysia. And this is extra special because Eva has actually been a part of the jewelry business academy for a couple of months. And so she's sharing the lessons that she's learned in the first seven months of her business because her business is still very, very new.

And she's been doing really well, hitting some incredible goals. And so I invited her on to, you know, share her story and share the journey she's been on because a lot of the guests I bring on are a couple more years into their journey. And they've hit maybe bigger milestones, they just further along.

And I think it's really interesting because I know we have a lot of listeners who are maybe just starting out or wanting to start out or in their first year of business, it's really good to get another perspective and hear from somebody who is in the process of building their business. And so we chat about so, so much Eva shares her story and how she transitioned from the corporate world and what that looked like for her and her experience in the academy as well. She shares a little bit of the lessons learned and her experience of being in the community, in the jewelry business academy, how she was able to surpass her sales goals within the first seven months of her business, feeling the fear and taking action anywhere, how accountability has impacted Eva's business building journey, learning to shift from hustle mode and from that to taking really intentional and strategic action and how that's been a journey that Eva has been on and what her experience with that has been.

We also chat about embracing being the face of your brand and I know for a lot of listeners this is something that a lot of people rarely struggle with. So we're diving into Eva's experience with this and what she saw when she started to embrace being the face of her brand and showing up on video and connecting with her community and how it not only impacted her business but impacted her personal life as well. So we're really diving into everything that Eva's experienced over the past seven months, all the lessons that she has learned in her first few months of business.

And so I think you're really going to enjoy this episode. I would love to hear from you so if you are listening to it, screenshot the episode that you're listening to and tag me at Rubin Clark Coaching and I just wanted to add that you know sometimes we have some tech difficulties and when we did do this recording there was a snowstorm happening where I was and you know we're recording from Canada and Malaysia and so there were a few sound tech issues within the first couple of minutes of the podcast but it does improve so just bear with it and yeah I think you're really going to love this episode. Eva it's so good to have you on the Jewelry Business Academy podcast thanks so much for joining me today.

Thanks Robin I'm super excited to be here. Yeah I'm really excited to have you as well. I've already been looking forward to having you on the show and for you to share your story of building a Nari Jewelry and this episode is extra special as you have been a part of the Jewelry Business Academy and community for a couple of months now and I've been working in depth with you so I already know you and your business really well and I know that your story is really going to inspire a lot of Jewelry business owners or people who are wanting to start their Jewelry business.

So before we dive in do you want to just go ahead and introduce yourself to our listeners and just share a little bit more of your background and how you got to where you are today.

SPEAKER_00
Sounds good thanks Robin. So my name is Eva I am the founder and maker behind Nari Jewelry and I make a Denfine Jewelry that tells your story whether it's through the gemstones that the customers chooses or the design behind the jewelry pieces that are meaning behind each and every one of them. So I started my business about seven months ago I think so I left my coffered job I was a management consultant before I spent eight years in that field and I finally took the lead last year in May to finally quit my job and start the you know this business.

So it's been an exciting seven months and yeah I mean seven months seems like such a short period of time but it felt like there's so much that has happened I've learned so much from it.

SPEAKER_01
Amazing I love that so I want to dive into that a little bit more because I you know you were really on a really great career corporate path climbing the corporate ladder really well doing management consulting and then you transitioned to a completely different world a completely different pace of life and I think you've gone through a massive shift so what made you decide that you wanted to start

SPEAKER_00
your own jewelry business? Good question so I knew like I've always wanted to start a business I didn't know what it was but since young I knew I wanted to run my own thing because I wanted to be in charge of my own life I wanted to have that flexibility and I've always loved solving problems post university I felt like consulting was the right way to go because it just you know provided me with the you know one cuff to learn about business to be exposed also financially it helps with the you know we're just saving up money to be able to invest into a business so I spent eight years because I never really felt like the right time to fully dive into it but in between my career as a consultant I have actually started two jewelry businesses before but always as a part-time gig rather than a full-time thing so I tried different businesses where you know jewelry business where I followed the buy and sell model and then I also did one where I partnered with my mom and she made the jewelry and I ran the business side of things but I think after eight years of you know a career in consulting I knew that if I stayed any longer it would be really hard for me to leave the coffin job because I would have been in a seniority level where it would have been too hard to walk away right so I thought to myself you know I've had all the right milestones hit it and if I don't do it now where I don't have a family I don't have kids yet it will be really hard to do it later on when I have family so I thought you know why not now you know I'm financially stable I have enough money to invest into a business and do it right I have enough experience in you know advising other businesses on how they run the company to be able to put that knowledge to my own business and I think in terms of just age wise timing it just felt like you know hey let's give yourself two years give it a go what's the worth that can happen you can always go back to your coffin job so I felt like I've spent enough time building experience you know making sure I have enough financially to sustain a business and also my lifestyle for the next x amount of years um yeah and it just felt right so I knew like the timing was right now in terms of why jewelry business um so I come up from a family of technically goldsmiths um my grandparents my uncle my aunts were all goldsmiths so growing up I will always spend time in the shop and I'll be picking out jewelry pieces that I love and I didn't like um and my mom also made a beaded jewelry since I was young so I guess I never really thought jewelry would be the way to go but because I've been so exposed to it um I just always love pretty things and I thought like hey I've seen how people do it I've seen how they've done it traditionally um what about if I do that but in a more modern way take it in a different manner like build a brand out of it build a design well create designs that I actually love um and horn values that I believe in within that brand um so that's why jewelry

SPEAKER_01
business that's why now and that's why inari oh I love that so that's a really powerful story and I'm sure a lot of listeners are going to really resonate with that so you know I love that you took that really strategic approach to starting your business you did give yourself eight years in the financial like world in the managing consulting world to build up you know a financial nest egg so that you can focus on this business for some time and really get it off the ground and get it up and running and um you know I love that you've had those experiences of those different businesses you know the buy and sell method and then also working with your mom I think that all adds up as well and um and now you're fully in inari jewelry I mean you're the founder you're the designer you have staff working with you you have you're building your team slowly um which is really really incredible so you know for somebody who's going through a really similar journey to you who is looking at leaving a really stable really great corporate job that just isn't fulfilling to them long term and that can feel really scary that huge shift do you have one piece of advice that you wish somebody had told you or somebody did tell you um back when you were making that decision

SPEAKER_00
oh wow one is really hard but I would say the one thing for me that like really pushed me um to take that step forward is having a community around me and people around me that truly believed in me um I feel like you will always have self doubt especially when you first start because you feel like there's just so much to lose right what if I walk away from this job will I be able to climb the corporate ladder again what if my peers are gonna progress faster than I am what about the financial stability right what if you know this business doesn't work out and then you have to go back and you're so many years behind for example so there's a lot of um you know all of this what ifs playing in your mind and for me it was the hardest decision I've ever made right the scariest not the hottest well it's hard and scary at the same time not gonna deny that but I was lucky enough to have parents who were super supportive they knew that you know I've worked really hard in consulting they knew that I've always believed in like you know wanting to start a business of my own um and also my partner and my partner was super supportive to be honest he was the one who's like why don't you do it what's there to lose you can always go back you can always go back that's nothing that you know it will set you back even if it doesn't work out you're gonna go back with much more experience that you might not be able to gain if you were to stay in your corporate job right so all of that really that was like I would say the one thing that pushed me forward to take the move that I did um I mean even the first three months after you know going into an area full-time there will there will be nights where I'm like am I crazy this is crazy like all this work and it gets really scary but throughout that period of time just having a really supportive network and really supportive group of people around you um really help push you forward up until the point where you have um have gained enough sort of like proof points to show you that this will work I think like that was after when I launched and started seeing customer feedback and all that was where I'm like okay I think this will work but imagine if I never had that push from like my family members who knew I wanted to do this all along for my partner who knew I wanted to do this but I was scared I would have never known that you know hey this would work because I would have never gotten to a point where I could have collected customer feedback so I'd say one thing is surround yourself with people who support you you don't need that many you need one or two but those are your go-to who will always be there for you um yeah that is such good advice and I

SPEAKER_01
love that you have such a supportive community around you and that your family and your partner and your friends were so supportive of this because that's not always the case and I think it's just really incredible that you had all that support and I'm sure it definitely made the transition easier as well you feel a little bit less like you have to prove yourself when you have people on your side as well which is it just makes business feel easier and it just makes the transition easier even though it's still scary even though you still have moments of doubt but I love that and I'd love to touch while we're talking about community you know I'd love to touch on how coaching has supported you over the past few months because you have been a part of my program the Jory Business Academy and we're still working together and I'd love it if you could briefly share your experience of the program for anyone listening who's curious about the Jory Business Academy so to start with can you just share how you were feeling before we started working together what made you realize that you were ready to be supported on your business building journey?

SPEAKER_00
So very good question um so when I started off even though I had like really good support system I felt like no one truly knew how to start a Jory Business because friends and family are supportive they want the best out of you but they've never started their own Jory Business um of such a kind before right um so it was really hard to try and get advice from people who have never been in that situation before and so what where I find myself being in the first couple of months of business is that you know I've always had this ideas or like concerns but I never had someone I felt could really guide me and gave me a clear view of what was right from wrong not saying 100% hey this is a template right to succeed but I felt like I knew the end destination but the road that was really winding and foggy and I wasn't sure if I was taking the right path so it felt at times really lonely and a bit more confusing because I kind of knew like I had to do this but I wasn't sure how to do it and I knew that you know I could try and take a chance and do it in method A or B or C so I find myself going in like cycles of like just trying to figure things out on my own um and I've got a lot of different advice from different people who ran different types of businesses but my gut feel felt that it wasn't the same because it was such a different kind of business so I knew I needed someone who have done this before who have seen it done multiple times across different businesses and at the same time when I was feeling all of this I felt alone because I came from you know a management consultant where you're always client facing and you have huge team and all of a sudden I'm alone I go to my studio and I work alone I don't have meetings anymore and I'm alone and all of these thoughts around what I should be doing whether this is the right decision or not is all sitting in my head so I knew I needed to find one someone who have done this before and someone who is experienced and two to form a community so that I'm not feeling like I'm the only one in this journey because it can feel really scary and really lonely and that was where I started like listening to podcasts and I found yours yeah and now you're on it yeah it's crazy like less than six months ago I was listening to your podcast and then now I'm on it so really to me was having a bit more clarity and having guidance and coaching from someone who has done it before and someone who have seen it done multiple times and also having a community so that it doesn't feel like you're on this journey alone because it can be

SPEAKER_01
very scary and very very lonely I love that you've shared that so openly because I think a lot of people feel a lot of guilt for feeling you know lonely when they wanted that piece and that head space when especially when they've transitioned from a corporate job where they were maybe feeling like oh I don't want to see people I don't want to deal with this and everyone's stories are obviously different but I know in my situation I was like get me out of here please and then you're suddenly on your own and entrepreneurship in the first week is great and then suddenly it's like wow you're alone a lot of the time unless you start building a team and you're making decisions on your own all the time and you know it just the weight of running a business can feel like a lot it's it's just it's challenging to go through life or business without people around you who understand what you're doing who are there to bounce ideas off you who are there to guide you who are there to give you that support so I think a lot of people listening are going to really resonate with that because business can feel lonely and so I thank you for sharing that and what was your experience in the program I know you're still in the program of course but how are you feeling now what shifts have you experienced like in your mindset and in

SPEAKER_00
your business over the past few months? I remember our very first call where we talk about you know what do I want to feel and after the first 90 days and I remember very clearly I wanted I wanted to make sure that I feel like I've set the right foundation in order for me to grow as a business in the next you know year is decade potentially and honestly I think when we signed when I signed up for the Jury Business Academy I wasn't expecting that much support and that much structure and I think I've told you before as well and in terms of like how within the first week within the first month I was constantly going back to my partner I'm like wow this is crazy I have invested in something that have like helped my business so much and helped me in my confidence level as well and knowing what are the next steps to take and you know how like I was talking about that foggy whiny road it is now like a clear path and I know that I could take you know you know path A or B it's no longer foggy and windy so I felt like through the Jury Business Academy I have created discipline structure and also a lot more clarity in terms of where I should invest my time in and I remember mentioning to you where my biggest fear was spending money and time in areas that were not going to be valuable to my business and I feel like JBA it's definitely has definitely provided me with clarity so I know now that you know if I put my effort in the right areas I know I will see results so and also being in JBA means it creates accountability when you work on your own you know it's so easy to just be like oh I'm just gonna take today easy I'm just gonna lie in bed and work from here and I'm just gonna take it slow but when you when you have someone else and a team to be accountable for when everyone is doing a challenge for example when you know someone is joining that group call when you know you are on the other end having weekly calls and checking in on me it creates accountability it creates you know that sense of push and sometimes you need that sometimes you need that accountability just to get yourself going on days where you feel like I'd rather be in bed and that helps tremendously yeah amazing yeah thank you for sharing that

SPEAKER_01
I remember our first call together and you've been sending me a message I think a few days later just after just getting that structure set up in your business and you know when you were talking about the accountability and getting that push what came to mind was actually the call that we had just before the holidays I don't know if you remember where you're like oh I haven't quite hit my goal but I'm close but that's fine and I was like well let's just yeah just like why don't we why don't we hit it and I think you had two weeks before the end of the year and you're like we can hit it and I was like yeah like let's go do these two things and just do them today do them tomorrow and let's see if you can hit it and do you want to just share briefly as much as you're comfortable

SPEAKER_00
sharing yeah it's crazy so it was two weeks before the new year and like I mentioned I was a little well I think it was quite quite a substantial amount away from hitting my goal and I was like oh I went on holiday for five weeks and I was really busy for two months of the six months that I was running this business so in my head I was like because I was scared of not hitting the goal I started making excuses in my head I'm like oh it's just this five six months and I was away for two months out of that six months you know it's okay if I didn't hit my goal but then we were having this conversation and you're like no Eva go hit it and you were like why don't you just follow up with these two opportunities that you had and we were talking about the custom opportunities that I had and at that point I was like oh why would why would I you know go out and pursue that I was so fearful but then after talking to you I was just like you know what I should go chase my goals and if I'm gonna be giving myself excuses I'll never get there and then one excuse will be one excuse will lead to another and at the end of the day I'm gonna be creating the same excuse for me next year so after our call I was like okay I promised Robin I'll do this and I remember taking that two days I just wrote down that message and I was like close my eyes hit send and I think it was actually on Christmas day and Christmas Eve where I came back to you and I'm like oh my god Robin close the deal yeah I remember getting that message yeah and then the next day was like oh my god Robin I closed another deal yeah and before I knew it I was saying yes to opportunities that were I was excited about and I wouldn't have been able to do that if we didn't have that conversation because I would have been too scared and I would have been making excuses in my head and mind you I'm not the kind of person who would make excuses all the time I I'm always that kid in school who would finish her homework before she gets home I'm always that consultant who would you know be proactive and finish you know give you 200% instead of just enough you know so I'm always that kind of person but I realize when I'm in business it doesn't translate that way because you always feel like you are validated by external approval so I think that fear was keeping me from hitting my goals because I was always in my head that imposter syndrome was real but because I had you and I was like I have to be accountable to Robin I need to make sure that I do my part it's not that scary as per what you mentioned right so I went out there and I just did it and it was crazy because I hit more than does my goal I hit way more and first half of January was super busy and I hit more than what I expected to hit in terms of revenue in January oh incredible and that gave me so much more confidence in just saying you know if it scares you just do it because what's the worst that can happen someone says no it's okay but I think having that little bit of accountability having someone you have to be accountable to really is the nudge that you need to just get things started and just yeah yeah accountability is huge.

SPEAKER_01
You do much Robin. Yeah it's such a pleasure I was so excited when I got that message I remember one coming on Christmas Day and one a few days later and I was like wow yeah you definitely just went out and you took action and you know that's what happens in business is a lot of us experience imposter syndrome especially when you're in the early days I mean you're seven months in now or maybe not even quite seven months in and it's so natural to feel that imposter syndrome and to feel not good enough and to feel like hesitant to to get nose to put yourself out there and I always like to encourage people to reframe it collect the nose I want to know by the end of 2023 how many times were you rejected like that's how we're going to keep moving forward and you know the fact that you took action that that's the key you know you just you waited a day you took action and that's how you start seeing results and some people would have taken that information and been like okay I'm going to wait like a month or two and then take action and think about it and that just delays everything and now you've got yourself those wins you're building that momentum so it's just so incredible to see I I just absolutely love it and what is actually coming to mind is you know I know you came from you're a really disciplined person you came from a really disciplined industry where you worked really long hours and then you came into entrepreneurship and can if you're open to it are you open to sharing like your experience and how you've learned to sort of shift I think it's something you're still working through shift your work your perspective on how many hours you're supposed to be working because I know you know people think when they come to the jewelry business academy I'm going to give them even more work than they currently doing and with some people it's the opposite with

SPEAKER_00
you I was like whoa we need to cut back yeah yeah it's interesting like so so I came from consulting where you know I remember doing COVID it was like 8 a.m. meetings sometimes it was 7 30 a.m. meetings so you wake up and you're in meetings meetings meetings meetings meetings non-stop and I would miss out on lunch I'll miss out on breakfast I would kind of like eat half my dinner and I'll still be at my desk and I have not moved for hours and come 8 o'clock in the evening I'm now starting to review work and then I have to pick up my own work so my full day would look like you know an 8 a.m. start chill sometimes 1 to 2 a.m. and and that's like five days a week sometimes weekends you would have to work and half a Sunday you'll work so I'm very used to hard work I'm not scared of hard work to me that's normal so coming into business I actually thought oh it was consulting that was the reason why I'm like that and I realized it was actually not that it was just that habit that I've built over the years because when I started my business I realized that I was also working practically every waking hour because I had all these ideas that I wanted to work on on weekends I'm like oh my god what about this idea what about that idea let's work on it so I'm constantly just preferring to work rather than going out or like sleep so when we started working together and you were like no you need to have a cut off before you burn out and I'm like oh okay I that was when I started like okay I need to actually have a clear line like clear boundary so that was where you thought me certain tricks where initially it felt really uncomfortable for me to do because it was in my natural habitat so like just let's whip up my laptop even if I'm not working let's scroll through Instagram and make posts I was always looking for something to do but then I realized like you were mentioning right if I'm not careful I will burn out and that was where I started realizing that you know this is a long-term game and if I don't make it sustainable it's going to be really tiring and all I know is business and I think that was one point in time where I was just like constantly working I didn't leave the house and every single day felt the same and I couldn't remember what day was of the week what time it was because all I was doing was work so after working together and you know drawing this clear boundaries it got better I'm I know that you know the reason why I got into business was because I wanted to have flexibility I wanted even though I'm working on something I'm passionate about I still needed the flexibility to prioritize myself so that was where I'm like you know do things like turn off notification only answer and look into social media you know twice a day for example because my instinct always was picking my phone answer that customer immediately even if it's 12 a.m. I tend to do that and now I'm like yeah yeah yeah you know we were talking about going for yoga and actually shutting off going for meditation doing things for myself and now I'm still working on it I'm not perfect but it feels so much more doable but I'm still working through that sense of guilt sometimes I still do get that little sense of guilt when I'm not working but I know that you know it's all a mindset thing and it takes time to shift that mindset because

SPEAKER_01
I've been trained to work like that for years yeah it's a major shift it's a major shift and the key is not to feel guilty when you notice that you're feeling that way that you feel like you should be working but I think you're doing an amazing job what you're doing is you're creating a life outside of your business and that's so so important you know a lot of people make their business their full life and that's really a recipe for burnout it feels good at one stage and maybe for one season but you need to have a life outside your business and I think you're slowly really starting to embrace that I think you already had a bit of a life but it's just not feeling guilty when you're living your life when you're seeing your friends when you're at yoga not feeling guilty and not feeling like oh when I get back to work I have to make up for the time that I was at yoga and I have to make up and I think we were chatting before we started recording you know you just had a few days of celebrations for the Chinese New Year and it's like no well now you can just take a few days off you don't have to come back and feel like you have to make up for the days that you took off and I think that mindset shift is really challenging actually it's a really difficult thing to shift after years in the corporate world but I love that you that you are committing to that and that because it shifts how you build your business as well it shifts the how sustainable it is

SPEAKER_00
yeah and I'm honestly I was just thinking about this right and actually I reflect quite a bit and I'm just thinking about how I'm so grateful to kiss when we started working together I knew I needed someone but it wasn't clear to me that I needed coach but like looking back at the point in time I was like I'm so early in my business like you know I would have never thought of getting coach at such an early stage of my business because that was what two months into my business full time but like looking back I'm just so grateful because I'm glad I have started early before I set the wrong foundation for my business because right now I'm setting good habits good proper foundation so that you know I can just do better from here imagine having to like unpick all of this five years into business or two years into business or one year into business because by then you've already made bad habits a habit in your business so I'm glad that you know what we were talking about drawing boundaries making sure that I don't make my business my whole life and getting rid of that not getting rid but learning how to deal with that guilt and not feel the guilt at such an early stage it's just gonna make me do better and focus my energy

SPEAKER_01
and emotions on things that matters. So 100%. Well I'm grateful that you joined the academy as well it's been really incredible watching your growth as a business owner and how you've actually transitioned from hassle mode to really intentional strategic action in your business and that's how you're hitting your goals you know and it's so natural to go into that hassle mode and setting boundaries is actually harder than implementing strategies I've seen it no business owners struggles to implement strategies but they do struggle with boundaries with themselves with others and so really I think it's incredible that you are getting that all in place right at the beginning of your business it's you know I obviously work with so many business owners I work with them at different levels at different years in and I have people who I've worked with 10 years in where we have to completely rebuild the foundations and rebuild the whole structure and that's a lot more work than doing it right from the start so I really love that that you just getting that set up for success right from day well two months into your business I think it's really incredible and I'd love to just talk a little bit about you know embracing being the face of your brand because I remember when you started I think you were like I don't want to be on video I don't want to do this do you remember how you felt about being the face of your brand and showing up on video when we started

SPEAKER_00
working together I remember that I was like you know we were talking about imposter syndrome right I was like major imposter syndrome I was like why would anybody buy jewelry for me who am I like you know what if so I was like tying every single ounce of my worth to my business and external validation and I was like why would people want to look at my face it's so weird um not that my face is weird but like it's so weird that someone wants to see you and I remember I was talking to you um this was after I came back from my trip and I was like okay I'm ready to do this and you're like let's do this challenge where you post um a video a day on like our internal Facebook group and I was like I remember after that call I was like okay you've been scared of this all this while just do it it's okay don't even do it on the Facebook group just do it to your community because that's the people that follow you because they like your jewelry or they're interested in your brand one way or another and I remember just like recording and I was just like okay close your eyes just post it and I realized after that I had like people following me who came back and were like oh my god Eva I love these videos I love the behind the scene I love how authentic you are and sometimes people who I don't actually know in real life and friends I've made through in already actually reply by and be like hi I think it's time for you to show your face when you see your face and I was just like laughing and I love how my community has been like oh my god I love talking to you because even though you're not really like in person I felt like I knew you I know you so it was really nice I mean it feels awkward for the first couple of times but I think now I don't do it as often as I should and that's one of my goals that I want to hit but I now try and like video myself one time maximum twice and I try to do videos with voiceover in it because like you mentioned right you're you building a community and the first couple of times doing it as hard as then after that when you start hearing people's feedback and when your community come out and like meet you at events and when they chat to you on a daily basis about what plans you should have in your studio you know that hey you know it's not that bad and in fact you've made so many friends so that mindset shift that you've given me or like you've you know you sort of like directed me into have actually helped me so much in my business because honestly you know I feel the most fulfilled when you know I'm doing things that people can relate to and I'm part of people's stories my jury a part of people's stories and by showing my face people are more willing to share with me how my jury is impacting their lives so it's such a win-win situation and I'm able to hone like really good long-term relationship with my customers actually today I would call some of them my friends I even went on coffee dates with some of them before which is crazy because like how would you know a customer on Instagram become your friend that you go for coffee with

SPEAKER_01
I love that so much oh my gosh I love that Eva and you know um yeah I remember when you were just like okay I'm just gonna go right for it I'm gonna post this video straight to my Instagram and getting that response and getting that feedback every client that I've done this with always gets that feedback from their community they're like wow like I didn't even know you look like this or it's so good to see you and feel connected to you and when you consistently start showing up as yourself you don't have to be anyone else just show up as you are share what you're doing it builds that no-like trust factor and it makes you feel more connected to your community and they feel more connected to you it's like a win-win situation it's good for your emotional well-being and your mental health to feel a part of another community that you're building it's good for your business that's going to drive sales as well so it's just a win-win-win situation and I just I love that you just dived in and embraced it even though it was uncomfortable even though you know you had that fear of like who am I to be doing this you just took action you dived in and as you said like a couple weeks a couple of times after posting you look really comfortable and now it's easy now it's like okay just just go turn it on yeah just turn it on do one take maximum two we have a two take rule actually in the jewelry business academy nobody can retake more than twice and then it gets posted easy straightforward um so I really love that um so you know what would you say when you're looking back on your seven months journey of entrepreneurship what would you say is like one of the biggest lessons you've learned that maybe like you could go back if you could go back to yourself in month one of your business and give yourself one piece of advice that you've learned since then what would you what would that be

SPEAKER_00
uh that the fear will never go away and the only I wouldn't say cure like the only solution and you know sort of like getting over the fear is actually taking action and honestly I feel that is that has remained the same throughout the seven months that I've been in business which I know it's like a very short period of time compared to what other people might have been in business for right but I realized that the fear never goes away and the only difference between you know the fear and the result is actually taking action and a lot of that comes from having someone to be accountable to us and you know being able to just like do it um to me that baby steps have given me you know looking back I'm like wow it's only been seven months but I've achieved quite a bit of stuff in my own tiny little realm right I feel like I've achieved quite a bit and that was all because there were little steps that you were telling me just do that just do take these little steps and whilst it might be scary it might not feel like a big deal it compounds over time and I think the only way that I felt like I was truly comfortable with where I am is by just you know commenting that fear by taking action so I'd say that yeah that was one thing that if I realized back then maybe I wouldn't have given myself excuses now I have just done it yeah that's

SPEAKER_01
incredibly powerful actually to recognize that there's always fear I feel it as well you know as a business owner not so much anymore because they've been in entrepreneurship for so many years but um notice the fear and then do it anyway as long as it's not something that's going to put your life at risk which most of the time it's not it's just like okay I feel scared I feel uncomfortable but I'm going to take action either way and recognizing that you know building a successful business is simply an accumulation of lots of teeny tiny doable steps and I say this all the time it's like basically an accumulation of two-minute tasks that absolutely anyone can do you know but it's being consistent with that and it's actually taking action and doing them that's the key that's the key to having that compounding success to building momentum in your business and just taking action whether you're feeling scared or not it's recognizing okay I'm uncomfortable I'm scared but I'm just going to do this take action anyway because I know this is the direction I need to be going in um so what advice would you have for someone who's listening to this and knows that they need more clarity and focus and structure and accountability in moving their business forward but they're feeling really anxious about making the investment in themselves and their business

SPEAKER_00
I wanted to say definitely get a coach um why because I mean like I've always had coaching but never to this extent and I've mentioned this to you before right I was just like back then I didn't know all that I've known today after getting coaching but my logic back then was hey if I'm going to invest into something that could one save me time two save me money and three probably grow my business and set the right foundation for me to be able to grow and make more money in the future it's worthwhile investment I have a friend who always reminds me especially in the early days of business you have to spend money to make money and until today whenever I'm so scared whenever I'm scared of like making that investment I remind myself you know if I don't spend the money to either purchase materials or to get you know coaching or to do something for my business you always remain at that scale right because you're too worried to take that step forward and at the end of the day it's about calculating um calculate the risk and also calculate the investment right if you're going to get your ROI it's going to be much more than what you're putting in six months from now one year from now two years from now do it because you're thinking really short term if you're like oh I don't want to spend that money to get coaching or I don't want to spend that money to buy materials or I don't want to spend money doing something right but if you don't spend that money now you might not be able to grow to the extent that you might have with that money spent so I always think about you know what am I spending on is this going to help me grow my business how much value it's going to bring and if it is then it's a worthwhile investment and to me coaching is a worthwhile investment because it's the knowledge the confidence and the clarity that you get especially early in business to be able to take actions and to also be able to like avoid wasting your money on other areas that you don't actually need to be spending money on and wasting your time because time is precious so for me I'm like super grateful that I've had coaching and I'm still getting coaching um and having community business to me I have like I have so much more clarity and so much more confidence

SPEAKER_01
compared to when I first started. I love that and you know I love that advice to you know look at what's what the return on your investment will be six months from now one year from now and for me my experience you know I didn't unfortunately have coaches back when I started my jewelry business but as a coach I heavily invest in coaches now and I've seen the difference in starting a business from scratch with no coaching and then starting a different business with that support it collapses time you know you're learning from your coaches what they've done what not to do and there's a lot of what not to do that is really incredibly powerful in moving your business forward and saving you time energy and money and for me time is the one resource we never get back everything else you can get back so I'm you know as uncomfortable as it is sometimes investing in yourself investing in your business you know I've always found that if I can save time I'm willing to do that um and I've yeah I've just I've just seen two sides of it and it's it's incredible how much easier and how much more supported I feel on my on my journey as well um so I'd love to know what is one of the highlights of your on-chopped neural journey in the last seven months

SPEAKER_00
oh a highlight um so hard to make it this far and feel that wow I'm still in it after seven months and I haven't run back to my coffee job yeah um not only that I think like it's so hard like I don't want to count like there's so many different small milestones that I celebrated but I feel like the biggest highlight is where I am today and being able to look back and be like wow I actually see potential in what I'm doing and I actually think this can be a career and that was what you know we were chatting about in the very first um you know call that we had you're like what do you want to get out of this in the first 90 days right um and I've gotten that I've gotten that you know I wanted that clarity and I wanted that confidence that you know this could be a career that I built for myself for the long term and I think that's the highlight that I have now it's not like a moment where you just go like bam yes I feel like this is something that could work it is an accumulation of all the little milestones that has happened in the past seven months um to have given me that not a moment but that clarity and that highlight to say that hey actually I think you know this can work and I think this could be something that I turn into a career in the long term I don't know if that's answering your question because it's not a milestone

SPEAKER_01
per se no that definitely that answers the question I think that's actually really powerful because you're looking at all the proof that your concept works all the evidence that you've collected over seven months all the customers the repeat customers your you know going past your sales goals all those little things are like wow okay this is proof that my concept is working and I'm on track that this is a legitimate business that can sustain me for for my career you know this can be my full-time thing I don't have to go back to the corporate world um so I think that's really powerful and I don't know if you did share the details about your brand but can you just for anyone who's listening who's like okay well you're seven months and you obviously are doing really really well so far in your business you've really even though you took five weeks vacation in your first seven months I think you're doing incredibly well you've built a really good customer base but can you share a little bit more about the type of jewelry that you make and just share a little

SPEAKER_00
bit more about Inari jewelry? Sure so Inari jewelry or the name Inari actually is the Japanese word for prosperity and I wanted the brand to represent successful females out there and the reason why I wanted to brand to resemble that was because growing up I've always had this image in my mind where you know success looks like this which is climb the corporate ladder make CEO or make partner and that is what success looks like but after you know so many years if like exploring different parts of the world and living in different parts of the world you see successes you see females that are successful in different forms so I wanted a brand that represents successful female out there and that could look like anything you could be an interior designer and be successful you can be I don't know a singer and be successful right you can be an artist and be successful so I wanted to create a brand that empowers females so all of my jewelry are at the moment very dainty it has gemstones it uses semi-precious stones and I work with 14k gold fill and sterling silver and each of these piece there's a story behind it so in my second collection it's called the rise which is a selection of rings and all the different rings were I guess inspired by different different sort of like ideology I would say or like reminders like daily reminders for females so I have an ebb and flow ring that basically serves as a reminder to females who are wearing it all males even that you know sometimes life comes in ups and downs and that ring when you're wearing it reminds you that you know this too shall pass for example I've got an earring that I call it on the rise climate which when you wear it you're like hey you know this is a reminder that you know I'm on the rise in my life and in my career and whatever I'm doing so I wanted jewelry pieces that were not only a pretty little thing to look at but something that was meaningful because when you wear it and you see it on yourself it serves as a daily reminder but when you gift it to other people it's also it also becomes like a meaningful gift you don't want to just you know walk into a shop and buy the first thing you see because it's affordable and you give it to someone else just to know that you know it doesn't last three wears and it was just because you get to find a gift for someone so I wanted a brand where I want to create a brand where my jewelry actually has meaning whether it's in the design or in the gemstones that we're using because then not only is it purposeful you're not just wearing it so that you look good but also to feel good and for other

SPEAKER_01
people to feel good. I love that you've built such a beautiful beautiful brand and we're going to link all that we'll link all those so people can go take a look but I just love how meaningful all of your pieces are and how there's such a strong story behind them so I love that and we will link your Instagram and stuff in two minutes but I do have a question for you is there one book that you recommend all business owners listening to this read if they could only read one is there one that's really impacted you on your journey?

SPEAKER_00
Okay funny enough I actually have a book in front of me which I really love. It's called In the Company of Women by Grace Bani. I actually have it on my dining table all the time but I picked this up when I was actually traveling and I absolutely love it.

It's basically an inspirational book with 100 class different profiles of makers, artists, entrepreneurs, people who are really females who are really successful in whatever businesses they're doing and advice they're giving and I just found it so helpful because remember how I was mentioning in the beginning of my journey I felt really lonely I felt like nobody was really in the same sort of like shoes that I was in especially in my community so it's really hard to fully for someone to fully understand what you're going through so this book has helped tremendously because I feel like I've got a community in this book and there are other people who have done it before and they've done it successfully and they've made an incredible life out of their passion and I can too and it's not a heavy boy sit down in every single page right it's one where it's different profiles so whenever I need to pick me up or a little nudge or a little boost I'll go to the book and I'm like okay let's read about this maker oh wow this person has achieved incredible things so highly highly recommend

SPEAKER_01
the book. I love that I'm going to add that to my reading list thank you I'm going to link it in the show notes for anyone listening who wants to pick that up too but it sounds like an incredibly powerful book a really great book for female entrepreneurs who are you know whether you're just starting out or a couple of years into your journey so thank you for sharing Eva and thank you so much for being here and sharing your story of starting a nari jewelry and your experience of building it seven months in I think it's really powerful to have different viewpoints because I often have people who are a couple years into their business and you know the reality is a lot of people a lot of listeners are also where you are or they just starting or they thinking of starting and so hearing from you hearing your story hearing your experience I know it's going to have helped a lot of listeners and so for anyone who's listening to this and is feeling really really inspired by you and what you're doing and wants to follow along on your journey and take a look at your jewelry where can they connect with you where can they find you and how can all listeners support you

SPEAKER_00
so you can find me on instagram at inarijorie.com sorry inari jewelry and the jewelry is slightly differently from how you sell it in Canada I think so it's J-E-W-E-L-L-E-R-Y and I've also got my own website which is www.inarijorie.

com or I just started on tiktok because of our tiktok challenge so you can also find me there for more real behind the scenes

SPEAKER_01
sort of videos amazing thank you so I'm going to link those all in the show notes so anyone listening you can just click on the show notes whether you're listening on apple or podcast or Spotify and you'll be able to click on the links and go directly there but Eva it's been so wonderful chatting to you thank you so much for being here and we'll have to bring you on in a couple of months to see like what the progress has been I love how you created accountability there Robin yeah yeah everyone's listening they want to know where you are seven months from today so we better keep moving progress so much more yeah keep moving keep taking those little steps

SPEAKER_00
every day I'm slack no I'm kidding no but it's been a great pleasure I absolutely really absolutely love chatting with you Robin and with your community and like I said it's crazy to think that six months ago I found you on you know on Spotify and now I'm on it and who knows

SPEAKER_01
where it'll be one year from now oh yeah I think you're definitely gonna be you're on two big things and your business is really a special you've built a really special really incredible business and it's got that structure and strategy behind it so I think I'm excited to look back with you one year from today and we'll do another podcast and we'll see what you've achieved since since this last chat but thank you and it's not thanks to you Robin amazing thanks so much Eva thank you for being here and joining us on today's episode I hope you really enjoyed this episode and really enjoyed hearing Eva's story and as we said we'd love to hear from you so head over to Instagram it is Robin Clark coaching and let me know what you thought of the episode and if you did enjoy this episode then please take a minute to leave a five star review on whatever app it is that you are listening to it whether it's Spotify or Apple podcasts it really means so much to us and it is going to help us continue to produce lots of valuable content for you through this podcast so thank you in advance for taking some time to do that and I'm looking forward to connecting with you on Instagram and if you are listening to this I'm feeling really inspired and really excited and feel like you know what I need some more clarity and focus in my business I'm ready to introduce some structure and strategies and systems into it and ready to just embrace that process then head to joeybusinessacademy.ca you'll learn more about me more about the program and you can go ahead and book in a connection call to see if you and your business are a good fit for the program and if you are we'll dive right into the program with you and three months from today you and your business will be in a very different place so if you're ready to go through that transformation if you're ready for that growth then go to joeybusinessacademy.ca and I'm looking forward to connecting with you on Instagram this year we have some really incredible guests that are going to be joining me on the podcast as well as so many incredibly valuable solo so it's coming out so make sure that you are tuned in we have new episodes releasing every Monday Wednesday and Friday so keep your eyes open for those subscribed to the podcast so you don't miss them and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day