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Today I have a special guest joining me to talk all about her experience of building her jewelry business from scratch in retirement and all the lessons she has learned over the past few years. And before we dive in, I want to remind you that if you'd like my eyes on your business every single week, yep, that's every single week, then the Jewelry Business Academy is the place to do it. You are going to get all the tools, all the knowledge, all the strategies, all the support that you need to implement into your business to actually move your business closer to your goals.

And you're not only going to have that support from me, but you're going to have the support of the Jewelry Business Academy community. It is one of the most expansive containers for business owners who are ready for that season of growth, of expansion. And so if that's something that makes you feel excited, if you're like, yes, you know what, this is the year I have these goals, I know I want to get there, I just don't know what that path looks like.

I just don't know if the things I'm actually doing are going to move me closer to those goals. Then head to jewelrybusinessacademy.ca to learn more and book in a connection call to see if you and your business are a good fit for the program.

And I'll see you on the other side. 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

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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, and welcome back. It's so good to have

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you on the podcast with me today. And I'm really looking forward to sharing this conversation I had with a dear client of mine who is in the Jewelry Business Academy. But before we dive in, I just wanted to chat a little bit about something I posted actually earlier today on Instagram, which has been getting such an incredible response.

And I just wanted to share it with you quickly before we dive into this episode, because I think it's quite a powerful way to look at the way you are approaching your business and approaching life in general as well. And this actually came to me while I was in hot yoga this morning. I was in a hot yoga class.

It's one of my favorite classes that I try to prioritize going to all the time. And one of the things that I love about this particular class is that the teacher is very supportive. She's one of those teachers who walks around the whole class and is constantly adjusting everyone, constantly making sure that you're in the best position for you and helping you just keep getting deeper stretches and just making sure that you're really supported during the class.

And I used to be one of those people who didn't think I needed the yoga blocks or the yoga straps or anything like that because I felt like, no, those are for the beginners. Those are for people who are struggling. And I kind of just bypassed that.

I didn't think I needed those. I didn't think those were for me. And I just didn't think that I needed the support they provided because I was doing just fine in all the poses.

I was doing just fine in all of the yoga classes I was going to until actually this teacher that I had today, she explained to us why those blocks are so important and why those pieces of support are so important because those little yoga blocks rarely allow your body to feel safe when you're holding poses for a long time. And when you and your body feel safe, you actually are able to relax more and you get a deeper stretch than you would without them. And so now in my yoga classes, I love them.

I start with like three or four blocks. The teacher adds more usually as well. And I have noticed a huge difference just in like in terms of flexibility and all the things that I'm doing in that class from using those support blocks more than I have ever in the past.

And you know, it kind of got me thinking about business and how different your business building journey looks with and without those little support blocks. And I've done it both ways. So, you know, yes, I totally agree that doing business on your own is kind of like doing yoga on your own.

So it's very doable. Is it as supportive? Not necessarily. And what I wrote out actually was kind of a list of how I remember my journey of building a business without support wise and also from what I get when I'm talking to other jewelry business owners who have been unsupported on their journey.

These are just some of the things that they share with me, you know, they're a little bit hesitant with each move that they're making. They're always not too sure if they're on the right path to actually hit their goals. They're constantly doubting themselves, feeling alone, have moments of complete overwhelm.

They move really cautiously and take really cautious steps in their business and question everything that they're doing. And just never quite feel fully confident in the steps that they're taking and knowing that those steps are going to get them to their goals that year. And on the other side, you know, I've experienced this myself and I see this with members of the jewelry business academy when they're sharing feedback and their experience with me of being in the program.

That feeling of feeling safe and supported in your business building journey, they relax into their business and actually start to enjoy the process again. They suddenly feel way more creative and way more inspired because the structure that that supports implements into their business allows you to relax, allows space and time for that creativity. They feel way more confident in the steps that they're taking each day, knowing that these are the steps that they need to be doing in order to move their business closer to their goals.

And they constantly are just moving, expanding and growing at a faster rate and making bolder moves and setting bigger goals and just really embracing the journey. And I've seen that myself, you know, as you guys, if you've been listening to all the episodes, you know that I've had two very different experiences building two different very, very different businesses, you know, one completely unsupported on my own. I still did well, but one very supported with a huge support system in place.

And it's been an incredibly different experience. And, you know, the depth of the moves that you make in your business and the way that you execute each move and the transitions and the implementation and the growth is so much smoother, bolder, calmer and enjoyable when you have those support blocks like you do in yoga. And I've seen the same with my clients in the Dory Business Academy.

And there's something so beautiful about feeling supported in your business building journey. And, you know, I actually have had so many clients say this, I had one say this to me the other day as well, saying that not only does the support in the Dory Business Academy positively impact their sales, but it also positively impacts their mental health, which is huge. And, you know, they've shared with me that they feel lighter, feel more at peace, they feel more relaxed, more creative, more excited about their business again, which is just so, so crucial.

So if you're listening to this and you're a little bit curious about what kind of support you'll get in the Dory Business Academy and, you know, how it would impact your journey, how it will change the trajectory of your business, how it will change the trajectory of your life, then you can head to Dory Business Academy dot C8 learn more and book in a connection call to see if you and your business are a good fit for the program. And so I'm going to dive right in today, today's guest episode with you. Today I have Tammy Daman on the podcast, who is a former consultant who decided to launch her Dory Business Plain DeVille Jury when she entered retirement six years ago.

Tammy is also a member of the Dory Business Academy and is sharing the lessons she's learned over the past few years in building her Dory business. And Tammy shares her story with us and shares that transition from the corporate world to entrepreneurship and why marketing has felt like such a big challenge to her. She shares her experience of being in the Dory Business Academy, the wins she's had, the lessons she's learned in the program, the missing link for Tammy in her business building journey and what she wished she'd known six years ago when she started.

We talk about how Tammy's confidence has grown, how she built a brand new website in less than a week, and how she started to really embrace being the face of her brand. We talk about boundaries and business, Tammy's four hour workday and why your health is your number one priority and so much more. So I think you're really gonna enjoy this episode and if you do, if these episodes, this podcast is uplifting you, motivating you, inspiring you to keep showing up in your business, if you are getting a lot of advice and really learning from this episode and gaining a lot from it, then I'd love to hear from you.

You can screenshot the episode you're listening to and tag me on Instagram, it's Robyn Clark Coaching. I really love hearing from you and connecting with you on your entrepreneurial journey and it really means a lot when you take the time to share your favorite episodes and share the wins that you're getting from this podcast. So we're gonna dive right into today's episode and I hope you enjoy.

Tammy, it's so good to have you on the Dory Business Academy podcast.

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Thanks so much for joining me today. Well thank you, I'm pretty excited to be here and to talk

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a little bit about life and what's been happening. Amazing, yeah I've really been looking forward to our conversation and for you to be able to share your story, building Pain-to-Be jewelry because I know you have a really inspiring story and this is an extra special episode as you have been a part of the Dory Business Academy and community for a couple of months now and I have been working in depth with you so I know you and your business really, really well and I know that your story is going to inspire a lot of listeners out there who are also wanting to you know transition maybe from the corporate world into starting their own jewelry business. So before we dive in, do you want to just go ahead and introduce yourself to our listeners and share a little bit

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of your background and how you got to where you are today? Okay, sure so I'm Tammy Damon so currently I live in Yocanaga just outside of Vernon, BC. We've been here, oh my god it's probably been the longest I've been in one spot going on 15 years so we moved here from Alberta and really what I guess drove the move to British Columbia as I lived all across Canada is you know as Robin had mentioned I was in that corporate world I call it the rat race and was really needing kind of that different pace of life as I called it so you know my jewelry business didn't start really until I would say about six years ago but it's probably been the last couple of years where I've been really focusing on it because you know I retired finally permanently from consulting back in I think it was the fall of 2019 I've been in oil and gas for oh 25 plus years I had my own consulting company I did a lot of fly in fly out long rotations long hours never never home you know on the positive side you know made extremely good money right and it's what set me up my goal was to retire early and I actually ended up retiring probably about three years earlier than I anticipated so you know so while I was doing the consulting and stuff you know I started thinking oh my god you know I'm going to retire I'm still young what am I going to do and that's when I decided to move into the transition with jewelry making and I can talk a little bit about that later on and so yeah so really it's been the last couple of years is my my major focus has been on the jewelry because we got through the pandemic and stuff like that and now the focus is really there on growing the business so yeah so I design a nature inspired nature inspired jewelry to bring you that soul level joy while embracing your playful side so just as because we get older doesn't mean we

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can't have fun right so yeah I love that so much Tammy and there's so many parts of your story that I want to go back and just dive a little bit deeper into and you know the first thing I want to chat a little bit more about is the corporate world because you were there for your whole career and then you had your own consulting company for many years and so that was your life and I'd love for you to share your experience of making that transition obviously you retired but also making that shift from being in the corporate world which is a very different environment to having your own jewelry business and being in entrepreneur and working with jewelry and in that creative space what was your experience of making that transition and like what were those some of the challenges that you found when you just got started yeah well I think the if I

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can kind of dive back just a little bit so all my life I've been creative right so I've designed a couple houses built houses I've sewed I've I've used to draw as a kid all different kinds of things painted stuff like that so I mean I've always been creative in a way and before I moved to BC we always used the joke was you know I was going to sell everything off and go to Toronto to Ryerson for interior design because I am a house or I know junkie I mean I love anything to do with the design so prior to when I sold my place in St. Albert I actually worked with a local jeweler there and I decided okay because you know as a single mom raised my daughter on my own I really could never afford to invest in jewelry so I thought okay this is my moment so I actually designed a few pieces for myself with diamonds and stuff and white gold and just the whole experience around it absolutely loved it and that's what kind of transitioned me down that road of starting to design and create jewelry and I will say you know for me probably the biggest transition going from the corporate world into being an entrepreneur because it's a different set of tools right in some sense right because I did very very well in the corporate world but now that I'm on my own the biggest I guess transition and challenge for me I would say would be the social media and the marketing stuff because I'm a math person a numbers person you know all of that stuff I finances all of that but it's being able to dive into kind of those emotions that marketing and really trying to kind of market your business to the right person that was probably my biggest transition it wasn't that I was scared of jumping into entrepreneurship because I've done it before with my consulting company right and I just jumped in and thought okay one day I was working the next day I came home didn't have my set I quit my job and my partner says me what are you going to do and I said well I don't know I'll figure it out and that's when I decided to open my consulting company so that part didn't scare me but it was the other end of it because the marketing right because that's a whole different as you know element and skill set that's required right so and it's still learning and I'm slowly getting more comfortable and better with it but I think that was probably the biggest thing for me and then another side of it is walking away from the money right yeah that's because all all of a sudden you have you're doing extremely well but then you get to a point in your life and you have to say like we I plan my retirement for 10 years right I said okay what do we need what do we need to do and and we made this commitment to do this and it's really um taken a hard look at what's important in your life right and really focus and becoming really I guess regimental on striving to get to that and go over what you need and then when you get there you keep thinking okay maybe doing more doing me more and then you really have to decide okay what really is enough right and that word enough is different for everybody it all depends on what you want to do in your life and stuff like that so so that's kind of how this transition all happened and I would say you know people say to me oh my god you're so young like what are you going to do when you retire are you nuts and you know you're going to be bored I thought oh my god they don't know me that well I'm busier now than I've ever been right and I was busy then but I'm busy in a different way and I love it because I have control in my life I have the flexibility and freedom in my life and I can choose when to say yes and when to say no

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and I can get pretty firm on it so I love that so much thank you for sharing um that transition in so much detail with our listeners because I know that's going to help a lot of people going through really similar journeys and I know it's a really challenging thing to shift from especially you know the shift into learning to market and it's not just marketing like you would have done for um when you were a consultant or anything like that it's you know marketing for jewelry is a very different world when you're marketing on social media and it's definitely something that is out of a lot of people's comfort zones and I've seen you know with members of the jewelry business academy I've seen with you it's once you actually start having the steps that you need to do and start understanding like the psychology behind why we're doing what we're doing it actually starts becoming easier it starts becoming fun you actually also get to bring out another side of your personality as well which maybe you haven't been able to bring out in your in your previous job so um I love that you've shared that and I also love that you shared you know about looking at what your values are and looking at how you want your days to be and what are the things that you're wanting to do if you're able to and that you just took that leap and and kind of went and started your business um and so I'd love for you to share a little bit about how coaching has supported you over the past few months because you have been a part of the jewelry business academy and we're still working together and I'd love if you could just briefly share your experience of the program for any listeners who are curious about the jewelry business academy um so to begin with can you share a little bit of how you were feeling before we started working together do you remember oh I do I do so before we started working together

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how can I phrase this so it's I guess diplomatically correct right I was working with a lot of different people you know because you know I would talk to individuals say oh you know I'm struggling with this I'm struggling with that these are some of the tools and I kept I guess the word grasping would be a good word to use because you kept going in one direction then you'd go in another and it was really you know I would learn it's not that the dollars spent was a complete I wouldn't say a waste but I don't think I got the value and the appropriate tools that I needed for the dollars that I spent right so I was just I always felt like there was something missing I thought okay why why is this not working for me why do I feel like I'm not connecting where's the missing piece and I and I don't know what how I ended up coming across you I think I I don't know I believe it was on Instagram I was just kind of going through a bunch of stuff one day and then I had found you and the one thing that I liked about yourself and your offering is the world that you came from because I could really relate to it you understood what Julia was all about because you were in and you've done that leap going from not only Julia maker but to the coaching to the podcasting and so I kind of I took me a little bit before I finally reached out to you and I was kind of following the listing I thought there's the missing link that's what I need right so I didn't you know I didn't have really any doubt in with the commitment and stuff that I was doing but it I guess the one thing I said to you at one point is oh my god I wish I would have found you earlier right and and so saying that like you know it's been oh god like just over four months now I think or something like that so it really hasn't been that long and just kind of diving into getting the the processes and the tools and everything set up and I tell you it has been unbelievable the the growth that I've seen the the efficiencies within the business and not only that it's the the confidence right to be able to step out of my comfort zone and what I say a bit right and challenge me to do a few different things even though some days I'm a little bit slow I eventually do get there right but I think the value is just unbelievable from what the

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jewelry business academy offers amazing Tammy thank you for sharing that and you know I think a lot of people listening can maybe relate to some of what you went through because I've seen I obviously talked to a lot of jewelry business owners and it can be frustrating when you've spent a few years and you keep trying all these different things thinking this is it this is going to be the thing this is going to get me like this is going to get the business to take off or get it to the next level and you keep trying and you just have to keep shifting and it can be very frustrating and that's often what leads a lot of business owners to burn out and to go into a lot of debts as well very quickly and it's it can rarely burn people so you know I think a lot of people listening can definitely relate to that and so yeah I'm glad that you've had such a great experience of course in the program and you're still very early days into the academy and we will be bringing you back in on in a couple of months to share like the the transformation and the growth but you know in the first four months you've already seen so much growth and so much transformation and you're feeling way more confident in your business and I'd love to know like what is one of the biggest lessons that you've learned about business and about growing your jewelry business in the first

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few months of being in the academy I think when something doesn't feel right to trust your gut right because all along I was kind of just all over the place and I kept thinking okay this is not working why is it not working I don't know and then ever since I decided to make the investment within your program I didn't start I didn't second guess myself anymore because at that point I knew I really made the right decision and in a short period of time like you know as we spoke before the results that I've seen you know my my sales now are in four months are up 36% right my institute email list because I never really was collecting anything I've doubled it you know and that's still continuing to grow so that's really what really good and if I took a look at you know I had somebody else create a website for me prior and you know there were still a lot of good things I took from that and you gave me the confidence to take a step back and build my new website on another platform and you know I was looking at the other day and I went oh my god what a difference because my old website you know I was doing really wasn't getting out there doing maybe one or three sales a year in four months I've had 13 sales I've sold 26 items and I barely started marking it right and really you know because I'm fine tuning my collection and my offering and stuff like that and I'm getting a lot of repeat customers so so you know when you take a look at some of that stuff in a really small window like it's huge right yeah 100% and I'm glad that you bought up you know

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the website because you don't have a background in building websites do you no and and you built your website if I remember like very very quickly I think it was maybe one to two weeks I think it was even a week like it was yeah it was so quick from getting started to having it up live running going and so you know for somebody who's listening to this who's like oh I don't do technology I could never build my own website um do you have like one piece of advice you wish you had had before so you would have had that confidence to go and build it I guess it would have been um

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before okay how can I put it before I didn't really have the tools in the understanding of the different platforms what your course is provided was a platform that's very user friendly easy to use and you've also provided unbelievable step by step instructions and uh in guidance and doing that so that made it it took the fear out of it and it made it really really easy I love that

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and you know something I say all the time is that building a business like if you look at any businesses out there there's simply an accumulation of lots of teeny tiny doable steps and it's just your website yes like oh okay well that looks like a massive project but let's break it down if you break it down each step takes like a minute or two very easy very doable um when you know what you're doing so I I love that you had that experience and you know I have seen you really embracing showing up on Instagram more and more and I know it's it's still something you're getting more and more comfortable with but you're getting better and better and it's something that you will constantly be refining and um I'd love to know just your experience of starting to embrace being

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the face of your brand what was that like for you oh I actually love it and I think the the biggest thing for me is you know when you talk about Instagram um if you go back oh at least a year so I had a very um what's the word curated a very curated brand and stuff like that and it really wasn't um connecting right so over these last four months I mean my girlfriend laughs at me she goes oh I love seeing this because it's you I get on there I mean I have my hair hasn't been brushed it's up in a ponytail I have no makeup on and that's me and I kind of say my two cents so it was really um getting over that fear it's like because when you see a lot of Instagram things you think oh my god I gotta be you know look the best that I can and perfect and all that well you know in my daily life with everything that I have going on it's like that's the last thing I barely everywhere makeup unless I'm going out no I mean this is the most you'll see right um but anyways uh so that was the biggest thing for me and uh just being because being natural because a lot of my brand is about you know simple pleasures what do you what do you enjoy being true to yourself right and stuff like that so there's no there's no fluff there's no I call mask you know this this is it right and uh and that's what I try to portray so yeah and the reels I think it would be a lot you know as I get going because I'm still working on kind of set up in the technology and trying to to get the the camera so that the picture is there right so that's I'm not techie at all my daughter laughs at me she goes oh mom right and um but I mean it's kind of it's it's a work in progress right

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yeah and you know you've really just embraced it and I I just love that you have just embraced being the face of your brand and I can see like even your body language when you just said oh I love it because you now get to just be who you are and it's so much easier whereas when you think you have to uh look like this professional business you have to put these masks on you're always thinking oh like am I okay like this is this going to be okay you overthink a lot of things it gets you into your head whereas when you just like I can show up as I am and people are going to accept me as I am and I'm worthy to show up as I am and I'm going to connect with people this way it takes you out of your head and into actually just taking action and just relaxing into it so I really love that you've just really embraced that and yeah you're doing an amazing job even even with the reels you're doing an amazing job I know you're you're still getting used to the technology but it's improving day by day and it's just only going to get better as you go um and Tammy I'd love to know what are some of the wins that you've experienced big or small um that you've celebrated since being in

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the jewelry business academy oh my god so I think one the biggest win for win for me would be the community within the academy and the group calls I actually look forward every week to those group calls because it's being able to connect with other people that are kind of going through some of the things and hearing about their experience and you get those aha moments right so I absolutely love that um also um I think one of the big ones is that you gave to us and it's streamed my life a lot is a few apps right that I put in place where there was the judge me for the reviews the smile one for the rewards so I'm actually starting to see I actually figured out yesterday how to get my website updated so that the ones from judge b now end up showing up so I got that all done got pretty much everything done that you had advised except for a couple little things and um so that stuff really streams streamlines a lot of stuff and just seeing that you know I have one customer now that's come online and bought three times so to me it's those it's not trying to get a new customer but it's getting those repeat customers right and that is huge and there's continued to grow now I also get it at markets right and one of the things I mean this year is trying to um I'm gonna I call it slog it out with markets for another year but it's really trying to transition how much time I spend at markets and trying to get more people to the website right and again that's going to be through you know the email marketing and stuff like that so I think the biggest wins for me for you would be the tools and the strategies that you provide it because it's so when you take a look at it it's so simple right and it makes sense it's nothing that's over complicated right and it's easy to put into your everyday life. I love that you shared that

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Tammy because often when people hear like strategies and systems they're just an immediate wall goes up that oh this sounds very complicated and complex and the reality is like behind the scenes of really successful businesses businesses just starting multiple six and seven figure businesses is a really simple streamlined structure and if you have it like it's these strategies and these systems are actually really simple when you break them down anyone can do them it's just knowing how to do them how to implement and then just taking those steps and doing it and implementing them in a at a pace that feels good to you and depending on how much time and energy you have to put into your business so I really love that and so when you're looking back at like how you were feeling four months ago before you joined you know you you've been trying a lot of different things you were feeling maybe a little bit burnt out by the whole process of building your business I think you were kind of like am I going to keep going with this I don't know yeah so how you're feeling now like when you look forward over the next few months how do you feel when you wake up each day and you know you're working in your business do you feel like confidence in your plan like how are

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you feeling actually I feel really confident you know because one of the things you know as we had talked about is as I'm trying to kind of build a core collection right and it's really what makes sense to that core collection so it's not that I'm struggling with it it's trying to determine the correct number of pieces and designs because in some sense I do have some designs that are very similar and the problem is I have to decide okay which one do I want to keep and move forward with because I like them all right but then when you have too much that are similar creates too much choice right so that's kind of what I'm working on right now but I'm actually quite excited because one of the things that I've done is I've set boundaries right because as I said you know I'm retired it's about you know your quality of life I need I have a a dog that demands a lot of time you know being able to spend time with my husband and I've actually limited myself said okay I have four hours a day like I have a routine when I get up every morning I have a routine this is everything that I do and I allow myself four hours just the odd time or two where I may go a little bit over but majority of the time I'm pretty much on track and then I use my Sundays when my husband's watching golf to put the earphones in and I listen to podcasts right and I still see what's going on in the TV but I have better boundaries and I'm being able to you know and it's okay on days when I'm thinking oh I'm you know I'm feeling a little bit tired today I need to take a knee day and the guilt is not there right because we all go at different paces and we all have a different expectations and stuff on of your own business right and I think that was the best part for me is being able to identify that and set the boundaries so that I can still have the life

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that I work so hard to enjoy right. I really love that you brought that up because boundaries are one of the hardest things for entrepreneurs to implement I've seen like it you've probably seen like it's easier to implement some Instagram strategy than to set boundaries and I do remember I think maybe it was November or December when you had to take time off and you were feeling a little bit guilty at some stages I think for the time that you were taking off and I had to be like it's okay it's okay and I'd love to hear you know your advice for someone who is in that phase right now where when they when they are sick or they're having to take time away from their business they think to themselves oh I better work double tomorrow to catch up from this time like what would your advice be to them and how can they get to where you are now where you have these ready good boundaries that support your business they support you personally they support your family life and

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it makes you enjoy showing up in your business again. Well the one thing I can say and this is what years ago my financial advisor said to me and so you could just imagine it so you can have a white board and you write the number one million across that whiteboard right so if you're figuring you know you got to work double the hours and it's no different when we were in the corporate world I mean the hours that we worked was just unbelievable and you know I've I've burnt out before I've been there done that and you know and I've had some health issues and because of it and stuff like that and the number one priority in your life when you take a look at that one million the number one priority is your health so if you don't have your health it doesn't matter all this other stuff in your life with your business with some of the things that you want to enjoy because you have nothing you have you have nothing right so that's my biggest first my health is number one like we you know over the last oh my god I think three years I've had a few surgeries I have one more little thing we got to deal with but it's made me I prioritize kind of my health and because if I'm healthy and I'm I have the energy and allow myself to take some rest when I need it then I can go on and continue to build the business enjoy those things that we work so hard for like I said to my husband last night we haven't been on a holiday oh god this is year three and we typically go away for four to eight weeks every year but you know with the pandemic and a bunch of other stuff going on we haven't and I said to him oh we haven't been to Calgary it's so so long I need to go so we're going merch first to the fourth we're taking off so everything will be shut off right and just being able to get away even though it's only for a few days it's being able to see my daughter there are new puppy and Merv's mom and his son and stuff like that so you have to be able to allow yourself that time to regenerate and take care of yourself because if you don't

SPEAKER_01
then nothing else will matter. That's such an important message you know you're protecting your energy and your health and prioritizing that over everything is crucial to your business and it's something people already struggle with but you know anyone who's listening to this who feels like they're heading towards burnout or their health is suffering like I'd rather you took a month away from your business and come back one month from today with a renewed energy then keep going and pushing through and even thinking I'll just take two days off is not enough when your health is needing you know a lot of rest and extra support so you know and then recognizing like this is actually productive for you to take that rest and take that time away or go spend time with family it's actually a form of being productive in your business because it's helping protect your energy and Tammy you have a really lovely story about these yearly photo shoots you do and I would love if you could share that because I obviously speak to so many people and the number of women who really avoid showing up on camera being the center of attention like just having the focus on them is I find it very sad you know and I'd love for you just to share your story around that because I think it's ready special oh my god yes and I have one book I think it's

SPEAKER_02
June 14th of this year for four hours so I'm so excited we're already planning that but anyways if I can give you a little bit of background um I started photo shoots let me think this will be I think year no year four maybe I can't remember but anyways prior to that you would hardly ever see me in a picture I wouldn't go in front of the camera I wouldn't let anybody take my picture I was so self-conscious it's just because of you know a lot of things kind of growing up and stuff like that and then um it was probably four years ago my daughter's best friend she does photography so I hired her I said meet me in you know Calgary she's from St. Albert and my daughter was in Calgary had to go there for work and we decided to do a photo shoot and we had my daughter was in it the very first one we had so much fun we're at um one of the mansions there low heat mansion I think it was called in Calgary with the flower beds and stuff it's just a lot a lot of fun and then I did and then I've been doing them every year ever since and I think um the biggest plus for me that it gave me is I see myself a lot differently than I've seen myself before right I always have my my makeup done and my eyelashes through it you know yeah and it's it's kind of girly it's a little bit fun and um and just the confidence that it gives you and it's also something that over the years you know when you're older and you're no longer you can also pass down to your children because they can see that transition year over year over year right and it's just it's just fun so I always say to people if you haven't done one do it because the the impact it will have on you as an individual far exceeds the cost of doing something like that right it's just yeah I mean I look forward this is my one big thing every year I look forward to do to doing it and this year we're doing a lot in my studio um and then what I'm doing is what I call woodland one so we're going to go out into the trails where I always walk Marley because I spend a lot of time out in nature we're going to go down to the lake and stuff like that and we just have a

SPEAKER_01
lot of fun right I love that so much and I'm going to share some of these photos on Instagram we'll also be linking Tammy's Instagram so you guys can take a look because you know I love that you also use these photo shoots to like explore different sides of yourself have a lot of fun I can just tell you're having so much fun and it's like a celebration of yourself each year and I think so many of us forget to stop and take a moment to celebrate who we are celebrate our lives just celebrate the growth over the past year and I think having these photo shoots is just such a beautiful way to do that and then obviously you also use that content for your jewelry business and your websites and all of that so it's like a double thing it's a double bonus yeah so what I did

SPEAKER_02
last year is um I created through Vista print a photo book right so it's I don't know four by six photo book and what I did is it talks about kind of my jewelry it shows some of the processes and then some of the pictures from the photo shoots and I actually want to go to markets and put it out on the table and it's unbelievable how many people will stop they look through the the photo book they go I never thought of bringing a piece like that before right well I didn't know you can just wear something like that every day and it just gives them a whole different perspective on it because we all get caught up in as an example pearls right I love Cervanteschi pearls and I weave a lot of those into my designs and um I had one lady come up love this and I says you know she says if you wear a little sheath dress put a little white capped t-shirt underneath it and you could wrap the necklace around your waist with a pair of riding boots you know and it's a different way of doing things like when we did the photo shoot I had on this silk dress and I had my husband says only you blue rubber boots right yeah and we just we just have fun because we don't have to be like everybody else be you embrace who you are right and just have fun such a beautiful message

SPEAKER_01
Tammy and I hope anyone listening to this is like feeling inspired and is going to go make the time and make the commitment to having that photo shoot and just like having that celebration of yourself because yeah I'm surprised how many people just avoid showing up on camera and actually when they just embrace that and they start they start loving it and I think it's just it's it's just a beautiful way for you to celebrate yourself and then use that as well for your jewelry business promotions and that's and I know you mentioned like the investment when it comes to a photo shoot it is an investment but it's totally worth it from your perspective and even for when it comes to your business and I'd love to hear your perspective or your advice for someone who's listening to this and knows that they need more clarity and focus and structure and strategy and accountability in moving their business forward but they feel really anxious about making the investment in themselves in their business what would your advice be to them oh I guess you have to really

SPEAKER_02
take a step back and really think about where it is that you want to go right because I know for myself with floundering a little bit and not kind of picking the right avenues you end up spending probably a lot more than you probably should have like I think oh my god I could have bought your course five times over for what what I've spent right but it's being able to find the right the right program that has the right understanding of what the business is all about and and the tools so I think like you know I've done a lot of stuff I've looked at a lot of stuff and I will say for for your program the value that it offers not just only in the course in the modules the tools and the strategies it's also the community the support the ongoing upgrades and stuff like that that is invaluable right so if you decide that this is truly you know the direction that you want to go make sure that you make the right investment in you because the more time that you leave you know not knowing doubting yourself you could end up wasting not only a lot of time but a lot of resources on other things that you probably could have ended up using to put into the right bucket as I call it right does that make sense you know as I said I wish I would have found you earlier but I mean I've done a lot of stuff seen a lot of stuff spent a lot of money and I think by far this program was the best value for the dollars spent on anything that I have done right because now I'm confident to move forward I mean I would have you would have never gotten me on reels if I was doing the other things and I the confidence to do my own website like you know I spent a few years I've had a couple people do things for me because I kept saying oh I can't do this I can't do this I mean I'm not a techie person and it's so so simple right with the program and the steps and it's taken those small steps and just remember you're not in a race with everybody else because we all have different timelines and different commitments and everything in our life so do what's good for you and focus on you and not what everybody else is doing right that's such

SPEAKER_01
good advice Tammy and I love that you brought up you know the timelines everyone is on a different timeline and here's something I get actually surprisingly a lot is I have two kind of spectrums I have people who say am I too young to start a business and then I have people who say oh I really want a business but I'm too old to start a business and these are people who are like in their 40s 50s 60s and I'm like you still have 50 60 years left like what do you want to be doing with those years and I'd love to hear your advice to someone who's like oh I wish I had started a business a jewelry business when I was younger or another type of business but I'm too old for that now and I'm just going to sit at home and do nothing instead like what would you advise oh my god

SPEAKER_02
to sit home and do nothing like it's like oh my god you know you have to have a passion or something that you enjoy I mean I just turned oh what's the 21st five days ago I turned 58 oh happy birthday oh thank you you know and um yes I retired at 54 and to say that I always say just because you're gonna retire doesn't mean you have to be dead right you need to be able to have something that you enjoy you need to have something that makes you get up in the morning because I've had oh my god I have no so many people that have been younger than I am that have been working in the corporate world they've had heart attacks they've had strokes they've passed away because it's such a rat race doing things that you don't love so find something that you love and then also take a deep look inside almost really really important to you and how you want to see your life go and then you can strategize to move it forward because you're never too young or never too old right we all go through different phases in our life and we all have different skill sets and tools to bring to the table and for myself like there's a lot of good things that I've learned through my career that I can actually now bring into the business that will move it forward but I do it I do it for it gives me something to do I love creating and I love seeing the smiles on my customer's faces when they put that piece on and that's what brings the joy so you need to find something that's going to bring you joy and stop second guessing yourself right like you but you need to have a plan in place that's always what I say because people used to say to me at work oh my god how can you retire so early like what have you done what have you done differently that none of us seem to be doing right and it's and we we did we put that strategy we talked about you know what we want to do with our life and it's enjoying those simple I call it the simple pleasures of life right yeah yeah so really think hard yeah I think that's such beautiful advice Tammy and I

SPEAKER_01
think so many people listening are really gonna resonate and find that really helpful because yeah it's surprising how many people feel like oh can I actually do that now should I start it earlier do I need to wait longer so I love that and I would love to know if there's one book in particular that you would recommend all entrepreneurs read if they could only read one has there been any books that have rarely impacted your journey oh god that's a tough one um

SPEAKER_02
oh I mean I've read so many school books all my life because I'm always upgrading in education and learning thing I'm actually taking some courses here starting probably next month um so it's a continuous thing but one of the books I read a long time ago um and it's a very popular one is called the wealthy barber and it really put things into perspective in regards to life retirement how I'm gonna get there and stuff like that right that's a fabulous fundamental I would call it book right um but otherwise to bring one from an entrepreneur I can't really pin one pinpoint one at the moment but I will say this is that if there's something that you're loving to loving and you want to do is always invest in education because education is a lifelong skill right and you're always like for me I'm I do I'm doing a lot of online courses so I've invested in through the I think it's the jewelry institute um because when I designed my jewelry before I moved here there was um the tension setting and I I've always wanted to do tension setting and that was just a little bit unsure so that's where I'll be going with some of my jewelry and said that okay I'm gonna hone in on those skills and I'm gonna take this course so it's constantly up leveling and doing stuff that you love and it also gets that creative juice

SPEAKER_01
flowing again right I love that because you know to me entrepreneurship is just a personal growth game and you you're just approaching it in the same way like life isn't a personal growth game and it's just like keep learning keep growing keep finding things that you find challenging and like learn more until it's no longer challenging and then find the next thing um so I really love that Tammy and I'd love to know you know is there anything that you feel we haven't touched upon that you'd love to share about your experience business building lessons that you've learned advice that you have for somebody listening that you'd love to share before we end um the one thing

SPEAKER_02
that I would probably say is if I if I had to look at look at it again and go way back in time because sometimes things happen in life and it changes your path on where you thought you're going to go you know and where you end up you know I um is really find and think hard about something that you're really passionate about that brings you that soul level joy right and it doesn't mean that you might be in a position in your life or it's like okay I can't really do this now but it doesn't mean that you can't start you can start in baby steps right take it small maybe you still have to to work full time in order to support yourself and stuff but then you you can start small say hey let's you know let's try this out and let's go to a market right let's just rent a table at a market and see how that goes and then you slowly start seeing whether or not the avenue that you would like to go will work do people like what you're doing you start building that connection in that community so it's not like you have to jump in you think oh my god I got to jump in with both feet and do it all right now and I'm terrible that I always jump in with both feet but um you don't have to you can take small steps that's comfortable for you so that you can one day get to to that point where you it's like okay I can go into this and do it full time right so it's whatever's comfortable for you start small and take a look at different avenues or skills that you need to learn and invest in yourself invest in your dream that is really

SPEAKER_01
good advice tummy and I wish I'd had that at the beginning of my intracneural journey because I did the same I always jump all in to anything I do and it's worked out but let me tell you it's not the easiest route all the time and it can put you in a very challenging situations very stressful situations yes you don't have to do it that way you know I talk to people who are mothers and children or people in full-time jobs and it's like you don't need to have eight hours a day to be able to like think oh I want to start a business you can have half an hour a day to just like just do little steps just get started go to your first event maybe get your pieces into one or two stores just start small and let it grow in a sustainable fashion that it's totally fine to build a business in that way let it take a little bit longer do it slowly and you don't have to leap you know that's for I say that and I do I do leaps but I know that I I know that's how I thrive and that's not how everyone thrives and that's totally okay and I honestly highly recommend taking those small steps and just half an hour a day I even have clients who I have a client who only works on their business one hour a week and that's okay and all you want to do is make sure that one hour you're just really intentional on what you're working through and you just keep moving forward but Tammy you have shared so much of your insights and experience and lessons with us today thank you so much for being here and I've really enjoyed our conversation and I know a lot of our listeners are going to be feeling really inspired by your story and they're going to want to connect with you and follow along on your journey building Plain to Be Jewelry so where can our listeners find you and how can

SPEAKER_02
they support you? Hey so you can find me on Instagram at Plain to Be Jewelry or on my website PlainToBeJewelry.com so those are probably the two best places to find me and yeah it's pretty exciting and you know I will be putting on to my website you know if there's anybody in this area where we have our in-person markets as well and in Kelowna in Vernon some in Penticton

SPEAKER_01
so it's pretty exciting so yeah amazing we're going to link your Instagram and websites and all of that in the show notes and Tammy do you want to quickly share about your new collection which I know is still in the finalization stages do you want to give a little sneak peek? Oh okay yeah so

SPEAKER_02
what I'm working on is I have a love of nature and a love of flowers and it was really funny I had a customer pop in a few weeks to go to pick up her item and when she walked in she goes oh my god she just loved it but I mean I and if you saw my house you would understand my jewelry line right so anyways it's my daisy collection that I'm working on with gemstones and and stuff like that and it's just I have one that I've done we call it my Upsa Daisy it's a nod to the 60s right and it's just something about flowers like you know they bring a smile to your face they're just fun you can dress them up dress them down and then I incorporate pearls and stuff into them as well as it says you know it's more than the pearl next door right and we just have a lot a lot of fun with it and so we're getting pretty excited we'll be fine-tuning the collection here a little bit over the next week or so because yeah but it'll be coming out soon and we're pretty excited amazing yeah I'm so excited

SPEAKER_01
to see your new collection and your pieces are really really dreamy they're beautiful for anyone who likes nature inspired sterling silver jewelry and you have a lot of pearls in there as well they're just beautiful beautiful pieces and they also make ready beautiful gifts so yeah they do they do yeah definitely check out their links but it's been so wonderful chatting to you Tammy

SPEAKER_02
thank you again for being here you're welcome and you have a great day and we'll chat again soon

SPEAKER_01
thank you you're welcome thank you so much for joining us today and I hope you learned so much from this episode and as we mentioned we'd love to hear from you so make sure you screenshot the episode you're listening to and tag us on instagram it's Robin Park coaching and if you are enjoying these podcasts if they have impacted your business building journey if they have impacted your life if they are uplifting you if they are helping guide you if they are helping build momentum in your business I would love if you could take one minute to leave us a review on apple podcasts you can pause right here and hit the apple podcast and leave a five star review with the short and sweet message I really really appreciate you taking the time to do that and it means that we can keep producing more and more free valuable content for you to help you and support you on your business building journey and so thank you in advance for taking the time to do that and I'm looking forward to reading them and as I mentioned I have got a lot of incredible episodes coming up over the next few weeks for you which I cannot wait to share so make sure you're subscribed to the podcast so you don't miss out