Last week I was in the Midlands Business Journal! Check out the actual article here:

The article read:

“With the jewelry industry throwing obstacles to jewelers from all directions, custom jeweler Leah Ashley Jewelry Designs holds strong to a niche of one-of-a-kind pieces.
Designer and owner Leah Sjostrom Ashley developed the company after submitting to the desire to branch off from her background of designing for others.
Through www.leahashley.com, customers can undergo a consultation to have a custom piece designed.
‘Clients contact me with the pieces that they want, and I go through the specifics of what they want, ask for pictures, stones, metals–the price that they’re trying to fit,’ Ashley said.
Ashley, who received her training from the Gemological Institute of America, boasts her jewelry from designs created through a program that creates a realistic representation of a piece.
‘I do the design on the computer so I can hand them renders before they have to pay for anything,’ she said.
Grabbing the appeal of consumers looking for one-of-a-kind jewelry, Leah Ashley Jewelry has worked with individuals worldwide.
‘I’ve shipped a couple things to Australia and I’ve shipped to the Czech Republic and all over the United States,’ Ashley said.
Once a design is finalized, the jewelry is ready to be manufactured, which takes approximately two to three weeks.
‘I send the file out to get cast and then I finish it with another jeweler here in Omaha,’ Ashley said. ‘I order stones per piece–I have some in stock but most of it is based on each client.’
Maintaining all manufacturing within the U.S., Ashley has to consistently battle rising costs of materials.
‘Gold is through the roof high and even silver is getting expensive,’ she said. ‘Unfortunately because I do everything one piece each, I can’t spread the cost over several pieces.’
Ashley also has to compete with other jewelers who outsource labor to other countries for lower costs.
‘I want to keep within the U.S. to support the U.S. economy and for control,’ she said.
With ideals in place, Ashley has grown as a nontraditional business through Twitter and other Internet and social media-based avenues.
‘I did buy an ad last year at offbeatbride.com which still pushes traffic to my website,’ Ashley said.
Focusing marketing has also helped to differentiate the business from other types of handmade jewelry.
‘I think the biggest thing people don’t understand is when you say custom jewelry, they think of a lot of silver wrapping,’ she said. ‘What I do is fine jewelry designing, the same thing you see in the store.’
As for trends in the jewelry industry, Ashley finds going against the grain the best approach for the business.
‘I think because I do custom work, people come to me when they want something that is not a trend,’ she said.
Requests have ranged from a flower-shaped engagement ring to a simple, sleek band.
‘I can’t say there is any certain pattern,’ she said of customer requests.
In fact, while often receiving requests for engagement rings, she has only done one ring with a diamond setting thus far.
‘The type of people I usually deal with are younger who want something different, people who are slightly off of the beaten path,’ Ashley said.
Leah Ashley Jewelry is also focused on providing design software not often used in the Midwest.
‘Really if you want that technology you have to go to L.A. or New York, and I’m doing it here,’ she said.
Ashley grew up in Wauwatosa, Wis., and later attended art school at the University of Iowa. She later enrolled in the applied jewelry arts program at the Gemological Institute of America in Carlsbad, Calif.
She went on to work for a jewelry store in Carlsbad before moving to Omaha with her husband. She worked for Brodkey’s until she was able to get her business up and running.”

So much fun to be recognized as a real business owner!!

I’m back! I took an extended break from blogging for the Holidays but I am back and will try to post once each week.

I am still pregnant and we found out that it is a boy! Now we just wait and try to get prepared for May when he will hopefully decide to come without any complications!

Also, our installation at Birdhouse Collectible went in as planned as is still there for all to go and see! Their permanent hours are Wednesday 11-6 and Saturday 11-6 but you can also set up an appointment to see them if those times don’t work for you. Their website is http://birdhouseinteriors.com/collectible/ and all of their information is there.

And just in case you don’t live in Omaha or want to know why you should head downtown, here is the entire collection of our jewelry that is down there. If you have any questions about anything please feel free to contact me either via this website or at leah@leahashley.com.

Pendant: Marquise Apatite with 2 Round Aquamarines set in 18K White Gold with a 14K chain.

Pendant: Round Citrine set in 18K White and Yellow Gold with a 14K chain.

Earrings: 2 Round Diamonds set in 18K White Gold.

Pendant: 1 Round Diamond set in 18K White Gold with 14K chain.

Pendant: 3 large and 4 small Paua Shells set in Sterling Silver with Sterling Silver chain.

Pendant: 3 large and 8 small Paua Shells set in Sterling Silver with Sterling Silver chain.

Ring: 1 large and 3 small Paua Shells set in Sterling Silver.

Ring: 1 large and 2 small Paua Shells set in Sterling Silver.

Ring: 3 small Paua Shells set in Sterling Silver.

Pendant: Round Pink Tourmalines and Graduated Diamonds set in 18K White Gold with 14K chain.

Ring: Plain Sterling Silver.

Ring: Plain Sterling Silver.

Ring: Oval Cabochon Fire Opal and Diamonds set in Palladium and 14K Yellow Gold.

Ring: Trillion Fire Opal and Diamonds set in 14K Yellow and White Gold.

Ring: Round Yellow Sapphires and Diamonds set in 18K White Gold.

For the last couple of years, an awesome group of people here in Omaha have put together an event called Barcamp. It is an “un-conference” where the attendees get to present 30 minute talks on whatever they feel like talking about.

This year I decided to swallow my nerves and do a presentation. The talks are not supposed to just sell your business to the people listening; they are supposed to give insight into something other people maybe haven’t thought of that could help them in their own lives or businesses.

So without further ado, here are the slides to my presentation! Of course this way you don’t get my fun added comments, but at least it is better than nothing.

It has been just over a year since I quit my job and decided to devote all of my time to starting and growing Leah Ashley Designs. It has been an exciting year full of lots of work and lots of learning. I am really hoping that the next year is going to be even more exciting and it looks like it won’t disappoint!

First, my husband and I are expecting our first baby in May of 2011! So, in preparation of having to take some time off and the baby, I am starting some new things for Leah Ashley Designs also.

I will always continue to do one of a kind custom work for clients, that is my passion. But, right now I am creating some stock pieces with my own designs and my own stones to sell in a gallery space! A friend of mine opened up her own interior design gallery space called Birdhouse Collectible where she displays lots of amazing things she has done and also work by local artists. She asked me if I would be interested in displaying my work in her space and I jumped at the opportunity.

She contacted a local artist who makes wood furniture about putting together an awesome jewelry case just to display my jewelry and I started putting together designs to manufacture and show. Everything is still under construction right now but in the next 2 weeks or so, we hope to have everything all set!

Stay tuned for pictures of the pieces I am creating and for when to stop down to Birdhouse Collectible in the Mastercraft Building north of downtown Omaha to see them live in an amazing space!

My dear husband suggested that I write a post about all of the things I’ve learned while running my own business. So here goes the tell all of all of my dark secrets…

I am not an outgoing person by nature. I am shy and practical, not a sales person. When clients send an inquiry via my website, I personally respond to every single (legitimate) inquiry that comes in. I have had to really deal with my fear of talking to strangers (I think my parents did too good of a job when I was little on that one.) I try to respond to every inquiry that comes in as soon as I get it in my email box. Some days I have a lot of trouble with that because the idea of sending an email to a stranger is too much to handle at that moment. I’ve learned that if I am not in the mood right away to send an email back, I can put the email aside for awhile and work on building myself up to feeling up to it. Once the conversation gets going with a client, that fear goes away and I look forward to the correspondence.

The practical part of my personality can also be a hindrance to my business. I don’t like to “sell” people jewelry. I create a great product. If you want to buy it, great, if you don’t, that’s cool too. I don’t do sales and discounts because I’m never going to charge a client an outrageous price just so I can discount it. All of the prices I give are hard prices, bottom line, that’s it. This is not how sales people do it. If you go to a jewelry store, if you stay there long enough, they will keep dropping the price and dropping the price until they get to the price that I would have given initially. I don’t like playing the games. Sometimes, I think that means I make fewer sales. I also think that people usually do end up appreciating my way of doing things more eventually so I am not working on changing my blunt honesty.

And the biggest reason for writing this blog post: As far as pricing, I will never go back on what I said the first time. I recently did a job for a client where I made a mistake on the pricing. That client will never know that that mistake was made. If I make even $5 on that piece I will be lucky. I’d much rather lose money on one piece and have a happy client than go back to someone and tell them they need to pay me more because I made a mistake. I will also never pad other clients’ prices to make up for the loss on a different piece. A mistake is a mistake and you learn from it and move forward.

Zappos recently made a major pricing mistake that cost them over 1 million dollars. See the whole story here. Even though the chances of me making a mistake worth that much money are slim, I think the principal is the important part. I am obviously a for profit company and my goal is to make enough money to support myself but I will not do that by pissing off my clients.

In the last year or so, the most important thing I’ve learned is that I can run my company how it works for me. I can pull from the good things I see other companies doing and learn from what they have done wrong. In the end, what really matters is if I am happy doing what I am doing.