Summary: Today we meet Helen Ficalora, the founder of Helen Ficalora Jewelry. Helen specializes in high quality, customizable, heirloom pieces that are made out of precious metals. She said her jewelry designs are meant to inspire beauty, love, and peace, and wanted to create something that was beautiful and meaningful for people to wear. She started jewelry making as a kid, but officially released her own designs in a boutique at her family’s beach resort in Olympia, Washington. She needed something to do other than run the hotel, and her jewelry line acted as a happy escape from her 9 to 5. She also wanted to be a part of a business that was booming all year, and when traffic at the hotel died down outside of summer, her jewelry business provided another revenue stream. To get her line off the ground, she began working on her brand’s PR, and met with magazines, and worked her connections in the fashion industry. What really gave her business wings, though, was the monogram trend. Completely unaware of the demand for monogram jewelry, she had created an alphabet charm collection and got featured as the must-have monogram piece in multiple fashion and lifestyle publications. She became flooded with orders, and was soon was able to open up her own store in New York, with its grand opening featured on the Martha Stewart show! She said her business blew up overnight, and has since become a national brand with brick and mortar stores in Chicago, Beverly Hills, Palm Beach, and Dallas! Hear more about how she decided to open a brick and mortar, how she manages them, and Helen Ficalora Jewelry’s story! In this episode you will… Learn how to start a product line Know the best time to open a brick and mortar store Figure out the best place to open a brick and mortar store to be closer to your audience Be able to choose the perfect managers for your stores Find the perfect person to strategize with Discover your flow INSIGHTS “There’s a lot of intuition being used in people who are successful entrepreneurs, and I feel [that’s] definitely part of my ability; to be able to trust my intuition. I’ve been called the trendsetter, and a lot of that comes from just knowing something’s coming…to be able to create things in front of them.” – Helen Ficalora “I’m the ultimate multitasker. I plow through a million things, and prioritize as I’m moving through it…[I] pretty much just [put] my head down and I just go.” -Helen Ficalora “You can choose how you react to things in life, and how you react…affects how you do in business.” -Helen Ficalora “I don’t think things have to be that complicated. I guess that’s maybe my motto. My jewelry is beautiful. The complicated part of it is some of the designs…but it’s all flowing from a place of simplicity.” -Helen Ficalora “If you love what you’re doing, it’s very easy to do it…it’s not a burden to you…it’s your pleasure.” -Helen Ficalora RESOURCES Helen Ficalora Website Helen Ficalora Facebook Helen Ficalora Instagram Helen Ficalora Twitter The Prospering Power of Love by Catherine Ponder Happiness is a Choice by Barry Kaufman Son Rise: The Miracle Continues by Barry Kaufman Gary Vaynerchuk Website
