E58 Jen Vid

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Jen: [00:00:00] Okay. All right. I am so excited you're here today. Why don't you just start off by telling us who you are and a little bit about

Breanna: Yeah. I'm Brianna Murdock i'm based out of Buffalo, New York. I have lived many places though, so if you hear me talking about Florida, Arizona, Texas, et cetera, et cetera, that's probably why. I've been doing permanent jewelry for two and a half, almost three years. Three years.

Jen: I know. It's like you

Breanna: I, yeah.

In, I opened a studio this year back in June. Yes. Very exciting. It's nice to have a brick and mortar for people to come to. Most of the time, I would say 90% of my business though, is bridal, and then I have corporate contracts, so that is the vast majority of what my business entails. I don't do a lot of popups anymore.

I don't do a lot of like vendor events or anything like that.

I do some bridal expos and then I've got corporate contracts with some businesses.

Jen: Okay. Honestly, as you talk to, there's so many things going through my brain. I'm like, we could talk about so many things, but let's start first, like first [00:01:00] take it back. What did you do prior and what brought you into permanent jewelry? What is, what

Breanna: yeah. So what did, I did prior? I was a stay-at-home mom for three years and then my son was in preschool a few days a week, and all of a sudden I had an existential crisis because I didn't know who I was, what I was doing. Because before that before I had my son, I worked at Disney World in Florida.

Yes, that has become my reputation with people.

Jen: What did you do?

Breanna: in entertainment, so you know.

Jen: Were you like a princess?

Breanna: I worked with the characters. I did. Yeah. Yeah.

Jen: God. Did you love it?

Breanna: yeah, I miss it all the time. Yeah. It's like one of those things, I was really young when I started there. I was 20 the first, like when I first worked at Disney, and I worked there for several years. It's one of those things I was young, overworked, underpaid, and it's hard on your body, standing up, kneeling down, standing up, kneeling down, hugging people, pulling on [00:02:00] you tugging on your neck and pulling ears and, it's very physical.

And then the heat on top of that. And

Jen: Oh my

Breanna: so I miss it.

Jen: yeah, now that you're saying all these things, it sounds so magical when you tell people and then they're like, oh, wait, oh wait. Oh, yeah, that.

Breanna: I'm only 30. My knees are shot. If I. People at Pjx would like, I can't.

Jen: Darn it. Just kidding.

Breanna: I know, but yeah. Like people at Pjx could literally hear me from across the room, like my knees would crack, if I got down on the ground.

Jen: Stop it. I know. I'm not gonna lie. That happens to me too, and I don't even have that experience you had, but like I also too, I'm getting down doing anklet or something or whatever. And yeah, I'm always cracking. I'm always, my knees are always

Breanna: it's fine. It was my knee. Just ignore it. It's all good.

Jen: crack. Yeah, it's, yeah, it's fine. Oh my gosh, that's amazing. So you were in Florida for that, right? You said?

Breanna: That was in

Jen: And then what brought you to where you are

Breanna: Yeah. So my childhood, I suppose I grew [00:03:00] up here in Buffalo. My, my husband is actually from Colorado Springs. Yeah.

Jen: my gosh. That's awesome.

Breanna: We, he moved here as like a young adult. We met, I had worked at Disney previously. I came back to finish my college degree and I told him, when I met him, I said, we can date whatever.

I'm moving back to Florida though, so you're either coming with me or it's not working. So I moved back down there, but my husband's in the Air Force and we eventually moved back up here because he works up in Niagara

Jen: Okay.

That's amazing. Oh my gosh. So I haven't been to that area, but I have to say, I actually just was talking to a customer yesterday who was from New York City and I was like, I've always wanted go to New York. I've never been there. I'm originally from Michigan, so I feel like it should have been, 'cause I feel like it's somewhat close-ish.

That

Breanna: in New York City.

Jen: You haven't, no way.

Breanna: going in a few weeks, but I've never been. Yeah.

Jen: okay? But I was talking to her about, my husband actually went to Buffalo for work like a year ago, and he always talks about how nice [00:04:00] the people are. Like, he was like, seriously, if it wasn't, the weather was nicer, I would totally move to Buffalo because he is I'm not kidding.

Everyone I ran into was so nice and we've been to many places. We lived in three different states, like we've traveled a lot and he was just blown away by Buffalo. So you think that's true? Like everyone? Is everyone nice there?

Breanna: Okay.

Jen: You're pretty nice.

Breanna: Yes, so we're called like the city of good Neighbors.

Jen: Okay. This makes

Breanna: Yeah. So I would say a lot of people here, are like blue collar workers, and so you have, hard workers and care for their family, really family oriented people very passionate about football.

Jen: Definitely. I can see that. Yeah.

Breanna: Very passionate about football. We're a city. I don't really consider us like a city. I used to live in Orlando. I used to live in Tampa, like it's small. And it's so small, like I would consider it more a small town. I know it's a city, but I consider it more of a small town because someone who knows someone like

Jen: Exactly, yeah. Someone's like, all, everyone's

Breanna: Yeah.

Which isn't always good.

Jen: I [00:05:00] know, right? Depends how you look at it. What do you know? But no. Yeah. So then how did it start? What was, you had your, he was in preschool, so what was attractive about permanent jewelry from the

Breanna: sure. So I had actually seen it back in geez, 2021, maybe 2022 on Instagram. And I was like, I wanna go get a permanent bracelet with my mom. And there was no one around at the time who did it. The closest person at the time was in Toronto. So we drove two hours there and two hours back in one day.

And then I was like, wow. This is ridiculous. I'm like, I'll just do it myself. I have this toxic trait that I think I can do everything myself. But the problem is like, most of the time I can figure it out. So I started, I just did it. Yeah. And

Jen: Yeah. Did you take any training or anything, or do you have any, did you, because did you have any experience with jewelry before

Breanna: No. I actually, I went to school to be an attorney.

Like five different lives at this point. I,

Jen: that's

Breanna: It's

Jen: Oh my gosh.

Breanna: [00:06:00] But no, I had no experience in that I had experience in like customer service and guest relations and that kind of thing with Disney C that, is very intense version of customer service.

But in terms of jewelry, no.

Not so much. Like I had I don't know, repaired my own jewelry in the past, but nothing to this extent. I did take a training

And then I just figured it out. The Facebook group's really quite new at that point.

And I'm not, I don't post on

Jen: did you just start reaching out to were you mobile for a while and figuring, because basically getting to the point where you are now, like how you said you focus on corporate and bridal. I love that because again, I think people think, it's grown a ton.

I also started doing permanent jewelry, almost just shy of, three years this month. And, we know it's grown a

Breanna: Oh, yeah,

Jen: And we look at some, in some areas people feel it's very saturated. But the way I look at it, I'm like, with that is if you find where your customer, what you wanna focus on there, really in the end is a ton of how you can do this business very differently from someone else

Breanna: yeah. I'm not doing farmer's

Jen: made you yeah oh yeah. From the beginning with me [00:07:00] too. I was like, I wasn't, I already did vendor markets a ton with my prior business, so I was like, I have no desire to do markets. I have PTSD from them. So I'm like, for me, I'm like, I wanna focus on even, just again, going to home parties were huge for me.

Like I always was trying to push those. , I loved those personally and I just had the most fun with those. But then again, like just popping up in shops and boutiques and whatnot was also more, my jam. But, what led to bridal? What kind of steered you in that direction for you?

Breanna: Yeah. I had set that as a goal. About six months in, I have this problem where I like hyper fixate on a project for three months, and then I'm done. And then I'm done. And so when I find, like when I got to the six month point in my business, I was like, okay, like I'm actually sticking with this.

I'm enjoying this. I'm happy. Like I feel some sense of purpose. I need to start setting goals instead of just flying by the seat of my pants. And so Bridal was one of them. I just felt like I was one of the first, I don't know, five people in Buffalo doing permanent [00:08:00] jewelry. So I had pick what I wanted to do.

There weren't too many people, and honestly, Buffalo still, like bridal is trending up for permanent jewelry here. There's still a lot of people who don't even consider it for that.

Jen: Okay.

Breanna: but I set that as a goal and I had some clients who were getting married and I offered it at a lower rate just to get in.

Then I got some photographs and then everyone at their wedding saw it, and it just spreads.

Jen: Yep. Word of mouth is like the

Breanna: it's great. It's amazing.

And then I started doing like a referral program for my clients because, people like to feel appreciated and

Jen: Oh, for sure.

Breanna: And then the corporate contracts the executive manager found me on Google.

So that's all that was.

Jen: That's amazing. 'Cause I know a lot of permits I talked to are interested in getting into more like corporate kind of large setting. So being that they found you, was there [00:09:00] something in particular from your website? Your SEO is working, your search engine optimization, first of all is working.

But did you have something listed about packages or corporate or something like that on your site? Or they just searched permanent

Breanna: No the executive manager, of that particular company, she had just been searching permanent jewelry, i'll tell you, it was Urban Decay Cosmetics. And they were trying to do basically, you know how like once a quarter they'll do those events where like you get a gift with purchase after five products.

So that's what they get. So that's what I ended up. The permanent bracelet was the gift with purchase with five products. She

Jen: Okay,

Breanna: was just googling permit jewelry in the area and she said basically my business branding fit what they were looking for.

Jen: perfect.

Breanna: of course, she told her friends and they told their friends.

So now I have a couple contracts in the area.

Jen: That's amazing. So how often are you [00:10:00] doing corporate type of situ? Is there different types of corporate events that you're doing? What exactly, what are, I don't know. What

Breanna: Yeah. So I am typically working. In the beauty space right now. I've worked with Ulta, I've worked with Sephora, and I've worked with Urban Decay Cosmetics. Yeah. And so those have been like the gift with purchase. So Urban Decay will pay me an invoice and then I show up to, typically it's an Ulta and someone will check out, I'll be there with the makeup artist and everything, and they'll come over.

I have a matching branded tablecloth to fit and they'll come over. I check the receipt, and then they can pick, I, decide the chains that they can pick from. So I have a limited display for those events. And then some of the other corporate contracts I've done have been holiday appreciation events and things like that for their.

[00:11:00] Own employees like store managers and things like that.

Jen: That's why I ask. It's so funny, I'm so far removed from anything corporate that I'm like, oh, okay. Yeah, like team building. I'm thinking they do, or, it's

Breanna: what is that? Yeah,

Jen: What is this? So yeah, it's really interesting to hear. The strength of word of mouth, but from the very beginning.

Having said that, it's like obviously you made a good impression the first time to keep the word spreading, but the fact that they found you is amazing. The fact that you have, that's why I say, granted Google, as we, as a more recent thing, tiktoks and Instagram posts are showing up with a Google search.

But I have to say. I always say this I think we underestimate the power of a website. 'cause I think we go right to social media, but the fact that you have a website, it just makes you more legit. You know what I'm saying? Because anyone can just start permanent jewelry and post a picture on Instagram, a website takes a little bit more intention and branding and the look of your brand and everything showing that alone shows your professionalism and you're no, how serious you are if you're a legit business, all these things.

Do you feel like that had a decent, factor in

Breanna: [00:12:00] Oh, for certain. I have a business phone number. I actually have a second. I have a second phone. And so I would say a lot of the times I have people I say I'm more accessible. They're not sending like a dm. I have a website that looks more legitimate. I know what I'm talking about when I explain like what metals are made out of and how like welding and argon works like.

It's hard because I feel in the last six to eight months there's been a big boom in terms of people picking this up, but trying to do it,

how do I say this?

Jen: I know you're trying to, you're trying to choose your words. I can see your mind, just like your head smoking, your mind's smoking.

Breanna: They try to hit the ground running

Without preparing properly.

Jen: I would say half-assing. Half-assing is a good

Breanna: okay. Yeah, so we'll go with that. They're not educating themselves properly on what they're doing. How like metallurgy, the science of [00:13:00] welding and things like that, and especially in my area, I feel lately, has been suffering because of that, because I have several competitors selling plated jewelry.

As Goldfield and sterling silver, and of course people are upset, they're hard earned money.

Our average income here is lower than the national average. People work really hard for their money. Not that people know their cities don't. I'm just saying like it's a blue collar town.

People are working really hard

Jen: Do you feel like it has affected your business with these or or not? Do you feel like you have your customer base and you have this reputation, I guess you could say? Or how do you feel about that?

Breanna: . So I already have a reputation. I don't know if I like the, I have a reputation.

I have very loyal customers and clients. People have been coming to me for. Every year, every few months for years. And they're like, ride or die, they're [00:14:00] amazing. I would say on a handful of occasions, I've done, I don't know, maybe five or six vendor events this whole year.

I would say I am getting more of the people making comments as they walk by.

Oh, I got one of those that turned green. I got one of those that fell off. I,

Jen: okay.

Breanna: yeah,

Jen: Is almost like it reminds me of, I know this is such a weird analogy, but I used to be a massage therapist and so many people would come to me and they'd be like, they didn't get a massage for years because the first massage they ever got, either was super painful or and I'm like, oh my God, what a shame.

Because that was your first experience and that's not what it is. I'm happy you're giving this another chance because I think you missed these years of knowing what a beautiful experience this could be and how helpful it can be for your body. But here we are, like you had that first experience that was terrible and so you think everyone's gonna be terrible, kinda that same concept, right? So in the end, what do you feel? 'cause my mind goes right to yes. If these things are popping up more and more, and even we know the certain companies that aren't even truly welding, but they [00:15:00] advertise it as, permanent or forever, whatever they wanna say in their verbiage.

But it's how can I communicate that we are quality, this isn't gonna happen. It's almost like starting to market that way. 'Cause that seems be if it's happening more, where in the beginning it was all more quality I guess you could say.

Right? And especially as gold is going up, I can see why people are probably skipping right? And being like, oh, I'll just put this on them. Gold is so expensive right now.

Breanna: it is. It is. And like I offer, I do offer PVD stainless steel but.

Jen: yeah. Yep.

Breanna: educate my clients on what is what, and I'm honest and upfront with them about it. There's no question they know what they're getting. They know, there's no question about the l longevity of the medal. I'm only offering things that I know for a fact are going to be okay long term.

But I think a lot of people have been maybe skipping out on some self-education about

Different metals are made what's acceptable for [00:16:00] permanent wear versus clasp jewelry. So that's been difficult. But I've honestly, for my social media, I've pivoted away. I haven't posted pictures of jewelry in months.

I just don't, I don't, people don't care about a picture of a bracelet. They don't, posting how you can tell when you go to get a bracelet. If the enamel is plated or if it's gold filled or sterling, I've been doing more educational videos for the consumer, not so much herme jewelry artists.

People don't wanna feel like they're getting scammed or taken

Jen: I know. And it's so funny 'cause I always say this too, it's like when you're inside the jar, you can't see the label because we're so inside our business. If you can remember, if you've never, ever dealt with, and even did you go into this knowing what gold fill was, a lot of people didn't, so you have to like, go back to that beginning of being a consumer and being like, what is gonna interest me? , As we get to know things, we take it for granted. That people should just know what gold fill [00:17:00] is, and so it's like a lot of education.

And I think, personally I can say for me, I feel like that's one of the reasons customers come back time and time again. It's like I'm their trusted jeweler. They know I know what I'm talking about. I talk about things very honestly, if they even want like a very delicate chain on their ankle, I'm like, listen, we could do it, but this might happen.

You know what I mean? I'm not one to just not say it. I say it, I give 'em warnings. I talk about the chains, what their expectations are, and they appreciate that because they're like, if you don't say a word and then you know. I dunno if you experienced this in the beginning, when something broke, people would be so upset because they're like, what?

This is supposed to be permanent. So now of course I talk about my chains in a different way where I'm like, it's permanent in the sense you can't take it off unless you cut it. But having said that, these are still delicate, fine chains. You can see these are thinner, they go thicker as you go up the tears.

I speak to it in a way where that plants a seed where they're like, okay, wow. Yeah, I'm rough with my jewelry. I'm not, probably not gonna choose that one. I'll choose this one. Whereas if I didn't say a word, then they, they would be like honestly upset, if it broke.

Breanna: And not purposefully, because I think we all started out like that, and I think.[00:18:00]

Jen: Yeah.

Breanna: time also, you become more confident

Jen: Yes, for

Breanna: in, I don't wanna say more confident in being forthcoming, but more confident in what you're offering and the reality of like gravity and, forces of pressure and things like that.

You, you wanna think that you can avoid it, but you can't people are just gonna, they're not gonna take care of things that they need to take care of. And so

If you're honest,

Jen: No, but I love that. I love that you like, and you mentioned you did a training just because people reach out to me a lot and ask about where to start and I always, I ask them, of course, if they had experience with jewelry. 'cause keep in mind, again, I had a lot of experience with jewelry and my husband's a welder and da.

So when I started three years ago, I did not I'll say that I did not take a training, but because I had the business experience, I had the jewelry experience and my husband had the welding experience, that was why if no one comes from that, I'm like, please do, because this is what we're talking about.

It's if you're starting off and you're sure there's a bunch of information on YouTube, but we need an industry standard here. You know what I mean? So trainings are gonna teach you about all those things and so that we go [00:19:00] off on the right foot and you're not having Ingrid customers come back.

'cause guaranteed, if you want this to be a sustainable business and evolve and grow in the industry, you need to know what you're talking about and educate your customer. Like it's not a get rich quick thing. And I think that a lot of people, like there's some people out there that will market it that way, like trainers and be like, you can make $50,000 your first night.

It's are you kidding? This takes a lot of. Like hard work and it's really just, feeding you,

Breanna: yes, I I had someone local to me send me an email a few months ago wanting to get into permanent jewelry. She did not want me to train her. She did not wanna pay for coaching, but she did want me to tell her everything.

Jen: Oh, totally. Of

Breanna: and I don't I don't mind helping people,

and so I had asked her, I was looking at the Orion PJ Mini. I'm like, what are you talking about? What is that? I'm like, I've never heard. I'm like, texting Tony. I'm like, what? I'm on Google.

Jen: Is there something new I

Breanna: I'm on sunstone. I'm like, what is she? And I'm like, can you [00:20:00] share with me where you're getting this information?

Because she said she'd done a lot of research. Now that scares me when people say they've done a lot of research because what research? She sends me a TikTok account of a woman based out of California who is touting it as a get rich quick. I made $1,500 in an hour doing a private party. And I'm like,

Jen: Yeah

Breanna: anyways now, I'm too old to use TikTok. I don't use TikTok.

Jen: Yeah.

Breanna: it, but

Jen: I know, but you're right. It's funny you say that. 'cause TikTok Hass been coming up a lot for different reasons within my business. But I have to say, and what I'm hearing more is that people are using it as a search engine these

Breanna: It's not accurate.

Jen: these days I'm, I sound like such an old person like these days.

But yeah, like it's but honestly, it is, and I'm not on TikTok either, but things have happened in my business lately that I can talk about at a later date. But that I feel like I should be on TikTok to be honest. And I have a newer employee and she's actually , [00:21:00] she's an empty nester, so she has girls in her twenties, so she's obviously a little bit, , a demographic different, is what I wanna try to say without calling her older quote unquote.

It's just really that I didn't expect on TikTok, but she's oh yeah, all I go on is TikTok. I don't go. I'm like, what? So I feel like it's just, it's evolving. But the point of that saying is that it's with online anything, it's I feel like when go Google something, you come across and it's like you think everything's facts.

You know what I mean? Anything you Google, you're like yep. Even if I have a headache today, I probably have a brain tumor. You Google it can get in trouble. It's the same thing with getting trained on something. That's why it just like really helpful to skip all the BS and go right to an actual experienced trainer, in my opinion.

And that's just my opinion. 'cause I know a lot of people listening are just thinking about getting started and don't know where to start, so there's so many amazing trainings out there now, so I love, we went off on this,

i've, like I said, there's so many things to talk about when it comes to this, but it really is something that I agree with you that I've been noticing as well with the industry growing and growth is amazing, but this is what's hard when it's not regulated or, you don't need an official certificate or have to go to get your [00:22:00] degree.

Like you have, , you don't have attorneys just Googling and getting, and going on YouTube, and then they're all of a sudden, so obviously what we do

Breanna: There's no standards.

Jen: So we wanna stick to some industry standards here, just for the sake of the, this permanent jewelry in general, like

Breanna: of it. I know.

Jen: Yes. Longevity of exactly knowing that it's quality and it really does 'cause it is so meaningful and I just, I mean I'm, yeah, I'm sure you agree, but it's like way more meaningful than I ever thought it was gonna be when I started this. Oh, pretty jewelry that you can't take off. Cool. And then I'm like, whoa, this is like people come to me for therapy sessions.

So it's and especially you being such a big part of their day. So actually going back to that with bridal and this pearl

Breanna: Yes.

Jen: We should chat about this because I wanna put this podcast out as SAP 'cause you are gonna be inside of our membership, the Golden Link Society, talking and doing kind of live and talking, like showing, 'cause this is more just listening showing the parole reveal and going through a little bit of logistics when it comes to that.

But you do have a training that's available to anybody that Yes. Which I'm like, I told her, I'm like, I had to majorly Google and [00:23:00] ask people where this training link was, 'cause I could not find it.

Breanna: sorry. I had a separate account for it, but I really just need to

Jen: you, oh,

Breanna: I need to merge it

Jen: I didn't know that.

Breanna: like my

Jen: Okay.

Breanna: business account because it's too many. I can't I've got a personal account. I've got two business. I can't do it anymore. I,

Jen: trust me, I get it too. Like even I just have two and that's still like impossible for me. So we are gonna link everything in the show notes, by the way, just so it's all gonna be on there, so you'll everyone have access,, so when you do bridal, are you all of the above? Are you going to, like when they're getting ready, are you actually at a wedding?

Have you done it

Breanna: I have, yeah. Yeah. I've done bachelorettes, I've done morning of, I've done reception. So yeah, I've done all of that.

Jen: So you talked about when you , went the first and offered it like a package so to get someone

Breanna: yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Jen: That kind of thing. But how are there other ways have you been getting into the bridal industry? Word of mouth we know is strong, but have you tried the bridal expos or partnering with like bridal shops?

What

Breanna: Yeah, so I have done a couple of bridal expos and then of course I get like the leads list from that. I'm on the preferred vendors list for [00:24:00] a few venues and for a few hair salons, like hairstylists and one makeup artist. And so when they get new, like a bridal trial come in, they'll hand them their preferred vendor list and I'm on their sheet.

Jen: Oh,

Breanna: And then I do run some ads. I haven't been running them lately. It's not wedding season right now.

Jen: Yeah. True.

Breanna: But I do run some ads. Usually I. Starting in like January or February kind of gearing up because this is not typically like a service that someone's gonna book out like a year from their wedding.

It's gonna be like, okay, I have extra money in my budget. My wedding's in two or three months now. I'm gonna book,

Jen: So off the top of your head, where do you get the most referrals or bookings from? Is it the ads, is it the, preferred vendor list? Like where do you feel you get the most?

Breanna: would say it is from ads and then also it's like a local Facebook bridal vendor group.

Jen: Oh, [00:25:00] amazing. Good point. I feel like people forget, and I do too, with local Facebook groups. Like forgetting about that. Yes.

Breanna: And people will tag me all the time in there., And then when someone goes to search in the group. I come up.

Jen: When we talk ads, are you talking Google ads? Are you talking social

Breanna: I'll do meta ads and I'll do Google ads. It depends on what I have the energy to deal with.

Jen: I hear you. That's awesome. Did you figure it out just through what works for you or did you learn from

Breanna: I've watched some YouTube videos and things like that, but a lot of it's just been like trial and error. And I started small and then I worked my way up on ad spend and things like that.

Jen: I've just thinking of all the questions someone would have, what is like an average that you would spend per month on an ad that you feel you get enough? ROI on that,

Breanna: I've spent as little as $50 a month and I and I got could check, I got five bookings out of it.

Jen: Oh my gosh.

Breanna: Oh, yeah. And those, they're like multiple people at a time, so it's

Jen: That's awesome. Oh my gosh, I love that. So that's one [00:26:00] thing I haven't tried yet. I'm always curious to hear. 'cause that's why I was like, okay, where did you learn how to do? 'Cause I've never tried an ad before, so I think it's actually really interesting. I know we had Danielle on from Darling American.

She boosts a lot and she found really great reaction with that. Do you ever do that? Do you ever boost your posts and things like that. Okay. So yeah, it was very intriguing. She was actually also in our membership sharing more details of how to do it. And so I wanna try all these things. I keep saying that.

I just haven't

Breanna: Oh yeah. I have a whole list of things. I'm like, I gotta do that. I don't

Jen: Oh yeah. I know. It's called my parking lot. I keep things in the parking lot. I'm like, oh yeah, one day. One day.

Breanna: That notes that, the notes in my phone or

Jen: Oh my

Breanna: my voice notes.

Jen: But also, I think this goes to say, I can get a feeling like I have to go, like all or nothing.

I'm a very all or nothing person. Like you said, I can get obsessed with something for a few, I'll kinda let something go. But I think if you just dabble, like you don't have to spend or and make it such a risk where you're spending a thousand dollars a month on an ad, you can just go very little and small and see what works.

And that's why I asked you if you got any, just training or whatnot. Because I think knowing the basics, but [00:27:00] something like with your particular business and area, it might be something that it's different for everybody. Maybe what works, right?

Breanna: Don't, I think maybe one of my competitors runs ads. Maybe two. Maybe two. So my area is not that saturated. If you want to get into like technical to, it's not really all that saturated. I would say other areas, it's gonna be a lot more difficult. You're gonna need to really fine tune. I have the room to be like loosey goosey with how I run my ads.

Jen: I'm assuming running ads, are you focused on bridal when you run ads or are you saying just in general for your business?

Breanna: So yeah,, most of my ads are bridal or just the pearls. Just

Jen: That's what I was gonna say. I think that serves you because in my mind, when you're like a generic permanent jeweler, and that's why I go back to this is like with saturation and competition. It's like really once you evolve in your business, you know again where you wanna land in this, right?

It's are you a brick and mortar girl? Do you wanna add more experiences 'cause I know plenty of permanent jewelers that started off that way, then they started ear piercing and [00:28:00] now they're like totally into piercing and they rarely do permanent jewelry. This is the beauty of it.

And that's why I kind of love and get chills I love like evolving in general and the fact that if we stay the same, we're just not gonna, it's not sustainable in my mind. Especially in this day and age of like social media and everything's constantly changing.

And not to say you have to do other experiences, I'm just saying it's so amazing with being a business owner that you have the freedom to make it how you wanna make it. Do you wanna go more bridal? Do you wanna focus on the markets and that's your jam? Do you wanna add more experiences?

Do you wanna have a studio? Do you wanna, do you know what I mean? So there's so many things and ways you can go about it, but I think it's helpful. That you have ads that really focus on this niche. And I think that is really, helpful than more of a general ad does that,

Breanna: making more money when I niched down.

Jen: yes.

Okay. I love that you're saying that. People talked a lot about niche and I listened to a lot of business and over the years, podcasts and books and everything and Niche was like nailed in. Like you have to have one, but it doesn't have to be this again, major.

It doesn't have to be just bridal. Like for me, my niche, of course is handmade, of course. Like [00:29:00] I'm big on handmade, but I love stones, I love birthstones. I love the gemstones and the meanings behind them. So that I think is my niche, right? Like it's what I'm passionate about.

So even if it's something within your business that you're passionate about, if it's solid gold,

Breanna: You can't be everything all the time, all at once.

So I just pulled up my reports on Square because I'm like, okay, I have numbers. Like I can quantify this.

Jen: I love it. I love numbers.

Breanna: I have raised my average sale since last year. So 2024 to 2025 and 2024. I did niche down, but 2025 I was really focused and I was like, okay, this is my third year.

Like I really have to so my average sales up by 19 point 54%.

Jen: That's amazing.

Breanna: then my sales are up 15%,

Jen: Okay, let's talk about Pearl Reveal because that sets you apart too. Like I said, and again, it could just be something like, I talk about it could be anything. I could go on, we could, you could make, have we learn wire wrapping and have people make custom connectors with burst stones on the

Breanna: I do that.

Jen: You could [00:30:00] do morse code, you could do, literally there's really endless things. But let's talk about Pearl Reveal where did you hear about this? How did you decide to take this on and tell me all the things

Breanna: Okay. Yeah. So I was trying to diversify, right? I was doing permit jewelry and I was like, okay, there's other people doing it. I need something. I was doing bridal a lot. I was feeling like I needed something more, or in addition to, I was just feeling bored. At that point there weren't that many chains on the market.

Everyone had the same chains. It was just everyone had paperclip, everyone had hearts, I was like, okay, this is getting lame. So I was looking at like experiences, jewelry based experiences, things like that. I didn't wanna do ear piercing. That's very complicated in New York state and specifically in my county.

It's very complicated.

I wasn't gonna do like micro tattoos or I didn't wanna do anything like that. I looked at like hat bar. I was like, [00:31:00] eh,

Jen: Yeah, I hear you.

Breanna: I have Charm Bar now, but that's just in studio. I don't really bring that too many places. And then I remembered going back to Disney as a child. They have it there and it was so fun. And I actually still have the pearls from when I was like seven or eight. I still have them.

Jen: Yes.

Breanna: And I found them like going through my jewelry drawer and I was like, oh my goodness, wait a minute.

So then I got really hyper fixated on this and I'm Googling and I'm Googling and I'm not finding anything. I find one company, but it's an MLM that does

Herl reveals. So I wanna say, okay, so Pearl Reveal is what I have to use because pick a pearl is trademarked.

Jen: Oh, got it. Okay. I like Pearl Reveal actually. I feel like it flows, but, and okay, maybe if everyone's in the dark right now and they're like, what the heck

Breanna: yeah. So

Jen: is it? What is it?

Breanna: Pick a pearl is [00:32:00] the phrase that people will seem to be more familiar with. But what it is, I have a bowl of oysters. They're freshwater oysters. They're actual pearls inside. You pick whichever oyster like calls to you. People feel drawn to a certain, it's the same thing, like with chains.

They'll see the display and they're like, that's the one. So people they'll see my bowl, they'll say, that's the oyster. I take the oyster out, I open the oyster right in front of them. And then the size, the color, and the shape of the pearl inside is a surprise. So we all find out together. And I clean it up and then I will, sometimes people like to just bring it home in a bag.

But I usually set it in a necklace. Like I've got cage necklaces, and then I can also drill and set pearls right there on the spot. So I can do necklaces. I've done earrings. I have a ring that I've done and I've done like the little dangled charms and I've put them on permanent bracelet.

Jen: Yeah, I was gonna say like it's when you can drill a hole through it, that's again, where wire wrapping comes into play, because of course I think of handmade, [00:33:00] but it's like you could wire wrap that, you know, and put it as a connector. You can make a charm. You could literally wire wrap it, put on a necklace, on a bracelet.

It's endless, or add other birthstones to it if you have the birthstone and make more of the pearl as a center and then the birthstones right next to it, or, yes. Like how cute. And then when you talk about setting, yes, it's I think people go to, okay, do I have to be like a full-on jeweler and be metalsmithing?

No, it's like a cage. I think you write, you just place the pearl in a little

Breanna: Yeah. So I've got like a cage. I've got a couple options. It has a hinge on one end and it flips open and you put the curl inside and you close it. And once you close it, the loops on the top lineup, and you thread the chain through it. I'm trying to.

Jen: Perfect. No, I can totally see it. I hopefully people understand that. Yeah. It's like literally you just drop the pearl in and it's a little cage that holds it as like a pendant. And it's, and they're pretty too, they're really like unique and pretty. I don't, they're

Breanna: Yeah. They're like

Jen: you're not

Breanna: dainty. No. Yeah, they're like dainty. I've got one shaped like [00:34:00] a key.

Jen: They're dainty. Exactly.

Breanna: Yeah. And then I can also drill and I will set in and glue a bale into the pearl. And then you can just hang it from a jump ring.

Jen: I love this so much. And I need to take your training 'cause I know you sent me the link so I'm literally taking it this week. 'cause like I said, you're popping up in our membership next week and I really wanna be able to. I dunno if I'll have all the things to do it with you live at that point.

How fast can I get the things?

Where do you buy the, where do you buy these

Breanna: Okay.

Jen: That's in the training. That's in the training guys.

Breanna: I list two suppliers. One takes longer, but the wholesale cost is cheaper. The other one is faster, but a little bit more for oyster.

Jen: Good to know. I'll be asking you. 'Cause I would love to, because this is just seems like such a fun as we approach the holidays, but also of course bridal obviously. Hello. That's huge. 'Cause I can even picture a bride. I think that'd be so special. And what a memory of it's it, as we know, permanent jewelry too and people adding these birthstones or initials or things they add to their permanent jewelry.

Again, it's more than just a [00:35:00] piece of jewelry, which is why I think it's here forever because it's a memory and it means more than just buying something off Amazon. But also like this, like the fact that you also have your pearls from Disney from years ago, like it's, I feel like it's something people probably wouldn't

Breanna: no, and it's a pearl.

Jen: just timeless.

Breanna: I had a bride, she had her, she had three or four bridesmaids. She had them all pick an oyster and then I made a necklace with all the pearls that they picked for her.

Jen: Oh my gosh, that is that gave me chills. I love that. See, I would cherish that forever. Like I can just picture the day of my wedding and being able to choose a pearl that represent that day of what I chose. Like I think that's so special. But even just choosing one from your, for your mother and ma and putting something, again, if this is giftable, we talk about gifts now because of course we're approaching holidays and a lot of permanent jewelers want ideas for giftable.

'cause we, again, we have gift cards. I even had a customer come in my shop the other day and she's I know I could do a gift card, but it just feels like it's so lazy. You know what I mean?

Breanna: I get it.

Jen: It's here's a gift card, so so she's I wanna gift something. And so I'm like we can do a gift card and something else, like something small, whatever, if you want, her to come to do an [00:36:00] experience here.

But the pearl thing is just like so special because again, it would be to tell the story too of it was chosen like whenever, and even if you made some special card for it to explain how it was, and to give it as a gift I think is really

Breanna: and I actually work with a local artist who does watercolor of like paintings of the lake because we live on Lake Erie here. And so she's got like coastal prints and so I like as gifting thing, I include one of her little

Jen: Oh, that's amazing. So do you mind sharing how much you like charge for that experience? Is it per pearl, does it matter? Are they all the same size? Like how does that

Breanna: Yeah, so every pearl is different. They aren't cultured pearls, so that means it's an actual oyster. They put in a tiny little piece of a tiny little plastic bead, and that's the irritant or the agitant to basically force the oyster into [00:37:00] creating a pearl around. Because a pearl is created in nature when, like a grain of sand gets in the oyster and they're agitated, they don't like the feeling an oyster is like a living thing.

They don't like the feeling of that sand inside. And so to soften or make it less irritating to them, they spin it and they spin it and it gets covered in calcium over and over, and all the components of a pearl. And it coats the grain of sand into what is a pearl.

Jen: How did, I never know. I'm like, blown away right now. I'm like, is that really how that's, I had no idea I had, I literally, I feel so dumb. I

Breanna: Oh, you're not dumb.

Jen: that's so

Breanna: No, most people don't know that. Yeah, so they're all cultured, which just means that a plastic bead has been placed. A very tiny plastic bead has been placed inside in the place of a grain of sand. So the oyster creates the pearl around that [00:38:00] plastic bead. It's still a natural pearl.

It's real pearl.

Jen: okay. But some aren't some colored, like they're

Breanna: I don't, yeah, so some of them are different colors. Naturally you can buy them where the pearls are dyed. I don't buy those. I only

Jen: I don't that

Breanna: So I've gotten a blue pearl. I've gotten many pink ones. Gold.

Jen: Really?

Breanna: There's, yeah, and in the training there's like a sheet that, it's like a printable, it shows all the different colors, what the colors represent or like what they're known to represent, and then the percentage of the rarity of them.

Jen: Yes. No, I'm just a sucker for I think anybody is, like first of all, it's like the scarcity thing almost too. It's and also just not knowing what you're gonna get. Something that you're meant for, that you choose. I'm a sucker for that stuff. And I think a lot of people are, because it just makes anything more special versus even if you were to see like a bowl of pearls already exposed, you'd be like, okay, yeah, I like that one.

But the fact that you're choosing one, you don't know what it [00:39:00] is and

Breanna: for you.

Jen: meant for you. It's calling to you. I'm such a fan, and like we have these candles in the shop that recently a candle maker made for us. 'cause we all have remnants of chain, right? That we don't ever know what to do with, so we put like chains at the bottom of a

Breanna: cute.

Jen: and so you burn the candle and they come in and get it on as a ring and, but you don't know what you're gonna get. And I just love that so much. 'cause I'm like, okay, the gold containers are gold chains, these are silver. And then yeah, you just don't know what you're gonna get.

And I think that's so fun, and like waiting to burn this thing to see

Breanna: Yeah.

Jen: for 20 hours to see what chain you get. But but yeah, I just I love anything like that where it's it just makes it more special for sure. So yeah. , What do you think is average cost for something like to

Breanna: Yeah my wholesale costs or retail costs?

Jen: just retail. Like what you would charge a customer, what you charge a customer for this.

Breanna: So I charge $25 and that includes picking the oyster. I open the oyster, clean the pearl, we measure it. And then I also include like a little velvet bag that it can go in. So that's $25.

Jen: cute. [00:40:00] Love it. Okay. And then from there on out, obviously depending on what they do with it,

Breanna: my cages are sterling silver. I charge 35.

That includes the chain with it

Jen: Okay, cool. Awesome. Also like affordable, like I said, if it's for a gift, like it's not like a Pearl's a hundred dollars where you're like, okay, he like giftable stuff, you wanna stay around 50 ish or less ish, depending on the person. No, I love this so much so I'm so excited to dive in.

But I think this is just again, anyone that I know, there's even a few permit jewelers I know that really wanna dive more into bridal and I think this is gonna be amazing addition and such an attractive thing for brides. Is it something you do implement a lot in your brides or do you feel like it's 50 50 with your customers?

Breanna: With my brides, I would say it's 50 50. A lot of times I bring both grandmothers and mothers love it. They'll be like my bridesmaids. I wanna get them the permanent bracelets or the whatever they're getting, but I wanna get something for my mom. The mother of the groom, grandma, and they don't want things that are [00:41:00] permanent.

They want clasps.

Jen: Yes. Yep. I hear you.

Breanna: we do the pearls with them. They love that. And then, no one feels left out. No one feels like they're not included in the experience because there have been a few times where the brides didn't want me to bring the pearls, and then grandma's sitting in the corner watching me and I'm like,

Jen: I know, I always try to convince grandma though, I'm always like, come on, let's give it a try. Don't shy. They're so disgust, like some of 'em are so just I was gonna use the word disgusted, but it's like they're so appalled by permanent jewelry, they're like, oh my God. Like I can't take it off. Yes, but I've gotten a lot of people on the train and then they come back and, the

Breanna: Yes. No, I have a lot of Yes. No, they love it too. I just, I have found some of the more, so I'm Italian and so a lot of my clients end up being Italian. It's a certain type of personality. Along with that, a lot of Italians are very [00:42:00] Catholic, and so you have a very specific demographic,

Jen: Yeah. There we

Breanna: with Anana that I'm very familiar with.

So I'm like, don't worry, I'm not coming at you. We'll do the pearls. There won't even be a welder. It's okay.

Jen: There you go. There you go. Appease everybody. So tell me really quick before we, because I feel like there's a few more things, and I know we're kinda running outta time, but let's talk about studio. You opened a studio in June, right? So it's been, what, like five, six months maybe? So tell us like, what made you make that decision?

Is it just you, are you open all the time? Do you have an employee? What changed for you after opening that?

Breanna: Yeah, I had offered private appointments previously outta my house. Not a great decision, but I wasn't getting that many of them. So at the time I was feeling like, I can't commit to a space, like I just can't. And everywhere I [00:43:00] looked around here, it was like a three year lease. I'm like, I can't commit to that.

I can't do it. I went to PJX. I had been inundated for maybe two or three months with people, not my own pieces, but other pieces from other businesses who needed repairs. And I'm like, I'm not, and I'm not, I don't do a lot of vendor events, so it was like I'm not driving 45 minutes to meet you and repair it.

I'm just not doing that.

Jen: exactly.

Breanna: I'm like, okay, I really need to open a space. It had been something I'd been toying with for months anyways. I had ordered all the furniture and had it in the space for two months. And then it's one of those things I, everything was in boxes. I had everything there. It was just in boxes and I was, it was winter. I didn't wanna turn the heat on. I didn't wanna go out there and build it. And my son was in kindergarten last year and it was just we had transitioned from him being in preschool only two days a week.

[00:44:00] So I didn't have the availability. Then I did, but then I was scared. Then I went to PJX, I had, for whatever reason, when I go on work trips, I get blown up with requests and appointments and inquiries. I don't know what it is. It's literally every time I told my husband, I'm like, every time I have to go on more work trips, because

Jen: Totally.

Breanna: I don't know, I'm not in town and all of a sudden wants me home.

They all want me to come back. So

Jen: sure. That's

Breanna: I was with Ashley in Arkansas. That's, oh, two months now. Two months ago, and I literally, I had five inquiries in one day. I was like, this is ridiculous.

But anyways, I was in Texas and I had four or five appointments booked. Within a few hours. I was like, okay, I really have to, I really have to finish this.

I get home, I force myself to go out there. sweating, I'm swearing, I'm crying, I'm [00:45:00] building furniture and I open it up. And then the first week I had, I don't know, 12 appointments. It was ridiculous. So having an actual space, because there, there's really no one around here. There's a few people who have a spot like once a week at a salon.

And then there's like a tattoo parlor that offers it by appointment. But they only do solid gold.

Jen: So are you open specific hours then, so you're not by appointment only or how's it work

Breanna: am technically by appointment only, but I'm really flexible. It's 10, it's less than 10 minutes from my house.

Jen: that's nice. Yes.

Breanna: It's just me right now, I'm in desperate need of an employee. It's something I'm dragging my feet on. I'm a perfectionist, a self-admitted control freak. I have a hard time.

And I'm very kind, but I don't wanna subject someone to like my perfectionism tendencies because I am sure it's a [00:46:00] lot to be on the receiving end of.

Jen: It's a learning curve for sure.

Breanna: And have, finding someone to have like weekend availability is difficult.

Jen: Yes, for sure.

Breanna: and people don't wanna give up the weekend.

Jen: So it's definitely been for you. So describe your studio space. Are you all like by yourself type situation? Like where is it housed in or is it in a where,

Breanna: Yeah. Yeah, it is, how do I put this? Technically on a residential parcel, it's not a house. It's not a home. It is attached to a pool house.

Jen: Oh,

Breanna: yeah, it works out really well. It's not near any retail space, so I do wish I had foot traffic. 'cause then I would be there, like eight 30 to one, which are what my normal hours right now

Jen: Yeah.

Breanna: I have an employee, I can't commit to like a set retail space.

Just with my son, I have to, he goes to school at seven 30 in the morning. And I pick him up at two.

Jen: [00:47:00] That's crazy. Exactly.

Breanna: at work, so

Jen: know. I hear you.

Breanna: I need at least one employee, if not two. But yeah, it's just, it's like 600 square feet. Yeah. So I've got like a little studio area. I've got a couch, my table, I've got my pearls, my permit jewelry.

I've got charm bar set up in there. I have to bring Ivan Engraver. I know we talked about that. I have to bring that over.

Jen: Oh yeah, we do need to talk about that actually. I know we want, I know the members of my membership really wanna touch on that. A few. I have an X tool. I have the newest one. Have I done anything with it yet? No. So I am actually gonna dive in this month, but yeah, we can chat about that too.

How long have you been using an X tool? Two years. Oh, awesome. So is that something that's pretty common in your business? Actually, going off on a tangent here, but is it something pretty common? Are you doing like custom connectors all the time for permanent jewelry? Are you incorporating it with permanent jewelry?

Breanna: This last month has been like really devastating. I've done a lot of memorial pieces in the last [00:48:00] month. I, so most of what I'm engraving is handwriting or like fingerprints. And so it's been a rough month. It is. But I do a lot of the bridal with the handwriting.

Jen: Yes.

Breanna: Yeah. And so I've had brides, I'll engrave the charm. They have it sewn into their dress or added to their bouquet. And then after the wedding I put it on the bracelet.

Jen: so cute. Oh my God, I'm dying. I didn't even think about that. That's amazing. And I was even thinking like you could, I was incorporating the two, like where it would be, you could even do like a connector or a charm with a pearl or you can incorporate both, which I don't know if you do very often, but just being that they're both so special, like

Breanna: Yeah, I don't do both too much, but yeah, the handwriting is really popular. I can show you how to edit the handwriting.

Jen: Love it. Would love to see that, because I know everyone's gonna be Yes. All about it. I know that's one thing too, when we were sb I know we're gonna talk about this, but now I guess segue again, but PJX when they had the [00:49:00] X tools there last year I knew I was gonna purchase one, and I purchased one shortly after PJX actually, and then they came out with a new one.

I literally got it in the mail and then it was like, boom, we brand, we just launched a new piece. And I'm like, oh my God. So then I ended up returning it, getting the new one because I'm like, I know I'm gonna want the new one. So anyway, long story short, it's still, kinda chilling, but I'm gonna get going.

But that was the first thing I asked him. I was like, I wanna do my handwriting on a piece in like for my daughters, so I wrote I love you and had two little connectors made, so I know that's gonna be huge. I,

Breanna: Big because Pandora offered their own version of it a few years ago, and it blew up on TikTok and Instagram blew up and their charms are plated.

Jen: Oh, are they, I'm surprised by Pandora.

Breanna: I don't remember how much they were charging, but it was way more I charged, I only charge 35

Jen: Okay.

Breanna: engraved. It's a small, it's a small connector,

Jen: What do you feel like is a percentage of someone coming in your [00:50:00] door that's either doing a connector, custom in some way from X tool or a pearl reveal, what percentage of business do you feel like that is for you versus like just someone getting a simple chain For permanent jewelry?

Breanna: I would say if I'm gonna split it up by percentages, I don't have the numbers right in front of me.

Jen: Yeah, you're fine. I was just, I know, just spitball, like I feel like people walking through your door. Is it like 50 50 of someone who's choosing a custom or a pearl versus just something, I

Breanna: I would say 50% just straight permanent jewelry.

Jen: Yeah.

Breanna: And then 25. 25 on pearl and engraved. And it fluctuates depending on part of the year

Jen: But I can just see that like the fact that you offer these things too, and again, depending, again, everybody's different. And also you might offer different experiences. Perial might be, your jam X tool might not be your jam, but something else will be that people just know you to come back for.

And so the fact that you offer these things, that's what I, even say like even if you go have a slow market, let's just use for an example and [00:51:00] ev it's really not just about making sales right then, but if you really try and relate to people what you're about and strong in your branding and talk to people, you're gonna be top of mind when they think about that.

Then when they do want permanent jewelry or they do want something, oh my God, that girl had put those pearls and I just wasn't ready that second. But that'd be amazing to bring my friends and do that. You know what I mean? Like it's something that people will come back to you for sure.

Breanna: Yeah. I I like to bring the engraver., I have the small one. I don't know which one you have. I've got the little guy.

Jen: You do. Is it the X one? I don't even know. I just have the

Breanna: yeah, it's the F1. It's the OG F1. It's,

Jen: F1. Okay, got

Breanna: little. I will bring him to events when I do like markets or whatever, and especially if I know there's gonna be other people doing permit jewelry there.

People love to congregate and watch the engraver go.

Jen: definitely. Oh my god, I would be a sucker for that too. We all love behind the scenes stuff, but to see how something's made, that is huge. I think it's [00:52:00] part of, obviously even the experience of permanent jewelry, it's so cool that people are like, when they get it welded on, they're like, oh my god.

They freak out about the spark, yeah, I would no doubt, I would be so attracted to that if you brought that to a market and like I, the sea of permanent jewelers, but you're doing something on the spot. That's

Breanna: Yeah. And then it's engraved in a minute, in 30 seconds, so

Jen: Amazing,

Breanna: they're not even waiting that long. I put it right on the bracelet and they're gone.

Jen: Love it. That's so cool. Yeah, we'll definitely talk about that more further on the call too, because I know a lot of are interested in figuring out how to go about that. That's something, again, that's giftable. But also what I love about both of these that you're talking about is that like pearl reveal and the engraving, not only is it giftable, but it's something you can incorporate with permanent jewelry.

So it's not like it's totally separate. It's like it's literally all intertwined.

Breanna: Yeah. I don't do a lot of clasp with it. Most of it is the permit jewelry,

Jen: yeah. That's

Breanna: I know some people have feelings about pearls on permanent jewelry, but they're fine.

Jen: I know there's feelings too, but I've been doing, and again, with the handmade stuff, I have to say, I'll just say I've been doing it since day one of making connectors with pearls for [00:53:00] three years. I've never had someone come back,

Breanna: I haven't either, and I wear my own.

Jen: crap.

Breanna: I wear my own like these.

Jen: Do you? Yes. Yes.

Breanna: I haven't taken 'em off in like I have 'em on for years,

Jen: Yep. And don't get me wrong, I'm not gonna, again, I'm gonna be honest, I'll see sometimes people have a connector that looks a little darkened because again, pearls are soft as we know. And that's why people say they might not be good. And there's other gemstones out there that also people say turquoise is really soft.

Yes. But I also use turquoise all the time in my permanent real turquoise and share it with faceted beads over time. Will the facets smooth out? Yes, because it's a softer stone. But having said that, I don't get like the stones breaking all the time or anything that's gonna prevent me from continuing, or no one complains and they're like, oh my God, this is so ugly.

But Pearl, I will notice if someone's had went on for two years, 'cause it literally just happened last week and it did. The pearls were darker. They were a little darker, but, and I said something and she's oh, I didn't even realize. 'cause of course, when you have it on all

Breanna: Yeah, it's just getting a little

Jen: But it didn't look bad. It wasn't black. I'm just saying that you [00:54:00] could tell it wasn't like fresh. But it still had a sheen. It still looked good. Like the,

Breanna: the

Jen: the, just the sheen of the pearl. Yes. The luster. Thank you. So yeah, anyway, that, thank you for mentioning that. 'cause I know pearls are can be controversial with

Breanna: It is in my training. I should probably update it. I say that, it's soft and it may not be

Jen: Yes. It's softer.

Breanna: jewelry. I feel comfortable using them. I know other people don't, but

Jen: I know. Yeah,

Breanna: I have to put the disclaimer out there.

Jen: you feel. I hear you. I hear you. And I, yeah, and it's just being honest too and what your expectations are, just so you know. But PJX. Okay, I'm so excited. So I met you at PJX, actually, that's where I met you. And then that's when you told me about the pearls.

I don't even know how it came up. I think you told me your social, I don't even know where the conversation, how it

Breanna: remember at all.

Jen: then I was blown away. I remember the moment where I was like, what do you do and you're like, yeah, I do this pro reveal, and then you also gave me gold pants.

So you were wearing the jacket right now, compliment you. 'cause it was like, and then you're like, yeah, the pants are too big. [00:55:00] I'm like, you want 'em? I'm like, yeah, I'll take your gold pants. And yes, I do have the gold pants. I'm gonna try and wear 'em to Pjx next year.

Okay. Like I'll wear your gold pants. But have you tell me, 'cause you actually are on one of the committees this year, which is super exciting. So do you wanna share a little bit about, I don't know what your vision is 'cause you are on the experience committee, which I'm super excited about. So yeah, what are your thoughts around next year's PJX?

Tell me.

Breanna: I am excited. I've never been to Vegas, so this is gonna be an interesting experience.

I'm very excited. We're focusing on experiences and boosts that are easy to photograph and share on social media. So we're hoping, it'll be fun to take pictures with your friends and your jewelry and stuff like that. So yeah, I'm very excited. We're in the beginning stages right now, obviously

Jen: So have you gone to every PJX or was it just last year was your first year or what's your experience? Okay. And then what was your knowing that like obviously going, what was your thoughts afterwards? What, [00:56:00] I don't know, like what was your experience at PJX last year?

Breanna: I stayed up too late every night. I, it had been like my first trip without my husband or my son, so it was wild.

Jen: And that's why I tell people I know it's hard. 'cause most of us, a lot of us, I would say, I don't know what the percentage is. I'm like, you know of, but a lot of us doing this are moms, right? And we have little ones at home. And so I have to say, I've gone every year and my girls now are five and seven.

So I've gone every year. With this one was a third one, right? Yes. And so it just really though it like it's not only are you educating yourself, exposing yourself to all these amazing vendors and like you can shop. 'cause as we know, we have to shop everything online for

Breanna: It's

Jen: There's no store that we can go to.

You know what I mean? Yeah. Markets like, , I had a boutique now for 11 years where I have purchased clothing and merchandise for a shop. I would go to market in Vegas or Dallas, whatever, and it'd be like endless with, you can shop for the season all in one on one day, two days, whatever.

This is the only time, pJX, like yes. You can go to GEM shows. I talk [00:57:00] about this before, 'cause I've gone to GEM shows for years. Yes, there's some chain suppliers at certain ones, depending what city you're in, but not focused on permanent jewelry.

Breanna: No, I have a wholesaler here. We have A to Z findings here in Niagara Falls.

Jen: oh.

Breanna: You have to make an appointment ahead of time and they're an hour from me, so it's not like it's always a last minute.

Jen: It's not like super convenient. Yeah I know what you mean. 'cause you get in your everyday life, you stay, I feel like I'm so stay in my bubble to be honest. So even I have to go to Denver area for the gem, like when I buy gemstone, like different things not for jewelry, but I do go to some wholesalers up there and it's yeah, it's a whole day and I have to like X out my calendar and be like, okay, I'm gonna go to wholesalers today.

It's not convenient. So of course online's obviously convenient, but if you can go somewhere where a connect with people get education, get so much inspiration. I'm sure that's maybe what kind of catapulted you to open your studio was PJX,

just like it's so inspiring. It's so awesome to be in the room with people that really understand. What you're doing and where you are because they're all doing the same thing on some level, that is amazing because where [00:58:00] else do you find that, so anyway, I can't say enough about PJX and I'm super excited about they're doing experiences because the experience definitely is what it's all about, anyway

Breanna: a, you're on a

Jen: yes, I am an, I am on the committee for exhibitors Sarah from SB and we have Louise, she's in the UK and she's coming to the States for the first time, which is really cool. So yeah, the three of us, and Sarah obviously genius, she's from sb, she's a vendor and has been from day one.

And then, we have Goldie Links, , with our supplies. But so we're really excited because honestly, I have to say, it's so hard to say. Of course, every area of PGX is so valuable, but. I'm not gonna lie. I do love it. Saves time to be able to like, and actually meet the vendors and exhibitors is to actually meet them face to face and have, and ask questions or whatever.

That's priceless. And also just be able to shop everything in one spot and be like, boom. I don't have to spend hours online.

Breanna: People have a hard time with the millimeters have changed, so being able to see them in

Jen: yes.

Breanna: We all struggled with that in the beginning.

Jen: Aubry, I still struggle with that. Do you no longer been [00:59:00] making jewelry? And I'm like, oh yeah, I'm gonna buy this six millimeter. And I'm like, and then I get surprised by the size and I'm like, wow, I should know what that looks like now.

Breanna: Yeah,

Jen: yeah. And as it's just so everything about it. And I just feel like I, I know it's hard to get away sometimes, but I do feel like it's necessary. Like how amazing was it to spend some time on your

Breanna: okay to be selfish sometimes as a mom,

Jen: Exactly. It's not even that. It's just, it's actually necessary.

It's necessary to be, I feel, for my own self, I can speak to this. If I spend time for things I really want and need, it only makes me a better mom, a better wife because I'm happier. So that's important, so yeah, I would say try, meet some PJ girlfriends or bring your PJ friends.

If you don't have a PJ friend, that's okay, because actually it's probably best as you go and have, don't know anybody and meet some girls. I think that's

Breanna: I have a few PJ friends and now. I am immersed in the, but no, honestly like work trips, I've done a few of them and PJX being one of them have 20, 25 in general. My business and PJX and [01:00:00] work trips, business trips have healed me as like a person.

I don't wanna get too deep into it, but

If you're cool with that. My son was born after recurrent miscarriages and then I had really bad postpartum depression, and then when he was seven months old, COVID happened.

Jen: Yep.

Breanna: and so like my mental health never recovered, having a child to begin with without any other issues added to it does things to your brain and your personality and your sense of self and your sense of worth.

Jen: completely.

Breanna: has I feel like I literally, I was in Orlando for a work trip and I turned Alyssa, Luke is my best friend.

I turned to her. I go, I'm so back. And oh, I'm getting emotional. I was like, I'm so back. It's me again. Like for the first time in 10 years since really since I'd met my husband, quite frankly,

Jen: Wow.

Breanna: I was like, wow.

I feel like me [01:01:00] again. Like me, not my husband's wife, not my son's mother. Me, and I know who I am now and like my personality, what I'm okay with, what I'm not okay with. I don't allow people to disrespect me anymore. Like it,

Jen: Agreed. Yes and I think so many women listening, whether you're a mother or not, but honestly, as you go through life, like the lines get so blurred and we are so focused on our career. Our kids are, relationships and it's like, who are we? You know what I mean? And also, or even if you're in, you're intertwined in your business like you're so in your business and you're like, and not only 'cause again, yes, this is a business trip, but like you said, it's so funny because I also feel like there's self-development trips.

Like I've taken many business trips and gone to retreats and things. It is not just

Breanna: No.

Jen: Lemme tell you, it is not just about how to post on Instagram. It is like literally your feeding your soul. I have to say, because it's just a fulfilling, it's the people you connect with.

It's these ahas you have. It's not about entrepreneurship is so tied into our self-worth. You know what I mean? [01:02:00] I say the biggest lesson in self-development is be an entrepreneur. That's how I feel because you're gonna be faced with all the things like your money mindset, your self-worth, all these self-love, like all these things are gonna pop up for you. It's gonna be really uncomfortable and, and these things are gonna push you further. And so to take three days out of your, to really like, fill, like really, fill into yourself like, fill your cup, I have to say I belonged to a mastermind in 2018.

Okay. It was a year long mastermind. I paid a lot of money to be a part of it. And we had three meetups and it was not only that month. Here we are, how many years later? I can't do math. 8, 6, 7. So it's but I'm still referring back. Yeah. Seven. I was like, I'm still referring back to that and think about that mastermind because it stretched me in so many ways so it's not just about what's happening those three days even. It's what's happening after, it's literally a domino effect. And that stuff you're gaining there is gonna help you , and it's almost gonna be addicting. 'cause like you said, you went to Florida I'm back.

Because there's only, there's no way I feel, maybe I'm [01:03:00] speaking for you, but if you didn't get outta here and go to these things and do something for yourself would you be in

Breanna: And yeah, being a business owner and entrepreneur, I have never felt so high and so low in, in the same, Ooh, my gosh, I've never been so confident in my ability. And then later that night, like 10 hours later, I'm like, I'm the worst person that's ever existed, and I've scammed everyone

Jen: yeah. I'm like, I'm gonna shut it down. I'm gonna shut it down. I'm gonna a barista like.

Breanna: I don't, I dunno what I'm doing.

Jen: Honestly, I have to say, it's funny. The most beautiful things in life, I feel like that stretch you are like that. 'cause I can say by parenthood is like that. It's so bipolar. I say that all the time. I'm like, we are losing our shit. Like we, the kids are screaming with tantrums. I'm literally like, what is happening?

I'm gonna lose my mind. And then the next half an hour I'm like, this is so beautiful. Oh

Breanna: you're an angel.

Jen: is a beautiful moment. I'm like, it's so up and down. I'm like, oh my gosh. The journey of, and it's and I think, yeah, checking your expectation, like that's really what to expect as a business owner, to be honest.

If you don't expect that, then you're gonna get in trouble because it's gonna be hard for

Breanna: have never [01:04:00] felt so so confident in myself, and then also so not confident in myself. And there are days where I'm like, I feel like I'm a 17, like 17 again, and I'm talking to adults and they're talking down to me and I'm like wait a minute. Hold on.

Jen: Yeah.

Breanna: and then I remind myself that people at PGX took me seriously.

So then I'm like, okay. All

Jen: you go. Yes.

Breanna: And like important people were taking me

Jen: Yes. Because it's the thing, when you're on your own, you have to, as we know, you have to be like self-motivated and self everything. Like I talk about it's self-confidence, self love, self-worth, like it's all about yourself because you are doing it.

No one's you don't have a boss that's being, yeah. You don't have someone above you, a boss that's being like, you're doing a great job and we're gonna give you a promotion. You literally have to

Breanna: Yeah.

Jen: You have to decide for yourself. Yeah, exactly. So to have people in your corner that can remind you of that stuff is really vital, I feel, to [01:05:00] having a sustainable, successful, fulfilling business.

And and PJX is one of the things I feel, personally, I feel like everyone should be putting, if you're serious about your permanent jewelry business. It's just it's something you should do every year. Like I'll say it all day long. I feel like it's something you should be putting on your calendar and coming to grow yourself and connect and like really just like I said, fill your cup like with all the things.

So making time for yourself, but your business, it's all intertwined. So I'm excited to see you again

Breanna: too. We'll coordinate our outfits.

Jen: I'll

Breanna: Oh my gosh. You don't pants at all. The sisterhood of the traveling pants. Everyone gets the pants every year.

Jen: I know we just passed the pants around. That's a good idea. I'll give it to someone else

Breanna: we could put like a little chain thing on the side of it and everyone could add a little charm to

Jen: gosh. Love. Oh my gosh. That needs to come back. People used, I feel like that was

Breanna: It was a thing.

Jen: wait, like the wallet chain or something. Didn't people do it with their

Breanna: Yes, they did.

Jen: Now that you say that, I'm like,

Breanna: Yeah, no, I do like [01:06:00] body chains and stuff like that. I do, yeah. Not a whole ton, but yeah.

Jen: I know. 'cause we have the charm bar and that's where we'll get to, not really permanent, we've done a couple belly chains and whatnot, but like that with the charm bar, you have the handbag

Breanna: yeah. I do some of those too. Yeah.

Jen: and yeah. All that kind of fun stuff. But yeah, I'm like, I'll have to advertise the pant chain.

I think

Breanna: The pan chain and you clip it on,

Jen: The pant

Breanna: and then we could do the traveling pants every year at PJX to when new gets the pants, you put your own charm on it, and then you pass along to the next

I'll bring my charm. I'll bring my charm to tjx.

Jen: There's been so many amazing things to talk about. But where can someone find you if they want to stalk you and see about the Pearl reveal and all the things, why don't you put it here and yeah.

Let us know where to find

Breanna: So the Pearl Reveal training, that will be@shandshine.com, so S-H-U-C-K and a ND shine, SHIN e.com. There is like an Instagram linked to that [01:07:00] website. I really don't use it. I'm so sorry. That's a terrible business owner thing to do. I have four Instagram accounts. I can't take it anymore.

Jen: What are the four, what do you have four? Four for?

Breanna: oh god, I have, my husband owns a business too, so

Jen: Oh, okay. Oh, okay.

Breanna: it's, I've got a personal three b, I can't take it anymore,

Jen: Personal. Okay. Got it. Okay, that makes sense.

Breanna: if you wanna find me on Instagram, you can just find me at shiny bison.

That is my apartment jewelry business. So shiny, like sparkly shiny bison like a buffalo.

And then on Facebook Brianna Murdock, B-R-E-A-N-N-A, and then M-U-R-N-O-C-K.

Jen: Love. One last question. You've done so much in just three years, but where do you see yourself going with things? Like, where do you see yourself the next, like one to two years in

Breanna: Yes. I'm working on opening another [01:08:00] location in another city.

I can't get into that too much yet. But paperwork is churning. I've been talking to lots of attorneys. So opening another location, hiring some employees.

Because it's exhausting. And I just got a second. I got a work phone, and so it has taken over my life. I thought that would give me more separation has not, it's made it worse. So yeah, open another location, maybe a third location. We'll see how ambitious I get and world domination.

Jen: Of course.

Breanna: I am a perfectionist. I am a former gifted and talented child who has to be the best at everything all the time. And I can't let it go because

Jen: Yeah.

Breanna: I was burnt out for many years and now I'm seeing success again. It's within my grasp

Jen: yeah.

Breanna: and I can't help myself.

Jen: On your terms.

Breanna: I can't help myself. It's one of those things I have to be the

Jen: You obviously must be enjoying it though,

Breanna: it gives me so much satisfaction. I

Jen: yes, because I think the [01:09:00] word success can mean a lot things for different people. When you say the word success, I can go right to this vision of what that means, but I think it's changed over time.

For me, it's success, sometimes people go right to monetary, like making money, but it's gosh, it's so much. If I'm making money at something I hate I can't do it. I'm just, I'm that person where I'm like, never gonna do it. So the fact that growing something you seem to really enjoy and really just thrive in be fulfilled by, that's huge.

That's obviously the most

Breanna: I'm not good at working in like huge groups. This sounds so terrible. I just I was saddled with all these like group projects like in college and things. I don't, when you have a specific vision for something you wanna do for yourself, it's hard to collaborate with other people and relinquish control on certain things that you have such a specific vision on.

Jen: Yeah.

Breanna: having a hundred percent control

Is amazing. I did have someone who wanted to invest. I turned down the deal because I didn't wanna, yeah, I didn't wanna give up anything. I don't [01:10:00] wanna, I don't wanna be beholden to someone else's expectations, deadlines.

Jen: we go.

Breanna: Yeah. Obviously there's monetary success in my business, but for me it's my people like me

Jen: Yeah. Yeah. Like you enjoy it, it's like yeah. Or yeah, I could see just making some kind of legacy too, or something like, it's just, yeah, it's more than

Breanna: My son really wanted to go to the ERAS tour last year. He's, he was five when we took him. He was, he had been saving money for over a year. So he started saving money when he was three to go to the Aero tour. Oh yeah. I had a group of girls, I call them my Taylor Swift girls. They would have a private party anytime that an album was released, things like that.

And they went to the Aero tour. They gave me a thousand dollars tip to buy him a ticket and cash.

Jen: Stop it.

Breanna: So

Jen: That's, that says it

Breanna: I know, I'm like, they're the best. I give him [01:11:00] free stuff all the time now, but, but they cared about my son. They wanted him to go see that was his dream and they made it happen.

Jen: Oh. That's such a good story to end on because I know this I always say this has been way more than I thought it would be with relationships,

Breanna: had no idea.

Jen: more than I ever Yes. Never, ever anticipated. Anyway, it was been so good to chat with you.

I feel like we could do it,

Breanna: I know. I know. I'm sorry.

Jen: I'm excited to see you next week, even in the membership and get more into the pearls because I am so pumped by this. Anyway, thank you for being here

Breanna: you. Yeah, I can't wait.

Jen: Okay.

Breanna: you. Bye-Bye.