Olivia is the amazing owner of @made.by.liv.x on Instagram - She is 22 Years old, based in Manchester, and she makes handmade clay earrings.
About Olivia and her business
Olivia has always been a lover of bold, colourful pieces of jewellery and, inspired by @grlmade and @nobasicbombshell, she decided to have a go at some of her own designs, starting her store at the beginning of this year!
"I had no intention of selling anything I made at first until I found my own style and thought I’d do a lil photoshoot with my friends and pop the designs on Instagram."
To get an idea of what people thought of her products, she decided to sign up to some local makers markets. This went really well and she sold all her pieces! Lockdown has really been a blessing in disguise for Olivia and her business has really started to blossom.
"It wasn’t until lockdown began in February, funnily enough, that my online orders blew up on my Instagram page and making has been keeping me busy since then!"
There are so many pros and cons to running your own business that I wanted to get Oliva's opinion on the best bits and the hardest bits. Of course, she had so many amazing things to say about running her business, she loves when people send her pictures of their orders. Getting to see how people have styled her designs in their own way is so cool! But, her favourite thing is the people.
"I think my fave thing about running a small business, though, is chatting to people online everyday about orders or collabs etc. Everyone has been so supportive and friendly and it’s really helped me with my confidence in growing as a business!"
Running a successful business takes a lot of time and effort, especially when you are doing it all on your own! Olivia does everything from making the earings, to run the Instagram account and post the products. Handling everything on her own has sometimes been challenging but she manages to do it all and provide amazing products!
" I had no idea I’d have so many online orders in such a short amount of time but considering we’re all quarantined indoors I’ve had plenty of time to make them! When things are back to normal I think I’ll allocate some time on certain days to make up orders and keep the ball rolling!"
What does the future hold for Made.by.Liv.x?
Olivia has amazing plans for her business, she really wants to grow and plans on releasing unique collections online.
" I think I’ll set up a website and get back onto makers markets when things are back to normal and maybe I’ll travel a bit further to pop up markets around the country, that could be really fun."
Also on her mind is collaborating with other artists, producing some fun photoshoots, and possibly even short look book style film! Who knows what creative ideas Olivia will come out with, but I can't wait to see them!
Olivia's Advice
"From my own experience, I think the first thing I’d say is if you have something you’d like to try out, just make a start at it! It’s really easy to put things off and tell yourself it’s something you’d love to do as a ‘future project’, which I do all the time, but if you just take the first step and see how it goes, it can eventually turn into something really cool! "
Social Media is great for small businesses, making an Instagram and Depop account is so helpful. It lets you reach out and interact with your ideal target market.
"There’s no harm in dropping people a message to introduce yourself and your small business too to get the ball rolling and start making connections. This could be in person too, for example, I got in touch with a local cafe about potentially having a pop up stall in their coffee shop to display and sell some of my earrings, they were up for it and it went great, all I had to do was ask! "
Thank you so much to Olivia for taking the time to answer my questions and give us a little insight into what it's like being a small business owner. Please head over to her Instagram account and give her follow her earrings are amazing!! @made.by.liv.x
Hope you enjoyed this and keep your eyes peeled for some more exciting interviews coming your way soon.
Rach
x x x
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