Laryssa Wirstiuk 0:00
Ready to break free from algorithms, vanity PR, and money-sucking ads? My name’s Laryssa Wirstiuk, and I’ve learned in 7 years of jewelry marketing that content is the crown jewel. My agency Joy Joya takes a holistic approach, leading with laser-focused storytelling, impactful content creation, and strategic content distribution. This method has worked for the solopreneur as well as the multi-million-dollar company, and now I’m sharing these systems and tactics with you. Here’s to standing out in the Sea of Sparkle.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 0:34
Welcome to Episode #265. Today, I’m eager to chat about the importance of staying consistent with your jewelry marketing. I’ve noticed that around this time each year, a lot of the Sparklers out there, maybe you, start to feel the pressure of the holiday season and get this urge to switch things up drastically to make a splash. But let me tell you, now’s not the time to ditch what’s been working for you out of anxiety or fear. The holiday frenzy is no excuse to toss your marketing plan out the window, and really, it’s never wise to completely overhaul your strategy on a whim. Whether it’s the way you talk about your products, how often you reach out to your customers, the look and feel of your online store, or even the style of your product and social media photos – these things should stay steady. Speaking of photos, I’ve heard from quite a few of you asking about Hilary’s secret sauce for jewelry photography. Hilary nails it with her unwavering consistency. Just take a peek at her Instagram @hilaryfinckjewelry, and you’ll see her signature style shining through. It’s so distinct that her posts often get tons of shares and likes. That’s the power of keeping a consistent vibe in your visuals. It’s all about making your brand stand out, even through something as simple as photos and videos that share a common thread. We’ll be looking at this topic through the lens of Hilary Finck Jewelry, who we’ve been spotlighting as a jewelry brand case study. For those joining our podcast series for the first time this season, I’d suggest starting with Episode #252. Doing so will introduce you to Hilary and allow you to follow this narrative from its inception. Before we jump into our chat with Hilary, I want to touch on why sticking to your game plan is super crucial during the holidays. I’ll walk you through how to embrace and stick to your consistent practices right now, when it counts the most. Plus, I’ll share some tips on how you can fine-tune your approach for the upcoming year by getting a head start on planning.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 3:30
But before we get to the solid gold, I’d like to take a moment to remind you that this podcast has both audio and video – so you can either listen on your favorite podcast platform or watch on YouTube by searching “Joy Joya”. You can support the podcast for free by taking the time not only to subscribe but also to leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 3:52
Okay, let’s get into today’s episode, my Sparklers! This one’s all about leaning into consistency during the holiday season – and what you can do after the holidays to assess what consistency means to your jewelry brand.and then make changes evolve your brand in strategic ways. First of all, I want to talk about why is sticking to your game plan so super crucial during this time of year in q4. There are a number of reasons let’s run through them really quick. First and foremost, brand recognition. It’s one of the more obvious ones, but I think it needs a reminder because as jewelry business owners, a lot of times you know we’re in a bubble of this industry. We kind of forget how consumers realistically purchase and the behavior they have at this time of year. So the holidays it’s just a cluttered marketplace every single brands out there is vying for attention. And when you have consistency in marketing that helps you establish and maintain recognition for your brand. So when consumers are familiar with what you’re putting out there, they’re comfortable with it, they know what to look for, they’re way more likely to remember it when there’s all this noise happening, and be more likely to make a purchase. In actuality, your fans, the people who already love your brand, they’re probably already looking out for your social posts, for your emails, for all the communication that you’re putting out there. And if you suddenly decide to abandon consistency and change things up, because you think your business needs that, at that, this time of year, your fans might actually miss your communications, they may not even notice them. Because when they’re like sifting through their Instagram feed or scrolling through or they’re sifting through their inbox, they’re just being bombarded with literally 1000s of marketing messages at this time of year. If something does not immediately resonate with them on like a subconscious level, they might not even realize it’s you, or ignore it or just not pay attention to it. So don’t confuse your customers. Because confusion ultimately erodes trust.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 6:32
Also, consistency during the holidays means message reinforcement, you’ve probably heard some version of what’s called the Rule of Seven. So it often takes multiple exposures to a marketing message before a consumer takes action. And that Rule of Seven is this decades old idea in marketing that suggests consumers need to interact with a brand or product seven times before they’re ready to make a purchase. I think there’s even more recent research that says that that number of interactions keeps growing, the more we’re bombarded with digital messaging. So again, if you’re not consistent, if you’re not regularly communicating with your customers in a way also that’s consistent, that person that may have thought about buying your product once or twice, they may not ultimately buy because they have not had enough engagements or interactions with your brand. So consistency helps reinforce your message, making it more likely that customers will convert during this critical holiday season. Consistency also really helps with business efficiency or operational efficiency. And I love nothing more than efficiency. I hope you do too. Do you want to make your life easier? Well, when you’re sticking to a well oiled marketing strategy, that can be more efficient than deciding you’re going to overhaul everything during one of the busiest times of year, when you’re already too busy with everything else involved, not only in running your business, but probably in your personal life as well. And consistency helps you optimize and streamline your processes and ensure that you and if you have team members, then your team members also are working effectively. And then another thing consistency helps with is performance analysis. So if you can be consistent, it’s way easier to track which strategies are working, and which ones are not working. Because then you have established metrics for comparison, if you’re frequently making changes, and just doing things by the seat of your pants, that will really muddy the waters, and you will have no clue what’s working, you won’t have any way to measure your success. And you won’t know what to do next year. So you will just be in this perpetual cycle of guessing and throwing darts at the wall. And that is no way to run a business.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 9:26
So how do you really embrace and stick to consistent practices right now at this time of year, when it counts the most? I would say it boils down to committing to what is already working for you. Even if that thing may not be at its full potential that you envision even if it’s not like a wild success. There has to be something that’s working for your business even in a small way. And I want you to invest more effort into it. Add as much as you can. So success here is all about being proactive, staying orderly, because consistency will fall apart if you’re always rushing and trying to catch up at the last minute. So planning is key here. I’ve mentioned on the podcast before how sometimes we get the itch to change things just for the sake of change, especially us business owners and marketers who, since we are on the inside, we grow tired of our own marketing before our customers do. But just because you’re over it does not mean that your customers are over it. In fact, they benefit from consistent messaging. And the longer you stick with a singular message or theme, the more it pays off, as customers really get to know your brand.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 10:54
I even want to say from my own experience as a shopper, I often find myself making lists of things I need or want to buy. Because if a brand that I’m interested in, doesn’t keep in touch or stay in like my it where I can see them, I will completely forget about them. Even if it’s something I need like a new dish soap for my kitchen. That’s just how it is for me. And I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way with all the advertising we see every day and the daily to dos that crowd our mind. From planning dinner, to remembering to pay bills, it’s easy to let things slip, and forget about things we need or want to buy. And can you imagine how much that ramps up at this time of year for the average consumer who’s trying to deal with family planning situations for holiday gatherings? You got to make Thanksgiving dinner, you got to buy presents for the kids, you got to like coordinate with grandma, all the things, people are busy, you need to be consistent and communicate with them regularly. Or they will forget about you or not think about you at all. And I am also a firm believer that consistency trumps perfection. So of course, every brand has room for improvement. Even the largest, most renowned brand names are continually refining their approach. And it’s not a failure to want to change things. But the real misstep is not maintaining consistency and what you’re currently doing. So let this be a little motivational nudge to hold steady through the end of the year, especially when the holiday season pressures are mounting.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 12:53
So let’s now talk about the practical ways that you can maintain consistency as this year wraps up. One, you want to reiterate your brand’s core values and messages across all platforms that you’re using. So this is the time to remind your customers why they love your brand. And what you stand for, not the time to introduce unfamiliar concepts to them to double down on that customer experience that you’ve been known for whether that’s an excellent customer service, fast shipping, beautiful packaging, or personalized notes. Three, utilize those marketing channels where you have a proven track record, like your email list or your social media platforms. Number four, highlight your most popular items. You know what those bestsellers are, you know what people love the most rather than pushing new or untested products, customers will tend to gravitate toward the familiar, especially when they’re buying gifts for other people. And number five, keep your visual branding consistent. So this includes your logo, color scheme, typography, and imagery. Consistency here really helps with brand recall and reinforces a professional image. Some bonus ones too, you could consider making seasonal adjustments that align with your brand. So for instance, you can be consistent, that maybe incorporate some holiday themes into your marketing materials in a way that jives with your established aesthetic and messaging. And of course, keep an eye on your campaign performances and customer feedback as you move through the rest of the year. And then if you have to make small data driven adjustments where necessary, but again, keep that all within the framework of consistency in your established practices. And by sticking to these things you can really capitalize on the familiarity and trust that you’ve built with customers throughout the year making them feel secure and special during the holiday rush, rather than risking your relationships with them by throwing unproven tactics at them.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 15:19
So I imagine you don’t even want to be thinking about 2024, because you’re just trying to get through the rest of the year. But now’s a great time to fine tune your approach for the upcoming year, by getting a head start on planning, which will help you with consistency. I would say if you are getting this urge to overhaul your marketing during the holiday rush and pay attention to that, like do you really feel that in your soul that you just want to blow everything up and make a change? If you feel that, I would say chances are, the issue is not I repeat, is not with your marketing. It’s not something that just popped up because it’s the festive season either. It’s probably a challenge that’s been there all along, one that should have been addressed and fine tuned months before the holidays. So that by the time q4 rolls around, you’re ready to tackle it. Lately, I’ve noticed that a lot of issues that business owners attribute to marketing, as I just said, it may not be your marketing. So what is it not about marketing, they’re more likely tied to other aspects of the business. Like maybe they are production glitches, maybe there are staffing concerns. Maybe it’s the result of poor planning, maybe it’s a misunderstanding of customer needs, and desires. Maybe it’s just a complete lack of fundamental business strategy. There are so many other reasons besides marketing, that you’re getting to this place of panic in q4 that your marketing is not working. So when you are planning for 2024, here are some things you can do. First, reflect on the past year, you want to grab a cup of coffee or whatever you like to drink. Sit down with last year’s numbers, with your notes with customer feedback with just your own reflections. What worked like a charm, what didn’t work as much as you’d hoped it would work and use these insights to give you new ideas and guide your plan. Also, make sure you are collecting customer feedback if you’re not already. So what are people raving about? Where what’s not landing with them that you thought would really dazzle them. And that will help you make more customer focused decisions. Analyze your marketing efforts. So which campaigns really seemed to make your brand shine bright and got the best responses, the best clicks the most website traffic. Again, watch which ones didn’t perform to your expectations. So you want to take those insights and apply them to the new year. Also look at your inventory. What pieces sell quickly, which are the product categories that get the most traffic on your website. Which ones are you maybe attached to, but don’t seem to move inventory. So align that inventory and sales data to make sure you’re really investing in the right products.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 18:42
It’s also a great time to think about a tech tuneup. So if you sell on ecommerce, technology is really like a silent salesperson for you. So you want to make sure your website and other tech tools are user friendly and up to date and the smoother that shopping experience, the happier your customer will be. That’s just the beginning. Like I pointed out earlier, your obstacles might not stem from marketing at all. If you suspect that marketing is where your issues lie, I encourage you to just for the sake of an exercise, delve further and consider where there are other areas in your business that could be hindering your marketing efforts.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 19:28
In our upcoming conversation with Hilary, we’ll dive into the nitty-gritty of how she maintains such a consistent style in her jewelry photography. We’ll cover everything from the amount of time she dedicates to taking pictures, her methods for keeping photos well-organized, the equipment and software she relies on, and much more.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 19:52
So Hilary I want to start out here because a lot of people have actually been asking me about your photography and I’m Like, I’m sorry, I don’t know. We’re gonna have to ask Hilary. So first let’s begin by are there any special tools or setups that you use? Because I think that’s what most people are curious about, or at least the questions that I’ve gotten.

Hilary Finck 20:15
Not really, I’m, I’m pretty lucky in that my studio has a lot of really good lighting, I basically have two walls of almost floor to ceiling windows with like one of these old, you know, industrial buildings that has really tall windows. So the lighting is really good. And then I just have this like stainless steel table that my tanks are underneath. And I sometimes use just for I don’t use it’s too much for work, but it just ended up being like a really good back ground. I feel like because it’s just kind of uniform in a very like neutral color. And then sometimes I’ll use like, I have like lettering number stamps, and I’ll kind of use those as props to like, put studs in or to maybe like hold rings. I mean, sometimes I use that little like putty stuff to like, hold things into place. But not really, I don’t use any lighting. And I just use my iPhone. I mean, I think I’ve said in a previous podcast, I used to use a little like macro clip on the phone. But I don’t use that now because the new iPhone doesn’t really allow you to do that. And I actually don’t think that camera on the new iPhone is, is good. Honestly, as what you can get with like the old S II with the clip on I’m kind of frustrated with it, honestly. And it washes out the color gold. I don’t know, I’m just not impressed with the new iPhone cameras as much. We stopped for jewelry. I’m not really I don’t really use anything too special. I think it’s really all about finding the right light.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 21:53
Yeah, it’s so true. How about in terms of editing the pictures? Do you do any editing on them? And if so, what are you using to edit them?

Hilary Finck 22:02
Yes, I mean, I would say almost every picture has a little bit of editing, unless it’s just like, you know, the right time of day, and it’s just totally perfect. So I’ll use the editing straight, and the, with the camera, with the Photos app, the editing is actually really, really good on the iPhone. So I use, I adjust brilliant, sometimes I’ll adjust the brightness and the contrast if needed, you know, I’ll address saturation or warmth levels if needed. And then if I want to post something right away, and I realized there’s like little like fiber or a piece of dust, you know, or something that’s actually kind of noticeable for like people zooming in on Instagram, I use an app called Snapseed. And it has all those, you know, color editing things. But really, the only thing I use it for is they have a little healing tool where you can just like zoom in really big and then just kind of touch it. And it deletes that stuff like a you know, fiber or a piece of dust. And that’s just kind of like if I take a picture of something, and I’m really excited about it, and I want to put it up on Instagram right away. Otherwise, when I’m editing for my website, if I can’t really get things the way I want them to using the actual editing on the iPhone, I just use Photoshop. And again, it’s just simple. It’s usually just brightness or contrast, sometimes saturation. And then sometimes if I like I don’t like I was saying that the new iPhone kind of washes the color gold out a bit, which is very frustrating. It almost makes it look silver sometimes. So there’s the photo filter. I think it’s just called photo filters. And they have different tones. And so they have some different like kind of warm filters. And that’ll just kind of put a gold color back onto the piece. So I play around with that, but I don’t, I don’t actually really know what I’m doing besides just those.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 24:06
I’m not that great at it. But you know how things you want things to look. And that’s important.

Hilary Finck 24:12
And you have to be careful, like you can’t saturate something to the point where it doesn’t look like the actual stone anymore, right? You don’t want your customers to be getting something and you know, open up a package and be like, wait, what this isn’t bright blue. So sometimes when I’m editing I’ll have the piece right there with me to just make sure I’m not going overboard, right? Because you don’t want to misrepresent the piece.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 24:35
Definitely. So this sounds like a lot of work. How much time are you actually spending every week on doing this?

Hilary Finck 24:45
It’s really hard to say because there’s some weeks where I’m just like, I’m just working you know, I’m just making jewelry and maybe I’m like taking some processed shots. And I’m just leaving the actual like photography for the next week, when I know I’m getting ready to do like a product drop that guy, I mean, hours, you know, especially if you know, because I’m uploading everything to the site, all of that. So it does take, it does take hours. I feel like I used to get better shots that didn’t need as much editing when I had the SAE with the macro lens, honestly. So yeah, anyone who’s listening, I wouldn’t get the new phone if you’ve been funding. It’s not even new anymore. It’s just whatever the like three lens iPhone, as you know. But yeah, it’s just really varies on what I’m doing that week.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 25:41
Do you have any tips for keeping pictures organized? Because they know that’s a challenge that a lot of people have?

Hilary Finck 25:50
Yeah, I have an external hard drive. And on there, I have just, you know, a series of folders, and I organized my images by collection. So I’ll do like, captured, hand hammered. And then I’ll have one that’s just website updates. And so and then, so under website updates, that’s what I use the most. And so I’ll do that by month. So like, you know, what was this collection drop, what were these. And then under those under the website drops, I have different folders where I have, like, I put like originals, and that’s where I just dump, you know, I get on my computer, I opened up my iCloud Photos tab, I tried to figure out what all my favorites are, download them all the external hard drive, pull all that back up, throw it all on Photoshop, and then narrow it down even further from there. And then I’ll have a folder that says like, you know, edits, or whatever. And then you just have to make sure using the same naming convention, so they actually all line up alphabetically and all that. And then for my white background photos, I’ll have a separate background and a separate folder for whites, or I’ll throw them in together. But anyway, and then under the son of my captured in hand hammered folders, I have that organized by like necklace, earrings, whatever. So I tried to keep it really organized. But it’s also it’s hard with so much one of a kind, because it’s a lot of things have like similar names. And so Oh, and then after, I think once a year, once I have a new year, I’ll take that website updates folder, go organize it back into the captured in the hand hammered folders.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 27:33
That sounds like a really good organized process. I know that sometimes designers or like solopreneurs, they’ll have a system that makes sense to them. And then maybe they’ll get to a certain point where they do hire like a social media system or marketing consultant or something like that a person who needs pictures and it’s just like a total mess and really hard to like retro actively organize. So I always encourage people to try to like make a system as soon as they can make a system as soon as you can.

Hilary Finck 28:02
And then the other nice thing is like if you use Shopify or something, there’s some times where I don’t have access to my external hard drive because I’m in my studio, or, or whatever it is, you can just go into the Shopify app, just download and copy that picture that you’ve already edited, you’ve already decided that’s the picture you want to use. And then just download that back onto your phone and it’ll show up in like as the most recent picture. And then you can just get to that more easily. So there’s a lot of times where I just am downloading pictures from my website whenever I need it for something like that.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 28:35
It’s a good tip and one I use as well. If I don’t want to bug a client for something, you can just download the picture directly from Shopify, so that’s a really good tip too. So it does sound like I mean, you probably have a lot of like outtakes or pictures that don’t make the cut. Would you say that’s true?

Hilary Finck 28:54
Yeah, I would say that. And don’t tell my don’t tell my son this but I have probably like 75% More photos of jewelry on my phone than I do my son I have so many jewelry photos. It’s completely ridiculous. I think just because the lighting is lighting is tricky. And you have to like move the pieces around and you know, keep getting what’s the best light and jewelry is hard to photograph you know. So yeah, I have. Oh, God. I have too many pictures of jewelry on my phone.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 29:38
Yeah, I get it. It makes sense. So how do you choose from those? Which ones you think will perform best on social media? How do you filter from there?

Hilary Finck 29:50
Yeah, so I mean, thank goodness for the little favorites heart right in the Photos app. Gosh, so it’s like either in my studio if I have time to do it right then or like sometimes in the evening I’m just like, you know, sit on the couch, I’ll be like, Okay, I took a bunch of pictures today, what are the favorites. And then another thing that I’ll do is I’ll go into the editing on that, and I’ll put it in to the square, I’ll edit the size to an actual square. And I’ll see which ones look best in the square. And then there’s also stories, right? So then you have to be like, Okay, which one’s gonna look best in story. So I think, I think what Instagram and it’s the same ones, I’ll choose for my website, it’s just the one that really represents the color the best. The one that just has it just be like more like how, you know, like, it needs to really just like, take someone’s attention right away. And this is where I really think just like a very simple background helps just you just want to show off the jewelry. Although I’ve been I’ve been following him early for a very long time. They’re one of my favorite designers and or design houses, I suppose. And then I’ve been doing a little bit of a deep dive on their Instagram lately. And I actually totally loved the way they use backgrounds. They use lots of different backgrounds. And it just looks great. So you know, I would say you know, the jewelry, Instagram profiles that you liked the best just just kind of see what what they’re doing see what, what works best. Like I think I kind of was inspired at first by like August LA, you know, just how simple their Instagram is. Coming up with backgrounds is hard. It’s tricky. And so for me, it’s just work to just whatever simple is best.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 31:41
I’ve seen a lot of designers start to use AI background. I don’t know if you’ve noticed that at all. Sometimes it’s hard to tell him on Instagram.

Hilary Finck 31:51
I haven’t. But what what are the what are the backgrounds?

Laryssa Wirstiuk 31:54
I’ve played around with it a little bit myself. And it looks better and more realistic when it’s just more simple like, say, like a wooden countertop or like something very neutral. I just started playing around with like, Alright, let’s do like a Halloween themed one where there’s like a pumpkin or like some like Halloween flowers. And they look a little bit off. Like there’s there’s something not quite right about them. I think, you know, if you were just scrolling on Instagram, you might not even notice something like that. But when you have the image up and you’re looking at it, you’re like, Okay, I can tell this is like an AI. Picture. But I do think that technology is gonna get better really fast. So that could potentially be an option for you.

Hilary Finck 32:41
That’s really interesting. I didn’t even think of that. But yeah, that’s cool. If you want to change it up a little bit.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 32:48
Yeah, definitely. Yeah. So and then sorry, with the pictures do you have like a different system when it comes to choosing and teasing pictures for upcoming drops?

Hilary Finck 32:58
So yes, so for drops, what’s going to be on my website is I try to, I try to put on as many photos as I can. Because people you know, they’re just like trusting their kids, they’re gonna buy an expensive piece of jewelry. From photographs. It’s amazing. And you can put videos now on on Shopify, too. So for that I just tried to take pictures from as many angles as possible. I’m kind of giving like an all the way around, if especially if it’s a ring, but I just Yeah, I just tried to give people as good of a view and as many pictures as possible to really get like the full feel of of what they’re going to be getting.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 33:40
So of course there are always gems, like opals, that are just hard, really hard to photograph even for like a jewelry photo photography Pro. Do you have any tips? Or like how do you handle those kinds of gems?

Hilary Finck 33:55
Man is so hard sometimes. Well with opals, I feel like you have to have well, okay, so like my orbs, you know, they’re, they’re kind of see through. So those have to be shot on with dark in the background. For the most part, I mean, it’s just, it’s just different. Like this is why I have so many photos on my phone, right? Because you just sit there and you’re like that’s it work that didn’t work that didn’t work. Um you know, it also depends on the time of day, like, especially this time of year the sun is lower. And so it’s more direct light coming straight in my studio. So I can’t really take pictures until later in the day when the sun has gone like behind the building and there’s no more direct light and that’s when I find I get like the best pictures. When there’s too much sun even with like my curtains even with like the white curtains I have that diffuses the light. If there’s too much sun, I just feel like something weird happens unless you’ve Got that, like, it’s thermally. Like if it’s a tumbling, and it’s, you know, the stone is just facing the light the right way, then it’s like, that’s exactly what you want, right? So I guess it really depends on the stone. And then glares are really hard like, sometimes I’ll edit out layers in Photoshop just because you know, my windows, there’s like, you know the whole structure of the window and everything else looks great. So it’s who know, I have no idea if I’m being efficient with this, I have no clue I’m wasting my time, I don’t know. But it really like the light is just the lights critical, I feel so lucky that I have this good light in my studio, I don’t know what I would do, if I didn’t have this good light in my studio.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 35:45
It also just sounds like listening to you talk that you’ve spent so much time playing with it, like, you know, okay, the Tourmaline needs like this kind of light. And the oval needs this kind of light. And those are things unfortunately to people listening, that’s just something you kind of have to learn through trial and error based on the kinds of things that you sell, because maybe Hillary’s jewelry photographs differently than like so and so’s jewelry, you know, and so you either work with a photographer who can figure that out for you, or you kind of have to just play a little bit.

Hilary Finck 36:18
Yeah, and like, you know, cropping in tight, also helps because then you kind of reduce the noise of like, you know, like the wall behind my steel table is just like a cement wall that’s been painted white, there’s like nothing special about it, it. It doesn’t look great. But, you know, it’s blurry enough in the background, and I can crop and close enough to where like, you just don’t notice that that’s there. So like, you kind of also have to just like, don’t be precious about it, you’re gonna drive yourself completely crazy if you try to be too precious about this.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 36:53
Are there any other tips you want to share or things we didn’t talk about that you think might be interesting?

Hilary Finck 36:58
Well, white background photography is like, the most difficult in my mind. I’ve used, I’ve used light boxes, and they tend to make things look weird. And now I’m using just like a white piece of paper, like rolled up on the windows and taped up and just using natural light for a lot of the back light background photos now, but gosh, that to me is like the worst. And I would love to just like hire someone to do all that for me and do all the editing. But it’s too much when you have regular drops. I guess I would say that if you’re doing like how I do it when you’re doing regular drops. It’s kind of too much to hire a photographer too much to manage. I tried that for a while. And it’s just like an extra bit of management that I had to do. So I was like, I’ll just do this myself. But if you have pieces that it’s more like production jewelry, you probably want to invest in just sending those off to a photographer and just don’t even mess with it. But the way my business is structured, I just, I don’t have the bandwidth and the time to do that stuff.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 38:07
And there’s so much turnaround and like new pieces really regularly. So I understand that. Yeah, yeah. Well, thanks, Hillary. I hope this addressed some curiosities and questions that people had about your photography.

Hilary Finck 38:21
Yeah, me too. And I’m always happy to answer questions if people want to send me a DM on Instagram or shoot me an email for my website. I’m happy to share.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 38:30
Awesome, thank you. What did you think about the interview? Are you excited to follow Hilary on this journey? I highly encourage you to check out Hilary’s website hilaryfinck.com and follow her on Instagram @hilaryfinckjewelry. Link in the show notes as well. Let me know in a podcast review or YouTube comment what you think about this new journey. Okay, let’s get into THE GOLD MINE.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 38:54
Welcome to another edition of THE GOLD MINE – a segment where I get personal and share insights on entrepreneurship, mindset, success, growth, and all things business. THE GOLD MINE allows me to share topics and insights close to my heart. In today’s GOLD MINE segment, I’m eager to discuss steering clear of anxiety-driven decisions in your business, a common pitfall I notice particularly during this season. Decisions made in a flurry of panic don’t usually carry the strategic weight or thoughtfulness of those made in a state of calm and intention. Such rushed decisions can lead to avoidable errors and departures from what might have been a successful, consistent strategy. Let me start with a personal note: anxiety and I are old friends, especially back in the early days of my business. When you’re new to the game, unfamiliar with your customers’ habits, untested by economic storms, and learning the seasonal rhythms, it’s natural to feel on edge. Everything is more daunting without a track record to guide you. Believe me, even with experience, the stakes of business, especially when it’s your main source of income, can be unnerving. Yes, it matters—a lot! You’re in this to make a living. However, anxiety has a way of lowering the quality of your decisions, pushing you to act out of fear and scarcity, not confidence and optimism. It’s tough, I know, to keep faith when you’re swimming in worry, but nothing truly positive grows from a mindset of anxiety. Many jewelry businesses bank on this season as their prime earning period. But clinging to that ‘supposed to’ can set a trap. Even with the best planning and efforts, numerous factors like competition and economic shifts can throw you curveballs. For those who often feel anxious, it’s crucial to have a sounding board—a person to share your concerns with because there’s often a valid reason behind what’s happening, and a clearer perspective might emerge if you step back and consider things logically. Yet, it’s important to share constructively, not offload a whirlwind of unchecked emotions onto them. This time of year is perfect for introspection—be it through journaling, quiet reflection, or discussions with trusted peers. But remember, as I’ve repeated in this episode, this isn’t the season for impulsive decisions driven by unexamined emotions that cloud your business smarts. What did you think? Let me know in an Instagram DM, podcast review or YouTube comment.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 44:45
Did you have any questions about today’s episode? You can always email me Laryssa at laryssa@joyjoya.com. If you loved this podcast, please share it with a friend who’d appreciate it. And don’t forget to subscribe as well as leave a review on Apple Podcasts. If you’re completely new to digital marketing, then you’ll want to purchase and read a copy of my book JEWELRY MARKETING JOY. Visit joyjoya.com/book for more information.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai