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Building a Jewelry Business Without Losing Yourself: Resilience, Team, and Retail Growth with Stacey King

Courtney Gray hosts The Jewelers View and continues her conversation with Stacey King about what it takes to build and grow Lulu Designs while staying aligned with the work.

Stacey links her “latchkey kid” upbringing to resilience, learning from tough moments, and putting art first while relying on a healthy support system and community. She shares hard business lessons from wholesale, including over-inventory, cash-flow strain, long corporate payment terms, and the risk of relying on single large accounts, including an unpaid $11,000 invoice.

Stacey emphasizes incorporating early, using business borrowing/credit to reduce personal financial exposure, and investing in coaching. She discusses shifting toward more direct retail through a studio-plus-flagship store in Mill Valley, offering repairs and services, maintaining select wholesale partners, and valuing authentic in-person experiences amid AI-generated content.

Stacey describes a word-of-mouth-built team of master bench jewelers and looks ahead to more custom and one-of-a-kind work, ending with advice to make friends with change.

We cover:
00:00 Podcast Welcome
00:35 Episode Focus Shift
01:21 Resilience And Art First
03:57 Community And Reps
05:48 Inventory And Wholesale Risks
07:34 Incorporation And Borrowing
09:10 Protecting The Artist
09:57 Learning From Coaches
10:41 Pivot From Wholesale
12:26 Retailer Storytelling Limits
13:07 Opening a Tiny Store
14:02 Studio-Backed Brick and Mortar
14:54 Repairs and Local Services
15:26 Authenticity in the AI Era
16:21 Building a Word-of-Mouth Team
17:45 Custom Work and One-of-a-Kinds
18:57 Make Friends With Change
20:38 Glasses and Closing Reflections
22:16 Sponsor and Final Sendoff

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Visit www.CourtneyGrayArts.com to read more about what I offer. Be sure to follow The Jeweler’s View so you never miss an episode! Now you can watch on You Tube: @theJeweler'sView. I’d love it if you could subscribe, and leave a rating and review by scrolling down on the main show page, this helps the podcast reach more amazing listeners like you.

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– Courtney
Helping Jewelry Creatives access the knowledge, resources, and mindset they

need to achieve goals they once thought impossible.

Connect with me or check out the Transform Your Jewelry Business course at

www.CourtneyGrayArts.com

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