March 18th, 2025

When I was in high school, my best friend and I started our first business, Strung on Hope. It was a handmade gemstone jewelry company where we designed and sold pieces, donating a percentage of every sale to cancer research foundations.

At the time, I thought I was just learning how to create and market a product. I loved the process—choosing the beads, crafting each piece, and packaging orders with care. But what I didn’t realize was that the biggest lesson wasn’t about jewelry or even marketing.

It was about sales.

Selling at stores and craft shows meant putting myself out there, talking to people who (most of the time) weren’t interested. Some would glance at my display and walk right past. Others would stop, pick up a bracelet, ask a few questions—and then put it down and move on.

I quickly learned that having a great product wasn’t enough. If I wanted to sell, I had to get comfortable starting conversations, handling rejection, and figuring out how to turn a “just looking” into a sale.

I had to learn:
✔️ How to grab attention without being pushy
✔️ How to handle rejection without taking it personally
✔️ How to turn a quick “no” into a meaningful conversation

At first, it was uncomfortable. But over time, I realized that sales isn’t about forcing a transaction—it’s about connection. The more I focused on understanding people—what they liked, what caught their eye, why they were drawn to certain pieces—the more natural selling became.

It turns out, that was the most valuable marketing lesson I could have learned.

Because here’s the thing—great marketing isn’t just about strategy. It’s about understanding people. Knowing what makes them stop and listen, what makes them say yes, and what keeps them coming back.

That first business didn’t just teach me how to sell—it taught me how to connect. And that’s been the foundation of everything I’ve built since.

What’s an early experience that shaped the way you do business today? Reply back—I’d love to hear your story.

Stay Inspired,

Sydney Addis