Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in jewelry but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Alexa Butler, Owner of Alexa Martha Designs, located in Missoula, MT, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Alexa Martha Designs is a small home-based jewelry business in Montana that features handmade artisan jewelry and unique designs made with exceptional craftsmanship.

Tell us about yourself

I am from abroad, was born into a German jewelry-making family, grew up in my father's business, and learned to be around tools from a very early age. This developed a fire in me to do something creative in life with metal and gemstones, and so I became a goldsmith/jewelry designer with a journeyman's degree.

Years after I had met my American soulmate, Timothy, and had started a little family of our own, we transplanted to his home in Montana. After our second child went to school in 2006, I started making jewelry with the tools I had brought across the oceans. I made my US Citizenship in 2007, and Lexi Butler Designs was finally launched as an online business in 2015 and renamed Alexa Martha Designs in Dec. 2020.

I am a featured local designer, "Montana Made," whose designs were modeled by celebrities. I am an artisan who was featured on a national affiliate channel featuring local artisans for my jewelry-making technique, which is wire sculpting. My sole aim has always been and is readily apparent that I want you to fall head over heels in love with my exquisitely well-handmade jewelry pieces. Also, to help you rediscover the true meaning behind artisan-made quality.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

In 2016 and 2017, numerous celebrities modeled some of Lexi Butler Designs through The Artisan Group.

Ashley Liao and Neil Brown Jr. both modeled Lexi Butler Designs at the 2017 GBK Primetime Golden Globes Celebrity Gift Lounge. Famous TV and Big Screen celebrities Asia Monet Ray, Masie Williams, Ta'Rhonda Jones, Tituss Burgess, and Marsai Martin wearing Lexi Butler Designs at the 2016 GBK Primetime Emmys Celebrity Gift Lounge.

Today you can find Alexa Martha Designs on over 320 retailer e-commerce websites and in several brick-and-mortar retail locations like the Copper Splash Gallery and Pickle Barrel in Globe, Arizona. All of Alexa Martha Designs handcrafted jewelry products can also be purchased on many wholesale markets and drop ship markets as well. You can also find them on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

The greatest challenge for an online-only business is you have no face. When you go into a store, you meet the owner. You never meet me unless you email me or call me. You only see what is visibly presented on my page. Another challenge is that the jewelry market is flooded by so-called stamped artisan jewelry that is cheap and mass-produced by big box companies. As a small home-based artisan business, it is hard to fight against as I can not lower my prices to theirs. Then also the fact as a business owner who does everything themselves, you can not procrastinate.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Get into business for the right reason, your passion, not your want for money.
  2. Don't give up when the going gets tough because it will. Like when you don't get orders for a whole month, and you wonder and start self-doubting if you did the right thing. You need to look beyond that toward a goal.
  3. Be always on your guard. People want what you have if it is any good. They want to cheat you out of your hard-earned money every chance they get.
  4. Be ready to roll up your sleeves and learn new things. Always stay informed. Never be too tired to talk to a customer who needs help.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://alexamarthadesigns.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alexamarthadesigns/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexamarthadesigns/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/shopbyalexamade
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexamarthadesigns/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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