We were lucky to catch up with Paola Incisa di Camerana recently and have shared our conversation below.
Paola, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today The first dollar your business earns is always special and we’d love to hear how your brand made its first dollar of revenue.
My first client was Jessica Agatucci, my friend and owner of Tucci Boutiques in Solana Beach and Del Mar. I was visiting her for coffee just to catch up on life, I was wearing my Dolce Amore Ring, she noticed the heart charm moving back and forth as I was talking to her and she immediately asked me where it came from. She told me: if you can make them I can sell them! Needless to say that was one of the most exciting days of my life.
Paola, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
What started out as a personal expression has flourished into a small business. Hand crafted in California, we custom create each piece personally, right down to the engraving. Being small, we’ve had to build Dolce Amore one personal experience, and one piece of jewelry at a time. Getting to hear each person’s story: where they come from, how they found out about us and what led them to make a purchase for themselves has been an unexpected benefit that has been empowering and emotional for me. Encouragement from family and friends fuels my fire, and from there it is really up to how bad you want it and how hard you are willing to work for it. When challenges come my way (and they always do) I take a deep breath and address it head on. I’ve learned that the sooner I get it off my plate and out of my mind, the better I can handle what comes next. My advice to others is be flexible to change and open to new ideas while protecting and fighting for your vision. As for Dolce Amore, I take a lot of pride in where I’m at right here in the moment. I have recently become a member of the Female Founder Collective; a network of businesses led by women, supporting women. I hope people can appreciate Dolce Amore’s new take on an old tradition and sharing it with a new generation. Someday, I imagine my daughter will have my rings and will share in the all the adventures in life and love they have been through.
We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.
I chose Shopify as my e-commerce platform. Since my business is still very small I selected one of their templates in order to keep things as simple and consistent as possible. A great advantage of this platform is that the shipping costs are much lower and since I pay for shipping and insurance that is very important.
I would say the downside of this platform is not being able to speak to someone by phone when you can’t resolve an issue via chat.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
Every satisfied customer comes back to buy more jewelry that is the biggest compliment one can have for a brand. A returning customer is a loyal customer, a Dolce Amore family member. The fact that I am able to collaborate with my clients on specific jewelry pieces and create new stories with them is what has made my reputation flourish.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.dolceamorering.com
- Instagram: @dolceamorering
Image Credits
Lifestyle photos by Rebecca Teal Batista Product photos by Ryan Field Model: Maya Friessenn