Wild Balance: Annie’s Handmade Jewelry

“It’s important to keep in mind that so much can change in a year, a week, a day, a moment. Have patience with yourself and the process and find comfort in knowing ‘this too shall pass’, high or low.”

— Annie Kerr, founder of Wild Balance

We were chatting apres jungle yoga class and a shimmer caught my eye. “I love your earrings!” I complimented as I admired the unique dangling stones. She grinned radiantly. Later that week, as we said our goodbyes and she prepared to head home to Breckenridge, CO Annie Kerr handed me a pair of turquoise earrings. “You made these?” I marveled. They immediately became one of go-to pieces of jewelry (and have been for years!). I’ve been following Annie and Wild Balance handcrafted jewelry ever since. It’s been exciting to watch Annie’s business grow and thrive (watch for Wild Balance in Whole Foods!).

Thanks for sharing your wild wisdom Annie! Check it out here:

Describe your perfect day as a wild entrepreneur.

That’s what makes this ride so wild, no two days are the same and it’s a beautiful thing. I wake up most mornings with a general outline of what needs to happen that day, but it’s typically morphs into its own reality and I just have to roll with it. If the day involves sweat (preferably outdoors), good food and some level of accomplishment, I’d say it’s close to perfect.

Over the past 5 years, since I started this business I have acquired many new skill sets, out of both curiosity and necessity and I am constantly being challenged to learn and create new systems everyday.  I’ve become handy with power tools, have a new knack for photography, both product and portrait, can cruise through accounting software and have also picked up a habit of relating or trying to relate everything I do to my business. It’s a blessing and a curse.

I think that inherently, being wired as an entrepreneur days “off” feel forced, and sometimes have to be. Relaxing doesn’t come easy and I’d generally like to be working at something or getting my hands dirty in my time away from the studio As a creative entrepreneur and a crafter at heart, I also love days when I dust off the sewing machine, pick up a paintbrush or work with something new. Again, it helps with the sense of accomplishment at the end of the day and any day going to bed feeling proud, having solved a problem or checked things (or at least A thing) off the to-do list, is a good day.

 
What was your inspiration to create Wild Balance Jewelry?

The inspiration to start Wild Balance came from both my need to support my addiction to turquoise and also to scratch the itch of starting a business of my own, a reality that I knew was only a matter of time.

I had been making jewelry on the side for quite a while before I dove off the deep end into full time. I started in college, frequenting the bead shop on Church St. in Burlington, Vermont. After graduation, my hopeful and beautifully naive friends and I set off to live in Australia with our bead boxes, thinking we were going to sell our jewels on the beach to support ourselves. It was a cute idea. And we had lots of earrings to decorate the Christmas tree that year but none of us found our success with that initial plan.

Fast forward a few years, I had been in Breckenridge for a while repairing jewelry for friends and making custom earrings for roommates for their new outfits, when I got a job as a seamstress at a local gift shop and my boss asked me to help fill the shelves with my jewelry. That was technically my first account and turned out to be my only for another few years, as I was sidetracked into co-founding another local business here in Summit County. Although it didn’t end well, I have no regrets about my few years with Summit Soap. It was an amazing entrepreneurial learning experience, and it inspired me to start my own business. My own, not a partnership, because shoot, turns out those are tough. From working in a grassroots company back to an hourly position as a baker, it didn’t take long before the boredom and entrepreneurial itch came back.

Wild Balance itself formed an identity organically over time. It took awhile to gain confidence behind my designs, as they were so simple but my community embraced the style so quickly, vocally and fully that I really had no choice but to keep going! I make my own schedule, I play with beads for a living, and I found a way help ladies feel self assured in a small way in their everyday… it didn’t take long before the work inspired me instead of the other way around.

Is this work your passion? What keeps you motivated?

I love to make things. Always have and as long as my tired hands will keep creating, I always will.  Can I honestly say I’m passionate about the fashion and accessories industry or that making jewelry makes my heart sing, honestly… nah, not really. Don’t get me wrong, I love making jewelry and I find the significance of jewelry and the history of adornment absolutely fascinating, but my interest in jewelry is not what keeps me going.

I can say I am a passionate entrepreneur, ever since my first business in 4th grade selling hair wraps (come on kids of the 90’s, you know what I’m talking about), I’ve pretty much known that I wasn’t going to be a 9-5er. I’m a managers nightmare- full of opinions, questions and “my way’s.” I consider myself wired to work for myself which can be a blessing and a curse. My passion for finding a business to dedicate myself to, finding a need to fullfill and a purpose has been my motivation throughout the roller coaster known as your 20’s.  

What keeps me motivated on the daily is keeping myself sane, fulling a need and making others happy. I’m fortunate enough to see what I create in action everyday, which warms my heart and fuels my spirit. Women of all ages around my community sport Wild Balance earrings all over. Seeing my jewelry on the cashier at the grocery store or on a girl on what I know has to be a bumble coffee date, or an earring spotting on a lady in the lift line, these are the moments that motivate me. I make jewelry for these authentic, everyday moments and pride myself on making these women feel good, beautiful and somehow more themselves so they can carry on thinking about more important and fun things than their jewelry.

Did you make any personal sacrifices to get your businesses started? Any funny examples of living on a shoestring budget? 

Other than the classic answers - a paycheck, health insurance, stability, sanity… yea, I’d say I’ve sacrificed to get where I am now.

The first things that pops into my head is all the time I’ve sacrificed with family and friends. Time and money were luxuries I could only dream about for awhile and not making it home for the holidays, RSVPing no to too many weddings, missing out on weekends away (two days off in a row?!) was just reality because if I wasn’t working, work wasn’t getting done and if the work wasn’t getting done then who was going to pay for the gas?  Slowly, times have changed all those “no’s” and “I’m sorry’s” are fewer and further between and the one’s I’ve dished out are feeling closer to worth it! Flexibility and freedom are creeping into the business plan.

I’d have to say I’ve sacrificed comfort in a few different ways, physical, tangible and the emotional comfort of stability. I have completely given up having a true kitchen table. Wild Balance started in my tiny studio apartment on Main St in Breckenridge, where I could fit one 3’ x 3’ table, for eating, crafting, computing, crying. It all happened at that table.  I still do my best thinking at the kitchen table, that’s actually where I am right now. Surrounded by beverages, books, crumbs, lists. To get my previous business, Summit Soap, up and going I lived in a two room apartment above a garage in what we lovingly called “the industrial ghetto.” It was 5 guys, me, 2 dogs, one bunk room. We high fived as we fell asleep. I would have to admit I sacrificed privacy, heat and a little pride to live there.

Besides giving up my kitchen table, my bed, coffee table and other tangible surface areas to my business, I’d have to say the emotional sacrifices of choosing the life of an entrepreneur have become more apparent to me over the past couple years. With the growth of my business and acceptance that heck, this might actually work and last for awhile, I’ve been able to take a step back and reflect on the reality of what the choices I’ve made have determined for my career. One thing I believe I’ve given up is the feeling of being understood in my work. Just like many of us have a hard time relating to friends in different industries, or at least not having a grasp on their daily grind, being an entrepreneur can be lonely. As a sole owner of my company, I’m the only one who knows all the pieces of the puzzle. There is a constant wheel of lists running through my brain all day, prioritizing and planning and most of the time it’s easier to just figure out the answer myself, rather than consulting with someone else because painting the whole picture can take too much time.

Annie Kerr

Additionally, albiet on a very small scale here in my mountain town, I have given up anonimity. Sometimes, I just want to walk through the friggin gorcery store without being asked “how’s business?” I’m the earring girl. On the flip side, walking the 1 mile main street strip and having 5+ earring spottings is pretty darn cool. Depends on the day, sometimes I feel as though I gave up on control of my emotions by choosing to be an entrepreneur.

What is the best piece of advice you'd give to someone looking to start their own business?

Read a lot, sleep a lot and get a loan!

It’s important to keep in mind that so much can change in a year, a week, a day, a moment. Have patience with yourself and the process and find comfort in knowing ‘this too shall pass’, high or low.

For my more practical advice I can’t stress the importance of having a plan, a researched, written down  Once the ball starts rolling, it’s easier to tweak a plan than it is to find the time or mental strength to crunch the research and the numbers and lay the foundation as you go.

Oh yeah, and don’t start your business on credit. Take it from me, credit truly is the devil your dad warns you about. Use that plan to get a lower interest loan and pay it off!  

What do you wish you’d known prior to getting started? 

I feel as though I could ramble off a bunch of platitudes that I had heard or read before I started this business all on my own, but honestly none of it sank in, or made sense… until it did. I had to ride the rollercoaster down to self-proclaimed near failure and up again to a breakthrough point of success to truly understand the warnings that there will be doubts, there will be failures but you just have to keep riding it out. It’s important to keep in mind that so much can change in a year, a week, a day, a moment. This too shall pass, high or low.

And of course there are plenty of things I would want to say to my 25 year old self before quitting my job as a baker to start a jewelry line, because I had $1000 in sales in a month and was feeling like a champ!!

Being an entrepreneur is a lot of work. It’s important to take care of yourself along the way! What have you done to invest in yourself, and keep yourself balanced?

Well, this is an appropriate question, given the name of my jewelry line. I truly believe that this life is a crazy balancing dance.

Get outside. Surround myself with other positive people that understand the woes of being an entrpreneur or are striving for the same balance. For me, yes it’s the small business events that help educate and feell surrounded by others in the same boat, but honestly those have always felt like pitches to me. Getting a glass of wine with a fellow small business owner and having frank, raw, honest converstations about doubt and money. Tha’t helps. Not feeling alone.

What’s your favorite part about being a wild entrepreneur?

 The flexibility.

“You can do anything, anytime!” “No I can’t, but my freedom to say yes is so much more. "You don’t report to anyone!" Is having the whole weight of the business and reporting to the different hats that I wear in a day, I report to myself. I scold myself. I try to remember to pat myself on the back sometimes.

Where can we follow you?

https://www.thewildbalance.com/

@wildbalance