Latest / Hawaii Travel Podcast by Hawaii’s Best: Plan a Better Hawaii Vacation / Starting a Small Business in Hawaii - Rise Jewelry with Founder Lisa Stevenson

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Starting a Small Business in Hawaii - Rise Jewelry with Founder Lisa Stevenson · Hawaii Travel Podcast by Hawaii’s Best: Plan a Better Hawaii Vacation

• 0:00
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): But that's the best part. That's the best part is actually getting in the ocean finding the piece and being on that like complete high of like, Oh my gosh, look what I just found. This is gonna look so beautiful on a necklace or earring or whatever. So yeah, it's still super fun.
• 0:19
  Hawaii's Best: Welcome to Hawaii's Best travel podcast where we help you prepare for your next trip to Hawaii.
• 0:25
  Hawaii's Best: Discover the experiences, businesses and stories that make Hawaii the Aloha state. And now your host, Brian Murphy.
• 0:34
  Bryan Murphy: Aloha, welcome to Episode 41 of Hawaii's best where we help prepare you for your next trip to Hawaii. I'm your host, Brian Murphy, the owner of Hawaii's Best and I just want to say hello, I hope you are doing well. We have a great episode for you today. If you've been following us what we've been doing on Instagram at Hawaii's Best or what we've been doing with our last couple podcasts is we've been highlighting local businesses in Hawaii. And really, that's the heartbeat of Hawaii's Best. We do that through this podcast through a blog through travel guys and all that good stuff.
• 1:08
  Bryan Murphy: And we just love being able to tell the stories from the people behind some of Hawaii's Best experiences, businesses and influencers. As you may know, travel back to Hawaii has started to reopen this last month. However, getting there, there are a few important details just to be aware of. And honestly, there's way too many details to cover. There's some details that are Island specific, some are statewide, and things change so fast as as I'm sure you're well aware. So to get the best up to date official info, I want to encourage you to go to Hawaii covid nineteen.com. And there you'll get all the up to date info about COVID and travel and all that stuff getting to the islands. Now one of the most important details that I just wanted to bring up that has been a big topic for a lot of travelers coming to the islands, is making sure that you get your COVID tests in one of the approved testing partners that are listed on Hawaii COVID-19 dot com, getting over to Hawaii and not having to do the 14 day quarantine requires a negative COVID-19 test 72 hours prior to arriving. And there's some things on the Big Island that you want to be sure there's a second test when you get there.
• 2:36
  Bryan Murphy: Last night check again it changes all the time. So again, I'm gonna put the link in the show notes as well go to Hawaii COVID-19 dot com. So if you're thinking about coming to Hawaii right now is a very unique time to come. There's not a lot of people, some things are opening up. That's cool. But if you're just wanting to kind of wait it out a little bit, that's totally cool, too. It's It's up to you.
• 2:56
  Bryan Murphy: But when you are traveling, I would say if you're traveling anywhere just to be mindful of that specific area that you're traveling into and just being mindful of the different regulations and stuff that are being asked of you. But like I mentioned the last couple of months, we've been sharing stories and highlighting local businesses in Hawaii. And again, that's really the heartbeat of what Hawaii's Best is all about and why I started it. I can't wait for you to hear more about Lisa Stevenson's story about building her company rise on the island of Oahu. But before we dive into that, we're partnering with another local artist in Hawaii. His name is Patrick Parker. You can find him at Patrick Parker art on Instagram.
• 3:39
  Bryan Murphy: We are doing a giveaway you can win a free 17 by 22 inch signed and numbered print from Patrick Parker art and we're giving that away to one lucky Hawaii's Best follower listener. So we got to do is on Instagram. And this contest is open now. This episode is being released on Friday, November 6, and it is only open for 24 hours. So the contest closes November 7 Saturday at 11:59pm. Eastern so you have 24 hours from the time that this episode drops to be able to go to Hawaii's Best at Hawaii's Best and find one of our recent posts about the giveaway and you can enter the win right there. So head on over there after the episode go to at Hawaii's Best on Instagram and you'll be able to find it there.
• 4:38
  Bryan Murphy: Well today's interview is with Lisa Stevenson she founded rise jewelry, Ottawa who in 2015 and the heartbeat behind rise is to share the beauty of Hawaii through timeless pieces of quality handmade ocean jewelry.
• 4:51
  Bryan Murphy: Now each piece contains beautifully unique ocean finds such as sea glass, sunrise, shell shark teeth and more. But rise jewelry all began from Jessica's love of scuba and freediving. On a wahoo she came across some of the most beautiful ocean finds. And these finds what she's done is she's transformed them into unique fine jewelry pieces for people around the globe. And it's really incredible to what she's built in such a short amount of time. These pieces are incredible cheese's precious metals such as 24 karat gold and sterling silver. And all of her jewelry components are ethically found and source. Obviously no sea life is ever harmed. If you're like I just want to check them out right now you can go to rise jewelry.com or you can find them on Instagram at rise dot Hawaii. I can't wait for you to hear more about Lisa and rise and how and why she started this incredible company. So let's go ahead and let's talk story with Lisa from rise.
• 6:04
  Bryan Murphy: Lisa, thank you so much for coming on Hawaii's Best. How are you doing today?
• 6:08
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): Hey, I'm doing really well. Thanks for having me,
• 6:11
  Bryan Murphy: Jared. Recently, this last month, Hawaii has started to reopen to Trans Pacific travel. And I'm just curious, how is that going from your perspective being on Oahu?
• 6:22
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): Yeah, it's interesting. So it's been a transition this year, for sure.
• 6:26
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): Right? We You know, this business is a small business.
• 6:30
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): It's just myself really at this point. And, you know, I feel semi fortunate where I'm, I'm not a brick and mortar. I don't have a, you know, a storefront by any means. But it's been interesting to see just the response in tourism coming back, and then just how that translates into sales, and retail. So just personally, it's been interesting. It's like a mixed feeling. For me, personally, of just feeling like we need to, obviously, get back on the saddle, but also be very mindful and safe. So it's, it's mixed feelings. It's a business side and also a personal side to that story. Yeah. But it's been crazy. This has been crazy.
• 7:13
  Bryan Murphy: For sure. I know, there's been probably a lot of pivots. But for you, personally, right now, how are you? And how have you maybe kind of weather these last few months? One personally, but also as a business owner?
• 7:26
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): Yeah.
• 7:26
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): So it's been difficult in the sense that I got into a pretty good rhythm in the past few years with the business in that I've had employees, I've been able to hire girls to help. And then COVID happened, of course, you know, you're cutting back, there's a lot of, you know, people that you let go because you just can't can't afford it.
• 7:48
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): And luckily, you know, it hasn't been, again, small business very small. So compared to other businesses, I would say my impact, it's been much smaller.
• 7:56
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): But personally speaking, it's just been. And yeah, it's been sad. It's been said to, to kind of feel like you're going backwards, in a sense with your business, but been trying to find ways to be creative with online channels, more ecommerce focused, about 50% of my sales were from retail. So trying to navigate that a little bit and mitigate some of that, that loss by by being creative and doing collaborations and being you know, more focused on that direct to consumer channel.
• 9:27
  Bryan Murphy: Right. And I know we'll dive in a little bit more to that and hear about rise and that story and how it started.
• 9:33
  Bryan Murphy: But maybe for you, what was your journey to the islands like, how did you come to live on while
• 9:40
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): I wait, my sister 100%. My younger sister fell in love with the island in high school. And she came out here multiple times, and then sad to come out to seanad. And I did not I went to cold Buffalo, New York for college. And so I remember visiting her and being like, Oh my gosh, you're so lucky. I hate my life. Like I need to get out here. So I guess long story short, I ended up going to college in New York, and then grad school in Chicago to really cold places and got a job that is going to be blonde. I really hated. The job I was. It was brutal. And I was fortunate where this job that I hated at the time, was able to send me to Hawaii because they were pursuing some clients out here for some clients on the west coast. So I jumped on that opportunity and found myself in Hawaii. But the job I hated.
• 10:38
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): That led me to thinking about being more creative on how I can get out of this job that I really didn't like one of them being looking for another job, but also how can I kind of be my own business owner and what can I do to make no money without a job or without a boss without a company? I have to report to so I started really thinking about that when I landed here. Because why is this difficult in that it's expensive. It's really expensive to live out here. So you kinda have to be creative, in my opinion, to be creative and ways to make money. One of those things have happened naturally with the business and that it started on passion for diving. And scuba dive.
• 11:19
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): Interesting.
• 11:21
  Bryan Murphy: Yeah, so what what year was this one is you move
• 11:24
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): 2014 Okay, yeah. Yeah, my sister's been here, like five years prior? I think she's been there for over 10 years. Yeah.
• 11:32
  Bryan Murphy: Okay, what are some of the differences like, you know, coming and hanging out with your sister, and then now living on island for a few years? Like, what are some of those differences? Like, Oh, I just didn't know about that. Or I wish I would have known about that.
• 11:46
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): Oh, gosh. I mean, there's a lot, right, I fell in love with the culture out here. I think there's so much respect for the land and for the ocean. And, you know, coming in first, I remember coming in, it's like, just you picture it as paradise.
• 12:01
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): And you don't really think about, you know, the cultural aspect of the land, and the people that are here, and I think I just gained a lot more knowledge of that, and much, much more respect for the people. Foi, and also, obviously, the land and the ocean and, and the beautiful aspects that make it so wonderful. So it's just been something that I've gotten appreciation for over the years.
• 12:25
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): Big time. That's cool. Yeah.
• 12:29
  Bryan Murphy: So your back was against the wall. And you're like, how do I get out of this job? That's one is brought me to Hawaii, which is really cool.
• 12:36
  Bryan Murphy: But like to I feel like this tug to like, go out of my own. Yeah.
• 12:39
  Bryan Murphy: Was that something that it was just kind of out of necessity?
• 12:43
  Bryan Murphy: You're like, I need to figure something out? Or was that something kind of growing up your model, this kind of entrepreneurial business mindset?
• 12:51
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): A little bit of both? Honestly, yeah. I've always had that in me, whether it's like just trying something or like, you know, I got into even printing out a unit of mine back in Chicago, I just think how can I be more creative and how to make money and I will be on this rise was a complete accident. As far as the business I was not intended to be a business it was completely started from my love of scuba diving. I mean, I've always loved diving, love the ocean, and, and then when I tried these shells, it was something that I sold, just the shells themselves. And the Instagram that was created was actually just to showcase the sea shells like, oh, look what I found. And the kids would be like, Oh, how much is that?
• 13:31
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): Like? I don't know if I was planning on.
• 13:35
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): How much do you want?
• 13:37
  Bryan Murphy: We're on backorder right now.
• 13:40
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): Accidental in that way, honestly. Yeah, it wasn't intended to be a business instead of a passion.
• 13:47
  Bryan Murphy: So how is it? How is the diving in Chicago?
• 13:50
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): Oh, my gosh, brutal. I mean, I don't even I can't even tell you. I don't think they
• 13:54
  Unknown: like Michigan.
• 13:55
  Bryan Murphy: Right? So like, where that passion for diving.
• 13:57
  Bryan Murphy: Come in. Where did you dive?
• 13:59
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): Yeah, growing up, my mom worked for the airline. So my sister and I were extremely lucky to be able to travel standby. My first time diving was, I was in middle school, I think went to minikin.
• 14:12
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): Republic. And I remember just loving it. Like every vacation afterwards, we'd have to go somewhere warm or somewhere that we could be underwater. So it's it was Yeah, at a young age, I would have loved it.
• 14:27
  Bryan Murphy: That's cool.
• 14:27
  Bryan Murphy: Whereas like probably, in your opinion, the best place to dive in the islands.
• 14:32
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): I personally am biased to the west side. Because I live I live here. I think why and I in general have some of the prettiest. Yeah, the visibility is incredible. Most part and it's just stunning. I mean, you have all the wildlife out here too. So right,
• 14:48
  Bryan Murphy: hazard. I know.
• 14:48
  Bryan Murphy: There's like there's tons of shells and I don't even know like the different types of shells. And obviously, you're a shell expert. Is there like the most sought after shell? Or is there been like this pursuit of a shell that you have always wanted to get?
• 15:02
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): Yes.
• 15:04
  Bryan Murphy: Yes, I had a feeling.
• 15:06
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): Yes, it's been my nemesis. Honestly, it's like almost like it. It just avoids me or something when I try and find it. But at this it's called the pink wine bubble show. And many people who like show, especially out here know exactly the show I'm talking about because it is the most beautiful, pink bubbly shell.
• 15:21
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): And it's so fragile. And I can't tell you how many times I've gone out specifically looking for this show. And I have never found it and you'll never believe this because I need to tell the story because it's absolutely absurd. My fiance Nathan moved here finally about like two years ago and I brought him to the beach. I've been to tons of times with tons of rubble. No joke. The second we step on the beach, look, someone picks up a shell and he's like, you're never going to believe what I just found out. Yeah, in my mind, I'm thinking oh, maybe I'm later Oh, maybe it's like a message. Bob like a piece of jewelry like I mean, everything came to my mind except for what it really was. And so Nathan shows me you open them his hand.
• 16:04
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): It's the cutest little pink bubble show. And I mean, oh, fun. And of course, like a sweet crowd say would be like, Oh my god, congrats, honey and me. I'm like, wait, WTF? This is not okay. You just found this in two seconds. And I've been hunting this for like, five, six years, I don't even know. And so, to this day, Brian, it's it. I've never found one and I will not rest.
• 16:33
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): So yeah, maybe we'll regroup and you can ask me the same question again in a year. And I hope I can give you a different answer, but never found the bubble.
• 16:44
  Bryan Murphy: The search continues. So eventually, you're like, Okay, you started this Instagram account? And people were asking about Where can I buy it? Where can I buy it? And then what was that pivot? Or when did that vision for rise?
• 17:00
  Bryan Murphy: Start?
• 17:01
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): Oh, gosh, well, I will say that the first time it really popped in my head was realizing that most of these individuals who were purchasing the shells were actually truly artists and designers and looking to create something, you know, for them for their own brand, or their own wine and getting to know their their company and be like, Oh, this is cool. That's really pretty. And then in my mind thinking, like, it'd be really cool if I could create something different out of this or create something that looks more like this, or it just sort of got the wheels turning, I was fortunate to have some mentors, and I was diving with a friend at a time who also was really into scuba diving. And, you know, he helped in sort of just creating the jewelry process and getting, yeah, just getting smart on how to it's called the process called natural farming, but electro farm seashells. So gold plating, yeah.
• 17:55
  Bryan Murphy: So are you going out and finding the raw material? And then are you designing it and all that?
• 18:01
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): Yeah.
• 18:01
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): So still, it's Tuesday. It's like my, oh, my gosh, I look forward to every weekend or every other weekend. Hopefully, I can, just going out in the water, and finding shells or finding something I could turn into a jewelry piece. I admit, I'm a hoarder of seashells. So like I have stopped probably years and years to go. I will not run on inventory anytime soon. So but that's the best part. That's the best part is actually getting in the ocean, finding the peace and being on that like, complete high of like, Oh my gosh, look what I just found. This is gonna look so beautiful on a necklace or earring or whatever. So yeah, it's still super fun.
• 18:42
  Bryan Murphy: Do you remember your first sale? I
• 18:43
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): don't recall exactly who it was. But I do recall the actual, like the shell? Like what?
• 18:50
  Unknown: Like, what are your babies, you're like,
• 18:53
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): Oh, my baby's still so hard to let go of each one of these. You have no idea.
• 19:01
  Bryan Murphy: So making that first sale, and you're like, Okay, this might be something what you're about was that
• 19:07
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): about late 2015, where I started really thinking about how can I make this into a potential company or a brand. And I will say that was maybe the time where I? For me, it was like, it was like a crash course and like entrepreneurship and business ownership. Like I didn't know anything about just running a business. I mean, I had never really thought about building a business. So yeah, I personally struggled with that. I think in the beginning. And I think as any new small business, you're already trying to juggle a ton at once. Like, why should my business be structured as what am i costs, which are pressing me What's a T tax license, and I mean, all these random things that just kind of get piled on you as a new business owner. And I think you don't really at least in the beginning, I was really thinking about the more specific questions like what's my story? Or who's my target customer what's, what is my brand, or I think that kind of fell into place later on. It was kind of just set up in it, see and see what happens since get a D and all these more, I guess the necessity is to run a business versus like the bigger picture questions.
• 20:13
  Bryan Murphy: So now in it five years. And if you had a zoom out like that 30,000 foot view, how would you kind of describe your growth in these five years? What are some of the highlights and those benchmarks that you've seen?
• 20:25
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): I think what comes to mind is just how quickly it's been able to scale from this small little thing. Let me sell a seashell type concept to being in retailers in Hawaii and also mainland and even Japan. I think when I took a step back like Well, I mean, I mean like many retail shops. It's insane to me.
• 20:46
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): It's really insane to me still to think that because I feel like I still don't know what I'm doing. You know what I mean?
• 20:52
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): Like? Like I'm still like, oh How do you do this? And how are people tagging their items? Do you have skews? I mean, my skews are just like, made up number. I mean, so, you know, still is so new to all of this, and I find myself sometimes be like, how am I? How did we get to this number of retailers that are counting?
• 21:12
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): You know, I, that still blows me away? Obviously COVID changed that a lot. But that was a big part of the I guess, I would say, benchmark or a big accomplishment moment where I was thinking that this thing is a lot bigger than I ever thought it would be.
• 21:28
  Bryan Murphy: You mentioned that you're hiring employees, are you creating every piece? Or do you have? How do you divvy out? And how did you scale that?
• 21:34
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): Now?
• 21:34
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): That's a good question I used to, and it was not available.
• 21:36
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): Because I mean, if anyone knows the process, it's it is tedious, and that you're taking like maybe three to five pieces max at a time and then gold dipping them individually. And then you're stringing them on the necklaces. So I've been fortunate, where I tested, you know, using it as someone to help me essentially do the gold, I think glasses, I wasn't extremely happy with it. So I'm like kind of particularly with that still. But I have hired in the past and not right now. But in the past, I've hired out help. Two of them are actually on Island. One of them's going through design and art class for college. So she's actually like credit for the work that she helps me with. And it's just kind of a nice Win win. Yeah. So I feel like as long as they're, you know, wanting to be trained and learned, I've been able to essentially be able to do a lot a bit on Island in house and have people essentially helped me now on Island, which is fantastic. It's not like outsourcing, or, you know, just a lot of back and forth. So that's been really nice. And who knows what that's gonna look like in the new landscape post COVID. But I hope we can get back there. Yeah, right.
• 22:46
  Bryan Murphy: Yeah, absolutely.
• 22:46
  Bryan Murphy: And I hope for that, too. I'm optimistic by default. So I'm, and all that. What was it like starting a business in Hawaii,
• 22:56
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): honestly, in the very, very beginning, it really was just establishing that authentic and genuine brand that I was happy with that I'd be able to present in front of, you know, a market or a meet in Hawaii event or something and say, This is my brand. And yes, I'm legit. Versus like, I think a lot of it's just feeling like you're faking it till you make it as it's like, you're just trying to figure it out, as you go in your head is spinning, and you don't know what you should tackle first. And you're like, Oh my gosh, I'm about to spend how much in jewelry supplies I made I making this most the most ridiculous decision ever and gonna put myself in serious debt, or is it gonna pay off mindset and it's gonna pay off because if you don't, they're never gonna pull the trigger.
• 23:42
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): And you just, I don't know, call that crazy or whatever. But that's just the way I go.
• 23:49
  Bryan Murphy: I'm curious as you're kind of just talking about those kind of trust moments. And I would be naive to think that I'm sure there's someone listening right now, we've all been impacted by COVID these last this last year or whatever. And I'm sure someone is maybe feeling how you felt a few years ago, like your back against is against the wall, you're not exactly sure what the future looks like. And really, the only person that you can rely on is yourself. And you have like this little tiny spark of an idea. You know, like, this could be something What would you say to that person? Or what?
• 24:25
  Bryan Murphy: Or how would you encourage that person to kind of go for it.
• 24:27
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): I know and it's so easy from the outside looking in to say just do it just pull the trigger. And then you know, who knows, that could be someone's life savings that could be their last, you know, dollar to their name, but I think the way that has been successful is just the mindset of I can't fail. Like I just can't do whatever in my power that I can control to make sure that this succeeds. And I think if I would say if it's calculated it's thought out and numbers are there and yeah, I would say try it even if the little test trial you know, tried ordering just half of what you may have originally wanted to order and see how that does.
• 25:09
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): And then I remember the first Yeah, I just want to first market being like this is way too much jewelry. I don't know what I'm doing. But you know what, I'm gonna save some money on shipping and justify it to myself like this makes sense.
• 25:23
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): Yeah, I don't know taking risk.
• 25:23
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): It's important. Yeah, that's definitely part of the game for sure.
• 25:29
  Bryan Murphy: It is and like you said, you know, you kind of need to be smart about it too. And, and yeah, Think it through and but also there's that trust gap of like, Okay, I'm, there's gonna need to be that faith somewhere like, Okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do this because I know I need to do this. And I don't want to be sitting on my rocker at 85. And I wish I could have I wish I you know what I mean, for me that that that kind of word regret that fuels me in those times of like, I just got to do gotta try it. Yeah, yeah, everyone is unique. And everyone's ideas are unique and beautiful in their own right.
• 26:02
  Bryan Murphy: And I think if you have that idea, you have that spark, you know, definitely press into it don't just, you know, put on the back burner.
• 26:10
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): Yeah.
• 26:10
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): And the industry is, I mean, luckily, I think jewelry is an industry that hasn't been extremely impacted. Maybe I mean, not to this sense of like some other industries out here.
• 26:18
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): And obviously, not having a brick and mortar has helped. But it's just all just Everyone has their own level of risk, especially in this particular industry that they're in right now. So sure,
• 26:32
  Bryan Murphy: so the last five years, I'm sure you've had quite a few sales, and you've had relationships with a bunch of different retailers and customers. What would you say people love most about? Ries and what do you have heard as, as far as feedback is, is what kind of sets you apart from other companies?
• 26:50
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): I am, admittedly still, I would say the the story. And that's something that I still am struggling to really define. I'm trying to invest more time into trying to tell that and I think when retailers or customers actually hear the story, and this actually popped up for a market I was doing, and I was explaining, you know, this necklace to someone and saying, Oh my gosh, I remember finding this and I loved it. And they're like, wait, wait, you found it like, Oh, yeah, I found it.
• 27:19
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): Wait, what? You found this and that way, and you made it like, yeah, I'm gonna do it. And then I like, have to take a step back. And like, yeah, that's like, that's a part of the story as I should be sharing that.
• 27:31
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): When I have started sharing that to the retailers to customers.
• 27:35
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): It's been received really well, and it's been received positively. And it's been a reaction that is, yeah, more like a, I guess, more interested in the actual product itself.
• 27:47
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): And I think that's been working, at least for me personally, it's just I'm naturally quite shy.
• 27:51
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): I'm naturally introverted, too.
• 27:55
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): And so it's been my own personal battle.
• 28:01
  Bryan Murphy: Yeah, I could totally relate to that.
• 28:03
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): Yeah.
• 28:03
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): You know,
• 28:06
  Bryan Murphy: what about you, though, like, what do you love most about what you do like what gets you pumped? What gets you excited? What gets you up in the morning,
• 28:14
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): two of the best feelings in this business, I truly think is one, just being able to die finding the items, finding seashells, being underwater, it is the most peaceful, calming, I mean, spiritual feeling to be underwater. And then the second is on that customer side, it's when a customer tells me how much they love their piece, or how much they you know, their mother loved their gift, or how much you know, their fiance loved their Christmas present.
• 28:40
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): And I think that just any business owner, I'm sure feels the same way. It's like if someone if customer comes back and feels excited, and elated and happy, and you're giving someone those feelings from your product, or your item or your service. And that's such, that's just such a rewarding feeling.
• 28:55
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): It's such a high that's what keeps you going as a business owner 100%.
• 29:00
  Bryan Murphy: I love that. Yeah, this is super important. You mentioned you're in a lot of retailers and online, what's the best way for people to find you would that be online or their retailers that you love to, you know, make sure people know about?
• 29:13
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): I would say, right now just given the climate that we're in online, probably the best channel. So Fry's jewelry calm is the best place. Otherwise, there's 10s of locations on Oahu. I know a lot of the sand peoples have been hit. But there are some people on behind.
• 29:32
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): Still, there's big island retailer called Olivia Claire boutique, that they have their locations that sell jewelry, and then on the mainland. There's one that I really love is called Island farm in Colorado of all places. And they have a cute shop. So I was like to give them a shout out. Awesome.
• 29:51
  Bryan Murphy: Yeah. So someone's coming to the islands for the first time. And obviously, right now would be an interesting first time to come to Hawaii.
• 29:57
  Bryan Murphy: But say we're in a little bit more of a normal era, right?
• 30:01
  Bryan Murphy: What would you want people to know coming to Hawaii for a visit.
• 30:08
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): support local, as much as you can. I think a lot of the businesses right now are just trying to stay afloat and be mindful to of just coming in safely. I think another shutdown would be devastating for a lot of these businesses. And I think if we can mitigate that by being ultra safe, making sure we're getting tested coming in in a safe manner and then supporting locally, that'd be what I would advise. Awesome.
• 30:35
  Bryan Murphy: You mentioned people can find you rise drooly.com any other platforms that people can find what you're up to?
• 30:42
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): Yeah, I mean Instagram, always active on Instagram. So rise that Hawaii Instagram.
• 30:48
  Bryan Murphy: Very good. Lisa, thank you so much for coming on Hawaii's Best today and just totally appreciate you what you're doing your tenacity, your vision. your creativity, your drive, I think is super inspiring. So thank you so much.
• 31:00
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): Thanks so much for having me. It's so much fun. Thank you. Absolutely.
• 31:02
  Rise Jewelry (Lisa Stevenson): All right, awesome.
• 31:06
  Bryan Murphy: Well, I just want to say thank you again to Lisa for coming on, it was great to hang out and chat, us being both kind of introverted. I just totally appreciate her drive and tenacity to even push yourself and go beyond that. And to go after something that she knows.
• 31:22
  Bryan Murphy: She knew that she wanted to do.
• 31:25
  Bryan Murphy: And she knows she wanted to start. And I just think that is super inspiring. And I hope that you go to rise jewelry.com and learn more about what she's up to, or go to rise dot Hawaii, on Instagram, and give them a follow on See, and next time you're in Hawaii, be sure to look them up, see where you can find some of their pieces. But again, you can go to rise jewelry.com and order something right now because you know, Christmas is just coming up. See what we did there. All right.
• 31:55
  Bryan Murphy: Well, I just want to say thank you so much for taking the time to listen all the way to the end. If you've done that, I would just ask Hey, since you're here, go ahead and hit subscribe if you haven't already. And if you haven't yet, leave a review and an honest rating that would just really help out what we're doing with Hawaii's Best really be able to reach more people who love Hawaii, just like you.
• 32:16
  Bryan Murphy: Alrighty, so until next time, be well. Hello.
• 32:23
  Hawaii's Best: Thanks for listening to Hawaii's Best travel podcast. To stay up to date on future episodes. Be sure to subscribe. For more information to help you plan your next trip to Hawaii visit Hawaii's Best travel.com