Daily Inspiration: Meet Andrea Li

Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrea Li.

Hi Andrea, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
When you observe the world, you realize that everything is marked in unique ways. A single leaf converts the warmth of the sun into energy. Even the seemingly frivolous song of a bird ensures survival by attracting mates. Humans create, and each of us is distinctly partial to create things we’re drawn to.

As far back as I can remember, I’ve always had an obsession with jewelry. Not just any jewelry, but fantastical jewelry. The bigger, shinier, and more sparkly, the better. While growing up in a conservative household with firm rules about flamboyant self-expression, jewelry became a forbidden fruit.

I can recall one rather dreary morning. The damp air felt heavy as if the extra weight had caused the clouds to meet the earth. After making our usual trek down the mountainside to catch the school bus on its route to the main road, I got on board and settled into the stiff faux leather bench seating.

Excited to finally be away from my parents’ glaring eyes, I pulled out a giant ostentatious pair of earrings I had managed to sneak out of the house earlier. I proudly put them on and instantly felt more confident. I didn’t really understand it then, but what I discovered at that moment was the transformative effect that jewelry has. I was hooked. It was a moment that would forever influence the journey I chose to pursue.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Purposeful passion often makes starting something easy, but like the Hobbits who eagerly stepped out of the Shire in JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, it will eventually lead to places that threaten the quest’s outcome.

Sometimes, the outcome leads you to a surprising destination you never thought possible. I remember thinking at many points along my journey, “This is what I know how to do; this is what I do best; I better figure out how to make this work.”

When I first launched, traditional selling methods, such as wholesale, in-person markets, and trunk shows, were far more dominant than anything virtual. These approaches are what I started with and what I knew, so I stayed in my lane. But then, this happened.

A well-known, high-end gallery that carried my line with great success secretly filed Chapter 11 while owing me over $10,000 in artist commissions of sold work. In-person events like trunk shows and fairs were mostly missed because of my price points and the one-of-a-kind nature of my work. The amount of effort they required was exhausting and left me mentally drained.

I even explored being a featured designer on a luxury cruise liner, which nearly bankrupted my business. I almost lost all of my inventory, which customs had tied up for nearly a year after. During my time overseas, fraudulent charges drained my entire business bank account, adding insult to injury.

Staying in my lane was no longer comfortable. Suddenly, I was very motivated to discover other channels for selling my jewelry. It was time to face my fear of technology and leave my comfort zone to learn the new skills required for online marketing.

Taking my business online was appealing because I could control the outcome better than any other outlet. That outcome, however, turned out differently than I could have imagined. It revealed talents I never knew I had, debunking my long-held myth about myself.

I was a one-trick pony. Up until then, I specialized in one thing: making jewelry. It was my expertise, my forte. If I couldn’t find a way to succeed in it, I’d feel completely purposeless. Read on to see how my unexpected pivot led to a new venture supporting my jewelry brand and other designers looking to do the same.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
For better or worse, I’ve always taken an all-or-nothing approach to life, which gave me the necessary means to explore new topics profoundly. Exploring new tools to the point of healthy obsession is especially true when those tools could potentially help my business. The primary tool I went deep with happened to be Pinterest.

When I first began exploring Pinterest, I had completed Flourish and Thrive’s signature course, Laying the Foundation. I was among the early adopters when they launched the course, and it inspired me to set up my first e-commerce site. Once I completed my site, I needed to figure out how to drive traffic to my new virtual storefront.

Pinterest was attractive because it was such a visual platform that even I used to browse products, so I signed up for an account audit that included recommendations to improve my account and went to work. The efforts of my activity on my Pinterest profile caught the attention of their internal teams. This stroke of luck provided an invite to participate in their beta-testing program for a new product called Story Pins, later renamed Idea Pins.

This opportunity fueled my already obsessive nature. I went ALL in to test the new Pin format. Before I knew it, my prolific content creation with the latest feature began a series of email threads with the Pinterest Community Manager. Emails turned into phone calls, and phone calls became video conferencing. I even joined the developers leading the project for feedback sessions.

These interactions eventually led to my being invited personally to Pinterest headquarters to present the basics of jewelry making to their employees for their annual conference, KnitCon. Pinterest showed interest in me and my jewelry business enough for me to share my passion with their community. I was an official fan.

As a bonus for participating in Knit Con, they also hosted a “creators event”. This event offered an intimate setting in which I and 11 other hand-selected ”pinners” were given a chance to give feedback to the Pinterest teams. Several team leaders asked about what we liked and what we’d like to see more of from Pinterest.

Additionally, they gave us insights on other new features they had in development and best practices for us to implement on the site right now. I’ll be honest. The prestige and fanfare that came with all of the opportunities were fantastic. Still, it wasn’t until I saw my traffic numbers skyrocket with traffic referrals attributed to Pinterest that I realized the platform’s true value.

The results generated from my Pinterest marketing grew my overall website traffic by 8X, increasing my conversion rates by 800% and revenue by 71%. I finally found a platform that became a difference-maker in my jewelry business that went beyond my value as a creator on Pinterest.

It wasn’t long before my results began generating buzz within my jewelry designer online groups. Before I knew it, my story had circled back to the beginning. Remember Fourish and Thrive? It was their in-house Pinterest expert from whom I purchased my audit, which eventually led to my becoming their successor.

My role as an expert coach allowed me to coach dozens of jewelry designers. The personal connection I experienced with my students during my 1:1 calls exposed my biggest passion–people. All too often, artists and entrepreneurs tend to work in a silo alone. It’s easy for me to get wrapped up in my work, but when my focus turns inward, I forget my ‘why’ in exchange for seeking confidence or feeling accomplished.

But if I’m being honest, my why always comes down to people. I want to create things that enable change for my audience. I want to measure my work based on its positive impact and contribution to improving lives. It doesn’t matter if it’s the subtle transformation of feeling beautiful when wearing a new custom piece of jewelry or the noticeable transformation to your business because you learned a new skill. These shifts in perspective are the real value behind what I do and what I’m most proud of.

None of it is an indulgence. All of it matters even the metamorphosis my jewelry imparts to my collectors, because art nurtures the soul in ways usefulness cannot. Today, I continue to serve my collectors with artisanal, limited works of wearable art available through my e-commerce site and my students through my new venture, Red Pin Geek. My digital brand has allowed me to expand how I help my community of makers with a suite of digital guides, courses, 1:1 coaching, virtual training presentations, and Pinterest management services for clients.

Since most of my clients are in jewelry, I have a unique perspective on the most effective strategies for a brand’s specific niche, not just the industry. Product-based businesses require more nuance in marketing, especially luxury items like jewelry. I know this because I’ve been on both sides of service providers and independent product sellers. Of course, there’s still my jewelry brand; it will always be a playground for my soul and a way to obsessively test new strategies to know what works best and then pass it on.

How can people work with you, collaborate with you, or support you?
As an independent designer supporting other jewelry designers, I cannot stress the importance of choosing local. When you do this, you directly sustain local economies and, more importantly, the livelihoods of hardworking small business owners.

Big box retailers’ endless resources are making it increasingly difficult for small independent brands to survive. People often trade convenience for generic mass-produced items that manufacturers make unsustainably and without ethical sourcing.

Perhaps the most significant thing you miss out on is a piece’s personal connection to its maker and the story that brought it into existence. Artisans don’t just assemble handmade jewelry; they create it with passion and support a tradition of craftsmanship that only the human element can make possible.

Follow my tips to help you identify local designers online:

1.  Research online to find information about where the brand is located or where their jewelry is made.
2. Look for clues in a brand’s jewelry designs. Handmade work typically has slight variations or finishing details, like texture, to indicate that it was handcrafted.
3.  Read a brand’s About Page. Many small-batch designers will share their production processes, how they source materials, their origin stories, and more.

To join my jewelry community and to download my newest lookbook for my Aglow Collection, you can do so here – https://andreali.com/aglow-where-art-meets-jewelry-design.

To join my Pinterest marketing community and to download my Ultimate Pinterest Starter Guide for Jewelers, you can do so here – https://www.redpingeek.com/ultimate-pinterest-starter-guide.

If you’re interested in Pinterest management services, you can inquire here – https://www.redpingeek.com/contact.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://andreali.com/ & https://www.redpingeek.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrealidesigns/ & https://www.instagram.com/redpingeek/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andrealidesigns
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrealidesigns/
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/andrealidesigns/

Image Credits
Charlie Price, Nicole Marcelli, Paul Miller, Tiaja Maison, Mel Akana McIntosh, Kendall Kostellc, Antoinette Rose, Mel Watson, Kari Kisch, Radha Kotliarsky, Lauren Hogue, and Daryan Massey