As my kids were growing up, I wanted to do something to contribute to our family's finances that also enabled me to attend school functions and have a presence in the school as a volunteer - not benefits I would necessarily receive if I were working a "normal" weekday job. I opted instead to start a home-based business replicating Historical jewelry designs from the Medieval and Renaissance eras, and Sapphire & Sage Renaissance Jewelry and Accessories was born!
At one point, I was bringing in as much money as my husband who works a 9-5 job as an IT Professional (then the economy fell flat and my income was cut in half, which led me to pursuing my long-awaited career change to Real Estate...but that's a blog post for another day!). I have done work for book publishers, photographers, museums, theatres, advertising companies, TV, and major motion pictures, and have a client list numbering in the 4-5,000 range and spanning the globe. (Not too bad for a stay-at-home-mom, eh?)
Six years ago, I did a jewelry set for well-known Fantasy Romance writer, Jessica Trapp (that's her pretty face in the photo). She was headlining a Romance Novelists' convention and needed some "bling" to really make her appearance a show-stopper. She loved what I sent her and had emailed me event photos after the convention to show me how she had used the pieces I had made for her.
Fast forward to this morning......
I received a new email from Jessica today, letting me know that these pieces that had been custom-made for her book-signing event all those years ago had made an appearance in the Houston Chronicle a few days ago (here's the article)! Now, she surely didn't have to take time out of her day to let me know that my pieces had been featured in the paper all the way down in Texas, but what a thrill it was for me to not only hear from her again, but to know that, after all these years, she still thought enough of my service that she wanted to brighten my day by notifying me of my new-found "celebrity" in Houston!
This is proof-positive that, no matter what kind of business you're in, IF YOU PROVIDE GREAT SERVICE, your clients will be your best cheerleaders and advocates! They'll remember how you treated them, for good AND for bad....make sure that the impression you leave with them is a GREAT one!!!
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