Karen Percival Empowering Intentions through Gemstone Jewellery

Hi everybody, my name is Karen Percival and I’m the owner of Bella Bead Shoppe and we are an intention -based gemstone jewellery based out of Centennial, Colorado.

intention setting is a big part of my personal life. And so when I became a mom and had my daughter, that just became a really big focus for me. And so, I started getting really into intentions and, I was learning about gemstones and each gemstone has a different meaning. And so that really resonated with me. I love making jewellery. I find it to be very healing. So I started creating bracelets, necklaces, DIY kits, anything that involved gemstones. And each one having its own meaning and its own intention just transformed into this beautiful jewellery that I wanted to share with other people. And so I just decided to make a few bracelets and walked into a local store and suggested that they sell them and they took it up. They took me up on the offer and so Bella Bead Shoppe kind of blossomed from there.

Because I have a marketing background that was what my degree was in marketing, telecom and advertising. And with this business, it really came from the heart and was more of a passion project for me. And so my focus was really just about finding joy in the journey of what I do and anybody who’s looking to manifest something positive in their life is my target audience. It’s really broad reaching and I try not to stray from that because I think that this can, my products can benefit anyone. So that’s kind of who our target is.

Well, everything we do is handmade. We offer custom designs and we really focus on quality products using real gemstones. We don’t use any plastic or glass with our products. And as Bella Bead Shoppe has evolved, really, you know, we are product oriented. However, we’ve kind of been shifting into creating experiences for our customers. And we do that through workshops and we call them Mala Making Parties, where we have people gather. We do this for friends, people looking to bring a group together for coworkers. We’ve done several corporate parties, and that’s really where we’re starting to shift.

I also have a background in fitness. I’ve been teaching group fitness classes for over 14 years. And so sometimes we’ll offer intention setting circles along with a yoga class, a bar class, a Pilates class, and then have people make their own bracelets based on the intention that they set in the beginning of class. And so it’s a beautiful way to kind of fuse two of my passions together into one. And that’s really where we’re standing out and where our business is kind of headed, which is really exciting.

We have several events lined up in September. One is at a yoga studio called Peace Out Yoga in Castle Rock, Colorado. And another one is at one of the retail stores were sold in called The Local in Aurora, Colorado.

Yeah, well I would have to say our bracelets, that’s where we shine and we’ve kind of evolved our product line. We offer 8 millimetre bracelets but then we started offering bracelet stacks which come in smaller sizes and those have been really popular this summer.

Yeah, you kind of hit the nail on the head earlier with the competition in the market. We do a lot of live events where we’re at farmers markets and we’re at craft fairs and holiday markets. And there is a lot of competition out there. And I think where we shine is really through our customer service offering custom designs and highlighting the fact that we’re not buying a product and reselling it. I literally string every bead, create every design and research all the gemstones myself.

So we’re knowledgeable and we can talk about them and really help people guide them into, know, are you looking for a bracelet because you like the colour blue, that’s fabulous. Here’s all of our blue gemstones. Or are you looking because you want to focus on bringing in some inner peace and stress relief? Why don’t you try this bracelet because of this gemstone? And so both are great. Both have value. The idea is really to have people find something that’s going to make them feel their best. That’s the whole goal behind intention setting. It’s like creating a wish list for things you want to manifest in your life. This is a physical representation for you to do that and remind you of what your goal or your intention is every day.

I really like to have my motto for my brand be finding joy in the journey. So it’s going to be what feels good, what feels right. At this moment, it’s really focusing on building out more corporate partnerships and doing our MALA workshops and our DIY workshops. So that’s kind of where we’re headed. And I’m looking forward to that. I really love that.

definitely our live events. We do a lot of local outreach through farmers markets, through holiday markets, through craft fairs. And my husband helps me with the sales aspect. He’ll be working our booth, a lot of our events. We lovingly refer to him as the Mala Man and his name is Charlie and he’s just a great connector. And so I think when people walk into our booth and connect with us. It has a lasting effect and word of mouth spreads. And so that’s really how we’ve been building our reputation and growing our business.

We’re in a few different retail locations. There’s a store I mentioned called the local there actually have two locations one in Southlands and one in Parker, Colorado. We’re sold at a hair salon called Love hair salon in Centennial, Colorado. We’re also sold up in Conifer, Colorado at a store called Brigada and another store called Blossoming Boutique in Bailey, Colorado. And where else I don’t want to leave anywhere now. I think that’s where we’re at.

Yeah, the site is bellabeadshoppe.com and it’s all fancy spelled. It’s shop is S -H -O -P -P-E

Hahaha

Unique spelling, yeah.

You know, I think it’s important that knowing starting a brand is a lot of work, but it can also be a lot of fun. And when you focus on the highlights of your business and you focus on really your main why. Why are you doing this? Why are you putting all this time and effort into it? What are you getting out of it? And keep that focus top of mind. It really can guide the way that you create your business. So don’t lose sight of that and get caught in the nitty gritty. And also feel free to take big risks.

I mean, me walking into a store with a few bracelets on a spice rack is how I started and very out of character for me. But I walked in and just decided, hey, you should sell this because I just knew that they should. And I was right. And it went from there. So I say just go with your gut and take big leaps when you feel called to.

Yeah, thank you. I appreciate you having me on.