Meet Megan Collins

We were lucky to catch up with Megan Collins recently and have shared our conversation below.

Megan, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
Growing up in rural South Africa, my parents chose to homeschool me, which inadvertently taught me more about being self-reliant than it did about Geography or History. Well at least relying on myself to get things done has been way more valuable in real life!

I think I have always been full of ideas and creativity and this fueled my drive to see those dreams and ideas come to fruition.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
Back in 2014, while I was broke as hell and doing care-work part-time to make some money while I decided what I wanted to do with my life, I thought I’d revisit the idea of learning how to make jewellery. So I found a jewellery making workshop and decided to give it a try. And oh boy, did I LOVE it!! That week long workshop ignited an untamable fire inside me lead me to enrol in a year long jewellery-making course where I learnt all the skills to make my own jewellery.

So fast forward to 2015, where I officially launched my Scandinavian-inspired ethical jewellery brand Megan Collins Jewellery (MCJ), which soon went on to become an award winning brand.

I now not only run my own jewellery brand, I also coach beginner jewellers who are ready to turn their hobby into a business and guide them throught all the stages of choosing a business model, defining their target audience and USP, crafting their branding elements, building websites and marketing their jewellery to the right adience.

I genuinely feel so blessed that I get to do both of these things as my job and I think a lot of my success comes down to being resiliant and never giving up on my dreams.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
The three qualities I think that were the most impactful in getting me to where I am today, would have to be resiliance, determination and the ability to step back and focus on the bigger picture and end goal.

My favourite saying is “Where there is a will, there is a way”. If you believe in the goal enough, it doesn’t matter if you don’t know how to get to it, the important thing is to just start and then figure it out as you go along. Don’t be shy to ask people on the same path as you for advice. There is nothing embarassing (in my opinion) about wanting to learn. I’ve taken sooo many online courses in a wide range of topics to fill the knowledge gaps I had along the way and I would never have seen the success I have if I had just tried to go it all alone.

Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?
I would definitely have to give credit to my fiancé, Emile as he definately played a key role in helping me dream even bigger. And not only dream bigger, but together we were able to lay the foundations to what is now a thriving online coaching business on top of my jewellery business.

Having someone on your side that’s as excited about your vision, really is priceless. The day he made the decision to quit his full-time teaching job and join forces with me, was an exciting and scary day! And I’m forever grateful!

If you don’t have an Emile in your life, my advice would be to surround yourself with inspiring people who lift you up and help you dream. These people don’t have to be around you in real life, but can also support you via platforms such as YouTube or social media.

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Image Credits
Weronika Karczewska

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