Meet Virginia Magdaleno

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Virginia Magdaleno. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Virginia below.

Virginia , thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with us today. We’re excited to dive into your story and your work, but first let’s start with a broader topic that might be stopping many of our readers from pursuing their dreams – haters, nay-sayers, etc. How have you managed to persist despite haters and nay-sayers that inevitably follow folks who are doing something unique, special or off the beaten path?

Nothing is easy. Especially small business. We don’t think anything done, that is worthwhile, has been easy, comes easy or is easy to maintain. Once you learn that, and hopefully you learn it early, it’s easy to tell yourself to keep going. You will think back to those times you could have quit but didn’t, and through that, found success in your vision. The nays will always be there and slowly turn to yays. There is something about yays that make a business owner feel validated, but keep going even when no one is rooting for you. It is in those times, you will see that that yet again, you have come through the dark to the end of a hard long road and found success. All of the sudden, you have a familiar feeling in the thing that shows you, that you are headed in the right direction! Perseverance!!

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

We are a small gemstone jewelry company that focuses on creating easy to use jewelry using a magnetic clasp. Sara and Virginia are best friends that wanted to open a business together. We both know that solving a problem is essential to creating interest in the market and our business. Virginia would say “I love jewelry”, but found herself not wearing it. Virginia and Sara have a whole standing floor jewelry box, yet walk out the door with none of it, except wedding rings. Paying close attention to mornings, we found the reason was how hard it is to put jewelry on! In many cases, an entirely second person is needed to get the piece on. We love bracelets but it feels impossible to put them on by yourself with out a ridiculous “hack”. Elastic gemstone bracelets don’t usually last more than a year, the sharp stones eventually cut through the elastic material and it breaks the day you decide to wear it. Frustrating, right?! Virginia worked for a company called Softflex, they make this very durable, reliable stainless steel wire for jewelry making. There, she learned how to use the tools and started teaching people online, how to make jewelry. Through that experience, Virginia learned a lot of jewelry problem solving. She began creating prototypes and found the ease of magnetic clasps. A problem arose though, even if it is a very strong magnet, when you rub your arm the wrong way or reach into your purse, the magnet would give and the bracelet would fall off, and sometimes without you even knowing. To remedy this, a catch chain was added to the idea. This helps keeps the bracelet stay on the wrist, even if the magnet opens. The catch chain also acts as an assistant when pulling the magnets together to get it on. As our company evolved, we started coming up with other “easy jewelry”, like a 3-strand necklace with a component that keeps the strands separate and comes together with one magnet clasp, a front connecting necklaces and more!

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

There is so much information how there to learn so you can expand your knowledge in any field, however,

1. Virginia has been in sales most of her adult life, Sara has a lot of experience in it too. You can have all the talent in the world but if rejection kills you, you will stop before you even start. You have to have thick skin and preserverance!

2. While you need thick skin, you also can not have too big of an ego. If you have an idea that doesn’t seem to be working, admit it and pivot. What will you get out of that? It will save you money and you will have learned just a little bit more about your business, demographic or position in the market. Don’t force it, be humble.

3. Plan out your next 3-5 moves. You don’t have to have an exact plan, things constantly change. Know the general direction and keep the details of those moves in your mind so they naturally happen when the time comes to implement them. A rigid plan will certainly end in heartache, because you only have control over so many aspects. Plan then execute.

Find a mentor with in your community that came before you. Someone you admire and is willing to share ‘nuggets’ of information. There are so many people out there that are so ready and willing to help other small businesses, find yours.

If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?

It is time for us to expand. Right now we are in a store in Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall in Arizona and we will be expanding to a location down town. It is absolutely necessary, but kind of scary, too. There will be more risk involved, possibly more debt, but whats growth if you don’t take risks, right?! We are also needing to expand in the way of hiring. That is a step out of our comfort zone, too. We work a lot within our “circle” and to start to work with people that are not necessarily in our inner circle is something were nervous and excited for. Although change can be uncomfortable, we know this is what we need to do to drive I AM. Bracelets to flourish and grow.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://iambraceletsaz.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iam.braceletsaz/?next=%2F
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IAM.bracelets23/
• Other: https://linktr.ee/iambracelets

Image Credits

We took all photos.