IAM1930 – Gemologist Encourages Women to Invest in their Own Jewellery

Transcription:

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Irina Kharina Teaser 00:00

So when I work with clients, I really try to focus on what it is that they're looking for, what they're looking to achieve throughout this experience and also to make them comfortable throughout the whole experience.

I think we've all had this experience where we've gone out shopping, whether it's for jewelry or not, and we get this pushy salesperson, and it makes us really uncomfortable and it just ruins the whole experience.

Intro 00:23

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview?

If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO podcast.

Gresham Harkless 00:50

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast, and I appreciate you listening to this episode. If you've been listening this year, you know that we hit 1600 episodes at the beginning of this year. We're doing something a little bit different where we're repurposing our favorite episodes around certain categories, topics, or as I like to call them business pillars that we think are going to be extremely impactful for CEOs, entrepreneurs, and business owners or what I like to call CB Nation architects who are looking to level up their organizations.

This month, we are focused on innovation, disruption, women entrepreneurship, DEI, gig economy, remote economy, even the cannabis industry. Think about these industries and these disruptive technologies that really sometimes aren't as disruptive, but there are people that are just paying attention to what the market needs and they're providing that. So really think about the things that are quote and quote outside of the norm, but really Help entrepreneurship to grow and fully develop.

I think it's an extremely exciting time when you're talking about any type of innovation or disruption, because I think that there's so many opportunities and needs that aren't felt that are starting to be filled by different groups, different organizations, or even different industries. So what I want you to do is sit back and enjoy this special episode of the I AM CEO podcast.

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Irina Karina of Tsarina Gems. Irina, it's great to have you on the show.

Irina Kharina 02:14

Thanks for having me, Gresham.

Gresham Harkless 02:16

Yes, super excited to have you on. Before we jump into the interview, I want to read a little bit more about Irina so you can hear about some of those awesome things that she's working on.

Irina is a certified gemologist and a luxury jewelry concierge. As the founder of Tsarina Gems, she is a millennial female entrepreneur who started her business during the pandemic after spending 12 years in the gemstone and jewelry industries.

Irina provides one-to-one private consultations on luxury custom jewelry to clients all over the world. Irina is passionate about empowering women to invest in their own jewelry to celebrate themselves and their wins without waiting to receive jewelry as a gift. She has lived in five different countries and is currently based in Toronto.

Irina, I appreciate you for all the awesome things that you're doing. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

Irina Kharina 03:01

Yes. Thank you so much for that amazing introduction. It was great.

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Gresham Harkless 03:04

Yes, absolutely. You did all the hard work. I just have to read it. So that's a little bit of the easy part. To kick everything off, I wanted to rewind the clock a little bit more on how you got started. What I call your CEO story.

Irina Kharina 03:14

Yeah. So I've actually been in the gemstone and jewelry industry for over 12 years now, as you mentioned. And I always found it interesting that this particularly female-based kind of community is actually focused on engagement rings and anniversary gifts. What I wanted to do was actually create a service where I work with independent, self-sufficient women who want to treat themselves to jewelry and no way to receive it as a gift and not feel guilty about it.

So in the middle of the pandemic in 2020, I decided to start my business, Tsirina gems and offer that service to women and other private clients and create custom jewelry for them.

Gresham Harkless 03:52

Nice. I absolutely love that. And obviously, you hear a lot of times during the pandemic is such a topsy turvy time. There are so many things that are changing. And as much as the saying it's always darkest before dawn. So sometimes there are really great things that kind of come about from that topsy turvyness.

It sounds like your business has definitely been one of those.

Irina Kharina 04:09

Yes, exactly. Definitely.

Gresham Harkless 04:12

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I wanted to drill down a little bit more, hear how you work with clients, how you serve them. Could you take us through a little bit more on what that looks like?

Irina Kharina 04:19

Yeah. So I have three main services. My main flagship service is the custom jewelry where you get to create a bespoke piece of jewelry from start to finish. So you create your one of a kind design and you also choose your gemstones.

The second service I provide is the semi custom where you choose an existing design from my collection but then you customize your gemstones.

My third option is the ready to wear collection where you can actually purchase a ready to wear piece of jewelry. So ring, necklace, earrings as seen on my website.

Gresham Harkless 04:51

Yeah, I absolutely love that. It sounds like you're there for every occasion and every opportunity and you meet people where they are, whether it's something fully customed, a little bit in the middle or something that you've already designed and created yourself.

Irina Kharina 05:03

Yes, exactly.

Gresham Harkless 05:05

Yeah, that makes so much sense. I love what you said, in talking about why you started it, especially around the lines where usually I think you said that you saw that only during like engagements, maybe anniversaries or holidays were the times that you got gifts.

But now this is something that could be done, year-round in any type of wins or opportunities that women might have to I guess celebrate themselves.

Irina Kharina 05:25

Exactly. And I think as you said as well, it's not just about holidays and anniversaries, right? There's something that we accomplished throughout the year and we should feel comfortable to reward ourselves and give ourselves a little present without kind of feeling guilty or waiting for it.

Gresham Harkless 05:41

Yeah, absolutely. And it's and you probably would definitely say, women, they're wearing the jewelry 365 days a year. Why not be able to get it 365 days a year too, right?

Irina Kharina 05:49

Exactly. Exactly.

Gresham Harkless 05:51

Nice. I love it. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce. This could be for yourself, the business or a combination of both. But what do you feel sets you apart and makes you unique?

Irina Kharina 06:02

Yeah, and I love that. Actually, the secret sauce, I think, is the perfect way to describe it. I think my secret sauce is the personalized experience. So when I work with clients, I really try to focus on what it is that they're looking for, what they're looking to achieve throughout this experience and also to make them comfortable throughout the whole experience.

I think we've all had this experience where we've gone out shopping, whether it's for jewelry or not and we get this pushy salesperson. It makes us really uncomfortable, and it just ruins the whole experience. So I really try to avoid any of that. I really try to focus on making my clients comfortable and make them feel like we are on this journey together rather than being on opposite sides of the counter, if that makes sense.

Gresham Harkless 06:45

Yeah, that makes so much sense. And really, what stood out to me, the words that you use experience and journey, and I almost think that a lot of times when you have those wins and you have those things you want to celebrate those in it, in and of themselves or journeys too.

So I imagine getting like something that's, I don't know if the right word is symbolic, but it represents that journey. You want to have that same experience when you're having and looking for that jewelry.

Irina Kharina 07:07

Exactly. And I think it's when you travel and you buy little trinkets for yourself and every time you look at them, they remind you of something. So, for a lot of women, I think when they wear the jewelry, they'll remember, maybe they've got a promotion and they wanted to celebrate themselves with a necklace or they maybe experienced a personal development that they want to celebrate.

I think it's those everyday experiences that we should be celebrating. And, every time you'll put on that piece of jewelry, that's where you will remember.

Gresham Harkless 07:32

Yeah, absolutely. It becomes definitely more than jewelry. It becomes what it represents and what it means. That's why I love that you use that word journey because a lot of times to reach those goals, get those wins, you have to go through the ups and downs of topsy turvy to get that promotion or get that new job or start that new business, whatever it might be, you want to have something to remind you of that.

Irina Kharina 07:51

Exactly. Yeah.

Gresham Harkless 07:52

Awesome. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Irina Kharina 08:05

So I actually have a habit that I swear by and it's getting enough sleep and I know it sounds probably quite maybe obvious. But honestly, for me, getting enough sleep is like a deal breaker. I know that if I haven't had a good night's sleep, that will affect me the next day. So I think just getting enough sleep, getting enough rest is the best advice I can give.

Gresham Harkless 08:26

Yeah, I love that. And it's something that I need to definitely listen to over and over again, which is why I love that you brought that up because I think even if you don't realize or maybe admit is a better way to put it. But when you sleep and you feel like you're not nearly as effective and doesn't go as well. And if whatever extra time you burn the candle on both end you could have spent sleeping and it would have been effective anyways.

Irina Kharina 08:53

Exactly. And I think also, especially when we work with clients, I think they pick up on that. So it's definitely for me personally something that I need to incorporate into my daily life for sure.

Gresham Harkless 09:03

Yeah, absolutely. Me too. I think when you're talking about that word that you use before experience when you want to give the top notch experience, you want to make sure that you're top notch as well, too. And as entrepreneurs, CEOs, business owners, in order to give, you want to make sure that you are giving of your best and especially in the things that we've been able to build and grow.

Irina Kharina 09:21

Exactly.

Gresham Harkless 09:22

So I wanted to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. This is a little bit more of a word of wisdom or piece of advice. It might be something you would tell your favorite client, or if you hopped into a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.

Irina Kharina 09:35

Yeah, that's a really good question. I think for me personally, I found that setting boundaries is very important, especially when we are first starting out. And that can be, for example, not working on the weekends, right? That's an easy kind of rule to follow, but I think as new entrepreneurs, we tend to make ourselves available 24/7 to our clients and our colleagues and suppliers, and it really catches up with you.

I also find that some people will end up taking advantage of that. So I think setting those boundaries in place earlier on, especially as new entrepreneurs is important and it will actually help you in the long run.

Gresham Harkless 10:10

Yeah, I love how that kind of even ties in with the hack that you talked about as well too, because I think also setting your boundaries so, you can ultimately quote and quote, fill up your cup.

I think when we're talking about sleep or we're talking about sometimes saying no, or we're choosing this client and saying, Hey, maybe you're not the right fit. That's all in terms of setting boundaries so that you can make sure you're filled up so that you can serve your clients better.

Irina Kharina 10:31

Exactly. And I think it's okay to message your clients say on a Friday afternoon and say, you know what, I'm working on it. It's something I'll look into and I will get back to you on Monday. I think most people we'll be okay with that and they are completely okay with that.

So I think yeah, just make those boundaries known to people and I think you'll both benefit from it.

Gresham Harkless 10:50

Yeah, absolutely. Was that something that you figured out or came across like over your 12 years of experience that you said that, Hey, that is something I want to make sure that I incorporate into the business?

Irina Kharina 11:00

I've actually been very lucky that I've never really had to work on the weekends and we weren't checking our emails on the weekends throughout my work. So it's something when I did start my own business, I thought, you know what if bigger companies can do it, then I can definitely do it. And even though, sometimes I'll end up maybe doing some Instagram work or maybe my blog work on the weekends, I don't work with clients or contact my suppliers and I also respect their boundaries because also a lot of them are closed on the weekend.

So I try to respect that and either try to do stuff during the week and make sure everything's done by a certain deadline or then just come back to it on Monday.

Gresham Harkless 11:37

Yeah, absolutely. I love that you mentioned that. I appreciate you expounding upon that because sometimes we don't know that something is possible.

And when we think of, oh, I'm going to start my business. So that means I'm going to be in, away and awake and replying 24/7, 366 and 367, how many days it is plus whatever we have to do. But I think once we see that, Hey, that there is a business that's able to do it without sacrificing yourself or sacrificing those boundaries, then you realize that you can incorporate that and you can create the business in the way that you want to create it.

Irina Kharina 12:08

Exactly. Yes.

Gresham Harkless 12:09

Now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping to have different quote and quote CEOs on this. So Sirena, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Irina Kharina 12:19

I think being a CEO or a founder in my case, I think having a message behind your product or service is very important. So for example, for me as a founder of a custom jewelry. I want to encourage people to express themselves through unique jewelry and unique personalities through this one-of-a-kind jewelry.

But I also want to really empower women to invest in themselves and for them to be okay with celebrating themselves and not feeling guilty and giving themselves these gifts. So, as a founder, it is also my responsibility to spread that message through everything that I do as well.

Gresham Harkless 12:54

Nice. I absolutely love that. Especially how that goes, wraps right around to the business and why you created the business. And you start to hear how that's manifested and everything that you've been able to do because I think especially driven people, you find this definitely in men and women as well to the type A, so to speak. because sometimes we don't celebrate those wins. We're always going to the next thing after the next thing after the next thing.

So I love obviously the work that you do, but also that message that's within it and baked within it because it is a reminder that one is okay to celebrate yourself, but also that you should celebrate yourself and you could do it in a creative and innovative way that's unique to you.

Irina Kharina 13:31

Exactly, and because you get to be a part of it, as I said, it's a really personalized experience and you really get to choose how to celebrate yourself. I think it's definitely something that some people have to learn and, I get different types of clients and sometimes people are a bit more open to even when it comes to, for example, the budget, it's what they think they are worth. It's what they think they can spend on themselves.

And it's definitely something that we have to learn doing and it comes easier to some people than others, but I think we should definitely all learn to celebrate ourselves, whether it's with jewelry or a different investment, but in ourselves.

Gresham Harkless 14:04

Yeah, it's so necessary to do that, especially, us as individuals. But I think also when you have teams or just anybody that's around you, family, whatever it is, you want to celebrate the wins because that word that we use before the journey of life, the journey of getting your promotion, the journey of starting a business, whatever it might be as a journey in of itself.

So you want to make sure that you are celebrating and enjoying the process that you're going through. I'm glad you agree.

Irina Kharina 14:27

Yes.

Gresham Harkless 14:28

Yes, absolutely. So I'm sold. I appreciate that. Now I wanted to pass you the mic just to see if there's anything additional that you could let our readers and listeners know. And of course, how best they could get ahold of you and find about all the awesome things that you're working on.

Irina Kharina 14:42

Yeah. I love connecting with people on Instagram and on LinkedIn as well. So if you want to contact me on either of those, I'd love to hear from you.

You can also contact me by my website, tsarinagems.com and while you're there, you can also check out my blog to learn more about diamond gemstones and current jewelry trends.

Gresham Harkless 15:00

Absolutely. And of course to make it even easier, we're going to have the links and information in the show notes so that everybody can follow up with you. But I truly appreciate you for obviously taking some time out. I appreciate it more for the message that we talked about that you're representing and reminding us of, especially as busy professionals going from one thing to the next thing to the next thing.

I think it's so important to celebrate yourself, celebrate those wins, I don't feel like we do it enough. So I appreciate you for making it easy for people to be able to do that and women to be able to buy those jewelry, those pieces of jewelry that can represent that. So thank you so much again, and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Irina Kharina 15:33

Yeah. Thank you for having me, and again, thank you for helping me spread my message as well.

Outro 15:36

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO podcast, powered by CB Nation in Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community.

Want to level up your business even more? Read blogs, listen to podcasts, and watch videos at cbnation.co. Also. Check out our I AM CEO Facebook group. This has been the I AM CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless, Jr. Thank you for listening.

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