Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Frey & Suzie Schuller.
Melissa and Suzie, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Tres Designs was discovered through a shared bond of jewelry & fashion between three or “tres” generations of women. Grandmother, Mother & Daughter. Our dream was to spend every day surrounded by the things we love and to share our creations with others, maybe even inspire a few #bossladys along the way!
This dream became a reality in 2014 when we began this adventure out of our little home-based studio in San Diego. Inspired by other entrepreneurial-minded women, we took a leap of faith and started designing our very first collections. We source the highest quality materials to design truly outstanding & affordable products. We stand behind our designs 100%.
Our ingredients for where we are today you ask? Plenty of passion, sparkles of inspiration, many hardworking hours, a little sweat and absolute dedication. We’ve learned A LOT along the way but with an abundance of love and pure excitement for every piece, we’ve grown our little dream into reality.
We are involved in the local community at various events throughout the year. We’ve worked closely with Rady Children’s Hospital for several years now. A portion of our sales from our event go back to the hospital’s charity foundation. We are very active in the social media world and have a strong, connected audience. Our online store just launched this past week and we could not be more excited for what the future holds!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
We have definitely learned many lessons along the way. Over the past 4 or so years, we’ve looked at this journey of growing our small business and seek to identify how we can make this year better/more successful than the last.
Although our business seems to be mostly steady, we have had few challenges we have faced:
1. Offseason – in the retail world, there are obviously busier times than others. We’ve had to get creative on how to speak to our customers during these slower months as well as get involved within the community to gain more exposure.
2. Being our own bosses – that being said, time is money and therefore we need to be available virtually 24/7. There is really no “clocking out” at the end of the day. We’ve had to find a balance all-while meeting our customer’s needs. At the end of the day, we love working for ourselves and wouldn’t have it any other way.
3. Consignment – we do sell in various stores around San Diego County. It has been a learning curve as each business handles their logistics etc. in a different manner. From inventory control, payment, communication, discounts, etc. we’ve had to learn each one separately.
Tres Designs Jewelry – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We are solely a Mother & Daughter team business. We design & create handmade jewelry designs that are our own. Each piece is designed, crafted and marketed from just a small team of two.
We have a wonderful following of friends, family and customers that always return for their special gifts or look for a little something for themselves. We source the highest quality materials all-while keeping our costs affordable for our customers.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success for us is to wake up every day and truly do what we love. We want to keep our customers happy and coming back for repeat business. Seeing our customer’s reactions and excitement over our products makes us do a little “happy dance”, this inspires us to keep moving forward and finding new ways to keep them happy.
Pricing:
- Designs range from $15 and up
Contact Info:
- Website: tresdesignsjewelry.com
- Email: tresdesignsjewelry@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tresdesignsjewelry/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tresdesignsjewelry/
Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
