Bootstrapping a Jewelry Business to Over $20 Million Using the Power of Kindness & Community with Adriana Carrig, Founder of Little Words Project

Adriana Carrig is the founder and CEO of Little Words Project, a
jewelry company that’s on a mission to inspire and spread
kindness one word at a time. 


Adriana was motivated to start her business due to her personal
experience with bullying growing up. She started making bracelets
that acted as affirmations for her and her sorority sisters in
college. While being an entrepreneur was never in her plans, she
immediately saw the value of her idea and was quickly affirmed
when she saw her sorority sisters continued bracelet-making long
after she graduated. Seeing this fueled her to start a business
and in 2013 the Little Words Project was born. Adriana has
self-funded the brand with $5,000 of her own money and grew it to
over $20 million in revenue before they brought on their first
investor. 


She understood the impact of what these wearable affirmations can
do for the rest of the population and the rest is history. The
brand has also built a cult following of loyal customers and
boasts celebrity fans including Lance Bass, Kourtney Kardashian,
Alicia Keys, and more. The company has over 1,000+ retail
partners – including Target and Nordstrom – and is set to have 12
retail stores by the end of this year.


In this week’s episode, we talk to Adriana about how she went
from beading bracelets and shipping them out herself at her
parent’s basement to growing the business into what it is today.
We talk about her experience with bullying and how it has
inspired her to start her business, what it means to fail
forward, and the importance of taking the first step. She opens
up about how she dealt with naysayers who thought that she
couldn’t build a real business around $25 bracelets, the steps
she took from Day 1 on building the most incredible brand and
community and the messy truth about entrepreneurship that no one
talks about. The interview is all about intuitive
entrepreneurship, how listening to your gut can be your biggest
superpower, and so much more. 


In this episode, we’ll talk to Adriana about:


* The power of taking the first step. [04:16]


* Burnout and infertility experience. [08:10]


* Adriana’s childhood and upbringing. [14:19]


* Facing bullying and cultivating confidence. [14:17]


* The inspiration behind the Little Words Project. [20:28]


* Facing doubts and criticism in product development. [26:23]


* Developing her initial products. [34:02]


* The rewarding and challenging experiences of growth. [39:40]


* Building a self-funded, sustainable business. [46:39]


* Organic brand growth and community relationships. [50:31]


* The messy truth about entrepreneurship. [52:32]


* Intuitive entrepreneurship: Embrace what feels right. [55:46]


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Follow Adriana: 


* Adriana's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adrianacarrig/


* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/littlewordsproject/


* Website: https://www.littlewordsproject.com/


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