How to Become a Jewelry Designer with Lee Li from LeeLi Design

If you've ever wondered how to take your handmade jewelry business to the next level, Lee Li explains exactly how she did it!

Do you dream of having your designs manufactured?

Or working with big brands as a consultant so that you are not chained to your craft desk all day?

Ever wanted to live in another country or travel the world sourcing materials while getting paid to design jewelry??

If so, you're going to LOVE this interview I had with costume jewelry designer Lee Li of Leeli Design!

I invited Lee as a special guest for the 50th episode of the Hexotica podcast, and she walked me through her entire career.

Ever since she boldy approached a market stall at a trade show in London as a young student, Lee has worked as a costume jewelry and accessories designer.

She's worked in Chile, India, China, and now in Australia, where she now runs THREE costume jewelry-related business: one for unique, handmade designs (for passion!), one for manufacturing and consulting (her bread and butter), and a NEW one launching soon to teach YOU how to become a jewelry designer!

Lee successfully turned her love of eclectic fashion, travel, and statement design into a thriving design-centered creative lifestyle!

We talk about what it takes to turn creative ideas into tangible products. 🪄💸

So if you've ever dreamed of making jewelry all day, traveling the world to source materials, or having models wear it in fashion shows, - or CELEBRITIES (because why not?!) - then this if for you!

You can read the full transcript below, OR if you prefer listening, click below for the podcast version. 🪄 🎧💫

Prefer to watch instead of read? Watch the YouTube version to hear Lee Li herself! The video version includes lots of GORGEOUS photos and videos of her jewelry designs, too 🪄 📺💫

Interview With Lee Li of Leeli Design on Hexotica's Podcast ✨

Full transcript, edited for readability.

Introduction: Lee Li, Jewelry Designer & Founder, Leeli Design 👑

Christine Rice: Welcome to the podcast, Lee.

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Christine Rice: I'm so excited to talk to you about this because as someone who struggled to make a handmade
jewelry design business take off and be supportive, YOU are the person I wish I had had in my life back then 15 years ago.

And if anyone listening has is if you have a a business and you're selling out markets, you're making designs, but you want to take it to the next level, that is why I have invited Lee on the podcast. Because she has a whole strategy.

A whole ecosystem of how she's designing, which has allowed her to have this amazing lifestyle of design and travel.

And you're a mother of a very young baby!

Lee Li: Yes. and a seven-year-old!

Christine Rice: Yes. So, she is a very busy woman and she has a LOT going on. She has a lot to help you with if this is your dream.

So, let's dive in!

Lee's Costume Jewelry Design Empire: How She Built 3 Seperate, Complementary Jewelry Design Businesses From Scratch

Christine Rice: First of all, Lee, tell us about the three different businesses that you have and how they work together.

Lee Li: Yeah, sure.

''So, the first one that people probably know me more from, is Leeli Design.''

That's a handmade jewelry and accessories business.

It's really about making people visible, connected with um because they're such statement pieces that you can't really wear them out the door if you don't want to be complimented or talked to. I've had lots of people say that to me, which which I love!

And it's really just to make that person feel amazing.

You know you catch a glimpse of yourself and you feel happy as well with the colors and the the unique pieces. So yeah, so that's Leeli Design.

''Then I have Leeli and Co. which helps businesses and brands turn ambitious ideas into standout products.''

I have a global team to support that one. So, that's where I work with brands like Zara and Target and big well-known highspeed brands through suppliers that I work with across the globe.

They're my two main businesses and they sort of complement each other.

And I set up them up from scratch.

Like I've done everything from doing the website, doing all the social media, the the behind the scenes of running a business. And getting it out there into magazines and selling it and doing all the wholesale element.

Then I've got the other side where I'm working with the brands and the suppliers with the manufacturing.

So hand-making something and getting a hand made sample mass-produced is VERY different.

They're two very different things.

[For my readers - we skipped talking about her third business, Get Sourcey, a course that'll TEACH you how to become a jewelry designer, until later in the interview - but we get into it later in the episode!]

No Basic Beige Bitches Here: Lee's Eclectic, Unconventional Designs Are For Standing TF OUT!

Christine Rice: Amazing! I have SO much admiration for you because you basically are living the dream that I had years ago when I
was just running Hexotica as just what you have now with Leeli Design. Wow!

It's an incredible accomplishment to go from handmade crafts to having three different businesses that are supporting you. The creativity that goes into that is just so admirable. There's so much to that that I'm sure my audience would love to know more
about how you did all this!

So for anyone watching on YouTube, I'm going to be showing Leeli Design videos and photos of some of the things that she has made. Her designs are truly stand out. Like these are NOT for conventional people .

These are not for any basic bitches. No beige bitches. Nothing like that going on. These are truly stand out.

Like even the earrings that you're wearing today are incredible. These are beautiful pieces. Are those part of Leeli Design?

Lee Li: Yes. My little king fishes.

Christine Rice: Oh, they're stunning. Stunning! And all of those pieces are available online through Leeli Design?

Lee Li: Yes. So, lots of my Leeli Design stuff is one-off. But I do have different versions of these. There's different color tails, different sort of beads. It depends what I have here and what I've sourced and things. No two pieces are really the same.

Christine Rice: Beautiful! So, now the the the critical question. How did you get started? What was your your education background or your interest that led you to it and which which business came first like what was the order of the businesses?

From Creative Family Roots, to Studying Textiles, to Her First Work Experience Placement - In India

Lee Li: Yeah, sure. So, I have always been very creative.

I've been brought up around a family that my grandparents - my grandpa - sheared the sheep. My grandma spun the wool on a spinning machine that a spinning wheel that my grandpa made. She would then dye the wool with plants in the garden. He would make tapestries. She would make felt hats, like felt artwork.

My mom was super creative.

So, by the time I was like a teenager, I'd had a go at making all sorts of stuff from candle making, papermâe, jewelry, all of this sort
of side of stuff.

And my mom used to um sell her crafts at a craft fair. So I used to go along with her and you know, I had like a little stand festival with her. And then I gradually sort of did it more and more. I was doing my own pieces and had my own stands as I grew older.

So creativity and craft was always on the cards for me anyway.

''Then in university I went and did a fashion textiles and business studies degree.''

So the beauty with that is that I learned how to do the craft. I actually studied fashion. So I was a weaver.

I was on the big looms. The proper sort of weaving making fabrics and then making them into garments.

And in my third year we had to do work experience, and so I wanted to do a placement in India because that's where
all the tide if you're if you're in fabrics like all the dying of the materials the prints the you know, the color and everything.

India is just the most incredible place. So I did 5 months in India which was really amazing. Oh my
gosh.

Once I left there I was like I need to find someone to marry in India because I want to live there! It's incredible. [laughter]

Christine Rice: I love India! I did three months there years ago and oh my god it's gorgeous. I love it. Just amazing.

Lee Li: And it's such a world of like contrast, you know? You've got your just dirt and dust and these beautiful
women coming out in their saris and color and I don't know, it's just a creative, you know, if you're creative, I think
it's just incredible.

How Lee Got Her Start as an Employed Costume Jewelry Designer - In Chile

And then I did a work placement in Chile in Santiago.

That was with a jewelry designer and she I found her through a market through Top Draw in London.

So it was like a exhibition that you go to and I saw her stand and she had horsehair woven flowers on her jewelry and I was like oh well I'm doing weave and I really love making jewelry so that this would be perfect.

And I asked the person who was manning the stand if this person would take on work experience and he was like oh well she's in you know she's in Chile but I'm sure she would be interested. She was actually in hospital visiting a friend who'd had an accident or something at the time. She wasn't on her stand.

So anyway, I communicated all this through email. We spoke on the phone and then months later I was with her in Chile living with her and her part her husband. Oh my god. Going to work with her cycling every day to like her office.

Christine Rice: And that sounds incredible. It sounds like you really grew up with so much creative encouragement. You had guidance. Not discouraged away from your creative talents. You were really actively shown how to do it and encouraged to do it, actively pursuing it.

Lee Li: I'm a massive believer - that like,

''Dream big and what you whatever you want to do, you can do. You just have to work out what it is and do it. Go ahead and do it.''

Christine Rice: And they were super supportive of everything. That is very very fortunate for being a creative person. Some of us are born creative and then just discouraged away from it from an early age and told that you can't make money from it. That you can't make a profitable living from it, which is just such a lie, especially these days with everything online. There's more
opportunities now than there ever were before. And you are a living example of
that.

Did your mother and when you were when she was going to the markets, did she also not just have the the handmade
side of the business, but did she have other kind of arms of the business as well?

Lee Li: She was a nurse, so she was a living carer. Um, she went down so she had a choice at, you know, when she was
studying to go down the nursing route or the arts and craft route and she ended up keeping the arts and craft as a hobby
and she went down the the nursing route. So she was Yeah.

Why Lee's Father Encouraged Her To Start Her Own Creative Business Early On

Christine Rice: But you made it a business. You made it a career. So you've gone you've taken it even further with that encouragement. That was really was so good of her to encourage you in that even though she had that stable job of the nursing, she
she knew that it could be more from the beginning.

Lee Li: My dad always knew he was always like, ''You need to have your own business. You need to have your own business!''

He was always encouraging of that side. He went self-employed years ago and he was like,

''You'll never look back''. You could be your own boss. You CAN!''

Christine Rice: So true! Yeah. Exactly. You become unemployable after you've worked for yourself. There's no there's no going back. [laughter]

Where And whereabouts from London did you grow up?

Lee Li: Just just so I was in Dorset. So I was born in Devon. Born up in Dorset. So I was a country pumpkin. And then I studied in Brighton. So that was like closer to you know 45 minute train journey from London.

And then my first job after university was when I did the Chile placement.

''That's when I realized that jewelry could be a career. I had no idea before. It hadn't even crossed my mind that I could do jewelry, which was my passion, as a job!''

So then coming out of university it took me probably six months to get my first job because I did fashion textiles. I didn't do jewelry.

I was going into an area that I hadn't actually studied.

But once I got my first opportunity in London, I then moved to London. I was just like 500% all in, working whatever hours I needed.

Because I loved what I was doing.

I was working with River Island, New Look, Primark, you know, all the big brands through a supplier and that's how I started traveling after 3 months.

So I was like traveling to China, Hong Kong, it was amazing.

So it took me a long time to start my own business. Yeah, because why would you come out from having all those opportunities, getting paid to live and travel the world? Learning about the industry, working with amazing designers, seeing how it's done, getting inspired. Traveling like that is amazing. India is - love it! And Chile as well.

From Employed Jewelry Designer to Self-Employment

Christine Rice: When did you finally decide start your own thing then?

Lee Li: So it was I moved to Australia in 2013. I actually lived in China for three years before that.

In China, I was working for big brands again. And met my now husband there and we knew that we wanted to move out from China. So applied for a few different things. I managed to then end up getting sponsored to move across and work with a brand here.

We then moved here but in 2015 I got made redundant. So at the time it was like oh that was like devastating to be made redundant and you sort of lose I don't know I lost I know it was the company it was going through it structure but but I felt like it was something I'd done and I sort of just needed to take some time out then.

Luckily, my husband had opened his restaurant and because it had been a year since he'd opened his restaurant, he was then able to sponsor me.

But for a few months I wasn't able to get another job here. So he ended up sponsoring me because he was my de facto when we moved.

Meeting Her Future Husband While Working in China

Christine Rice: Okay. So can I just interrupt and ask you so you're I was going to ask your husband if he was Chinese born or if
he's ABC Australian born?

Lee Li: Chinese Chinese born.

Christine Rice: Chinese born and he was living in Australia. Ah, wow! You guys are really international then.

Lee Li: Yes. Yes we are. Yeah. And my parents live in Spain. The rest of my family is UK. But we've got a very international family.

Christine Rice: Interesting. So when you go to China, do you visit family there?

Lee Li: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So we we stay with his family, but I will if the portion I'm working, I'll still stay in a hotel because it's close to where I'm working and I need to be in the zone. But then I'll go and meet them for dinners and things like that. And then, you know, after that portion, then I'll go and stay with them. Depends how long we're there for.

But yeah, quite often I'm traveling and meeting his his family more than more than him because he hasn't he doesn't go back as often. Like I quite often go to China.

Why Losing Her High-Paying, Secure Job Was The Best Thing That Could Have Ever Happened For Lee

Christine Rice: So then when you got let go, it was really heartbreaking, but a blessing in disguise?

Lee Li: Yes, absolutely. because I had never started my business because I had all these amazing opportunities and I was living across the world, being paid well for what I was doing. And I just loved it.

I love the whole industry that I've been working in and the experience I've had.

And so it was a really blessing in disguise that I couldn't get a job because to be honest, if I managed to get a job at then, I'd probably still be working for somebody because it's very hard to then stop having that reliable income and make the choice to the weekly paycheck is definitely something that [laughter]

Christine Rice: You can you can miss that quite a lot when you're working for yourself. Yeah. The security and not having to worry about all the the bigger things. Yeah.

Lee Li: Yeah. Yeah. And then when you start your own business, you sort of forget that you need to pay yourself to start with. All the money goes into the company or the business. Grow grow. Yeah.

Christine Rice: Lots of it back and you're overwork and Yes. Exactly.

Lee Li: In 2016 I then registered Leeli Design. So Leeli Design started off as my handmade business but as I was a sole trader, everything was under Leeli Design. So I was also doing freelance and I happened to get an amazing opportunity. I worked with Nicole Fendle and did lots of freelance for her.

How to Become a Jewelry Designer: Start Building Your LinkedIn Profile! Here's Why Lee Recommends it More Than Anything Else

So my first role coming out into the freelance world was working with her which was amazing because she was a jewelry designer.

She had shops. Yeah, so I got to use my skills and you know help her you know do freelance for her for a period of time and then I got contacted through LinkedIn.

Which - LinkedIn, I would say, is a massive recommendation for creatives.

''I moved to Australia because of LinkedIn. I had my my biggest client that I still work with now in China because of LinkedIn.''

So I feel like it's been a really good platform for me.

Christine Rice: Oh, that's good for creatives to know because I know a lot of creatives will shun LinkedIn. Ah, it's so boring and it's all corporate.

But no, this is still where we have to make our our business to business connections. If you are a business owner, no matter how creative you are, you still need those connections.

Lee Li: Yeah. And I do believe it's all about networking and your connections because you can be the most talented person. But if you are not seen, if you don't know who to connect with to get you to somewhere.

How Savvy Networking Helped Lee Land Amazing Opportunities As A Costume Jewelry Designer

I've just had amazing opportunities because people have loved how I've worked.

And they've loved the designs that I offer, but then I've had chances to do sunglasses and soft goods and and hats and scarves and bags and things that that I haven't been trained in, but because I have the the right idea, the right process. I give my 100%.

I've had these amazing opportunities because I've worked with people who've appreciated that and they're like, "Do you happen to do this?"

And I'm like, "Well, I could definitely do it, but I haven't got experience in it, but I'm very sure I'm going to be able to do it."

I know I'm capable. Yeah. And then I'll wow them with it and then I get the new opportunities through that.

So, I think the networking what you know keeps you somewhere and you can grow because of that.

''But who you know really gives you opportunities in lots of cases really opens the doors.''

Christine Rice: That's why the 'N' of my S.W.A.N. programs stands for Ninja Networking because networking is even for introverts like there's ways to do it. It's so important to do it. And so it's it's an it's you can't run a business without having a mafia of support. [laughter]

Lee Li: Yes, exactly.

Christine Rice: That's what I call it.

How Lee Started Her Manufacturing and Consulting Business, Leeli & Co

Christine Rice: And so when did Leeli & Co begin - the consulting side?

Lee Li: So Covid happened and obviously 2020. Oh so it would have been 2019. So I had my daughter in 2019. I think 2020
was when Covid hit actually in March. So for 2 years I then didn't travel which, at the time, I was very appreciative of; staying at home with my baby.

And when things started to get pulled back a little bit more I was still working through it because I worked with the US and the US didn't close down as much as we did here. I was actually still quite busy.

I worked with Target at the time who I think through, when you're scrimping and saving, Target is the
place that still everyone went to. So, we did well through that sort of period.

Then in 2022 when my daughter was a bit older, things were starting to come back where we could travel again. And I just realized that the main supplier I was working with - I wanted to broaden horizons. I was turning lots of things down for other people and I just decided, through my husband actually - he recommended - he was like, 'I think you need to set up a company because then you can really sort of expand and go.'

''You can still grow as a sole trader, but I think when you start hitting different price income brackets, having a company is a good element.''

There's lots of different benefits of having a company.

So, in 2022, I then registered my design company, which was then Leeli and Co. which it still is.

And then everything's now sort of sat underneath that. So Leeli Design is now within that, but it's like a branch of Leeli & Co.

Christine Rice: Leeli & Co. is your bread and butter, and that's the one that's like bringing in the most income and supporting the
passion of Leeli Designs, which is more of a passion project for the handmade one-off unique pieces that you can use your
imagination to make, yes? And when you were working as a consultant, you mentioned earlier before we jumped on the podcast that you are also designing for celebrities?

Lee Li: Oh, so yes, that's exciting. Yes, a bit of a project at the moment, but it's all hush hush. I can't say anything about it. But yeah, we're doing a bit of a celebrity collaboration at the moment, which is very exciting.

Christine Rice: When it's done, can you mention it when it's done?

Lee Li: I don't know...I need to find out whether I can...I would hope so. [laughter] But it's going to be it's going to be another year's time because they work very far in advance. A couple more months from now.

Christine Rice: Oh exciting!

So that's a great progression:

2016 you start your first business, Leeli Design after years of working in the industry. Then in 2022, you start your own design
and manufacturing consultant business working with big high street brands and celebrities.

Lee Li: I was already working in this sort of similar way as a freelancer. So from 2016 I was working as a freelancer. 2017 I was then doing much more with suppliers. So I was representing them for big brands. I would be the person that would work
directly with the brands. They would either tell me what they want or I would suggest it like, ''Oh, this is trending. I think we should do this.''

Then once we worked out what designs, I would do the designs and they would say yay or nay. I would then work with the supplier to get the design sampled. Then once the sample was approved, then the supplier takes on the the production and does the the whole rest of the stuff. So I did everything from having the idea through to actually getting it made and manufactured. Then the supplier takes on the production side of things.

I still have my consulting side where I help if there's certain things like, ''Oh we can't produce it you know in mass production we can't do it like this it has to be done like this''

Then I work through it with them or we'll you know to find the solution.

A big a big part of my role is really a problems solver, I think.

How to Become a Jewelry Designer With Lee's NEW Course: Get Sourcey

Christine Rice: Thank you for telling us the details because it can be kind of confusing for creatives who haven't worked in the industry, who might not know how the fashion industry works or manufacturing works to know exactly how they can use their skills to to grow their own brand or designs. Starting as a freelancer, getting to know the industry, and then eventually starting their own consulting design business.

That's a a great path that I think a lot of people who are making their own designs, doing the markets every weekend, selling to a few shops here and there, they're wondering how they can ever really scale and get to that to that level that you've got at. So that's that's fabulous.

And is that what you are teaching in your third business?

Lee Li: Yes.

Christine Rice: Tell us about Get Sourcy because the this is the thing - she's actually teaching all of this, y'all! So you can learn how to become a jewelry designer like Lee in this course. Which is amazing amazing course idea! So tell us all about that.

Lee Li: Yes. So I'm super excited about this.

''This is all of my like 20 years of working in the industry, working with big brand, having my own brand -- everything.''

The course is taking you from your idea -- or even if you don't have an idea -- some people just want to get out of their 9 to5 work job. They want to have their own business because they don't want to work for someone anymore but they might not even have had that idea yet of what that product is.

So it's taking you from either you know the thought that you want to have your own business and how to generate that product that can make you able to leave your job and have you know have a product to be able to sell.

It takes you through from the idea through to the finished product, including:

All different downloadables, everything that you would need, like margin calculators, or like how do you know how much margin put to put in to things? Like how do you wholesale things?

How do you like shipping charges can be a lot of, you know, if you don't calculate that into something, it can take something that yes, it's cheap to buy something from China, but by the time you've added your shipping charges, it's taken it to a whole another bracket. You could probably have got it made here for less.

There's all those different elements.

Christine Rice: That's a high value course! That's YEARS of experience, years of insider knowledge, years of you having someone to tell you pros and cons of how to do it exactly so that you're not making the mistakes that you might have learned the hard way or that maybe would, you know, cost money. This is the way to fast track your creative business to the next level.

So, I think that's that's exactly what a lot of people need.

Why You Don't Need to Know EXACTLY What You'll Sell to Start Your Creative Business NOW

Christine Rice: They also need to know that you don't you don't have to take the course with an exact idea of what you're going to do or what kind of business you're going to do.

And that you don't have to start a business thinking that you're going to change the world or have this kind of higher mission.

It's okay to just start a business with the the dream that you want to work for yourself because you're sick of working for your toxic boss or you're sick of the commute or not being in control of your own hours. You can just go into it and then get the ideas as you take the course.

Lee Li: Yeah. Well, one of my contacts who I'm going to be interviewing, she started off because she wanted to leave her her job that she had and she just found this product. I'm not going to say how she found it because that's going to be in the course. But she had a process where she went on and basically found a niche in in this area. It wasn't even in something that she was particularly passionate about to start with.

She found the niche and started selling the things because she was thinking, ''Oh, I'm just going to put them on Amazon so that then they can be selling in the background and maybe I can then eventually earn enough from doing it to to leave my job.''

So she went with this idea that she's going to going to test things.

''And it's turned into this massive business where she has now had Kendall Jenner, Paris Hilton - people like that using these straws.''

Christine Rice: WOW!

Lee Li: Yeah, yea. So, I'm interviewing her for this. I'm interviewing different people from different brands that I've known from years, like well-known brands that I've worked with.

And so, I think not only my insight is going to be in there of what I've learned and the downloadable templates for, you know,
how you send a PO and and all of those kind of things. is going to have also like all these amazing interviews.

Christine Rice: Oh, hell yeah! Yeah, you're going to have people signing up immediately. How can they sign up to
this course? Where do they go? You've got a waiting list now, right?

Lee Li: On the website, yeah.

Where To Sign Up to Get Sourcey To Learn How to Become a Jewelry Designer With Lee

Christine Rice: So it's Get Sourcey dot com. I'll leave the link in the show notes so everyone can go and sign up for this course now when it launches.

Lee Li: So [laughter] at the moment I've just got an email capture basically in the next 3 weeks I'll have everything set
up so that ,yeah, so by the middle of September (2026) it should be ready to take pre-sales.

But it's just at this point literally all just behind the scenes at the moment. I'm just getting to that point where we're just finalizing that.

How to Become a Jewelry Designer And Have an Amazing Career Like Lee: Her Top Advice to Get Started

Christine Rice: So, final questions and we'll wrap up.

Lee Li: Yes.

Christine Rice: So, Lee, what is your advice for creative entrepreneurs who are just getting started? Like what would you say are the things to really work on now if they want to have the amazing career and businesses that you have?

Lee Li: I would say, you need to visualize what you want and be really specific.

Don't just sort of say, "Oh, I'd love to be a millionaire."

Be clear on how much you want to be working and who you want to work with.

Like, do you have ideal clients or an ideal brand that you want to get your product into or do you just want to have it for yourself?

Is it a passion project or is it something that you want to be getting out there because you're solving someone's problem?

''Be really clear because once you are clear, you then know who to be networking with, too. Because I think you can create your own opportunities.''

And through I have an amazing business coach and she's very good at getting you to visualize and to create your own opportunities. I think that if you want to speak somewhere or if you want to get your name out there, you just just apply.

Christine Rice: And you got to be spe-spe-specific. [laughs] I always struggle [laughter] with that word specific about knowing what you want.

And this is why I'm so big on manifesting and I talk about manifesting because I believe 99% of manifesting is not metaphysical.

It's actually just knowing exactly what you want and visualizing it and going after it. It's goal setting, it's committing to your goals, and it's making those goals feel real and accessible.

Lee Li: 100%! I also think a vision board is useful. I've got my vision board up here. [pulls out vision board to show camera]

I keep adding to it actually. Like the other day I was like actually I'd love to meet Richard Branson.

So, I've put Richard Branson's name on here. I just love his like ethos. And I've got Kate Hudson. I'd love her to
wear Leeli Design at some point.

So, I've put her name on there.

The Hardest Thing to Watch Out For If You Want to Become a Self-Employed Jewelry Designer Like Lee

Christine Rice: And what would you say is the hardest thing about the career that you've built?

Lee Li: I think that it can be very all or nothing.

You can have weeks where you have no work.

This was my experience before I had the company set up in the way that I do now. Now days, I can get regular work
because I have team that I can outsource to. I don't have to say ''no'' to projects anymore because I have people to be able to work with me.

So when it's quiet, I have the work. When it's busy, I have people to be able to divvy up work between.

And we've got a real system with how I work. They're trained up in how I like to present things and everything.

But the hardest thing before I had that is really the the flow of the work.

''I think it's all or nothing sometimes and then in the nothing periods you're worried because you need money. Then there's the BIG periods where you got loads of work coming in.''

So that's for the design company.

Obviously, then, for having a product to sell, the challenge is time.

Because I hand make ALL of those pieces. A necklace can sometimes take four to 6 hours. Head pieces four to six hours. Some are quicker. So some things that I have as limited edition are quicker.

But if you get a big wholesale order for 25 pieces, it can take a good few days to make it.

Christine Rice: And and it can be very tempting for creatives to undervalue that time. But you, as a designer, should charge for that time because that is your creative expertise and IP.

Lee Li: Yes.

Christine Rice: A lot of creatives will undercharge because, ''Oh, I love making things!''

Like, don't do that. Don't do it. It's a trap. Charge for what you do!

Lee Li: Yes.

Final Thoughts And Thanks To Lee Li For Sharing Her Expertise on How to Become a Jewelry Designer on the Hexotica Podcast

Christine Rice: So, thank you so much, Lee. Are there any last comments or things that you'd like to to say to the audience?

Lee Li: I think just um go for it.

Christine Rice: Yeah, go for it!

Lee Li: I think if you have your full-time job, but you're thinking about going in and doing something on the side, try and make the time to do the thing on the side while you've still got that income because it's nice to still have that not have that pressure when you're trying to do your business.

It depends if you have some financial backer who can come in and, help; that's amazing.

But...

''If you don't and you're doing it all yourself, which many of us creatives are, if you can have that regular income, keep it!''

Even if it's a part-time. That way you can pay the bills and you can do your business how you really want to.

It's less stressful that way, I would say.

Christine Rice: Absolutely. [laughter] Yeah. I never advise people to just go out and quit a secure job. Hold on to that job as long as you can to get the income up with your side hustle because it can be incredibly feast and famine, as you said earlier.

That is the hardest thing; you don't have that regular paycheck. So you've got to be smart with your time and your money to run a business.

Well, thank you so much, Lee. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast and I will leave the link to Lee's social media channels and Leeli Design as well as Get Sourcy.

So if you want to start your own creative business, you can take her course and become a successful accessories designer like her. All right.

Lee Li: Well, thank you so much.

Christine Rice: Have a great day. It was a wonderful interview. Such an interesting story. I loved it. Thank you.

Lee Li: Thanks for letting me share with you.

Christine Rice: My pleasure. Have a great day. We'll be in touch. Bye!

[End Podcast]

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