Photo by Erica Techo.
The founders of Opulenza Designs, from left, Jody Lafko, Susan Ball, Julie Seals and Sue Kupka in Seals’ Hoover home Aug. 30. Seals said their jewelry company, which launched in October 2016, had made more than $100,000 in sales by that December.
When direct sales jewelry company Silpada announced it was shutting down in mid-2016, some sales representatives were unsure what to do next.
Altadena Woods resident Julie Seals was one of those sales reps. She started at Silpada when her kids were young, and she found the direct sales model — where she would sell to customers through parties or other events — fit her schedule best.
“I could have flexibility. I wasn’t tied down to a full-time job,” said Seals.
And she was not the only rep who felt that way. Seals stayed in touch with some other former Silpada reps, and four of them decided to go off on their own. Seals said she, Susan Ball, Jody Lafko and Sue Kupka wanted to go back to the sterling silver jewelry that made Silpada well known, but they were not sure where to start.
“We’re like, ‘OK, how can we make this work?’ Because we really wanted to be together. We really liked the concept of us doing it together, so there were some big obstacles,” said Seals. One of those obstacles was geography — they lived in Alabama, California, Kentucky and Wyoming.
Despite those obstacles, things started falling into place, and Opulenza Designs had its start.
Lafko had a spare building on her property, which became their distribution center. Seals was social media-savvy and started working on online promotions. Ball would crunch the numbers and look at everything from a business perspective, and Kupka was the go-to for design decisions.
“It’s just been amazing, and Oct. 27, 2016 was when we launched the website,” Seals said. By that December, they had sold more than $100,000 in jewelry.
Their designs come from designers around the world, some of whom they found on Etsy. Seals said their experience as former reps for another company allows a new perspective on the direct sales model, and they decided to mix things up a bit.
“It has been a huge adjustment,” Seals said. “It has been challenging, but at the same time, we’ve found it to be very rewarding.”
One change was deciding not to do a catalog. They are expensive to shoot, Seals said, and mean designs are set in stone for months at a time. Instead, Opulenza went with an online model, which allows more flexibility.
“We bring things out all the time and we, in turn, can retire things at different times, too,” Seals said.
They have also utilized the internet for parties. Direct sales usually focus around an event where the hostess invites several friends, a rep brings along jewelry everyone can see and order, and then the hostess gets a free gift for holding the party.
Even though more shopping is done online these days, Seals said she sees women gravitating back to these parties. But things like Facebook live also provide options for virtual parties, during which Seals can record herself showing and talking about the jewelry.
“It took off like crazy,” Seals said, “so now, all our reps are doing it. They’re having all these Facebook live parties in their group, they’ll set up a Facebook group. … And it’s a cool way to connect with everybody across the U.S.”
Since launching last October, Opulenza has grown to 68 reps. For more information, go to opulenzadesigns.com.
