Today we’d like to introduce you to Melanie McCall and Kyle Diaz.
Melanie and Kyle, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
We met at the end of 2017. We both connected because we listened to the same band, the Gorillaz. Kyle introduced me to crystals and the effects of meditation on our psyche. We both wanted to start our own business but didn’t know where to start. One day it just made sense for us to start here with something that we both love and to support our dreams of becoming digital nomads. A few months into starting our business, I took a yoga 200-hour teacher training and Kyle honed his skills to become a photographer and designer. Crystal Fengshui is the product of our lifestyle and our dream that we pursue together.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
This is the first year of our business, so we can definitely say there have been some lessons to learn along the way. Our main discovery being how to obtain legit and unique crystal specimens for our shop. We started at our local gem shows then traveled around the US for larger shows and now we’re in the process of collecting crystals at mines and mountains. The main question we get is where do you get your crystals from so we wanted to ensure we got as close to the source as possible. We also started adding more things to our shop like herbs and singing bowls to support others’ meditation practices.
Another challenge was just learning how to sell things efficiently online. I was working on a lot of e-commerce websites which prepared me for the technical portion and Kyle took amazing pictures of our product, but there was still a lot of marketing knowledge we learned along the way as well as social media techniques so we feel way better about it then we used to. On top of full-time jobs, it was definitely challenging to keep up with a whole business and there only be two of us. We’re hoping to expand into a team one day!
Crystal Fengshui – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Crystal Fengshui is an online metaphysical shop for the home. We specialize in crystals, medium to large ones mostly and a variety of herbs and tools for meditation. We emphasize and teach meditation with all of our products. Our goal is to have people who are stressed, anxious, or depressed to come to our store and leave with something that helps them relax in their own space. The vibrations of crystals are science and we’re happy to explain this to people who are new to it.
We have a wide range of unique crystals that you can’t find in other shops in Atlanta and we think that’s what makes us different. We’ve collected our specimens on our travels and take good care of them. We try to give people something really nice but still affordable. We have an online shop, but we often meet with customers in Atlanta that don’t have access to as many stores in their area.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
We did a very successful pop-up shop last month that showed how much our shop had grown. We were invited to be a vendor at Trap Yoga Bae’s workshop day and we made a lot of sales and new friends. It was the combination of our work and the help of so many friends and family that came through for us that day. We were very grateful to experience our shop succeed with our ideal audience.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/CrystalFengShui
- Email: crystalfengshui1@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crystalfengshui/
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