Rising Stars: Meet Jolene Cazzola of Tucker, GA

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jolene Cazzola.

Hi Jolene, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I moved to GA from FL six years ago when my daughter married a man from Atlanta/Marietta. I knew if I wanted to be part of my grandchildren’s lives I needed to be closer. I landed in Tucker. While in FL I started an online business selling on Etsy. I was putting together designs and having them printed onto anything that was printable. After a while I settled on combat type boots, sneakers and purses. Since things seemed to be going well with Etsy, I decided to put together my own website, Sole Design Studio (SDS), and try selling there also.
I had retired a few years before moving to Tucker. I wrote a couple romance novels and even won a Georgia Romance Writers award, but needed something that would be less solitary and something that might help supplement social security, keep me busy and keep me learning new things. I did not grow up with computers so everything about selling online was a challenge. It meant learning one program or app after another and then relearning them as the companies or platforms kept making changes – both challenging and frustrating at the same time.
People liked my things on Etsy and were actually buying. So as anyone who has been down this road can tell you, you go with what’s working, keep doing more and keep trying to find new ways to improve and expand. Thus SDS. I still have a very long way to go. SDS gave me freedoms I could not get with Etsy, but it also meant I had to find my own customers. I’m now trying to learn how to advertise – something that may prove to be my biggest challenge yet.
A year ago I decided to start a second online business. I’m now 74 and had been hating the way my skin was feeling as I aged. I wasn’t worried about wrinkles, but I could not stand the dryness and itching that came with it. I tried all kinds of products, but just wasn’t happy with anything. I was also looking for something more natural and started experimenting with alternative ingredients. Much to my surprise I liked the results, so I put together a website called Femme Botanicals (FB). FB sells skincare products that use functional mushrooms, CBD and some utilize nanotechnology. It’s amazing what these ingredients can do for your skin. Mine no longer feels dry. And of course, I’m finding a lot of different challenges with this website, but I’ll keep going and hopefully figure things out more quickly this time around.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
My road has been full of pot holes! As I described in the previous section, the first challenge is finding a product people want and are willing to buy. Mugs and t-shirts were not cutting it on Etsy, but print-on-demand shoes did sell. And even before selling on Etsy I tried selling all the “hot” products that came along. That was a miserable failure. However, I could not have put SDS together if I hadn’t failed with other things. And it’s only what I see as limited success with SDS that gave me the courage to start FB.
My struggles have been a steep learning curve and never having enough money to hire professionals to do things for me. I’m about eight years into this journey now and I still do not have a staff. I have one young man who lives in Turkey that helps me with listings and customer service now for both websites. He’s become an invaluable resource. I feel like I need more help, but the funding isn’t there yet.

Social media has been a big obstacle for me. Putting it bluntly, I suck at it! I built a following on Facebook with about 7000 followers for SDS, but someone stole the page and I couldn’t get it back. I’m now trying to build a Facebook page for FB. I desperately need social media help, but haven’t figured out how. to get it yet.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I have a background in the arts with a BFA and MFA from the Art Institute of Chicago. I never used those degrees professionally, but they definitely helped shape my sense of style and knowledge about design. I can now take a design, put it on an item and tell you if it “works.” I think that’s what people find appealing about SDS. Even though the designs span a wide variety of niches, people seem to be able to recognize the quality of it. And to some degree, having shoes with a design and not just black or brown is still a novelty, a growing novelty, but still not your everyday thing.

How do you think about luck?
This is a hard one for me to answer – I’m really not sure. I feel very lucky to still want to learn more and more, even at this stage of the game. And I’m not afraid to ask questions.
I feel unlucky in that technology does not come naturally to me. I’m slow and it takes me time to figure things out. I feel like I could be a lot further ahead if I’d grown up with this stuff.

Pricing:

• Be fair with people
• Give as much value as possible for the price
• Price as if you were the buyer

Contact Info:

• Website: https://soledesignstudio.com. and https://femmebotanicals.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61580489429081