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All that glitters may not be gold, but for Traci Lynn, Founder and President of Traci Lynn Fashion Jewelry, all that glitters is a calling. Originally founded in 1989 in Philadelphia and relaunched in 2005, the company offers women glitter and glam as well as a way to earn a living.Lynn understood entrepreneurship from an early age, working with her grandmother selling clothing and jewelry as a child. As she got older, direct sales called to her. “I thought that I could help more people that way,” she says. “And jewelry was a natural fit.”
Lynn says that her dream is to offer women the chance to have their own business selling jewelry. With more than 2,000 consultants in 10 states, her dream is quickly becoming a reality.
Starting her first company at only 25, Traci Lynn quickly became a local success, appearing in local newspaper articles and Essence magazine to discuss how she did it. The company operated out of a showroom as a wholesale fashion jewelry retailer. While Lynn’s fledgling company had passion, it didn’t have a catalog or solid compensation plan. “I didn’t quite know how to go about it, but I thought maybe if I built a showroom, [consultants] would come,” she says. “And they did. I really knew then that I had found my calling.”
Although the company functioned as a direct seller, Lynn wasn’t aware that the Direct Selling Association (DSA) existed. “Of course, they were there—I just didn’t know about them,” she says.
Despite its challenges, the business took off, gathering more than a thousand consultants in less than two years, particularly in its hometown. “I was missing so many components,” she says, “but the concept was there.”
The company folded a few years after its launch. “The women enjoyed the motivation, but it ran its course,” Lynn says. “There was no growth into other states, no blueprint.”
Shifting FocusDiscouraged with direct sales and unwilling to try again right away, Lynn embarked on a new career as a public speaker. She spoke to Fortune 500 companies around the world on attitude and motivation. After motivating her salesforce with her company, she realized she could speak publicly on the same issues she spoke to her team about, with attitude being the most requested topic.
But she found that she couldn’t address all the aspects of either concept in an hourlong speech. “They always have more questions,” she says. “I was just going and dropping off the nuggets and catching a plane back in an hour. I realized that people need more.”
Throughout her speaking career, she never lost the feeling she had with her first direct selling company, and she says she never lost her love for the industry. So Lynn began to look closely at her personal mission to motivate, inspire and change.
She discovered that she could offer people more through direct sales—more motivation, more opportunity, more personal development.
Beginning AgainIn 2005, Lynn began again, inspired by a catalog from another direct selling jewelry company. She began reading the literature from the company and realized that the business model was exactly what she had started years ago. As she read, she thought, “That’s who I am.” She threw herself into learning more about the industry and
every aspect of running a successful direct selling business.
As she learned more, her business grew. The company launched in October out of the basement of an office building—only 500 square feet. Within seven months, the company had moved upstairs to approximately 900 square feet, then to another facility with 5,000 square feet. “We relaunched with no catalog in a basement of an office building,” Lynn says. “Within a year, we moved upstairs and then to where we are now, and we’ve outgrown this space.”
This time, she joined the DSA at the outset, taking full advantage of all the training and tips the association has to offer. Drawing on her earlier experience and what she learned from both the DSA and by listening to others in the industry, she developed a compensation plan that included more than just a one-time gift of free jewelry when a new consultant signed on. “The information filled the gap,” Lynn says. “I was able to jump over some huge pitfalls, sinkholes that could have stalled me or taken me out.”
One of those pitfalls was the compensation plan. Lynn learned that one thing every company must have is its own compensation plan. “Getting to that crucial stage in the business saved everything, I believe,” she says.
Lynn also took a hands-on role with the ins and outs of the business, including how to trust her instincts and take charge. “I was able to trust my own entrepreneurial gut on how to make things work, how to stick it out and run the business,” she says. “At the end of the day, you are the captain of that ship, and you’d better have something in that gut that’s going to steer you the right way.”
Because the business focused on organic growth, Lynn found herself handling many aspects of running it, such as cutting commission checks. So by the time she was ready for a full software system, she knew exactly what would fulfill her business’s needs. However, she was determined to keep the business debt-free, choosing not to spend money she didn’t have.
From her first attempt at direct sales, Lynn knew that the company couldn’t be about just earning an income—people had to be motivated to reach for greater things. She rolled her personal mission into her professional one to lay the foundation for Traci Lynn Fashion Jewelry. The company’s mission is to motivate people, inspire them to greatness and help them change their financial future.
Lynn sees her consultants as “partners” in the business. “We’re in this thing together,” she says. “We’re creating entrepreneurs.” The company offers business training, such as webinars and teleconferences, as well as provides the basic building blocks for success. Lynn says that her consultants are very technologically savvy; each boasts a replicated Web site, and the company uses all the technology within its reach for business building and development, including social media, such as Twitter.
Her dream is to be like Avon and Mary Kay. “Mary Kay has more than 1 million consultants,” she says. “I want to be just like that; I want this to be a legacy business.”
She says the company may become a cruise liner in terms of size, but she wants it to maintain a speedboat’s maneuverability—able to turn and adjust quickly. So she built the concept of change into the company’s culture, ensuring that consultants and employees alike know that change is not only good, but necessary.
A firm believer in the power of personal development, Lynn says that change can be a powerful force in a person’s life. “I teach change all the time,” she says. “Be open for change.”
The allure of change applies to everything Lynn does, including the designs for her jewelry. Drawing inspiration from magazines such as Vogue, Lynn keeps her finger on the pulse of the fashion industry, always looking out for new trends to deliver high-quality fashion jewelry that’s simple, yet beautiful and affordable.
“Our standards and quality control are huge,” she says. “Even if I take home a little less, I prefer high quality.” And that dedication to quality keeps her distributors and customers coming back for more. “People represent our brand because they love our style,” Lynn says.
In the years since her first foray into direct selling, Traci Lynn has learned more about the industry. She has been a successful speaker and entrepreneur, trying everything from clothing to nail salons. These days, though, she knows where she’s going and exactly how she plans to get there.
“Stay wise, stay frugal, stay debt-free and continue with organic growth,” Lynn says. “With all that, the sky’s the limit.”
