THE FRIDAY FAVS - TWICE UPON A STRING

business blog Feb 11, 2020

I’m always on the lookout for a good story that highlights creative entrepreneurs.

Well, this week I had to look no further than the roster of my kindergarten class from over 30 years ago! Today we’re talking all about:
 

TWICE UPON A STRING


I first met founder and jewelry maker, Kymber Berson Diekhoff in kindergarten back in the suburbs of Chicago, IL.  We were total buddies growing up but lost touch after her family moved from the area we all grew up in.

It wasn’t until Facebook that we reconnected and I’ve been able to follow her amazing journey as the founder and jewelry maker of Twice Upon a String - a jewelry design company with a twist.

The idea for Twice Upon a String came to Kymber when she saw just how many guitar strings her musician husband, Cody, was throwing away after each show.

His band, Chicago Farmer, averages about 150 shows a year and replacing his strings about every three shows led to a lot of strings headed to the garbage! Kymber decided to find a way to make use of them and turned them into jewelry.

Aside from the environmental aspect of being upcycled guitar strings, each piece designed from Twice Upon a String has this cool connection to music since it came from the actual artists’ guitar.

Kymber even once designed a piece for a couple using the strings from the very music they heard playing while they got engaged.

TESTING THE WATERS

Before Kymber jumped in and bought a ton of supplies to start Twice Upon a String, she decided to just buy the bare minimum until she knew jewelry was something she really wanted to try making. Prior to Twice Upon a String, she hadn’t really dipped into the creative arts much.

This act of starting by making small changes can be applied to whatever you’re working on whether in your personal or professional life.

If you’re looking to create a healthier lifestyle, start a podcast, write a script - no matter what it is - starting SMALL first is the key to keeping momentum. If you think about it, it’s the accumulation of each small step that turn into big chunks of progress and big chunks of progress morph into actual change that you can see.

LOCATION INDEPENDENT

I don’t know one person these days who doesn’t describe their dream job as one that allows them to be “location independent”. And while many of us long for the ability to be able to do what we love from anywhere, it’s also often seen as a road block. A muse for procrastination and excuses.

When I asked Kymber how she manages to work on her jewelry since she’s constantly traveling with her husband, she brings her materials, sets up sitting shotgun next to her husband on the road and has even made some mile high jewelry while they’ve been traveling!

Kymber could have easily been discouraged by the fact that since she travels with her husband while he’s touring, she’d have to hit pause on her business while on the road but instead she found a way to make her business mobile.

COMMUNITY COUNTS

Giving back was high on Kymber’s list of goals when she started Twice Upon a String. Primarily because she felt the music community had been so supportive of her and her husband but also because of the healing component music has.

To date, Twice Upon a String has donated a mix of jewelry pieces for auction as well as 20% of their profits to nonprofit organizations such as The Baby Fold - a music therapy program that helps kids work through their emotions using music and musical instruments as well as Positive Legacy - that works with music festivals and incorporates an environmental and humanitarian service aspect to them.

To see Kymber's work and learn more about Twice Upon a String check out these links: 

http://www.twiceuponastring.com/
https://www.facebook.com/TwiceUponAString/

So often I work with creatives who have such unique ideas like Kymber’s that I’m constantly blown away by their creativity.

I know we often like to play devil’s advocate when starting something new because,  hey, then we have an excuse as to why it can’t happen.

If you take one thing away from this Friday’s Fav, it’s that no matter what you’re looking to accomplish, you CAN make it happen if you get a little creative...!

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