Today we’d like to introduce you to Michelle Honkomp.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My story starts August of 2017. This was a time when Puerto Rico was devastated by Hurricane Maria, a natural disaster that wiped out more than half of the island. Majority of my family lives here. During this time, I remember there were two weeks without contact from my family… the whole island went dark. I felt helpless and scared that I wouldn’t hear from my grandmother, my cousins, or my aunts again. So the first thing that came to my mind was to figure how I could communicate with the island, so I downloaded a walkie-talkie app on my iPhone. This allowed access for everyone in the nation who had families and friends in PR to communicate together. There were families all speaking Spanish at once from Florida, New York, Dallas, everywhere. I kept listening for any family names I could recognize. I could only understand a few words here and there, from people asking if they’ve heard from family members or the status of the island… no one knew.
Then a beacon of light, one of my cousins finally Facebook, messaged me. He said he and his family were fine but he wasn’t sure about the countryside of the island. And that’s where my grandmother’s house was. I quickly sent him care packages and told him, “Leo, take these items for your family and I will be sending more. As soon as the roads are clear from the flood can you please take these packages to my grandmother’s house?” Things started clearing up on the island after a few weeks and I finally was able to reach my grandmother, and slowly the rest of my family were reaching out, telling us that they were OK. Care package, aftercare package, I just kept sending as much as I could. I worked at Trunk Club at the time as a stylist, and my coworkers, friends, family in Dallas were so giving. They helped donate more items for me to send over to the island. Unfortunately, USPS packages are $18-$20 bucks a pop, and I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to help out anymore. So I thought to myself, “how can I make more money to provide help to Puerto Rico?” That’s when I thought about how my mom and I would make necklaces together and how therapeutic it was to me. I had no experience making jewelry. But I was determined to learn and get really good at it. I would take raw quartz stones and hand wire them with gold wire and attach a gold chain. These were my first pendants. Simple and raw. I sold a few pieces to my family and friends… and BOOM… they absolutely loved them! I had people telling me I needed to sell these full time and put them on ETSY, but I wanted to develop this on my own and start my own website.
I took my life as an entrepreneur to a new level and quit my 9-5 job so I could focus 100% on VPQ (short for Venture Polish Quartz). Needless to say… I went into shock. I couldn’t believe I was doing this full time now. Developing a business brand of my own and trying to make it work. There were a lot of nights spent crying in my pillow. Yet, through the support and love of my husband, family and friends, I have been able to grow and build something wonderful. It fulfills my heart to the max capacity. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m still trying to figure stuff out and find certain pathways that resonate with me in order to create and mold a unique business model. For instance, I’ve had to figure out how I was going to penetrate the market. So I started off with local farmers’ markets, vendor markets, doing pop-ups in Dallas and partnering with local stores that I thought would be a great fit for my jewelry. As word got out, I was invited to be an event host for Dallasites and teach a 30 person class on how to make your own rose quartz necklace! I’m still so grateful for that.
Now I have a permanent shop at The Painted Tree in Highland Village, I pop up at The Rustic, and I still teach women and upcoming jewelry makers on how to be creative, by hosting classes once a month with a therapeutic jewelry class… just like my mom and I did! It’s the connection that I am so proud of, that I could bring in something so needed into this world, something special, something positive. I’ve added vintage jewelry to the collection for sustainability and I also partner with two charities, The SATO Project, which helps stray animals in Puerto Rico find new homes in the US and also Save the Children. With this new venture I was able to still give back and continue the purpose by giving 10% of proceeds to their causes with every jewelry piece. I’m now more focused on this path I’m on and I love this adventure. It’s not scary anymore because it’s my own, my purpose, my legacy.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Not every business starts off smoothly. Especially when it’s a first time business venture. You’re in your head a lot about when to start and even how to start. But I just had to tell myself to just start! So I took baby steps. I built my website through Shopify, made jewelry, learned how to add jewelry to the website, and went on to the next step. I must have focused on those three things first to perfect the process. You have to spend money to make money. So I appointed my husband (the finance person in the relationship) as the official CFO of VPQ. We would sit down together and build an expense sheet, a tax sheet, a sales sheet, etc. Then I researched markets and picked which markets were the same vibe as my brand. I thought of it as just climbing steps to get to where I wanted to be. With each huge step came a blockade of course. I would get no’s from local markets or I wasn’t a great fit for some stores. But this allowed me to grow my brand of jewelry into something special. I understand now why these things happened because it just wasn’t my path. These interactions formed me as a person and formed my business into what it is today.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
After I took some time to develop VPQ into a website and local vendor for markets, it was about eight months when I came across a local TV station that broadcasts local businesses in the DFW area. I was hooked on the fact that this could be a great way to market VPQ. But not only that, another way for me to give back to my community. I was hired on as a Member Executive and after a week of starting my new position, COVID-19 lockdown hit. Talk about the right time, right place. As an executive for BIZTV TX, I help feature local businesses in the Dallas area on a business talk show called the All In with Bryan Weatherford Show. It’s such a delight to meet every local entrepreneur and talk business ideas and promotions with business owners who are looking for another way to market themselves. This is what we are all striving to do and I feel like I’m a part of their planning process. Entrepreneurship can be a lonely road, so it makes me feel so good that I can relate and tell them, “I know where you’re coming from”.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
Not a lot of people know that I was a nomad… Not the kind you’re thinking of, but I literally didn’t have a fixed habitation for the first few years of my life. I was a part of an Air Force family. My dad a Captain and my mom a Lt. Colonel. I was born in Mississippi, my sister was born in Germany, and my brother was born in Spain. I’m the eldest. We eventually settled in San Antonio, TX when I turned seven-years-old, but I remember moving from home to home and the most I remember out of those years traveling were the seasons. Especially in Spain. I remember the smell of the leaves in Fall, how they smelt sweet to me, the snowy winters and crisp summers. Oh the summers! Every other summer we would spend in Puerto Rico, that’s why I consider it my second home. Making friends was easy to me because I was always the new kid in a new city, so it forced me to make friends. Even though I’m not one to have life long friends that I’ve known since I was little, I appreciate the fact that I can walk into a room and strike up a conversation with a stranger as if I’ve known them forever. It’s a fun trait to have.
Pricing:
- $25.00 – Dorado Rose Quartz pendant
- $22.00 – Rose Quartz stud earrings
- $37.00 – Peace not War necklace
- $40.00 – MONET vintage necklace
- $45.00 – Yunque Cuff
Contact Info:
- Email: info@shopvpq.com
- Website: https://shopvpq.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shopvpq/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shopvpq
Image Credits
Lis Ledeay Cory Moore
