Meet Page Doby and Martha Gensheimer of Toozy Studio in Fort Worth

Today we’d like to introduce you to Page Doby and Martha Gensheimer.

Page and Martha, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
We have been in business for over 15 years. It all started when I (Page) had my third child and received a triple interconnected band ring from my husband. When it was time to go back to work, I wanted to have my boys’ names engraved, one on each band. After calling around a number of places I was told it could not be done. So I called my friend Martha and the two of us researched for a year to figure out how to stamp names/words on rings. We started our business, named Nelle and Lizzy, stamping jewelry before stamping was a “thing”! Since it was so unique and had not been seen before the jewelry line took off. We were lucky enough to be named one of Oprah’s Favorite Things in 2007 and were featured in other magazines such as People, Southern Living, Glamour, Parents, Parenting to name a few.

We grew the business for over ten years and then decided it was time to sell and take a break. But in evaluating the business we discovered we could not sell the Etsy portion of the business because of Etsy’s terms. In the end, it ended up being a blessing. Since both of us are now empty nesters we have loved having the Etsy business keep us busy!

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?
Being an entrepreneur is always a challenge no matter how big or small the business is. We were both owners of small businesses before partnering so we already knew the work and dedication involved in owning your own business. Once we partnered we figured out that we much preferred working together than separately.

Finding dependable manufacturing partners is always a struggle. We make unique products and design 100% of the items ourselves but we have to use a manufacturer to take prototypes and translate them into the product. We were lucky in the beginning to work with a wonderful silversmith but when he retired and sold his business the new owners just could not keep up to his customer service standards and it was a daily headache.

While we sell items all year round, our busiest seasons are Christmas and Mother’s Day. This always presents a challenge with finding qualified seasonal help that can be trained and also be dependable during busy times.

Please tell us about business.
We own an Etsy store where we sell silver and gold jewelry. Our best sellers are stacking initial and birthstone rings as well as birthstone bar necklaces. We were the first company on Etsy to design a birthstone bar necklace and are proud to be the original. There are lots of stores now who were “inspired” by our creations. They sell similar items but none are as high quality and engraved on the back as we did originally.

As a company, we are most proud of our customer service. We strive to make each customer happy and do our best to ship products out quickly and address all questions any customer has before purchasing. We are also proud of the fact we design all of our pieces from scratch and do not resell items from other sources. So if you buy something from Toozy Studio you can be assured no one else has it unless they bought it from us!

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Loving what you do! With as many highs and lows, you have to love what you do in order to succeed and want to open the office door every morning. While each day is not perfect, in the end we love designing meaningful jewelry and the feedback we get from customers on how much their pieces mean to them.

The other thing that contributes to our success is how well we complement each other. We are the peanut butter to the other’s jelly, the yin to the other’s yang. We each have our strengths and we know what those are and we stick to those while letting the other person shine in theirs.

Pricing:

• * Silver Stacking Rings: $14
• *Silver Birthstone Stack Rings: $19
• *Gold Stacking Rings: $21
• *Gold Birthstone Stack Rings: $26
• *Silver “Blessed” Bars: $34
• *Gold “Blessed” Bars: $43

Contact Info:

• Website: www.etsy.com/shop/ToozyStudio
• Phone: 817.926.6336
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @toozystudio
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/toozystudio

Image Credit:
Gary Logan Photography

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