Dominique Croft began creating jewellery in January 2020 as she noticed a “gap in the market” for affordable gold and silver. The 27-year-old started her company while working as a content strategy manager but she got so many orders she decided to make it a full time job.
Her enterprise, Elk & Bloom, has gone from strength to strength and now she sells 14,500 items for £40,000 in a single month.
Her revenue has just hit £550,000 and her jewellery is now on sale in Debenhams, and she is soon to make her debut at Paris Fashion Week.
Ms Croft, who is from Gerrards Cross, said: “Jewellery has always been a proper passion for me and I have always been creative.
“As much as I loved my corporate job, it wasn’t for me. I have always been interested in business and I have always been creative and digitally savvy.
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“I also wanted the flexibility and I think COVID-19 made a few people want that. The decision to quit the job wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment one.
“I had been running my business for a year-and-a-half but it was nowhere near what it is like now.”
During the lockdowns, Ms Croft upped her production and in the middle of 2021, she decided to go full-time.
She said of her decision to launch the business: “I have always felt like the jewellery business was missing a mark.
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She said she wished she had celebrated being featured in Debenhams more. She commented: “We shared it on social media and had an internal jump for joy.
“Being a small business there wasn’t a big event. I was here at home with my fiancé and thinking, ‘Oh my God’.
“To see it on a major retailer, it was a huge moment. It was a better feeling than I had anticipated.”
She said she feels she has been “thrown in at the deep end” as her work will be on display at Paris Fashion Week, in early March.
The business owner said: “The collection is about strength and power. I have taken a lot of inspiration from mythology and strong women; women like Aphrodite and Venus.
“When anyone sees the jewellery it inspires them and makes them feel like the best version of themselves.”
Many Britons are looking to earn extra money and take on side hustle as the cost of living continues to increase.
Experts at Geonode said people can easily boost their income through money making apps. One example is Sweatcoin, where people get credits for walking a certain number of steps.
The credits can then be exchanged for gift cards or products, while incentivising the user to get exercise and stay healthy.
