“Be brave when it comes to what lights you up”
Ashley Bellino is the founder of Stoned Crystals – a fresh and modern take on crystals for the home and workspace. After discovering the power of crystals while living abroad in her early twenties, Ashley felt like crystals had so often been boxed in as ‘hippie’; misunderstood and undervalued by the mainstream.
Raised in the inner city suburbs of Melbourne and coming from a modern family and home Ash had never been exposed to crystal energy or healing. After living abroad for 2 years she spent a lot of time living close to one of China’s ‘Gem Cities’. Under the direction of a spiritual mentor, Ash visited the crystal city as part of a jewelry label she’d started. She learned to feel crystal energy for the first time. Ash found that there were very few websites clearly explaining what crystals are, how they work, and how we can incorporate them into the modern-day lifestyle. It was here that her obsession and experimentation with crystals began and she knew that there was something deeply connected to her purpose within this concept.
Positioned as Australia’s first natural crystal decor line, Stoned Crystals’ mission is to provide both beautiful crystals and also some simple knowledge of how to use crystals for their powerful healing benefits. As the first business to box and brand crystals and distribute them with consistency worldwide, Ash says of her business; “By testing the conventional use of crystals we hope to make them more accessible and more fashionable to the everyday person.”
Thank you for joining us, please introduce yourself to our readers.
Ashley Bellino: Stoned Crystals is a fresh & modern take on crystals. Positioned as Australia’s first natural crystal decor line, our mission is to evolve crystals beyond their traditional ‘hippy’ status and translate them into the modern lifestyle.
Sitting comfortably on the knife’s edge of spirituality and design, we’re passionate about empowering our customers to create sacred, styled spaces that inspire stillness, presence, and mindfulness in their lives.
The same way you would put plants in and around your home and can clearly see the connection and energy they omit, crystals also connect us to the natural elements of Mother Earth. They truly are Mother Earth’s natural sculptures.
Whether it be through a custom piece of crystal jewellery, a statement cluster or one of our signature curated styling sets, Stoned has a broad range of modern wellness and lifestyle products.
And, we’re proud to have been recently ranked #60 in the Australian Financial Review’s Top 100 Fast Starters list!
Can you tell our readers in what ways you are disrupting your industry?
Ashley Bellino: Stoned Crystals has been at the forefront of online sales since its inception in 2015. Ash actually started her business from the dining table of her apartment in Melbourne, selling crystals via Instagram Live. And, this method of selling has only ever grown!
With social media influencing the way consumers interact with brands, we were able to take advantage of this evolution and create the next generation in e-commerce. It fuses face-to-face sales with an online model; effectively humanising online shopping!
Having revolutionised the digital shopping experience, much of our success has been through a ‘virtual live sales’ model via Instagram and now into our very own Stoned Crystals App. The App is designed to offer an immersive experience where you can watch live-streamed shows and interact with the hosts and the crystals you’re looking to purchase. Ask questions in real-time and add-to-cart as the show progresses.
Seeing our customers enjoy and evolve with us and our offers is something truly magical. It creates a close-knit group of crystal-lovers from anywhere around the world to purchase our products WHILE STILL EXPERIENCING a human-to-human interaction with our sales team.
Did you become a disruptor by choice or by necessity? Tell us more about the journey.
Ashley Bellino: Although virtual live streaming sales have always been embedded within the Stoned Crystals business model, the Coronavirus and long-standing bouts of lockdown meant that live streaming shows became more necessary in our daily sales strategy.
Being forced to close the bricks-and-mortar store in Elsternwick (Victoria) for most of 2020 and for many months in 2021 meant the business had to rely solely on online sales. Founder Ashley Bellino and partner Jeremy LeBard built a calendar of regular ‘virtual shows’ that would allow customers to tune in and watch while we present our range of crystals available. Customers could then contact (via direct message/DM) us for more information or to purchase.
Over time, it became clear that a third-party platform wasn’t the long-term answer because of the unpredictability of changing algorithms, the moderation of content and reach, the multiple touch-points a customer had to go through, among other challenges. Enter the Stoned Crystals App!
The sales advantage of the App is the convenience – customers watch, interact, and move through the buying stages in a single touchpoint.
Now for the main focus of this interview: Many readers may wonder what are the biggest challenges women entrepreneurs must overcome to be successful?
Ashley Bellino: At Stoned, some of our biggest challenges have been the building blocks of our greatest achievements and breakthroughs. There have been MANY times where obstacles and setbacks could have had me packing my bags, but my resilience and ability to pivot and create a ‘new idea’ has meant that Stoned Crystals has continued to be an ever-growing business.
As an intuitive female leader I tend to trust my gut when roadblocks occur. The challenges we faced on social media platforms for example, with Instagram being a very unreliable and uncontrollable beast for businesses at times, lead us to create our very own App. Without the trials and tribulations that we experienced with that third-party social platform, we wouldn’t have developed one of our biggest sales advantages which is our App.
How did you overcome these obstacles? Who helped you during these difficult times and how did they?
Ashley Bellino: My partner (in business and in life) Jeremy LeBard has been very hands-on and influential in the business, utilising his technical & digital skills to bring all my ideas to fruition! He’s been the driving force for our App, having led a team of developers to custom-build the platform with our own customers in mind. The App has since been embraced by loyal and new customers alike, bringing a whole new level of convenience and a personal shopping experience to our customer’s experience. It’s also increased the efficiency of our internal processes.
How did these lessons shape the way you conduct business today?
Ashley Bellino: Mindset is everything when it comes to pursuing your goals and this is something I always speak to my team about. Using an analogy of being caught in rough surf, rather than try and battle the waves and be thrown around, we’ve gone under them (or even surfed over the top of them!) and emerged on the other side stronger than ever. Whatever came my way, as a business owner I’ve always chosen to focus on the light and opportunity rather than the negative, and this truly has been the way Stoned has been able to get to where we are.
What advice do you wish you had received when you started, that you’d like to share now with aspiring women entrepreneurs?
Ashley Bellino: As a feminine leader, never underestimate the power of your intuition to lead your business.
Be brave when it comes to what lights you up. Don’t listen to any of those whispers of self-doubt or sabotage and keep your eye on the prize. There may be times that test you and push you to your limits but these are just opportunities for you to rise even further into your highest potential.
Out of all of your proudest moments as an entrepreneur, is there a particular one that stands out the most?
Ashley Bellino: I’m so proud of the way we’ve been able to evolve and transform our business with the demands of the modern business landscape. We’ve had to be incredibly agile, sometimes transforming our business model overnight.
The global pandemic proved to be a significant time in the history of Stoned Crystals. During 2020 we put our ears to the ground and really listened to what customers were in need of, and it was concepts like ‘Keep calm and quarantine’ that created a wave of like-minded people gathering in our virtual live shows and joining in conversations and get mindfulness techniques from our team and from one another. This much-needed support and social interaction during lockdown periods really were magical for us and our customers.
Whether it be thriving (not just surviving) through the global pandemic, unpredictable social media algorithms, or the ever-evolving needs & wants of our customers, being able to pivot and be flexible has been our biggest strength.
What do you plan on tackling during 2022? Share your goals and battles you expect to face.
Ashley Bellino: This business has always been my first baby, and now a new mum myself I’m juggling both! My partner Jeremy and baby Vincent recently accompanied me to Tucson, Arizona for our annual sourcing trip. This means a whole raft of new, ethically sourced crystals to bring back to Australia and share with our customers.
Our crystal styling sessions – inspiring customers to use crystals as natural styling tools in their home & office spaces – will continue to be at the forefront of our offering…as well as expanding our core collection of crystal decor and boxed crystals which have been our most popular product ranges.
Although the last two years have thrown everyone so many curveballs, I’m determined to keep moving forward in creating new initiatives for Stoned Crystals. We have so much planned for 2022; including new product developments, as well as running in-store events & workshops to help build our community and encourage like-minded people to create their own sacred, styled & still spaces.
Thank you so much for your time but before we finish things off, I do have one more question for you. When was the last time you did something for the first time and what was it?
Ashley Bellino: Well, does having my first child count?! Although I’ve always maintained that my first baby has been my business, bringing a tiny human into the world has certainly been life-changing. Having little Vinnie with my life partner Jeremy has given me even more reason to keep persisting with my passions and never give up on what I want to achieve.
So I say to any female entrepreneurs, keep pushing yourself and challenging the status quo. Rather than let the waves throw you around, learn to swim under them or surf over them and allow any obstacles to propel you forward to new horizons!
This interview was originally published on ValiantCEO.
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