College students everywhere are trying to find fun and easy ways to make money, while balancing their full course loads, extracurricular activities, and social lives.
Entrepreneur and University of Maryland junior Lexi Fried created her jewelry company, LBrand Beads, to make some extra money, cure her summer boredom, and add style to the UMD campus.
Fried has loved making jewelry ever since she took a jewelry-making class in high school.
“We worked a lot with metals, and that’s when I started to learn how much I loved being creative,” Fried told us.
And while Fried was bored in College Park this summer, she remembered her love for creativity and decided to start LBrand Beads.
When she started the company almost four months ago, she faced the challenge of marketing her one-of-a-kind pieces.
“I started by using word of mouth and making pieces for me and my roommates, and once I saw that people liked them, I decided to make an Instagram account and uploaded pictures of all of my pieces,” she explained.
Fried received a lot of positive feedback and orders from people who loved what they saw on her Instagram account. Because of the great responses, she expanded LBrand Beads by making a website, selling her pieces on Etsy, and creating a Facebook account to promote it.
In only a few short months, Fried has already sold about 60 pieces, and not every piece she has sold has been to a girl! She expanded her market to boys when her boyfriend asked her to make him a custom LBrand piece. After his friends saw his stylish piece with “simple black matte beads,” many of them asked Fried to make them something similar. Fried said, “They love the idea of men’s jewelry, shockingly!”
As Fried continues to expand LBrand, she says her ultimate goal would be to “incorporate a charity or benefit into her company.” She would love to be able to give back to charities that help women in foreign countries who are struggling with some of the money she makes from LBrand Beads.
Fried is selling bracelets for $15 to $20 and necklaces for $30 to $40 because she doesn’t think college students should have to pay ridiculous prices for trendy jewelry!
Be sure to check out her Instagram, lbrand_beads, to see her latest creations!