33-year-old jewelry designer ditched Amazon and Walmart, now brings in $4.8 mil/year: Big companies 'make such stupid mistakes'

Al Sandimirova knew their jewelry designs made an interaction erstwhile 2 women projected to each different with engagement rings from their business, Automic Gold.

The New York City-based company, which designs and markets jewelry for the LGBTQ community, is lone 6 years aged — but it brought successful $4.8 cardinal successful gross past year, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.

Many autarkic sellers of tiny goods trust connected platforms similar Amazon, Walmart and eBay to get noticed and merchantability their designs. Automic Gold's increasing popularity is backed by an unconventional strategy: ditching those large platforms and selling lone connected its ain website.

Sandimirova, who uses they/them pronouns, ditched those large retailers successful 2020 aft deciding that the platforms' committee charges — which added up to 30% of Automic Gold's sales, they estimation — would beryllium amended disconnected successful employees' paychecks.

"I would alternatively marque little full gross but person much profits and person much wealth to wage my employees who are close present successful the community," Sandimirova, 33, says.

But the determination didn't stifle Automic Gold's revenue. In 2019, its past afloat twelvemonth with those online retailers, the institution brought successful $3.4 million. In 2021, its archetypal afloat twelvemonth exclusively selling jewelry from its online storefront, it brought successful $4.8 million.

"Regular companies presume it's harder to people the LGBT community," Sandimirova says. "They don't understand, and they marque specified anserine mistakes [because] they don't prosecute members of the assemblage [or] speech to us."

Rather, Sandimirova says Automic Gold's occurrence comes from connecting with that halfway demographic personally. "It was truly designing for myself: thing gender-fluid oregon gender-nonconforming," they say.

Here's however they pulled it off.

Sandimirova named Automic Gold — spelled to see "AU," the chemic abbreviation for gold, and pronounced similar "atomic" — with "autonomy," independency and state successful mind.

Growing up successful the Russian republic of Tatarstan, Sandimirova suffered done famine and economical illness successful the precocious 1990s and aboriginal 2000s. They broke aggregate bones, including successful their back, owed to malnourishment — and spent 2 years paralyzed.

Tatarstan besides wasn't peculiarly accepting of the LGBTQ assemblage astatine the time, Sandimirova says: After their parents recovered lesbian fanfiction connected their computer, they sent Sandimiorva to a intelligence institution.

"They locked maine up ... to effort to heal it away," Sandimirova says. "I retrieve being giving a batch of pills and being held up determination against my will."

Sandimirova came to the U.S. connected a pupil visa successful 2009. But alternatively of going to Maryland, arsenic the visa dictated, they decided to enactment successful New York illegally — partially due to the fact that of the city's ample Russian population.

They recovered occupation done a Russian paper astatine a golden refinery, which paid $4 per hour, Sandimirova says. After a year, they realized determination weren't opportunities to beforehand wrong the company.

So, Sandimirova started a broadside hustle buying pieces of golden jewelry from the refinery's clients, repairing oregon cleaning the pieces, and reselling them connected eBay.

The broadside hustle wasn't peculiarly lucrative, bringing successful lone a mates 1000 dollars per year. And implicit time, Sandimirova grew uncomfortable selling the pieces of jewelry.

"Even though I had inventory of 30,000 pieces, each of them were excessively feminine oregon excessively masculine," Sandimirova says. "I'm successful the jewelry concern and thing I see, I privation to wear."  

In 2011, Sandimirova was granted asylum and became a ineligible resident. They decided to larn however to marque jewelry themselves, attending classes astatine the Gemological Institute of America's New York campus.

In 2013, they started selling their ain designs connected eBay, bringing successful $165,000 successful gross that year. In 2014, they branched retired to Amazon and Etsy, and their yearly income jumped to $1.2 million.

In 2016, Sandimirova officially launched Automic Gold and hired their archetypal employee. The marque brought successful $2.2 cardinal successful yearly online sales.

Sandimirova became a naturalized U.S. national the pursuing year.

Automic Gold's yearly income grew to $3.4 cardinal by 2019, but dropped backmost down to $2.1 cardinal successful 2020 — the twelvemonth Sandimirova decided to permission those large platforms, and adjacent their booth astatine a Manhattan artists' marketplace owed to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The drought didn't past long. With the assistance of societal media advertising, the institution had its highest-earning twelvemonth yet successful 2021.

The accrued involvement came partially from the Black Lives Matter question successful summertime 2020, Sandimirova says. Many consumers started looking for much inclusive brands, and Automic Gold had a way grounds of prioritizing members of the LGBTQ community, radical of colour and plus-sized models.

"[It] skyrocketed my concern due to the fact that radical saw, 'Oh, you're really sustainable and fair, not conscionable utilizing [diversity] to sell," Sandimirova says. "I've been doing this for years."

Buying golden to marque the jewelry is Automic Gold's largest concern expense. Last year, the institution spent astir $2.3 cardinal connected reclaimed pieces.

Marketing is besides costly: The institution spent $580,000 connected advertizing past year. A bulk of that went to Facebook and Instagram, Sandimirova estimates.

The company's "next large concern challenge" is becoming autarkic of the 2 platforms, cutting ties with 2 much corporations, Sandimirova adds.

But of past year's $4.8 cardinal successful revenue, $66,000 is nett profit. Sandimirova pays themselves a wage of $128,450 per year, and splits astir $762,000 annually betwixt 15 full-time and 2 part-time employees. The unit besides got bonus checks astatine the extremity of past year, due to the nett profit.

"I retrieve erstwhile I started my business, it was wholly niche," Sandimirova says. "Now, my competitors, who earlier lone had feminine achromatic girls arsenic inspiration, see much masculine folks oregon plus-sized people. It's nice, successful fashion, to see."

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