After turning a pandemic hobby into a small business, college student reaches thousands with custom jewelry

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in December 2020, 20-year-old Michaela McGrann was, like many college students, looking for an easy way to make a few extra dollars to pay for groceries and gas. When she started making jewelry to sell to friends, she discovered a passion for connecting with others she has continued in the form of a small business run completely from her dorm room.

McGrann is the owner of Happy Girl Stamps, an Instagram-based custom jewelry business that sells stamped rings and bracelets. The jewelry, made of aluminum, is imprinted with metal stamps in designs of everything from smiley faces and flowers to initials and dates. All of the jewelry is made-to-order, with a range of options in ring width and a slew of choices in design arrangement.

The process of creating the jewelry requires several steps. McGrann uses tools from the metal stamping company ImpressArt, including flat, blank aluminum strips, a stamping hammer, individual metal stamps, pliers and an ink pen. To customize the pieces, McGrann stamps each piece of aluminum using the hammer and stamp and fills in the resulting imprint using the ink pen. She then uses the pliers to curve the jewelry into the desired size.

While McGrann never saw her jewelry-making hobby turning into a business, she said being her own boss is the most manageable way to make money while she works towards her bachelor’s degree in early childhood education at Endicott College.

“I don't have time to have a job when I'm doing school, so I was like, okay, let's just make this into a little thing,” McGrann said. “And it kind of blew up. And I didn't expect it to be … I thought it was gonna be a few of my friends here and there that wanted to do it. And then it became way more than that.”

One such friend who has witnessed McGrann’s business develop is her Endicott classmate Delaney Walsh.

“It’s really cool to see and it also makes me a little bit more motivated because if she's already done with the homework assignment we both have and she's doing orders, I’m like, ‘Okay, I gotta step it up,’” Walsh said. “So it kind of pushes me a little bit to be a better student and to be a little bit more motivated.”

Since launching her business in December 2020, McGrann has sold orders to customers in more than 40 states around the country as well as to several international customers. As of June 19, her Instagram has more than 3,200 followers. She attributes the success of her social media-based company to the Instagram algorithm.

“It’s all about consistency and stories and saving your posts and all these things I had no idea even existed,” McGrann said. “And just doing those things and posting every day at a good time, I would just gradually gain followers like crazy.”

Being a full-time student and business owner does not come without its challenges. McGrann said she has recently had to put Happy Girl Stamps on the backburner as she focuses on her student teaching placements. Still, McGrann said she loves running her own business because of the impact she has on her customers.

“It's so good to be on my phone with a purpose, which sounds crazy, but actually doing something meaningful, making people happy,” McGrann said.