Hidden Gem: Shining Soles
For India Barnes, Shining Soles started as a way to make a plain pair of shoes look like a $6,000 pair of Christian Louboutins. Barnes had wanted a pair of the pricey designer shoes, also known as Red Bottoms, 11 years ago but didn’t want to spend that kind of money. She researched the shoes, found they were adorned with Swarovski crystals and decided to try making some similar ones.
Coming from a family of artists, Barnes was crafty since her early days but never dreamed she’d be a commission-based-only entrepreneur selling personalized shoes, cups, purses and other items all over the world. In 2013, Barnes was pregnant with her third child and had a demanding corporate job when co-workers in the cafeteria started inquiring about her blinged-out shoes. She began getting orders from people and from YouTube followers, where she posted videos showing people how to make their own blinged-out items.
Barnes discovered that most people preferred to pay her instead of doing it themselves, and bling! She ultimately left her corporate job to become an entrepreneur. At first some of her friends didn’t take her business seriously. But as orders started coming in weekly from New Zealand, Canada, Asia and all over the world, her gems are no longer a laughing matter. Barnes takes pride in her work as a one-woman show and said she had an order last year of 200 items that took her an entire month to complete.
While Barnes has built her brand off the radar, she also offers courses on her website for others to learn the trade. Her big sellers are shoes and customized cups, but she’s blinged out some pretty interesting things, including a Keurig coffee maker, a helmet, volleyballs and basketballs.
Barnes has proved to herself that anything is possible, and that she didn’t have to be in an office behind a desk or working for someone else to be successful. She turned a shiny hobby into a lucrative business and looks forward to having her own building and staff in the future!
You can check out Shining Soles on Facebook and Instagram or on her website at: https://www.shiningsoles.net/
