The Compelling Creations Story

COMPELLING CREATIONS COMPANY STORY

Jill Felts founded Compelling Creations® in 1998 and it soon evolved into a faith-based jewelry company due to a life-defining encounter that only Jill can describe in her own words:

“What are you staring at?” the man asked.

His voice startled me. I was so focused on the jewelry behind the checkout counter that I hadn’t even noticed the tall man standing beside me. I looked around the gift shop. We were the only two people in the store at 10:01 a.m. besides the sales clerk.

The mall had yet to come alive. I’m not a big shopper so I tend to hit the mall when the doors open to avoid crowds. As I was passing the gag gift store, a place I usually ignore, I remembered a friend’s upcoming 40th birthday party. I needed the token “over the hill” gag card to top off the gift. Perfect, I thought, this shop would certainly have such a card, which is how I ended up at the checkout counter.

The stranger cleared his throat. He was waiting for a response. I quickly closed my mouth and smoothed my brow to pretend I wasn’t as perplexed as I appeared. I’ve never mastered my “poker face.” Then I answered, “The crosses.”

“Why are you so interested?”

The truth was that I couldn’t decide whether I was questioning the store’s marketing practices or the sincerity of the jewelry hanging behind the cashier. Their gag gifts range from silly to downright nasty, so the crosses just didn’t seem like a product fit. But this judgmental speculation seemed too complicated to explain to a complete stranger. I settled for, “I design sterling silver jewelry so I always spot silver.”

“You do?” the stranger asked. I presumed he was referring to my “jewelry designer” statement. “I am the Vice President of Vendor Relations. I’m responsible for finding new vendors for our gift shops nationwide. I tend to drop in on stores for surprise visits,” he winked.

I thought, “What luck! What perfect timing. Thank you, Lord, for putting me in the right place at the right time!” I had been waiting for my “big break.” I couldn’t believe what he said — the V.P. of Vendor Relations?!

As we chatted, I told him about my Zipper Art®. At that time I had an assortment of 36 sterling silver zipper pull designs ranging from a peace sign to cats and dogs. My young business was struggling, but I knew it was taking me “somewhere.” I knew my business was growing into its purpose. I just didn’t know what the purpose was.

I walked away from this chance meeting holding his business card and an invitation to the chain’s headquarters to sell my Zipper Art® idea. I was flying high. Like a cartoon, dollar signs bulged from my eyes and my brain rang with the “ching ching” of the cash register. Numbers raced through my mind – 500 stores times 36+ designs times “x” number of customers per day. Ching, ching, ching, ching, ching.

I couldn’t wait to tell my husband!

That evening I happily sizzled stir fry in the kitchen while my two young daughters built a fort in the living room. I was bursting to tell my husband the good news. The door opened and I danced around the counter to hug him.

When I described the encounter, his smiling face fell. “Huh” was all I got. Then he silently walked out of the kitchen to give the girls a big Daddy hug. I followed, “So? What do you think?”

He turned, kissed me, and said, “Honey, all I can say is that I want to be there when you tell our Sunday school class how you made your first million.”

HMPH! What kind of support is that?! I’ll show him. I may change the gift shop’s purchasing decisions while making my first million! HMPH!

The next week I defiantly went ahead and sent my proposal to the buying department and began to make my plans to travel to the company’s headquarters.

Then, in the middle of the night I heard a clear, loud voice ask, “WHO ARE YOU?” With that I was wide awake, sitting straight up, heart pounding, drenched in cold sweat.

Out of breath and chilled, I ran to my computer and typed three lines without thinking:

1. Wholesome

2. Generous

3. I have my Father’s eyes

I sat back and stared at the words as I tried to catch my breath. Wholesome, generous, I have my Father’s eyes. I knew it was God asking me. The words on my computer screen were a mirror of my true self – a blueprint to my soul. I sat there feeling calmly aligned. For a moment my mind let go and my soul peeked through.

When I could move, I crawled back in bed, woke my husband and told him what had happened. He believed me, because this wasn’t the first time I had been “addressed” in the middle of the night. Then … a wave hit me.

OH NO!!!!! What am I doing? If I don’t want my daughters shopping at this store, why am I going into business with them?

I didn’t sleep the rest of the night. I tried to rationalize how I could change the gift shop chain, how the whole store wasn’t so bad. But I panicked for the next two days and didn’t sleep a wink. What if they accepted me? What would I do? Dollar signs still blurred my vision and my head still rang with a faint “ching-ching.”

I received the call a few days later from the purchasing department. “We’re sorry. You just aren’t raunchy enough.”

Raunchy enough?

The conversation was brief. I finally understood what my husband was gently letting me figure out on my own by not adamantly discouraging me from this business venture. When I hung up, I laughed and sang and danced with my daughters. “I know I’m not! I’m wholesome and I have my Father’s eyes!”

Within two weeks of the rejection, I received another call from two women affiliated with the Girl Scouts asking me to create four zipper pulls for the Girl Scouts of America. The word “wholesome” came to mind. Thank you, Lord, for setting my heart in the “right place” at the right time!

My company had been floundering because I didn’t really know “who” I was “supposed to be” in business. For the first time I felt my entrepreneurial spirit align with my true self. All this time I had been working with the wrong focus. I had been working to please people. Colossians 3:23 came to mind: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as if working for the Lord, not for men.”

With this new sense of freedom, I now felt compelled to create my own line of jewelry through “my Father’s eyes”… and the company I have today was born. My first design in my new line of jewelry was the Follow Me™ pendant. What type of woman did I want my daughters following? The card reads, “As women, we have a unique responsibility to set a good example for our children, family and friends. Turn this pendant over and read the empowering statement, ‘Follow Me.’ Live up to these words and enjoy!” This pendant is my personal reminder of the slippery slope I could have taken.

More designs began to flow and over the years the jewelry line has become a ministry that speaks to all ages.

In 2004, another interesting sequence of events shifted the jewelry company to be intentional about fundraising for non-profits. “After being asked if we would fundraise using our jewelry by four different people within 36 hours, we got the clear message that fundraising is a challenge for non-profits and we needed to do something,” says Jill. A memory hit Jill that had been buried in her subconscious for fifteen years. She remembered an abrupt conversation with a telephone volunteer at the local community center in Chicago (where she and her husband had lived at the time). Jill learned about the struggles of AIDS babies within her community. She and her husband decided that they would volunteer to hold and rock the suffering babies, but when Jill called to set up an appointment, the volunteer exhaled noisily and growled, “Get in line.” “I was completely taken aback,” says Jill. The woman asked, “Do you really want to help children? Then get our teenagers some underwear! Everybody wants to hold the AIDS babies, but no one wants to raise money to get our teens underwear!” With this new awareness of need, Jill and her husband held an “underwear drive” and delivered a van full of new packages of underwear to the center.

This memory reinforced Jill’s belief that fundraising was another avenue to serve God through her jewelry designs and it spurred Compelling Creations® to help raise not only money but awareness for non-profits. The company developed a hassle-free affiliate marketing program to help non-profits raise money to support their goals. Compelling Creations® gives back 30% when supporters purchase Compelling Creations® jewelry online through the non-profit’s website link. The company also provides the order fulfillment, so the non-profits can remain focused on their mission.

Compelling Creations® also designs pendants for causes that may not have a logo that translates into a piece of jewelry. A few designs in the Cause Collection are the In the Hand of God charm dedicated to bringing hope and restoration to families and individuals struggling with autism; the Allegiance© pendant which helps raise support for military families of wounded soldiers through donations to The Fisher House™; and the GenGreen© Pendant devoted to support “green” solutions and networking to environmentally friendly companies. “Our pendants that Jill created for us are one of the most sought after items in our community. People are always amazed that we have them and want to know where we got them. For my staff and me, wearing our logo around our necks and over our hearts is one of our greatest reminders of why we do what we do every day,” says Charisse McAuliffe, Founder of GenGreenlife™ Foundation.

In 2007, women began to ask if they could sell Compelling Creations® jewelry in their circles of influence. The launch of a direct selling program seemed daunting, but with more requests from women and much research Compelling Creations® began a “referral program” rewarding Customers for referring the jewelry line to their friends and family.

This referral program developed into a full blown party-plan direct selling program to encourage, empower and connect women across the United States. Being a Compelling Creations® Consultant is so much more than being a jewelry sales rep, it is being an integral part of a ministry connecting one woman to another by sharing stories and connecting these life stories to the stories behind the jewelry designs. Thus our slogan: Wear it and Share it™.

I invite you to learn more about becoming a part of the Compelling Creations Team by visiting the website or emailing me direct ~ brandyhgardner@comcast.net