Plug and Play Jewelry - protecting your hearing in a new & innovative way

The World Health Organization warns that a billion people under the age of 36 are at risk of losing their hearing to live music and other activities, but typical foam earplugs are easy to lose and prevent us from enjoying the quality of the sound. So what is the solution?

Plug and Play Jewelry has been on our radar recently as they have come up with a new and stylish way to keep your ears protected. We have taken some time to highlight this business and ask them a few questions to get to know them better!

What inspired you to start your Plug and Play Jewelry?

"I created the product for myself! I’ve worked in the live music industry for almost a decade now and have always been religious about my hearing protection. Despite my best efforts, I was constantly losing and dropping my ear plugs at shows, especially with how often I had to remove them to talk to people. When I made a prototype and started wearing them to shows, my coworkers loved them. I had some jewelry experience, but started taking classes and the rest is history as I improved the product and built the business."

Can you share a pivotal moment in this new journey where you knew things were changing and potentially taking off?

"Our first wholesale order was with Honey Revenge for their merch line(See Photo), which was a really cool client for me personally. Their design was sick and the fans loved it— we were getting tons of love on social media and the band sold out of them really quickly. That’s kind of the first time I thought— woah, okay, there might be some

gas on this fire." 

How do you differentiate your business from competitors?

"I’m far from the only person making ear plug earrings, but to my knowledge, I’m the first to offer customization like this at scale. Not only can our wholesale customers make massive batches to sell as merch items, we also offer individual customers the option to design their own product. Everyone has different anatomy and preferences when it comes to fit and style, so I want to be sure everyone ends up with a piece they’re excited about and will actually use."

What strategies have you found most effective for attracting and retaining customers?

"We’ve been seeing a lot of success with events recently— even if our sales aren’t astronomical at the show itself, they’re a great way to showcase what we do. Our event partners promote us to audiences we might not reach otherwise, plus we get face-to-face feedback about the product, which is super valuable." 

What role has social media played in your business?

"Social media is our main marketing tool! One of my primary goals for the product is to make hearing protection cool. Social media has been a fantastic way to connect with influencers, artists, and other tastemakers who can create awareness of both our product and hearing protection in general." 

What practices do you implement to avoid burnout?

"I’m still working on this one! I recently took a long, mostly unplugged vacation that really helped me reset and get back into good habits. I also keep a folder with screenshots of nice comments and notes of kind things folks have said to me at events. I reference that feedback when I start to lose steam or question what I’m doing." 

What are your long-term goals for your business?

"Ultimately, my goal is to get as many ears protected as possible. If they’re my ear plugs, great! If not, but we still inspired someone to use them, that’s a success in my eyes. I hope I’ve created and will continue to make a product that gets people excited about wearing ear plugs and genuinely makes them easier to use." 

How do you stay motivated and inspired in your work?

"It’s not always easy, but I really just care so much about this issue. I’ve seen too many of my colleagues suffer from tinnitus and hearing loss, and I care deeply for the fans that create our livelihood too. I want us all to enjoy live music for as long as we can. Plug & Play Jewelry is still in the building phase, and it can be hard to put in the hours and the money when times are tough. At the end of the day, I can feel good about it if we get a handful of people using ear plugs who normally wouldn’t."

Is there anything you would like to share with aspiring entrepreneurs?

"My biggest piece of advice to anyone starting a business is to find your unique selling proposition. I don’t mean this to be harsh, but there’s no reason to start a project that doesn’t contribute anything new. It actually isn’t enough to just do something better than your competition, you’re creating a customer education problem for yourself that is very expensive to solve via advertising. If you’re doing something new, your customer will find you— if you’re copying someone else, poaching is really hard." 

Thank you Plug and Play Jewelry for taking time to enlighten us on your rising company, giving also future entrepreneurs some words of wisdom and hope to see and hear much more of you in the future!

To keep up with Plug and Play Jewelry, just click the links below!

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Instagram: CLICK HERE

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Website: CLICK HERE