Oakland jewelry designer navigates bigger deals and opens new pop-up shop with help from Verizon

Dorian Webb had been successfully running her eponymous luxury jewelry line, Dorian Webb, for years. But after landing a collaboration with a major jewelry retailer, she wanted more support. That’s where Verizon Small Business Digital Ready, with its free resources, came in.

“One thing that I enjoyed about the program was it really encouraged you to think strategically about your business—and holistically—so that you could actually work on your business and not be enmeshed in the running of it,” Webb says.

When it came to the retail collaboration, which launched in June 2024, Webb says the Creating Financial Projections course on the Verizon Small Business Digital Ready platform helped her understand how to prepare for the sizable expenses associated with selling to a large company, and to anticipate how manufacturing, profit margins, and the time spent developing samples would impact her bottom line.

“Working through those numbers, I was really able to think through the choices and the decisions I'd have to make in my business on a daily basis, which was incredibly helpful,” she says.

To bolster her business overall, Webb also learned to spur sales in earlier quarters of the year, rather than rely on the traditionally busy end-of-year period. In July 2024 she opened a summer pop-up shop in Napa, California. She says the retail space will also allow her to test products and get real-time feedback from customers. She believes these different strategies to scale her business will result in a 20% increase in year-over-year sales.

For Webb, who worked with Verizon Small Business Digital Ready experts both in group courses as well as 1:1 sessions, the human element is the true strength of the program. “The presenters were experts in their field and had a wealth of knowledge that they generously shared with all of us,” she says. “Everyone who taught our classes, seminars and webinars was vested in the outcomes and really wanted to see us succeed.”

“People are the magic of the program,” she adds.

In the end, improving her business’s financial underpinnings helps Webb focus on her ultimate goal—creating jewelry that creates a connection between her and her customers. “Every day I wake up and I know that I'm able to use my creativity to make someone else happy,” Webb says. “And that’s what brings me meaning.”

Verizon Small Business Digital Ready is part of Verizon’s goal to support 1 million small businesses by 2030 with the resources to thrive in the digital economy. Visit CitizenVerizon.com to learn more about the company’s responsible business efforts. To sign up for Verizon Small Business Digital Ready, visit digitalready.verizonwireless.com. An individual user's experience may vary and results are not guaranteed.