$100M Engagement Ring Expert: Predictions for 2026 And How I Disrupted A Male-Led Industry

What engagement rings are actually worth investing in through 2026? And is lab-grown worth it? Ring Concierge founder Nicole Wegman - who built a $100M+ jewelry brand with diamonds - joins Maggie to break down the trends shaping engagement rings right now, the lab-grown vs natural diamond debate, and why “engagement season” creates so much pressure. She also shares the real founder story behind Ring Concierge: starting with $2,000, bootstrapping to $100M+ in sales, and what it takes to scale from scrappy entrepreneur to CEO without losing the aesthetic, the community, or yourself. We also talk about the unspoken side of success - how money and reputation can change the people around you - and why Nicole built a nine-figure business without outside investment by designing around what women actually want: clarity, taste, trust, and a brand that feels like you. ⸻ Timestamps(00:00:00) Intro(00:01:50) Why Engagement Season Feels So Intense(00:02:43) The Social Media Ring Pressure Nobody Admits(00:04:30) Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez & The New Ring Trends(00:06:12) Designer vs CEO: What Nicole Calls Herself(00:07:30) The Most Expensive Rings I’ve Ever Sold(00:08:14) The Ring Styles That Hold Their Value(00:08:34) Lab-Grown vs “Real” Diamonds: The Truth(00:11:36) The Real Average Cost of an Engagement Ring(00:12:28) How De Beers Shaped “Real” Diamonds(00:13:48) Engagement Rings Are Status Symbols (Let’s Be Honest)(00:14:31) How To Tell Your Partner You Want A Different Ring(00:15:46) Starting Ring Concierge In The Diamond District(00:17:05) Entering A High-Cost Industry Without Big Money(00:18:11) How Nicole Turned $2,000 Into $100M+(00:19:18) Building 1M Followers On A Luxury Brand Account(00:21:09) Why I Didn’t Build A Personal Brand Until Now(00:23:00) Personal Brand: Honest, Unfiltered, And A Working Mum(00:24:17) How To Stay “Luxury” While Showing Real Life(00:25:18) Why You Should Test New Opportunities(00:26:30) Who Ring Concierge Is Really For (And Why It Works)(00:27:24) Beehiiv Ad Read(00:28:46) Influencer ROI: How We Choose Who To Work With(00:31:07) Why I Shared $100M Revenue (And What It Changed)(00:33:46) Bootstrapping & Why I Didn’t Raise Money(00:35:06) The Sacrifices No One Talks About (Including Kids)(00:35:59) The Real Advice: Hard Work, Luck, And Timing(00:37:06) Two Entrepreneurs, One Marriage: How We Make It Work(00:39:05) People Treated Me Differently After $100M Went Public(00:41:42) Taking Investment: Why Webster Capital Made Sense(00:43:15) When Men Started Treating Me Differently(00:45:00) I Don’t Have A Board… And That Might Be A Mistake(00:45:59) The Book That Made Me Start With $2,000(00:46:31) The Scaling Books I Recommend Now(00:48:40) The $500K Mistake I’ll Never Repeat(00:51:08) The Jessica Alba Lesson: Your Team Must Evolve(00:52:41) What I Look For In Every Hire: Grit, Pivot, No Ego(00:54:56) Rapid Fire Questions Sponsored by: Beehiiv - Use code HSR30 for 30% off Link: https://www.beehiiv.com/hsr?utm_campaign=hsr-2026-Partnership&utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=hsr&utm_term=2025-12-31 ⸻ Hot Smart Rich: Join 250,000+ angels and subscribe to the Hot Smart Rich newsletter: https://hotsmartrich.com/subscribe Hot Smart Rich Money Mindset: https://shorturl.at/pJWLc Merch: https://hotsmartrich.shop/ YouTube: https://shorturl.at/IXXFZ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hotsmartrich/ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hotsmartrich Maggie Sellers Reum: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maggiesellersreum/ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@maggiesellersreum LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sellersmaggie/ Locker: https://www.wantlocker.com/users/maggiesellers ShopMy: https://shopmy.us/maggiesellers Amazon Storefront: https://www.amazon.com/shop/maggiesellers ⸻ Follow Nicole Wegman: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsnicolewegman Ring Concierge: https://ringconcierge.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Maggie Sellers Reum?

  If you're starting a business, there are certain things that are so fun to think about. Y'all know I love a mood board, so everything that relates to the creative, the name, the brand, the website, the vision board. But then there are the things that make you pause and ask, "Am I even doing this correctly? Or do I even want to be doing this?" Like forming your business, getting the right documents, keeping your personal information private. This is where our sponsor, Northwest Registered Agent, is so helpful. They're a one-stop shop for founders who want to launch and legitimize their business without turning it into a giant admin spiral. They help you form an LLC or a corporation, act as your registered agent, and give you tools like a business address, operating agreement, website, phone number, professional email, and free guides.

• 0:43Maggie Sellers Reum?

  They also have real corporate guides who know your local laws. Visit northwestregisteredagent.com/hsrfree and start using free resources to build something amazing. Get more with Northwest Registered Agent at northwestregisteredagent.com/hsrfree.

• 1:03Speaker 01

  Welcome to the 50th Hunger Games. Witness the beginning of the revolution.

• 1:08Speaker 02

  Hey Mitch, you've been trying to take down these games from the start.

• 1:10Speaker 01

  Filmed for IMAX.

• 1:12Speaker 02

  Make them remember you.

• 1:14Speaker 01

  The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Weeping, November 20th, rated PG-13.

• 1:18Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Nicole Eggman, are you ready to get hot, smir, rich?

• 1:20Speaker 03

  Let's go.

• 1:21Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Let's just get into this lab versus natural conversation. So I've actually never disclosed this. So my ring is...

• 1:28Speaker 03

  People have kind of taken sides. Well, why would I ever spend that kind of money for a natural versus, "Well, my diamond's the real thing. It's a natural diamond, and yours is kind of a fake." And my take on it is that...

• 1:39Maggie Sellers Reum?

  One of the things I've really respected about you is how transparent you are.

• 1:43Speaker 03

  There is no balance. I took a red eye last night. I'm taking a red eye tonight, and then I'm gonna be up at 6:00 a.m. with my kids. None of that is easy, even if the appearance is I'm doing this really cool glamorous job selling diamonds.

• 1:55Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Someone like Travis and Taylor getting married, what do you think the ripple effects will be?

• 2:00Speaker 03

  We're gonna start to move away from that.

• 2:02Maggie Sellers Reum?

  What style holds the best value?

• 2:05Speaker 03

  Oh, that's a good question.

• 2:07Maggie Sellers Reum?

  So last year, you talk about bootstrapping to $100 million. Was not raising money out of choice or out of necessity?

• 2:14Speaker 03

  I didn't even know you could. I had no idea about investors. I just didn't want to work for somebody else. I saw this white space and I was like, let me just try this. Then when it got to the size where investors were knocking on our door, we didn't really need the money.

• 2:28Maggie Sellers Reum?

  What is the most expensive engagement ring you've ever sold?

• 2:31Speaker 03

  We have sold-

• 2:32Maggie Sellers Reum?

  What is a lesson that your customer has taught you the hard way at Ring Concierge?

• 2:37Speaker 03

  So-

• 2:44Maggie Sellers Reum?

  In case you missed it, you're allowed to be hot, smart, and rich. So let's get into it.

• 2:55Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Nicole Eggman, are you ready to get hot, smart, and rich?

• 2:57Speaker 03

  I am. Let's go.

• 2:58Maggie Sellers Reum?

  I'm so excited about this because you have been doing this for so long. But I feel like there's so much about your story that we're going to learn and get into today on a personal and on Ring Concierge.

• 3:07Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 3:07Maggie Sellers Reum?

  But when this comes out, it is going to be peak engagement season. Like, we are talking girls that are so excited they just got engaged to like, big disappointment that there wasn't a ring under the tree.

• 3:18Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 3:18Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Why is there such a big season for engagements?

• 3:22Speaker 03

  So it starts with Thanksgiving, and then it moves to around Christmas, then New Year's, then Valentine's Day. And those are the holidays. And I think the reason is you are going home with to see your whole family, and everyone's going to ask, all right, when are you guys getting engaged? Do you think he's going to propose? And so I think the pressure of your family asking that question, because you're on your, like, five of dating, builds leading up to those holidays. And then the women start putting it on their partner, like, I am not going to go through another Christmas without a ring on my finger. And so all of that escalates to this being engagement season.

• 4:00Maggie Sellers Reum?

  It is so interesting because I can say I participated in that and I was previously engaged, called it off. And when I think back to like why and how it happened, it really was about the ring and it really was about the milestone and like everyone else's pressure and being a certain age. Are you seeing that this trend of like bigger, flashier is because of social media and how we've seen people kind of show offerings online or like what has been the impact of social media on the diamond ring industry specifically with engagements?

• 4:30Speaker 03

  Huge, huge influence. So when I got engaged and this was like over a decade now, not to age myself, no one was posting their proposals. Like me of all people, I don't have a single picture of my proposal, which is crazy to think about it for like with what I do now. Cut to maybe like seven years ago, it started to become a thing. And now proposals are all about like, how grand can you go? Are you in Paris? Are you in front of the Eiffel Tower? And with that comes the iconic ring pic. And so I think there's this pressure or this desire to fit in slash impress people if we're just being honest with the size of your ring. And

• 5:11Speaker 03

  so they got bigger and bigger. And then lab grown's came into the picture, which allowed for people financially to go even bigger. And so now it's like three and a half carats is, you know, average, which is crazy because 10 years ago, that used to be a really big ring.

• 5:26Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Huge. And I just feel like the pressure, it's interesting is when you really dial back, when you're in that seat of like wanting to get married, wanting to get engaged, it's like, why are you doing that? Is it for you or is it for someone else? We're going to get into lab grown in a little bit because that's a whole separate conversation. But I think that there is a really interesting thing that I've noticed about just the wedding industry in general, engagement rings and like someone like Travis and Taylor getting married, and this is the year that they are going to actually get married. What do you think the ripple effects will be on engagement rings, on aesthetics, on what people are actually wanting when there has been a very different style and approach to a ring from a very prominent person?

• 6:05Speaker 03

  I think there's going to be this shift towards uniqueness and Taylor Swift certainly has a unique ring. The shape of her diamond, we've been selling for years and years, an elongated antique cushion. But it's in a really unique, vintage-y setting. So I think there will definitely be a shift that direction. We're already getting requests. And then Selena Gomez's ring actually has had impact as well. The marquee cut, which was really popular, I think in the 90s, and then kind of fell out of favor. That's regaining popularity because of her right now. And the oval basically reigned for like a decade. It was all about an oval and a yellow solitaire. And look, I still love that ring. It's still our number one requested ring.

• 6:48Speaker 03

  But we're starting to see this shift for something different, something chunkier, the shape is interesting, or the setting is unexpected. And I think that's going to continue over the next, you know, five years. Engagement rings don't move quickly with trends. It's a slower evolution. But I do think we're going to start to move away from that oval in the simple solitaire.

• 7:11Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And was that the Hailey Bieber effect, or that was before?

• 7:13Speaker 03

  Before. People forgot it was the Blake Lively effect. It started with Blake, and then I think Hailey re-amplified it for the younger generation. Blake was kind of the OG of the oval and the solitaire.

• 7:29Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Do you consider yourself a designer, an entrepreneur, a trend forecaster? Like, when you think about who Nicole Wegman is as the founder and CEO of Ring Concierge, what hat feels the most organic to you?

• 7:44Speaker 03

  Ooh, that is a good question. And the answer has definitely changed. I've been doing this for 12 years now. So I think in the beginning, it was more of a designer, a tastemaker, a scrappy entrepreneur, like so scrappy. I started the company with $2,000. So when I say scrappy, like, I really mean scrappy. And now today, the company is much, much bigger. We have a lot of employees, and my role really has shifted into CEO. I still, I kind of view myself as like CEO, and this is not my official title, like Chief Brand Officer and Chief Creative Officer. You know, I am- Still deeply involved in anything a customer would see, hear, touch, experience. So product, marketing, all of that.

• 8:27Speaker 03

  But my day is spent in back to back meetings. You know, I'm not sitting designing rings anymore. I'm not really working with clients unless they're like VIPs or celebrities. My day is in meetings with our CFO, our president and our different C level executives, which is a really interesting shift in how I spend my time.

• 8:46Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Okay, which we're gonna get into later, but I feel like every CEO loves money. What is the most expensive engagement ring you've ever sold?

• 8:55Speaker 03

  We have sold a few seven figure rings, which is wild.

• 9:01Maggie Sellers Reum?

  That is crazy.

• 9:02Speaker 03

  Over a million.

• 9:03Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And what shape were they?

• 9:05Speaker 03

  One was a marquee and it was a pink diamond. So really, really, really, really rare. Pink diamonds are extremely rare. Another was an oval, just this massive 16 karat colorless oval, like blindingly gorgeous. And then we've sold a really large antique cushion. You know, think like Taylor Swift, but bigger somehow. So some unique rings, which are really exciting.

• 9:31Maggie Sellers Reum?

  What style holds the best value?

• 9:34Speaker 03

  If you're talking like within 10 years, you know, anything in style now is probably still safe. But if you're thinking about 30 years from now, is this diamond cut gonna hold value? Rounds are always a safe bet. Emerald cuts always a safe bet and cushion cuts.

• 9:52Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Okay. And for someone that's listening to this, let's just get into this lab versus natural conversation. So I've actually never disclosed this. So my ring is natural and then my wedding band is actually lab grown. And I don't think that you could tell the difference like at all. These started coming onto the scene a few years ago and I feel like have exploded in popularity. What is your perspective of lab versus natural? And why is it such a heightened conversation in pop culture around the engagement rings specifically?

• 10:23Speaker 03

  So we've been selling lab for probably like eight years now and it was based on On request. So my whole concept is always, we will make any ring you want. It could be a diamond, it could be a moonstone, like it could be whatever. Like, we are here to make your dream ring. And so I think about eight years ago, there were a few requests for lab grown. I was happy to source them, no problem. But it was in 2018, I believe, that GIA, which is kind of the governing body of diamonds, came out and said, these are real diamonds. Before then, they were saying, they're not real diamonds. Well, it is, it's a diamond, it's the exact same material. And once they said that, and they kind of had to say that, because it is a diamond.

• 11:07Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Right.

• 11:08Speaker 03

  The demand started to increase to the point where they now make up 60% of engagement rings sold in the US. So they are out selling natural diamonds. And it's because of the price difference. Massive price difference. You're going to pay four to five X for the same diamond in a natural. And back to this kind of pressure to have this huge ring. The timing was kind of perfect for this category to be available and for people to feel like they have that dream ring and they're not sacrificing. The reason why I think it's a hot topic is because, because of the price difference. And you cannot tell the difference. They look the same.

• 11:51Speaker 03

  We have a $10,000 machine to scan our diamonds to see if they're natural or lab, because we double check everything. That is what it takes to see the difference. You can't just look, you can't use a microscope, you have to use this really specific machine. And I think people have kind of taken sides where it's like, well, why would I ever spend that kind of money for a natural? That's irresponsible versus, well, my diamond's the real thing. It's a natural diamond and yours is kind of a fake. And so there's these extreme opinions on what's acceptable in the world of bridal, since it's such an important emotional purchase. And my take on it is that both are right. You know, you can choose what's best for you, and that didn't used to exist. It used to be.

• 12:36Speaker 03

  If you didn't have a budget that was 20, 30, 40,000 plus, which most people don't, you had a very small diamond. And now you don't have to make that choice. You can still have this huge diamond and go lab grown. Or you can say, I want to make an investment, something that's going to retain value, something I can pass down, and you can go natural.

• 12:54Maggie Sellers Reum?

  It's so interesting because I read a stat that the average engagement ring cost in the US is like $5,000. Is that correct?

• 13:00Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 13:01Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And is that incorporating now these lab grown that's pulling the average down? Or is that for natural?

• 13:06Speaker 03

  That has always been the average. The average has been $5,000, give or take, as long as I've been doing this. Our average is always skewed much higher. We've always catered towards a slightly higher end clientele. And our average natural ring has been and is still $30,000. But our average lab grown ring is now around $10,000. So there's a big discrepancy and it's really kind of controlled by budget.

• 13:31Maggie Sellers Reum?

  It's so interesting because I read this thing where it was like, we don't go around telling babies that were made via IVF, like you're not a real baby. Yet like we go around telling women that have lab grown diamonds, that's not a real diamond. Is that because similar to how even the engagement ring industry was developed by De Beers, there's been some sort of like marketing ploy by brands? Maybe not Ring Concierge, since you've embraced them since you started. But like, has there been anything that we wouldn't know as a consumer in the industry? Where there's been propaganda to try to sway people away from lab grown? Because they are more affordable?

• 14:06Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah. And I don't know if it's necessarily been propaganda against lab grown versus a really heavy push that natural is better. And that definitely comes from De Beers, which makes sense. They're the world's largest site holder. Like, they would be foolish to not try to figure out how to make people feel like natural diamonds are the superior diamond. And they've been pushing this for a long time, but it's not working. You know, it's really not working. As a business, they're not looking great. Like, if you look into the state of their business and the health of their business, it's not in a great place. And 60% of engagement rings, despite that effort, are still lab grown. So you can only do so. So much, but consumers are savvy. They do their research. They look at both in person.

• 14:50Speaker 03

  To your point, you cannot visually see the difference. So some people just are uncomfortable with the idea of it. Like it's such a sentimental item. It's still really expensive. I just want to know it's from the earth. But other people are like, I don't care. I just want a big honking ring and I don't want to spend a ton on it.

• 15:07Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Why do you think that women are so attached to having an engagement ring in general, but also a big ring?

• 15:15Speaker 03

  I do think a lot of it is signaling and it's an indication of success. And I think people are proud to be able to afford a ring like that, whether it's their partner that bought it. They bought it together or that they bought it. It's a signal of, you know, here's where we're at. Like financially, and it's the same reason people want to carry a Chanel bag. Or where, you know, the row or etc. Like, yes, you like the style. They're beautiful. But is that really the reason you're paying $8,000 for a handbag? No, it is a signal of your success and it's the same thing with an engagement ring.

• 15:49Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Have you had any DMs from brides that absolutely hate the ring that they got, but they love their partner?

• 15:55Speaker 03

  Oh my God, all the time. We reset so many rings that weren't a ring concierge ring. And we get a DM, he proposed, it's not ring concierge. I wanted ring concierge. We're like, bring it in, we'll reset it. And then they can keep their original diamond, but we'll put it in one of our settings.

• 16:08Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Okay. So if someone's listening to this, that's like, I want a ring from ring concierge. I want to even just like broach the conversation with my partner to be involved in the process. How do they best do that?

• 16:19Speaker 03

  Ooh, it's definitely tricky and it depends if your partner is super sentimental or sensitive. I am not a sensitive person and neither is my husband. So I would probably just say, like, I love you. You got to start like, you know, maybe it's like a shit sandwich, right? You have to like start with the good, end with the good, but like put it in the middle. But I would basically say, I know you spent so much time and money on this ring and the diamond I'm obsessed with. And like, even if you're not, you probably just should say you are.

• 16:47Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah.

• 16:48Speaker 03

  But I want to put it in a setting that feels more me. So I can, when I'm wearing it every day, it just feels like my style. Would you be open to me resetting it? I'm not going to touch the diamond. I obsess with the diamond and kind of see if you can get them to. Move in the direction you want them to move in.

• 17:03Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And is that why you even started Ring Concierge in the first place? Like you were engaged in ring shopping and you just couldn't find anything that you liked? And you were like, there's a white space here?

• 17:12Speaker 03

  Yes, so I was in fashion at the time and so I knew retail and I was specifically, I was in e-comm when it was still kind of starting to explode within the world of fashion. But I knew nothing about jewelry and we were getting engaged. We went to the diamond district in New York City, which is like where you went when you were

• 17:29Maggie Sellers Reum?

  That's crazy, by the way.

• 17:30Speaker 03

  I know. And I looked around and everybody were like 65 year old men that kind of come up to you and they're like, are you buying? Are you selling? It's like a heggle and you don't know if you're getting ripped off. You don't know if the diamond you're buying really is the diamond they say it is. The settings were atrocious and it was just a bad experience. And it was the first time we'd spent that kind of money, except for our apartment that we owned. It was the most money we'd ever spent and the experience was so bad. And so I started the company with the idea that A, there should be a female voice in an industry where women are typically the end user and someone young, because most brides are in their late twenties and these are all like 65 year old men. So what do they know about what I want or how I want to shop?

• 18:15Speaker 03

  And it really just started with engagement rings, which is why it's called Ring Concierge. Obviously today we do everything, but that's why it is named that.

• 18:23Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And so did you have any experience buying items that could cost like hundreds of thousands of dollars? Like I'm just trying to think about a person that's listening to this, that's like, I want to be in an industry where like the barrier to entry is not buying low cost items and reselling them a bit higher. Like you are having to purchase stones, I'm sure at times that are hundreds of thousands of dollars. Like how did you feel about entering an industry that had such a high barrier to entry?

• 18:51Speaker 03

  Well, it's really interesting. What most people don't realize about this industry is most diamonds are given to retailers on consignment.

• 18:58Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Okay.

• 18:59Speaker 03

  So, and that is how I did it then, and that's how we majority still do it today.

• 19:03Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Okay.

• 19:04Speaker 03

  The reason is because most people cannot make that investment

• 19:06Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Right.

• 19:06Speaker 03

  in an inventory without limiting the, what they can offer their clients. And so it gives you access to this massive breadth, this massive inventory. And so I didn't have any inventory overhead when I started. Each ring was one of a kind. I'd source diamonds. I'd have the setting made and it would just go like that. So there was very little upfront investment, which is how I avoided taking on an investment for so many years.

• 19:29Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And how you started with $2,000.

• 19:31Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 19:32Maggie Sellers Reum?

  I feel like people listening to this, they want more service-based entrepreneurs in this space, which I feel like you kind of were at the beginning, right? Like you were doing custom, one of a kind. What was the unlock for you that scaled you into a business doing over $100 million from a service-based business to like almost a luxury fashion house in the jewelry space?

• 19:54Speaker 03

  It was the website. So I started just doing these one-of-a-kind rings. And then customers kept saying, I know I love you. I love the design. I love my ring, but I want to buy her an $800 birthday gift.

• 20:05Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah.

• 20:05Speaker 03

  I'm not creating a custom piece for her birthday because they're expensive. So I launched the website and started carrying jewelry at lower price points. And that was the unlock. That's what exploded. That's what makes up 75% of the business today. Because you can just reach a broader audience and women can self-purchase at that price point. Like if you want a $500 ring, go at it. You don't need to wait.

• 20:27Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah, like this one I bought.

• 20:28Speaker 03

  Yeah, exactly. You don't need to wait for your guy to get it for you. Like you had a good week at work. Treat yourself. So that really caused the business to scale.

• 20:36Maggie Sellers Reum?

  So at this time, when you're scaling the e-commerce set of things, like did you immediately started leveraging social media? Because I feel like your brand has been built on social media. So what was your dynamic like yourself as the founder with your social media account as it was growing?

• 20:52Speaker 03

  So I was very early on Instagram, before Instagram even had a business capability. It's when we were all using it for like personal use. Fashion started to get on there. Luxury was not on there and jewelry was not on there. So I was like, you know, ground zero for jewelry on Instagram. So the account exploded for free, which cannot happen anymore. And we got to Couple hundred thousand followers, I'm sure, without paying a dime, which was a game changer when you don't have any money to pay for marketing. And I had to use myself as the model, essentially, because I couldn't afford models. And so my face started to be a part of the account and people were like, oh, this is the person behind the brand. And unbeknownst to me, that's really important in this category.

• 21:37Speaker 03

  Jewelry especially, you want to know who you're buying it from. It's an industry that requires a lot of trust. It's a really expensive category. And so that worked for me and I started to build that into the strategy. Then during COVID, we were all stuck at home and I was showing more of my life on Instagram. And we really quickly realized that people wanted more of that. And so now the strategy is to intentionally infuse lifestyle, my children, behind the scenes at work, that I'm on this podcast, all of these things on our business account because it helps create a connection. And it doesn't feel like any old business when you operate that way. It's distinct, they know who they're buying from.

• 22:21Speaker 03

  It's a brand they can emotionally connect with because we're showing them who we are behind the scenes.

• 22:27Maggie Sellers Reum?

  I find it fascinating though, because I think you guys do such a good job of that on the Ring Concierge page. But then like your page and your personal brand, I would say like, I was so excited about this interview because I haven't seen you go on so many different types of podcasts and like have a TikTok account and put everything out to the world. So that means that there was like layers to your onion that we're going to figure out today. Do you feel like it was because you really wanted to save all of that for Ring Concierge and not dilute what you were doing? Or like, was it just not a priority for female founders to build their personal brand as much as they were building their brand?

• 23:04Speaker 03

  I think it's both. So in the beginning of showing more of myself on there, it was working so well. It was always, it would always be our highest engaged content. And whether or not, you could argue whether or not that's appropriate to be putting on a business account, right?

• 23:16Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah.

• 23:17Speaker 03

  We're a luxury brand and here I am, like showing myself, like getting cocktails with my friends, right? You could argue that that's not appropriate, but it worked and it always got the highest engagement, the most DMs, the most shares. People, when they bump into me in the street like, oh, are you that Ring Concierge girl? I love you and your friends, right? And so it is this emotional connection.

• 23:36Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Mm-hmm.

• 23:37Speaker 03

  As the business gets bigger, for the first time ever this year, we did, it's Nicole Wegman as Instagram account.

• 23:44Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah.

• 23:44Speaker 03

  I had no personal account up to this year. I literally had nothing I used except for Ring Concierge. And it's because eventually there needs to start to be some form of a separation. You know, I'm not looking to sell the business anytime soon. So it's a little bit less about that, but it's more about how do I scale this business beyond just me? And step one of that is to start to see what we can do on social media that isn't solely dependent on me as a personality. And so we're still figuring it out. It's definitely a kind of a work in progress, but that is why we launched that this year.

• 24:19Maggie Sellers Reum?

  How would you define Nicole Wegman's personal brand?

• 24:22Speaker 03

  Oh God, I don't even know if I have a definition. Like we're gonna come up with it right now. Super honest and transparent. I've always been really transparent. That's part of our company value and my personal value. Like, why do anything if you're gonna be so secretive? I have, anything I have to share, like I'm down to share it. I'm very sarcastic. Sometimes that's hard to come across in writing, like on an Instagram story. And it could be perceived as like, oh, maybe she's like, not nice. But I'm just like deeply sarcastic. And so I definitely, I definitely want that to come through. And then just have it feel real, like I'm a mom of two young kids. It's not easy. Anyone who says being a parent is easy, a working parent, they're lying to you. Like, I promise you, they're lying to you, right?

• 25:07Speaker 03

  Like, I never want to be the person that makes other women feel like my life is so easy and perfect. Theirs is not. And so I always try to be really honest about there is no balance. The struggles of running a business, the struggles of being a mom, like I took a red eye last night. I'm taking a red eye tonight and then I'm going to be like up at 6 a.m. with my kids. Like, none of that is easy, even if the appearance is I'm doing this really cool glamorous job selling diamonds.

• 25:35Maggie Sellers Reum?

  How have you found that balance of showing the realness? But also keeping the luxury that Ring Concierge has earned the right to have?

• 25:45Speaker 03

  Mm hmm. As much as I will communicate that my life is not simple or easy. Like visually, the content is always very aesthetic.

• 25:53Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah.

• 25:54Speaker 03

  I'm obsessed with being on brand in appearance in terms of the content we create. Like, even if there's chaos happening, if it's a really colorful room, I'll never show that on our account. We don't do color on our account. Like, I'll make it black and white, let's say. But it could still be like my child having a tantrum on the floor or something. And I think it's the visuals, less so the topics, that keep the brand feeling elevated. You could talk about, and I've done this plenty of times, like being stuck on the tarmac for six hours and missing a meeting and like all this chaos. But I take a selfie wearing huge diamonds, like so that, you know, there's an element of it that still ties back to Ring Concierge. As I'm like complaining about my flight delay, you know?

• 26:36Maggie Sellers Reum?

  I feel like you are one of those people that just like knows exactly who you are. When there was that trend of all these like Gen Z brands coming in, big color, and you were like, like, we have a very specific brand. Did you feel any sense of like, but the market is moving this way and I want to get Gen Z? Like, I have to show a little bit more of that color and like buying into trends. Where did you sit in terms of your perspective on that?

• 27:03Speaker 03

  We're pretty true to who we are. Our brand positioning doesn't really change, but we will test new opportunities. So like Gen Z, it's a very small portion of our business right now because our price point is you is pretty much price prohibitive. If you're like 22, you're not buying a tennis bracelet. Like, you're just not. You're buying your jewelry on like Amazon or whatever. And that's fine. We all went through that phase. But we know we need to start the funnel. So we launched Sterling Silver two years ago. And the silver is our aesthetic, like it's modern, it's simple, it's super cool. You could layer it, but it's in a material that would make more sense for that generation. And so that is how we're doing it as opposed to actually changing our branding or some of the things that really make us who we are.

• 27:47Maggie Sellers Reum?

  So you sell to a very luxury customer. How do you do that?

• 27:51Speaker 03

  It's not necessarily a very luxury customer. We have luxe customers. Don't get me wrong. We have plenty of billionaires and VVIPs and sports players and you name it. But that's not our core customer and that's not who I'm trying to connect with. Our core customer is a millennial woman who is working. And this might be her stretch piece. A tennis bracelet might be something she saves up for for a year or asks for for a really big milestone from, you know, her partner. We are right on the brink of aspirational and obtainable. And that's kind of where we want to be. Like you can't sell what we sell and not be aspirational. You have to be. But I also have no intention to be Cartier or Tiffany or Harry Winston. I don't want to be that price point.

• 28:35Speaker 03

  I want people to be able to afford us and to walk in our store and feel super welcomed and comfortable, even if they're spending $300.

• 28:42Maggie Sellers Reum?

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• 29:24Maggie Sellers Reum?

  which combined with Beehive's built in growth tools like boosts, recommendations and referrals, has helped me grow 100% year over year, all while staying insanely engaged and connected. Connected to my angels. It's free to start, has preset templates, and an AI website builder to get your newsletter and website up and running so fast. If you want to give it a try, head to beehiiv.com/hsr for 30% off your first three months. But make sure you enter the code HSR30 at checkout. That's B-E-E-H-I-I-V dot com slash HSR with code HSR30.

• 30:03Speaker 04

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• 30:05Speaker 01

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• 30:08Speaker 02

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• 30:11Speaker 01

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• 30:12Speaker 02

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• 30:15Speaker 01

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• 30:20Speaker 03

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• 30:36Speaker 03

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• 31:03Speaker 05

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• 31:11Speaker 05

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• 31:18Maggie Sellers Reum?

  What has your relationship been like when the influencer culture came out?

• 31:24Speaker 03

  Influencers has been great for us. Here's the thing. Who does not want a free piece of jewelry? Everyone will wear diamonds, right? And so we've been able to get away with a really strong gifting program and not have to pay that much in cash essentially to get people to post about us because they're just so excited about the product. So we can gift people that otherwise we couldn't afford to pay, you know, a tennis bracelet that maybe costs us $2,000. And they're like, fantastic, I've been wanting a tennis bracelet where they might normally charge $15,000 for a reel. We love our influencers. They have served us really well. They got the brand out there in a huge way and we like to work with people that organically are C and already shop with us and people that we're reaching a totally new audience.

• 32:08Speaker 03

  So it's been a really good testing tool as well for new audiences.

• 32:13Maggie Sellers Reum?

  How do you have your finger on the pulse though of like who's actually going to convert and who is more for awareness? Because I think Acquired Style is someone who you guys designed the ring for and I feel like it probably brought in a totally different segment of customers for you. How do you know when to work with the right person on a level like that?

• 32:31Speaker 03

  We look at their engagement rates and we have a formula we use because we've been doing gifting for so many years where we have a spreadsheet and we, how many followers? What's their engagement rate on reels or whatever? We have, there's a whole formula my team uses. And what would be the investment and what ROI would we get in terms of followers and expected follower growth? And that's how we decide how much to gift people. It's pretty formulaic and there's some stuff that's just like, oh, she's super cool, let's try it. She reached out, but a lot of it is formulaic.

• 33:01Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Well, I was so excited when I was invited to your LA store opening and honestly I gotta say it was one of the best, to your point, store openings I've been to because I remember you had this gifting tree and I was like, wait, I get to like play a game and like get something from this that could be a diamond. And it was just like a different, and then the other thing that you did that I actually reference right now because we're figuring out our new photo shoot. And there's a picture of me wearing like a $1.5 million diamond necklace at your event and it was just like surprise and delight to a level that not that many brands can do. And I think you guys put yourself in such a position to be able to like. Have fun with a very luxe aspirational category. I think one of the things I really respected about you is how transparent you are.

• 33:44Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Like you came online last year and said, like, I'm doing a hundred million dollars in sales, which a lot of people won't disclose. And I was so excited to have you on for this reason. What was it about your childhood and how you grew up that has empowered you to do the brave thing, to disclose financials like that, to like, keep people learning and keep democratizing the access that you do have?

• 34:05Speaker 03

  So that's really interesting that you asked that question because I don't think I would have known the real answer even a week ago. But this is like a very long-winded way of explaining, I think, why I feel so confident in some of the things I do. So we're applying to schools right now in New York City for my five-year-old daughter. And we're looking at, we're looking at coeds, like, we're only want, we only want coed. I went to coed public school. Like, it's weird to do single-sex schools. And we toured some of these all-girls schools and they basically explained that when girls are only surrounded by other girls, it results in a way more confident adults. And you have all of these leadership skills because everyone around you that are leaders,

• 34:48Speaker 03

  the best people at math, the best people at science are all girls. So you never feel limited in what your life opportunities are and you're just, become intrinsically extremely confident. And I bring that up because my entire career path before Ring Concierge was in fashion and surrounded by women. I worked at all female companies, essentially. Like, there were men, but like, let's be honest, the fashion industry are all women. And my friends and I were talking about this and all, my whole friend group that went through this fashion start, we all, like, my best friends, we all graduated from Cornell and half of us went into the fashion industry in New York City and kind of went up through these, like, programs. We're all, like, abnormally confident, like, obnoxiously confident. And we think it's because...

• 35:31Speaker 03

  It was this environment of women can do anything. The leadership are women. The planning team, running all the Excel spreadsheets are women. And it was just what we were used to. And I think it resulted in this mindset that we can do anything. And I think they're right. One of my friends brought it up, literally at brunch this weekend of like, I think that's why we're all so confident is we kind of accidentally were exposed to this thought. And I think it's infused in how I operate. It's not intentional. Like, that's just, I operate that way where I'm transparent and I'm confident. And I'll share pretty much anything because, you know, why not? When you feel good about what you're doing.

• 36:10Maggie Sellers Reum?

  So are you going to send your daughter to an all-girls school now?

• 36:12Speaker 03

  Like, we might. We really might. It's, we think we are going to. It's crazy. And I never thought I would.

• 36:19Maggie Sellers Reum?

  So last year, you talk about bootstrapping to $100 million. Was not raising money out of choice or out of necessity?

• 36:27Speaker 03

  I didn't even know, like, you could raise money when I started it. I had no idea about investors. I just didn't want to work for somebody else. I didn't want to work in fashion anymore. I saw this white space and I was like, let me just try this. I made, I think at the time, my salary was like $40,000. And I just said to myself, if I can just replace my salary and walk away after taxes with the same amount, like, why wouldn't I try this? That was it. That was my aspiration. Like, very low goal. Just want to work for myself. Don't need to get rich doing it. And then because of that, the business had to be profitable. And it was a slow go in the beginning. Like, it was more than doubling year over year, but like, starting at a really small size. And because I didn't have a mentality of let's scale to X it,

• 37:11Speaker 03

  or, you know, kind of how people think about things today, it had to be profitable. It had to be healthy. I had to understand the financials. I had to be really thoughtful in decisions I made and had to be really prudent about how I spent money. And then when it got to the size where investors were knocking on our door, we didn't really need the money because it was profitable. And we hit a really huge size without ever taking on investment. So one kind of led to the other.

• 37:39Maggie Sellers Reum?

  You said something like you weren't doing this to get rich. What motivated you to sacrifice and to, in your words, like, kill yourself to build a business this big?

• 37:47Speaker 03

  Well, first of all, I'm like a type A psychopath. So I'm not like, that is also true. You know, like two things can be true at the same time. And when it started to work, it was almost like I was competitive with myself. I was like, oh, great, let's go. And it's kind of like when you're on a rocket ship, like you don't ask questions. You just keep going. And because the business is working, I just wanted to see like, well, can we double next year? Can we double next year? And we were. And then I like just kept setting these ridiculous goals that we were able to hit. And because of all of that, there was nothing else I wanted to do. I would work like one million hours a week. I put off having children. I did all of these things because I was tunnel vision in growing the business.

• 38:32Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Someone listening to this that is living in New York City, that like has big aspirations, but feels like they're in that job that's just like not for them. And they're not confident to go out and like chase their dreams. What would you tell that girl listening to this podcast?

• 38:45Speaker 03

  I think anybody can do anything they want, but it's not without hard work. And honestly, it's not without luck. I got lucky that social media did what it did for me. You know, I couldn't pretend that I knew I'd get to a million followers on Instagram when I was starting the account 12 years ago, not in a million years. I was at the forefront of this female founder kind of boom without realizing that was going to happen. I got lucky for sure. But with that luck, you have to work really hard and ride the wave. You have to see the opportunities, take the opportunities. And if you want to build something, like really build something, you kind of have to kill yourself to do it, if we're being honest. You can't half ass it. Like you can't say, oh, I'll just do nine to five. Like, it's not possible.

• 39:29Speaker 03

  There are sacrifices when it comes to building something kind of to the size that I ended up building Ring Concierge, for sure. I'm, I'll never lie about that.

• 39:39Maggie Sellers Reum?

  You're married, you have children now. What are those unspoken rules of your marriage that have helped you guys stay through that like sticky, messy middle and be on the other side where it's like different when you have a team and you're able to like afford resources and be able to like have help in building your vision versus being the like, we're the only people in here doing this right now?

• 40:02Speaker 03

  So we are lucky in that we've almost taken turns on kind of who's taking the sacrifice. So when I started this, he had a stable job, which was great. We could take the risk. And because what if it didn't work, right?

• 40:16Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Right.

• 40:16Speaker 03

  Like a year or two later, I would have to go find a job again.

• 40:19Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah.

• 40:19Speaker 03

  So we had stability in that he had a job at the time. And I didn't take a salary for a long time because I kept reinvesting right back into the business so that I could avoid taking on capital.

• 40:31Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah.

• 40:32Speaker 03

  Then it flipped. He started his own company. So now we are both entrepreneurs, which is a separate like whole thing. And I think he's had his now for seven years, so it's not recent. And then he started his business and then I started taking a salary and he didn't take a salary so that he could grow his business. And so we've kind of taken turns on who's taking what sacrifice. Is it who needs to put in more time? Who needs to sacrifice financially? And that's worked really well for us so that there isn't this resentment in that one person's always working and the other's not, or one person makes money and the other doesn't. And that's worked for us. It could be different for everybody else. But we also are able to talk to each other about challenges in business because we both

• 41:17Speaker 03

  run companies and totally different business. He's in like data science, so I can't even pretend to be able to speak intelligently about what he does all day. But the challenges are the same. Employee challenges, financial challenges, getting the right leadership team. We have similar challenges that we can bounce back and forth on each other when we're having issues at work that we can't talk about with people at work.

• 41:38Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Was it a challenge to disclose that you were doing $100 million of revenue?

• 41:44Speaker 03

  We wanted an exclusive article for our 10 year anniversary and-

• 41:50Maggie Sellers Reum?

  I love you. You're so honest. Like this is why I was like, she needs to come on the show.

• 41:54Speaker 03

  Yeah, we wanted an exclusive and that was that was contingent. We had an article in WWD. It was a fantastic article and they said, but we need, we need revenue. We're not, we can't do a standalone piece of that revenue. And so I said, all right, let's go. It's not a number to be ashamed of. Like it's, you know, something we're really proud of hitting. And so that's why it's out there. That's the only reason.

• 42:12Maggie Sellers Reum?

  The reason I I ask that, though, is because I've been on multiple sides, right? Like, I'm the thing I love about my job is like, I'm an investor, I'm a founder, and I'm a creator. And so I see every single angle. And I think what people listening to this have to realize is you are so brave when you disclose something like that. Because the pressure builds, people expect more from you. They want to get paid more, they want more, like, they just want more, more and more. But being on the creator's side, like, also being a very transparent podcast and like, I only want people in this seat that are going to be real and like, talk about numbers and talk about things. Because that's how women grow. And that's how, like, to your point, we all end up being able to, like, make a better impact because we're sharing what we're learning.

• 42:55Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 42:56Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Was there any sort of blowback from, even in your personal life or on the business side, once you disclosed that number?

• 43:03Speaker 03

  Not blowback, it was kind of the opposite. There were people, more so my person, well, kind of across the board, that never took us that seriously. That when they saw that number come out, you could like, see the shift in how they treated me. And it almost bothered me more, like, oh, before you knew how much revenue I was doing, you didn't really care about me. And now that you saw that number, like, oh, you're asking, how's the business? What's going on? Like, that's so exciting. And it's like, kind of disingenuous, like, oh, now you're impressed? And so you want to talk to me about it before then, you just kind of thought I was this girl with a jewelry business? Like, that happened a lot. And it's a little eye opening to see who cares about that in a way that I don't love.

• 43:47Speaker 03

  Like, I don't, I don't care how much money anyone's made. Like, I'm impressed, but like, that's not going to change my relationship with you. And I think it changed some of their relationship or how they viewed me.

• 43:57Maggie Sellers Reum?

  I can relate to that, like, even with my fundraising announcement that happened recently. We disclosed our numbers, like, I was happy to do that. And it was just very eye opening to see who came to exactly that point of like, are you raising more money? Or I'm like, if I was, I would never give you the opportunity. When you finally decided to take in money from Webster Capital, what was that decision making process for you like?

• 44:21Speaker 03

  So we know. We want to expand physical retail.

• 44:23Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Okay.

• 44:24Speaker 03

  And stores are expensive. We have five stores right now. Stores are really expensive. It's a totally different beast than e-comm. I can do e-comm day in and day out, but stores, that's a risk. And so we decided, I think it was a year ago at this point, maybe more, two years ago, that we wanted to build some cushion to open up stores. And this investor, actually, though it is Webster Capital, the person that runs it is a very longtime client. His wife has been shopping with me forever and ever. They're fantastic. I've sold her so much jewelry. And because of that, he was always a big believer of the brand. And so when we reached out to friends and family, it was a really small friends and family round.

• 45:08Speaker 03

  It's, I think it's like not even 6% of the business. So it was a small round. I called him and I'm like, he had just exited. He had just sold his business for a really large amount. And I said, are you interested in investing? And he's like, yes, yes, yes, yes. I've always believed in your brand. You know, we love you. We know we love your business and we believe in it. Let's, let's do this, which worked out so well. So it wasn't really an institutional round. It was a small round with somebody who I already knew. I know I like him as a person and he already knew he liked working with me and believes in the business.

• 45:41Maggie Sellers Reum?

  So important when you're raising money and even investing money, like to find people you actually want to work with because you're in it for the long haul.

• 45:47Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 45:48Maggie Sellers Reum?

  What has your relationship been like with other female founders in the space? Once you made this disclosure of how well your business was doing? Like, did your relationships change at all?

• 45:58Speaker 03

  If it shifted, I didn't notice it as much. It was the men more so that shifted how they spoke with me and how they treated me when they found out, not necessarily the women, which I think that says something, actually.

• 46:13Maggie Sellers Reum?

  That is crazy. What about your personal relationships? Like, do you still have childhood best friends that like didn't know this boss version of Nicole?

• 46:22Speaker 03

  I haven't been secretive within my like close friend group. I mean, I don't run around and say like, hey, here's our revenue for the year. But I think they've been aware of the success of the business. I don't think it really changed anything for them. I think people have a misperception that I personally have more money than I do. Because my entire net worth is still in the business because I haven't sold it or taken on really, the investment we took on stayed in the business.

• 46:48Maggie Sellers Reum?

  It's to fund growth, yeah.

• 46:49Speaker 03

  Yeah, I have never taken money off the table, which is separately probably foolish. So I think, I think people, even people close to me, probably think I'm financially better off than I am. But beyond that, the, the size of the business isn't really a surprise to my closer network.

• 47:04Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Now that you're in a place where your business is growing, things are good. Like, what is something that this year in 2026, you're going to put yourself in a position to like be a learner in again? And just like get uncomfortable with a growth that you need to do as a person?

• 47:19Speaker 03

  I'm trying to figure out what is the right focus for me. I'm founder, I'm CEO, but like I said before, I'm also deeply involved in product, creative, marketing, brand. And I'm spread too thin. I'm not giving the business what it needs to be successful and to get us to that next size by doing so many things. I'm wearing too many hats. Who do I need? What are the experts? What should my focus be that only I can do? That's what I have to figure out this year.

• 47:47Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Do you have a separate personal board of directors than you do for like the board of directors for your company? Like, who do you go to for advice like that?

• 47:54Speaker 03

  I have neither, by the way. We don't have a-

• 47:56Maggie Sellers Reum?

  You don't have a board?

• 47:57Speaker 03

  No, I mean, our investor technically has a board seat, but we don't have a board.

• 48:01Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Okay.

• 48:01Speaker 03

  Um, which is also something we need to do this year because it just seems like a miss. Not, there's so many people that would want to be a part of it.

• 48:07Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah.

• 48:07Speaker 03

  Get some crazy seats at the table.

• 48:09Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah.

• 48:10Speaker 03

  I have a lot of people in my network that I trust. And like my brothers are really smart. My parents are really smart. And I usually lean on my closest network for advice. But I do think formalizing that with industry expertise or retail expertise is-

• 48:29Speaker 03

  It's kind of foolish that I haven't done that yet.

• 48:32Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Okay, I read somewhere that your favorite book is The Lean Startup. Is that true?

• 48:36Speaker 03

  I read that book before I started the business and it served me well. I mean, I probably should have read more, but I read it and I was like, okay, I can do this with $2,000. But the point of that book is that you don't need to spend tons of time on R and D and all of this stuff without just testing the concept and understanding what your customer wants. So it's about testing the concept of the business in a really lean way before you over invest, which worked really well for me.

• 49:03Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Now, what would be the most pivotal book that you've read recently that's helped you scale Ring Concierge?

• 49:09Speaker 03

  There's two books I really like. One is The Hard Thing About Hard Things, and it's essentially guiding business owners or leaders on how to navigate difficult situations, how to have hard conversations, because half of what I do all day is kind of putting out fires or problem solving. So how do you do that in a way you're comfortable with it? And then another book I really like is called Get a Grip, and it's about figuring out kind of what's your north star and getting the entire company to march in the same direction and to hold them accountable, which gets harder and harder the bigger you get.

• 49:45Maggie Sellers Reum?

  I can't relate to that more. Like, you know, we've done everything in such a scrappy way, like truly lean startup vibes. And even we're doing a photo shoot I set on Thursday for this like new season two of what the podcast is going to be, which is going to come out after this episode drops, I believe. And it was funny because we were talking about the cover image, right? And it's like me, BTS, at a photo shoot for a beauty campaign, wearing like a Target shirt, and like it's from an iPhone photo. We didn't spend money on a photo shoot. We didn't do what like, I feel like everyone does when they want to start a brand, which is like overspend.

• 50:16Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 50:16Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Like they just, like I know girls that have spent $30,000, $45,000 on brand identity. And I'm like, I made mine in Canva with a BTS iPhone photo. And now it was very interesting because we now have a huge team with this new deal that we just did. And some of the concepts that came back were very not HSR. They were like power suit vibe and like I just did not relate to it. But I was like, let's put it out to my WhatsApp group and my email marketing group. And we got back like 500 responses. All the feedback was so interesting. It was like, we just want a more elevated version of what Maggie initially set out to do. HSR is the opposite of the girl boss. It's like, it's not in a suit. And if we hadn't like- Done something scrappy, tested the market,

• 51:01Maggie Sellers Reum?

  gotten feedback from consumers. We could be on like a totally different planet from what people actually love about HSR, which is like the barefoot conversations, right? Like the real stuff.

• 51:12Speaker 03

  Right.

• 51:13Maggie Sellers Reum?

  It's so important to talk to your customer. What is a lesson that your customer has taught you the hard way at Ring Cosiers?

• 51:19Speaker 03

  We did not do what you did one time, and we usually really lean on our customer and speak to them all the time. That's also the beauty of having a really engaged community. We thought we should launch a diffusion line for bridal.

• 51:31Maggie Sellers Reum?

  What is that?

• 51:32Speaker 03

  Basically, a less expensive bridal line.

• 51:34Maggie Sellers Reum?

  OK.

• 51:34Speaker 03

  We knew that there was a lot more demand than we could service in terms of our price point. Because, and this isn't the case anymore, but probably about five years ago, our minimum to work with us on an engagement ring was $10,000. And like you said earlier, the average ring in the US is five. So we knew we were missing out on a big segment, but we had a really high-touch experience, and this was before labs were so prominent. And most of our natural diamond rings, we couldn't service that price point. It just wasn't like economical for us. So we spent a ton of time and a ton of money. We had a branding, branding agency. We spent all this R and D on a diffusion line of basically under $10,000 rings. And we're thinking, this is it. This is how we're going to scale.

• 52:19Speaker 03

  We're going to be this billion-dollar company because everybody's going to want these rings. And we launched it.

• 52:24Speaker 04

  Welcome to the 50th Hunger Games.

• 52:26Speaker 01

  Witness the beginning of the revolution.

• 52:28Speaker 02

  Hey Mitch, you've been trying to take down these games from Star.

• 52:31Speaker 01

  Filmed for IMAX.

• 52:33Speaker 02

  Make them remember you.

• 52:35Speaker 01

  The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, November 20th, rated PG-13.

• 52:41Speaker 03

  Somebody asked me how I defined myself, and I didn't know what to say. Because how can someone be defined when we're always evolving? I've been so many things. I'll be so many others.

• 52:57Speaker 03

  Because identity is not a performance. It's an exploration. Never the same, but always myself. That's the paradox. Paradox Intense and the new Sweet Chemistry by Prada.

• 53:10Speaker 05

  Hey, listen! Power up your play with Nintendo Switch 2 and experience Link's legendary adventure, now reborn in vibrant detail on our fastest and most powerful system yet. And harness the power of the Ocarina with the built-in microphone.

• 53:32Speaker 05

  The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive. Game and system sold separately. Game rated everyone 10 and up.

• 53:39Speaker 03

  It was like crickets. I mean, we sold some, but it was like crickets. And we learned out the very hard ways that people didn't want anything but Ring Concierge. If it wasn't branded Ring Concierge, they didn't really want it. They didn't want like Ring Concierge's like stepsister. They wanted the real deal or they just kind of weren't going to come at all. And the biggest miss was that we didn't talk to our consumers or our followers. We didn't ask them, would you be interested in this? Because we thought we knew better because we had so many years of sales data and customer data at that point that we thought we could make that decision for them. And we were wrong. It was expensive. It was not, it was an expensive mistake.

• 54:19Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Can you say how expensive it was?

• 54:21Speaker 03

  Oh, God, probably like half a million dollars. Like not, not okay amount. Yeah.

• 54:28Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Do those things rock you? Like, do you have trouble sleeping at night?

• 54:31Speaker 03

  No, no.

• 54:33Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Wow.

• 54:34Speaker 03

  That was not a fail fast, but we typically are a fail fast mentality. Try something, doesn't work, move on. Learn from the mistake, don't do it twice. If you do it twice, like, you know, you probably don't have a job here anymore. But my team is encouraged to fail fast and to come up with new ideas and to try new things as well. Because that's the only way you can grow. You can't keep doing the same thing. You're going to become stagnant and people get bored.

• 54:56Maggie Sellers Reum?

  What is a lesson that was taught to you that you were not expecting in a good way?

• 55:00Speaker 03

  Very early on, when I had the business and I was figuring out employees, which is hard. And if you ask anybody in any size business, what's one of the biggest challenges? It's always getting the right team, getting the team right. If you don't have an A-team, you can't be an A-plus business. Like it's just, they go hand in hand. And I was at some talk with Jessica Alba. She was speaking. I don't know her. I can't pretend to know her, but I was in the audience and I was like all excited. It was when, it was pre Honest Company having IPO'd.

• 55:32Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Okay.

• 55:32Speaker 03

  But it was big at that point.

• 55:34Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Okay.

• 55:34Speaker 03

  And she had apparently had to let go of her entire leadership team she had hired at launch to replace them with a team that could scale her to where they are today. And she talked about how hard that was and especially for like a woman. It's kind of emotional to do those types of things. But the lesson was the team that got you here might not be the team to get you there. And it always stuck with me because I think it's true. And there are some people that can kind of evolve with you. But usually the team you need in the beginning are super scrappy, sit on the floor of your apartment, help you pack boxes, are probably not the same team that's going to navigate a hundred million dollar company that's trying to scale to $200 million.

• 56:19Speaker 03

  It's a different kind of expertise you need. And to have a realistic and critical eye when assessing your talent to make sure you can actually hit your goals.

• 56:29Maggie Sellers Reum?

  How can someone be like, I want to work at Ring Concierge. It is my dream brand. Like I want to be beside Nicole, but I don't want to be the founder. Like what are you looking for in the interview process with someone like that?

• 56:39Speaker 03

  I want people that have grit. I don't care if you have 20 years of experience. To grow the business that I'm trying to grow, you have to have grit. And that's always been the case of all of our hires. And you have to be able to pivot all the time and no ego. Those are kind of the three things that are non-negotiables across any role, any level in the company. Then from within there, obviously, depending on the role, we need like a certain expertise or a certain background. But if you don't have grit, if you're not willing to pivot. Pivot because we pivot like crazy and you can't be sensitive. If I tell you, oh yeah, that email was approved, but then three days later I say, nevermind, not approved anymore. We're changing. I don't want to hear it that you're annoyed about that because I am going to make those types of calls. And every decision I make is firm first, which is like the business first.

• 57:22Speaker 03

  It's not about me. It's not about other personalities. It's firm first and you have to have that mentality. And then ego, I can't do ego, like ego across the board just doesn't work at the company. I don't have ego and I expect no one else to have ego because it gets in the way of making the right decision and the best decision and having a collaborative workspace.

• 57:43Maggie Sellers Reum?

  So now do you ask people if they've been to an all-girls school and then you hire them?

• 57:47Speaker 03

  I'm going to start. I'm or like I am going to start because we have so many women. I think 90% of our employee base are women. And it's an interesting question and then I'm going to start to see if I do see a difference or if it's just like the spiel. But I, I believe it to be true. I do feel like it's, it's got to be true. That when you're surrounded by other girls or women in leadership roles, you would feel the confidence that I can do that too.

• 58:12Maggie Sellers Reum?

  You can tell a lot about a leader for who they hire. And I remember Tori and Sydney both, like we were definitely not the people there that had the most followers, like the most influence at the time and like they treated everyone like they were a VIP. And I think I've been to a lot of influencer events where it's like, there's the people with a million followers. And there's like everyone else and it was so clear that it was not that. And I just have to say like, you've hired such incredible people who I've enjoyed staying in touch with. And so to see this come full circle has been such a treat for me.

• 58:40Speaker 03

  Oh, I'm glad to hear that about them. I do try to hire nice people.

• 58:43Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yes.

• 58:44Speaker 03

  I really do.

• 58:45Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yes. Okay. So we have to end with some really fun rapid fire.

• 58:47Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 58:48Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Nicole Wegman, what is the last thing you put on your credit card?

• 58:50Speaker 03

  I had an iced coffee and some like weird breakfast pizza thing in downtown LA before I came here.

• 58:57Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Okay. What is the last most expensive thing, fun thing?

• 59:01Speaker 03

  Ooh, I'm trying to shop less this year. That is like a goal of mine, but that does not mean it's been working. I mean, these are new shoes, but they're not that crazy. They're just Johnny Kane.

• 59:11Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Okay. But still, that's good. Good quality. Yeah.

• 59:13Speaker 03

  Three, $400. Like not, not nothing.

• 59:15Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah. You can only sell one diamond ring shape for the rest of your life from Ring Concierge. What shape is it?

• 59:21Speaker 03

  Antique cushion.

• 59:23Maggie Sellers Reum?

  That was like a very fast one. Why?

• 59:26Speaker 03

  I personally have one and I was literally with a client this morning who was looking at them. And I just like remembered how much I love them.

• 59:33Maggie Sellers Reum?

  I want to see your ring after. You can only wear one accessory for the rest of your life.

• 59:38Speaker 03

  Diamond studs.

• 59:40Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Really? What size is the best size for my face?

• 59:43Speaker 03

  Ooh, okay. I mean, look, you can't go too small with diamond studs. I would do a pair of four or five carat total weight. So that means like two in each year or two and a half in each year. And now with lab grown, like you can get them at a price that's really reasonable.

• 59:56Maggie Sellers Reum?

  I think my husband before you came down here was like, if there's an ancillary gift for Maggie, so maybe you can.

• 1:00:01Speaker 03

  Do instead?

• 1:00:02Maggie Sellers Reum?

  I think so.

• 1:00:02Speaker 03

  Like if it's a Christmas gift from the husband, like let's go five carats. Let's not be, let's not be stingy.

• 1:00:07Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Thank you, sweetie. You heard how it all happened. What is your favorite female brand that isn't yours?

• 1:00:13Speaker 03

  I love Set Active. I think they do a really good job of engaging their community. I'm always really impressed. I, I know Lindsay, the founder. She hustles and I think I just appreciate what she's built that has personality behind it.

• 1:00:30Maggie Sellers Reum?

  By the time this comes out, her episode will have aired.

• 1:00:32Speaker 03

  Oh, great. You had her on?

• 1:00:34Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:34Speaker 03

  Amazing.

• 1:00:35Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And it was one of the most like transparent, honest conversations where it was about how she's built a cult-like athleisure brand, but also she took accountability and talked about a lot of the things that have like been one of the hard things about being a founder-led brand and like all the things that she's had to go through. And it was like one of my favorite episodes because like you, super transparent.

• 1:00:55Speaker 03

  Yeah, she's, she's smart. I think I've seen some of the things she's gone through. It's definitely not easy, but she's like resilient and she has grit and back to the type of people you want to hire. Resilient people with grit can get you through hard times.

• 1:01:08Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah. Is there a dream celebrity that if they like made their engagement ring with Ring Concierge, you would just like pack it in and call it a day?

• 1:01:16Speaker 03

  Oh, pack it in and call it a day? No, of course not. Um, okay. I should say like, my God, I'm obsessed with Kim Kardashian. Everybody knows this, which is like a, like a really fun fact. And she is not currently married right now, so there is opportunity there. I would kill to do her next ring.

• 1:01:33Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Okay. So are you on the weekends like zoning out and watching Bravo? Like, are you a Housewives girl?

• 1:01:39Speaker 03

  Oh, I'm a Housewives girl, but I am partial to Beverly Hills. And that's because I've worked with a good amount of the Beverly Hills ladies. And like, we've been friends with Rachel Zoe for years. She's like the biggest supporter of the brand and she's on it this season. So now I have to say Beverly Hills is my number one. But in terms of if I'm having a bad week and I'm stressed, there is one show I'm gonna watch that makes me feel so good about my life and that's Salt Lake City. Like Housewives of Salt Lake City. You, you watch that and you're like, I'm good. Like, my problem is nothing. Like, they're going to jail in that show, you know?

• 1:02:15Maggie Sellers Reum?

  There is something about Salt Lake City, Utah, where it's like, but like every reality show, like, what is going on over there?

• 1:02:24Speaker 03

  It's so good.

• 1:02:25Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Would you, with your personal brand, ever do Real Housewives?

• 1:02:29Speaker 03

  No. I spoke to, I don't know if it was Bravo or the casting agency, when they were rebooting New York City. They contacted me. And I think I candidly said, I don't want to be a housewife, but I would be a friend of, to get like the brand on there. I think it's a big risk and I think I have too much to lose.

• 1:02:49Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Okay, last question, Nicole Wegman. I love saying your full name. By the way, is that your maiden name or your?

• 1:02:55Speaker 03

  Maiden. I didn't take my husband's name.

• 1:02:56Maggie Sellers Reum?

  You didn't?

• 1:02:57Speaker 03

  No, I'd like back to like, I don't need to take a man's name.

• 1:03:00Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And what are your kids?

• 1:03:01Speaker 03

  They have his name.

• 1:03:02Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Okay. Nicole Wegman, if you had to title this season of your life, what would it be called?

• 1:03:07Speaker 03

  The season of finding balance, finally.

• 1:03:13Maggie Sellers Reum?

  So now we're gonna watch for all of 2026 and see if you're able to accomplish it. Nicole Wegman, thank you so much for coming on Hot Summer Rich. I had so much fun with you. Where can people find you?

• 1:03:22Speaker 03

  They can find me at, at Ring Concierge on Instagram, or they can go to our website, ringconcierge.com.

• 1:03:27Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And plug your new personal brand.

• 1:03:29Speaker 03

  See, this is why I'm not good at this. My team would be like, hey, it's Nicole Wegman on Instagram.

• 1:03:34Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Love it. And how can HSR help you?

• 1:03:37Speaker 03

  I love that you are speaking in a way that I think is tangible. And it's not so high level that people can't get real advice and real help from your podcast. So I love that you're taking that approach. I think if you have a one Million dollar business or a hundred million dollar business. People can get advice from how you're speaking.

• 1:03:58Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Oh, I love that. Thank you so much and thank you for coming on. Everyone, go visit Ring Concierge and check out a store. Where are your five stores? New York?

• 1:04:05Speaker 03

  New York. We have two in New York, Soho and Upper East. We have Houston, we have Boca, and we have one right in LA.

• 1:04:12Maggie Sellers Reum?

  At Century City, which is the best. Thank you so much, Nicole.

• 1:04:15Speaker 03

  Thank you.

• 1:04:16Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Bye, guys.

• 1:04:27Maggie Sellers Reum?

  If you're starting a business, there are certain things that are so fun to think about. Y'all know I love a mood board, so everything that relates to the creative, the name, the brand, the website, the vision board. But then there are the things that make you pause and ask, am I even doing this correctly or do I even want to be doing this? Like forming your business, getting the right documents, keeping your personal information private. This is where our sponsor, Northwest Registered Agent, is so helpful. They're a one-stop shop for founders who want to launch and legitimize their business without turning it into a giant admin spiral. They help you form an LLC or a corporation, act as your registered agent, and give you tools like a business address, operating agreement, website, phone number, professional email, and free guides.

• 1:05:11Maggie Sellers Reum?

  They also have real corporate guides who know your local laws. Visit northwestregisteredagent.com/hsrfree and start using free resources to build something amazing. Get more with Northwest Registered Agent at northwestregisteredagent.com/hsrfree.

• 1:05:30Speaker 04

  Welcome to the 50th Hunger Games.

• 1:05:32Speaker 01

  Witness the beginning of the revolution.

• 1:05:35Speaker 02

  Hey Mitch, you've been trying to take down these games from the start.

• 1:05:38Speaker 01

  Film for IMAX.

• 1:05:39Speaker 02

  Make them remember you.

• 1:05:42Speaker 01

  The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, November 20th, made in PG-13.

• 1:05:48Speaker 06

  Somebody asked me how I'd define myself, and I didn't know what to say. Because how can someone be defined when we're always evolving? I've been so many things. I'll be so many others.

• 1:06:03Speaker 06

  Because identity is not a performance, it's an exploration. Never the same, but always myself. That's the paradox. Paradox Intense and The New Sweet Chemistry by Prada.