Montreal based Lorie Dor and Fabiha Hassan, the power duo find gratitude in the fact that they get to pursue their passion project. Although for them, the journey began as a hobby rather than a career, the attachment that grew with it for them over the past few months is inexplicable – Their love for ADOR Jewels, for the individual pieces and their clients, is so strong, and it reflects in their beautiful jewelry pieces.
“Every day that passes by, whether we receive orders or not, we do not have any regrets and try to move forward with positivity. Moreover, our jewelry pieces are chosen and packaged with lots of hard work and love, and our goal is to satisfy our clients’ expectations towards ADOR!” – Lorie Dor and Fabiha Hassan.
Tell us about your background story?
ADOR jewels officially launched in October 2020, so it’s been a little less than a year. The beginning of our business process was unique. We started thinking about creating our own jewelry business in approximately April-May 2020. With the peak of COVID, while people felt hopeless and stressed with the uncertainty of the future, we decided to use that energy and put it into something meaningful. We did not decide overnight – we reflected upon the idea for about a month or two and then finally realized that it is a project we wanted to undertake and become young female entrepreneurs. Finally, towards the end of summer 2020, two long-time best friends agreed to officially launch ADOR Jewels on Instagram and see where this new journey took us. Jewelry had always been a passion for us since high school. Therefore, in the end, we knew that we wanted to style and sell our favourite finds to our clientele.
What is your best seller jewelry piece?
We have many best seller jewelry pieces. The two that come to mind are first the simplistic and dainty hoops named So Chic. They are one of our clientele’s favorites but also our own. It fits any outfit, weather, or time of the day. We wanted to offer a beautiful pair of hoops that can be worn for every occasion, and So Chic was the perfect match.
Our second bestseller is the Twisted Mess necklace. This piece is a little chunkier but the elegance attached to it is unbelievable. Once again, it can be worn for all purposes and can also lift a casual outfit in the matter of seconds. One amusing fact about ADOR Jewels is that we sell excellent quality jewelry at affordable prices, and they are made for everyone!
How big is your team?
Our team is very small. The ADOR Jewels team only consists of the two of us! We love working together. Not only are we best friends, but we also share the same mind. Our styles have always been very similar, and I think to this day, we have agreed upon every single decision unanimously. Since we are a small e-commerce business that only launched recently, we try to manage our sales, marketing, and financials on our own! Though it can be overwhelming at times with our busy schedules, we are eternally grateful for this project. We also received many support from friends, family, and our amazing clients to always move forward!
How has the business changed with covid?
Since ADOR Jewels launched during COVID-19, we did not really experience a before and after scenario. However, we realized that small businesses received more word-of-mouth support with the pandemic, which helped with our launch. We first only thought that our pieces would be sold to close family and friends, but it started reaching people all around Canada, which is a true blessing! Therefore, COVID-19 motivated us to believe in ourselves, begin a passion project as two best friends, and follow one of our many dreams.
There are some downsides to the pandemic because sometimes shipping (to receive our inventories and shipping orders to clients) can be uncertain, which can cause some worries. Moreover, even as business partners, we had a hard time setting meetings in person together to discuss our future. Therefore, we are looking forward to going back to regular times and planning the next steps of ADOR Jewels in a normal environment.
What is the biggest challenge you are facing as an entrepreneur right now?
We are two full-time university students that are pursuing our degree during COVID. Therefore, every day is a challenge to maintain ADOR Jewels. Aside from being busy with studying, we also work part-time jobs. As a result, time management and consistency are the main challenges for us. We would love to post more pictures, stories, videos, and this balance between school-work-entrepreneur life and the progress of ameliorating soon.
Moreover, our sale does fluctuate often. At times we will receive many order placements while other weeks are prolonged. We understand that with the pandemic, it is a natural effect; however, with the increase in consistency, we do believe that we will be able to reach a wider audience!
As our company is based on Instagram, we also want to find ways to communicate with our followers and clients on a more personal level therefore, we are definitely in the works to have a better interaction/communication/social media posting soon!
What is your everyday routine like now (in terms of work)?
Now, we dedicated little time to ADOR Jewels daily. When we have some free time, we focus on taking pictures of our Instagram page, create some cute content for our stories/reel or TikTok and do some behind-the-scenes research on new jewelry launches. Moreover, we answer clients’ and influencers our DMs and emails as quickly as possible.
The exact amount of time we spend on ADOR Jewels varies every day, but we are always trying our best to improve for the coming days!
Do you have advice for other entrepreneurs trying to start their business at such a young age?
We believe that starting a small business is a big step and a challenge. We underestimated the amount of time that should be dedicated to ADOR Jewels. However, we do not regret a single second of this journey. We do believe that launching our company when we did, was the perfect timing for us. We are working as independent young female entrepreneurs and learn from our mistakes every day.
We believe that if someone has the motivation and the means to pursue a passion, then go for it! There will never be a “perfect time,” but it is your responsibility to find the perfect time for yourself. The other important aspect to understand is not to give up! Making mistakes and learning from them eventually is also part of the process. Instead of thinking of the “negative” obstacles, always look at the accomplishments, small wins, and hard work that helped you reach where you are today! Challenging yourself is an excellent quality to have, and it is better to put yourself out there rather than having regrets or “what ifs” scenarios in the future.
We emphasize that believing in yourself is the best thing that you can do.
To hop onto this small business journey, you can follow them on Instagram @adorjewels_ –
Author: Ravleen Bali, Content Writer for Onside Media, Canada. If you have any stories or comments to share, kindly email: –ravleenbali1993@gmail.com
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