Kristin Cavallari on starting Uncommon James, the tough reality of running a business, and how much money she started with

Have you ever wondered how Kristin Cavallari started Uncommon James and exactly what goes into starting a business? She’s letting you in on all the details, down to the nitty gritty money figures, of what it takes to get started and maintain a successful business. Originally from her Let’s Be Honest podcast, we’re breaking down her founder story here on Finer Things. 

Let's start from the very beginning. Kristin Cavallari launched Uncommon James in 2017 without a business plan. “In hindsight, should I maybe have put some more thought into it? Maybe,” Kristin said. “But I really have always taken the stance that I'm someone who acts on gut instinct. And when I have an idea, I just go. I feel like I'm unstoppable and I don't wait for the world to tell me that I should or shouldn't do it.”  

But before we get too far, let’s take it even further back to see what Kristin was doing before launching Uncommon James. She previously had a jewelry line with one of her good friends, but she wanted to do even more. She also had a shoe line at the time with Chinese Laundry, which showed her that she knew what consumers wanted and what styles to lean into. 

“I had this fire in me to prove to everybody, and maybe prove to myself, that I knew what I was talking about in the branding world, that I could in fact do this and do it really well,” Kristin said. 

It was then that she decided to launch Uncommon James, she just needed a manufacturer and a website. That was it. Kristin created the first collection, which consisted of about 10 pieces. 

At the same time, her friend bought her out of the previous jewelry line she worked on for $50,000. “I'll share these numbers with you because I think if you are launching a business, these numbers are important,” she said. “You kind of need to know what you're getting into.” 

Kristin took that $50,000 and used it to launch Uncommon James. A bulk of that money was used to fund the very first brand campaign shoot, which she shared were roughly $20,000 shoots.

“You are selling an idea, you are selling an image essentially of subconsciously saying ‘if you buy this jewelry, you'll look like this,’ that’s what I’ve always thought,” she said. “I knew how important the photoshoot was, especially because it was the first time people were going to see Uncommon James.”