From Hiding to Thriving: How One Jewelry Designer Rewired Her Mind for Success with Shirley Larkan
When Success Feels Heavy, It's Time to Transform
What do you do when the business you once loved starts feeling like a burden? When you're attracting all the wrong clients and success feels impossibly out of reach?
For Shirley Larkan, a jewelry designer from South Africa, the answer came at 53 – what she calls her “FU 50s” – when she decided it was time to stop hiding and start thriving.
The Weight of Playing Small
Shirley had all the skills. She'd managed high-end jewelry stores, worked with million-dollar pieces, and had the business acumen to turn around underperforming locations. But in her own business, she was stuck in a cycle of self-sabotage.
“I think I had almost been creating certain situations so that I could almost abdicate responsibility,” Shirley admits. She was unconsciously preventing her own success, hiding behind fear instead of stepping into her power.
Sound familiar? Many creative entrepreneurs find themselves in this exact spot – talented, capable, but somehow unable to break through their own internal barriers.
The Breakthrough: Taking Full Responsibility
Everything shifted when Shirley joined the Art of Reinvention program and made a decision that changed everything: she would take full responsibility for her outcomes and stop the 53 years of limiting patterns that were holding her back.
She stopped blaming circumstances, quit playing small, and refused to create situations that would justify her lack of success.
The results? Immediate and transformational. She started quoting through reputable workshops instead of doing all the manufacturing herself, transformed her pricing approach, and watched clients say yes without hesitation.
From Manufacturing to Meaning
But the real transformation wasn't just about money – it was about alignment. Shirley discovered her true calling: creating custom talismans and meaningful jewelry that helps people mark important life transitions.
She now takes clients through an intensive, multi-part journey involving guided meditations, symbol selection, and deep personal work to create one-of-a-kind pieces that serve as physical reminders of their inner strength and transformation.
The Ripple Effect of Courage
Today, Shirley is attracting safari lodges as clients, training jewelry sales teams at Victoria Falls, and feeling excited about her business again. But more importantly, she's living proof that it's never too late to stop hiding and start thriving.
As she puts it: “We are all entitled to live these incredible, vast, beautiful, vibrant lives full of great experiences and grand adventures, but only we can make it happen. And also, only we can prevent it from happening.”
Ready to stop getting in your own way? Listen to the full episode to hear Shirley's complete transformation story and discover what becomes possible when you claim your worth.
xo, Tracy
Sponsor Spotlight!
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Links in this episode:
Follow @larkan_bespoke on Instagram
Free Live Vision Mapping Session: Your Next Chapter
The Art of Reinvention Program
Buy My Book: The Desired Brand Effect