Delta and Co. jewellery: Woman’s $94k revenge on internet trolls - NEWS.com.au

Brisbane woman Pinar Parry was in a personal slump when she came up with the business idea that would turn her life around.

The mum was dealing with an ailing business and had put on weight due to stress several years ago.

“I went through a really hard time trying to grow my business and my whole life went to sh*t,” she told news.com.au.

“I wasn’t looking after myself, I put on weight, and I wasn’t living my best life.

“I started looking at what had gone wrong, and I was reading a lot of psychology books about how to find your passion and purpose. I learnt so many new ideas, and I thought it would be great to wear something to remind you to live your best life every day.”

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And so the idea behind Delta and Co was born — a jewellery company which produces delicate bracelets engraved with straight-talking “truth bombs” and phrases designed to inspire the wearer.

It officially launched in January 2016 as a side hustle, while Mrs Parry was pregnant with her third child.

At that time, her husband Anthony was often away as a FIFO worker, and Mrs Parry struggled to juggle her hectic family life with her growing business.

For 12 months, Delta and Co products were sold at pop up stores and events but last November, Mrs Parry realised it was time to go “all in” and focus solely on the business.

Her husband quit his FIFO job and joined the company full-time, and they soon “started to find their stride” through Facebook ads.

But then the abuse began.

“I started running Facebook ads as a way of marketing and I noticed some comments on the ads saying I’d copied the quotes from another business,” the 39-year-old said.

“They started popping up every day and at the beginning I addressed them nicely and diplomatically, and then I started deleting them.

“But eventually I decided to address them full-on.”

In a post which soon went viral, Mrs Parry explained the business was “100 per cent original” and that its branding and quotes had been inspired by her own experiences.

“ … if you are going to let yourself be bullied by random people on the internet you won’t survive in business, or in life for very long,” Mrs Parry wrote in her viral post.

“If you let yourself get pushed around and listen to every a**hole with a two-bit opinion about what you SHOULD or SHOULDN’T be doing, you are simply NOT going to make it.

“It’s your life and you need to defend your right to exist, to shine, to grow, fiercely. And no one is going to step in and do that for you, but you.”

The post soon attracted thousands of likes, comments and shares, with many Facebook users praising Mrs Parry for fighting back against trolls.

“The story about haters trying to hurt my business resonated with people,” she said, noting the post had led to a big spike in sales.

“The haters f***ed up — it ended up turning things from lemons to lemonade because I spun it around and sold so many (bracelets) just by telling my authentic story.

“Being authentic about who you are really resonates, rather than just saying ‘buy my sh*t’ — that doesn’t work.”

View this post on Instagram

I spoke in my stories today about the rule of life, “Don’t Outshine The Master”. . The story idea came after I got blocked by a couple of businesses who also sell jewellery on Instagram. And it got me wondering why on earth they would block a little business like mine, especially given the huge number of followings they have, the fact that our product doesn’t look squat like theirs, and while operating within a different market. . It got me thinking about a rule I learnt while working in the corporate world and business, a rule that is just as applicable today as it was back in the olden days. The rule “Don’t outshine the master” . It’s a rule that we all know about but it isn’t spoken about openly, as it makes us feel petty and yucky, a part of human nature we don’t want to acknowledge. . A rule that defines the power plays within society and our interactions with others, whether in business, the corporate world, or even within families. . There is always a MASTER - the head of the pack, who has risen the ranks and holds the position of power. . We all know them, it could be your boss, the matriarch of a family, a more established business or a social media star. . And these people, are generally quiet insecure in their position, as they are fully aware that there are other people vying for their spot at the top, trying to de-throne them, and topple their stranglehold. . And it’s been like this since the dawn of time! . The King back in the day were very insecure individuals and routinely chopped peoples heads off or exiled them if they got too cocky or began to outshine them. So being a rising star within the kingdom was a precarious position, you wanted to shine and grow but without garnering dangerous attention from those above you. Or watch out! . Fast forward 1000s of years, people haven’ t change AT ALL. . We are still as insecure as ever and threatened by upstarts (“newbies”) who are starting to shine. . And us upstarts? What are we to do? . Well, upstarts by nature can be a little naive (from lack of life experience). (Post continued in comments).....

A post shared by Delta & Co - Pinar (@deltaandco) on Aug 7, 2018 at 6:25pm PDT

Mrs Parry said she was proud of the fact she had overcome the abuse, but said it had been a horrific experience.

“It was a small group of people — the same people commenting again and again — and one of them even messaged me and told me to go f**k myself,” she said.

“We were a small business — my husband had just quit his job, I had a new baby, and we’d been … trying to make it work, attending events with a baby in our arms.

“To have them attack me really riled me up. I tried the diplomatic route but in the end I blasted back and people loved that. Being real can help a business grow instead of being very politically correct all the time.”

These days, Delta and Co is going from strength to strength, with Mrs Parry often struggling to keep up with demand for stock.

View this post on Instagram

This is a photo of me at the Mind Body Spirit festival in Sydney getting ready to display our Delta Bands. . Benny was only 3 months old at the time and exclusively breastfed. I had left my other 2 primary school aged kids with their grandmother for 5 days so we could attend this event. . We took turns walking Benny around the city in 3 hr blocks, bringing him back to me for a quick feed and then back on the streets again. . I remember at the time thinking, fuck I can’t believe I am doing this, my body hurt, the days on the stand were long, and Benny was hating being out on the streets so much. But I had talked my husband into leaving his remote mining job to help me grow this business and with no regular income coming in, we needed to sell sell sell to keep afloat. Mortgages, school fees, 5 mouths to feed - it all had to be paid. And if that meant dragging baby along to events like this, so be it. . Crazy? Stupid? Or just a dreamer? Time will tell. . Sometimes you have to risk it all for a dream only you can see. 🙏

A post shared by Delta & Co - Pinar (@deltaandco) on Jul 23, 2018 at 2:37pm PDT

In September, the company made around $30,000 in sales, which doubled to $70,000 in October.

This month, it has already reached more than $94,000 and based on current figures, it is now on track to turn over $3 million annually.

The business’s bestsellers in 2018 have been its “F***ing fierce” and “F*”k what they think” bands.

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