Rachel and Omar Ajaj: The Generational Mindset That Drives a Family-Run Jewelry and Lifestyle Brand

As a part of our series about 5 Things You Need To Run A Highly Successful Family Business, I had the pleasure of interviewing Rachel and Omar Ajaj.

Omar Ajaj and Rachel Ajaj are a husband-wife duo and the founders of Air & Anchor, an American-made jewelry and lifestyle brand designed to celebrate life’s everyday moments. Fusing their passion for vintage craftsmanship with functionality, their jewelry is made in their family-owned Cranston, Rhode Island factory, originally founded by Rachel’s grandfather in the 1960s. In addition to designing and manufacturing their signature jewelry styles, Air & Anchor partners with locally-based artisans and craftspeople to create lifestyle goods to further support their mission, and enhance the small moments.

http://AirandAnchor.com

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

(Rachel) My path into my career some would say was my destiny. I am a third generation jewelry designer and grew up in the same factory where we produce our goods for Air & Anchor. Although creating and manufacturing is in my blood, that wasn’t the case for my husband and partner in crime. Omar is the brains behind the operation. His career started in a completely different type of atmosphere — a financial institution — which led him into international sales, and then, running all sales and distribution for his last company. Perfect background for our new adventure together!

Can you tell us a bit about your family business and your role in it?

Our family business is Air & Anchor. Rachel is the co-founder and leads the design and manufacturing side of the business. Omar is the co-founder, leading the operations and business side. We have three little kiddos: Penny, Ralston, and Quinton. Our family factory is the same factory that Rachel’s grandfather started back in 1966. Although we are a husband and wife team, we also consider our employees as family.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began this career?

We launched our brand in April 2020, right at the beginning of COVID! There is nothing like gearing up with a new website, products, and packaging to all of a sudden be hit with a global pandemic.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

(Rachel) One of the funny but not-so-funny stories from when we first started is that we were super busy so I was trying to help ship orders. After I shipped and the postman came, we realized I had shipped a few thousand dollars worth of orders to the same customers. The problem was we couldn’t figure out who because all the orders were picked up and mailed. It was then I realized I needed to stick with the creative side of the business.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

We are a small family business. We put our customers at the center of every decision we make. We make jewelry and found that many of our customers wanted custom lengths in our necklaces, so we accommodate their requests whenever possible. We love to hear ideas and feedback and use that information when planning future launches.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

Yes! We are starting to work with different types of metals, including Sterling Silver, and Stainless Steel. We are constantly improving our craft and really feel like we nailed these new collections.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

(Rachel) Couldn’t agree more, and we have been lucky enough to have many people behind us including our team. My grandfather Ralph Rafaelian really set the stage for a lot of what we do today. Not only did he teach me everything I know about creating products and manufacturing in the USA, but he gave us so much inspiration around our family factory. Many of the stones he bought back in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s are still materials that we reset and use today.

Another huge force behind our success was our family friend Ron, the founder of Ouellette Industries and a tremendous resource in the manufacturing industry. When you first start a business, sometimes the people you count on don’t step up to the plate. Ron was the complete opposite. He was there and is still there for us. He has been in this business for a very long time and knows everyone. He is always pointing us in the best directions or making a call for us to get a project done. He has encouraged us even when we thought we couldn’t keep going. He gives us all of his love and support and asks for nothing in return. He has taught us what being a true business man or woman is, and we are so thankful for him! Our kids even know Ron as our work guardian angel.

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

(Rachel) We make all of our goods here in the USA. We are lucky to live in Rhode Island, the jewelry capital of the world, and with that comes many other generational local family businesses that we support. We also have established our Give A Cuff® fundraising program, where we team up with local and national charities to support an initiative or project. The organization sets a project goal, and we sell custom cuffs that donate 68% back to the organization. Omar and I sometimes laugh that it’s probably not the best business decision, but it just feels right.

Ok thank you for that. Let’s now pivot to the main parts of our interview. How do you define a family business? How is a family business different from a regular business?

(Rachel) A family business is predicated on myself and my husband being 100% dedicated to this business, with a vision to pass it down to our kids one day. A family business is focused on sustainability and hiring the community around us, not just chasing top-line revenue.

In your opinion or experience, what are the unique advantages that family owned businesses have?

A unique advantage of a family-owned business is that when life gets crazy, we can pivot and bring the kids to work. Sometimes the 9–5 Monday to Friday just isn’t enough time, but it’s nice to know our family factory is a second home for us and the kids.

What are the unique drawbacks or blindspots that family owned businesses have?

A drawback of a family business is that it can be hard to separate “church and state.” Often we talk business at the dinner table, driving in the car, or during date nights. It’s not such a bad thing when you love what you do! The misconception of having free time and managing your own schedule is a myth — it’s a 24/7 job.

What are some of the common mistakes you have seen family businesses make? What would you recommend to avoid those errors?

Once you bring in outside investors, it is no longer a family business. We recommend going slow and steady. Bringing in outside investors is never a bad thing; they bring funding, knowledge, and networks that aren’t accessible to everyone. But when your focus is on a generational business, it is hard not to create a gray area when taking outside funding.

What advice would you give to other CEOs or founders of family businesses to help their employees to thrive?

We recommend constantly talking to your employees, finding out what they really love to do and building the job around that. Someone may be amazing at something, but that is not what they are passionate about. Your employees are the key to your success and having a team that loves what they do will help everyone thrive. Empower them in their positions, support them, and avoid micromanagement when possible (as a small business you don’t really have time for that!).

How do you define “Leadership”? Can you explain what you mean with a story or example?

To be a leader means to have a clear vision of what the mission is, a vision that is so clear that you can lead others to the same belief. Leadership is not only showing the team that you’re 100% vested in the success of the business but also vested in them. To a leader, there should be no “job” that is beneath you. A leader understands they do not know everything and finds experts to surround themselves with, but also continually learns to improve themselves. Leaders will constantly push themselves out of their comfort zone, creating new challenges every day. Leaders are always thinking of how they can improve, and they love the journey.

Here is our main question. What are the “5 Things You Need To Run A Highly Successful Family Business”? Please share a story or example for each.

1. Love your product/service: You will be living and breathing what you are building. If you don’t love what you’re putting out from a product/service standpoint, how would you expect anyone else to? Sometimes the need to chase a trend will put you down a path that doesn’t make sense for your business. We say that we make things we love, then we sell them to customers.
2. Authenticity: This is the key to everything. When you’re authentic, you become relatable and also don’t have to live two lives. Being YOU in your business, both behind the scenes and to your customers, there is huge value in that.
3. Patience: Nothing happens overnight. It is going to take a lot of time and energy to build what you dream up. If you look for a shortcut or a quick solution, you will be very disappointed. Time is everything, and that includes timing. One day you may want to give up but you could be so close to that sale, that article, that product, that changes everything.
4. Listen: Staying focused is key but running with blinders on won’t benefit your business. Listen to your employees, and listen to your customers, because they are looking at your business through different lenses which can help you. Whether it’s product ideas or problems you didn’t notice, there is value in what they have to say that can help you succeed.
5. Discipline: It takes so much discipline to run a family business. Some days you are just exhausted, but you need to stay consistent every day. Just like anything else, discipline is what separates you from everyone else. For any person that has become successful, fit, educated, etc. the common factor is a core philosophy of discipline. There are no excuses of “I am too tired, there is not enough time, etc.” If you focus on your goal and every day you make an effort, that gets you one step closer. Yes, we all get tired, and it’s ok that today wasn’t your best, but you still showed up and that is huge.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them :-)

Doug Bihlmaier. Why? Because he is the king of cool and vintage. We have a big soft spot for both of those things and intertwine that in our company. He has seen it all, built it all, and continues to dig and find treasures across the globe. He is a man who helped define and style Ralph Lauren and is currently focused on curating vintage. Plus, he seems like a guy we could sit around with for hours, hearing amazing stories of his travels as we drink coffees that later become glasses of scotch.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

A movement that would bring the greatest amount of good would be something we live every day at Air & Anchor. We have a slogan, to slow down and enjoy the sh*t that matters. We realized after leaving our corporate careers that life goes by way too quickly. We were always focused on the end goal, the big achievement. We don’t mean to sit around and be lazy, that’s for sure. What we want people to do is to move past what doesn’t suit you and focus on those small moments in your day that bring you joy. It’s very simple occurrences (such as a cup of coffee, a good conversation, a song you have to sing along to, etc.) that happen all the time that go unnoticed, but if you lean into them they create a very full life. Everyone chases a handful of momentous events: getting married, birth of a child, a trip around the world, but imagine if that’s all you had to look forward to. When you ask an older person what the most impactful moment in their life is, it is always something simple, like a dinner, or fishing with an uncle. So instead of reflecting on these moments in old age, we need to recognize them now and enjoy them to the fullest.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Website: http://AirandAnchor.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/airandanchor/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/airandanchor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/airandanchor

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@airanchor5842

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/air-and-anchor/

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.