2023 Reflections:
Working Smarter, Not Harder

Time flies, and exceptionally fast during the holiday season. If you’ve been following me for any length of time, you probably know that journaling is a staple in my personal wellness practice. Putting pen to paper brings clarity, serves as a catalyst for ideas to take shape and gives new insights a place to grow roots.

I think best of all, a reflection practice offers a deep feeling of gratitude to look back on later. So, as I originally sat down to bid 2023 farewell, I wanted to take a beat to celebrate the highs, learn from the lows and honor all the milestones we’d reached in between.

Looking back now, I think the theme was pretty clear: 2023 was the year I began learning how to work smarter, not harder.

Learning to Trust the Team I Built

When I began this business more than 18 years earlier, I had no idea it would blossom into what it had become by 2023. What started as a one-woman show in my bedroom in San Francisco had become an epic team of like-minded, hard-working and independent women.

From design to delivery, we do it all, with each piece made by hand by our small production team. When you find the right people and let them do their thing, the results are truly astounding. As a small team, every skill set goes a long way, and I was so grateful for the creativity, curiosity and strong work ethic that kept us tied together.

I could honestly say I had the dream team, and that made all the difference to CMD’s success.

I was also extremely proud of the longevity within that team. At the time I wrote this, Sam had been with CMD for 7+ years, Kelsey for 6+ years, Aryana for 8+ years and Jill for 2+ years. Oh, and Miglia, our team mascot, had been my faithful companion and co-worker for five years. When people visited the studio, Migs greeted everyone with a wildly wagging tail. She went with me everywhere and rocked our signature brand colors 24/7. That’s my baby, Migs!

I also held such a deep love and appreciation for all the incredible people who helped hold this company up from the outside in. These people make up what I like to call The Extended CMD Family: family, friends and customers who feel like family. I’m always so touched by the people who support us from afar, share feedback and encourage us to keep doing what we love.

If you’re reading these words, I’m still speaking directly to you. Your support means the world to us.

Working Smarter, Not Harder

For much of my career, I was spread thin, running ragged while growing CMD from the ground up. In 2023, I started trying to work with more intention and focus more energy on fewer things.

It was a work in progress, but we were seeing better results and, quite frankly, I was enjoying myself a little more too.

One place that showed up very clearly was in how we approached new jewelry. Rather than always feeling pressure to launch large collections, we started releasing smaller groups and more individual designs. Many of those pieces went on to become some of our most-loved designs.

Making More Space for Creativity

As a designer, the joy and fulfillment that comes with unveiling new pieces is like no other. A big part of creative discipline is building the time, space and means to create into my everyday routines.

I’ve found that the more consistent I am with solo studio time, the more likely it is that the good ideas can actually come to life. It’s a crap shoot sometimes, but I keep pushing forward whether I’ve got new ideas or not.

I learned a long time ago that perfectionist tendencies have no business in this process. I like to call it the creativity roller coaster. You’ve gotta stay on and just keep riding.

By then, I had also started devoting much more time and energy to product development. That’s where Sam comes in. Every Tuesday, we meet to review my sketches and ideas so we can begin sampling new pieces.

The Little Heart That Became a Big Hit

During one of our first product development meetings of 2023, I told Sam about an idea I had for a subtle heart necklace inspired by some of the sketches I often include on my handwritten notes.

In all the years I’d been designing jewelry, I had never been compelled to design a heart-shaped anything. We got to work right away in hopes of launching it in time for Valentine’s Day.

The Spread the Love Necklace was only intended to be a limited release, and I was blown away seeing how popular it became. It became the #1 best-seller of 2023 and one of those designs that proved exactly why smaller, more focused launches could work so well.

What began as a tiny drawing from my handwritten notes found a permanent life in the CMD collection. I love when that happens.

Creating Jewelry That Tells Your Story

In April, we launched what was then called The Imprinted Collection, beginning with personalized designs including The Storybook Necklace and The Page Stud Earrings.

As the CMD collection has grown over the years, some pieces take much longer than others to design. The concepts materialize, but then come the piles of iterations before the finished piece is truly ready to unveil. This little group was concise, but it felt like one of the most special things in my repertoire and took more than a year to develop.

These personalized, heirloom-quality pieces were intended to hold onto some of the most meaningful memories, beings and places in your life. I wanted them to feel like a small extension of the imprint each and every one of us leaves on the world as we walk through life and write our own stories.

Yours is worth telling and treasuring.

That idea has continued to evolve at CMD, and today you’ll find the Storybook and other customizable, symbolic designs within our Petite Symbols Collection.

Going Big With The Rogue Ring

The Silver Rogue Ring had made its debut in 2022 and quickly became a best-seller, so in June 2023 I had to release it in solid 14k too.

The 14k Rogue Ring is a 12mm-wide, dense statement ring available in our signature shapes. It was the ultimate statement piece and a personal favorite from the beginning.

I wrote at the time, “I’m never taking mine off. I’m obsessed!”

That feels especially appropriate paired with the photo on this refreshed post. Some things really do stick.

An Infinity Symbol Becomes Jewelry

In July, The Infinity Necklace was born.

This design holds a very special place in my heart. You can read more about my love of the infinity symbol and what it means to me here.

I designed it as a sweet and subtle symbol of something without a defined ending, whether that makes you think about a person you love, the cycle of life or simply the things we carry with us.

Building The Zodiac Series

2023 was also the year we established The Zodiac Series, a special Ring Bar within The Celestial Collection.

Every ring in the series was inspired by the unique traits of a zodiac sign, and I have to nod to Kelsey here. She’s not only our web and marketing gal but also a serious astrology person, and this project began with her vision.

What started as a growing capsule collection has continued expanding over the years. It became a creative exercise in translating personality, symbolism and astrological archetypes into metal, and it pushed us into design territory we hadn’t explored before.

That year reminded me how much stronger ideas can become when everyone on a small team is willing to bring their own weird little areas of expertise to the table.

Letting New Ideas Be Experiments

It was incredibly rewarding to challenge ourselves as a team to bring new designs from concept to reality more efficiently and pull more of what we needed to launch them in-house, including product photography and hand modeling.

Most of what launched that year was a direct result of every member of the team being willing to try new things and improve through deliberate practice.

Happy Hour was another important part of that experimentation. What began during the pandemic had evolved into one of my favorite ways to test new ideas, play with limited-edition ring and bracelet designs and see what resonated with you before deciding whether something deserved a larger place in the collection.

I love having spaces within the business where not every idea has to arrive carrying the pressure of permanence. Sometimes we get to make something, put it into the world and see what happens.

Working Smarter Also Meant Taking Breaks

Looking ahead as the founder of CMD, I’m always contemplating where we’re heading and how we’re going to get there. Growth continually brings new challenges, and 2023 was no different. I was constantly looking at the bigger picture, the health of the team and ways to improve how we worked.

Being a small team means we all wear many hats, and it had become increasingly apparent that we ALL needed more vacation time.

So at the start of 2023, I made a pact with myself to find more ways for the entire team to unplug. We inaugurated an official CMD Summer Break and an extended Winter Break, when the whole team could take vacation and allow ourselves to hit pause.

For a person who spent so many years believing that the answer was always to work more, that was a pretty meaningful change.

Working smarter wasn't just about becoming more efficient. It was learning that rest could also be part of the work.

Looking Back at 2023

As hard as my team and I work, I do have to stop and occasionally pinch myself just to make sure I’m not dreaming. I’m so proud that I’ve been able to manifest my CMD vision into this reality. I’m amazed by how far we’ve come and confident in the direction we’re headed.

I feel unbelievably grateful to be a working artist, designer and entrepreneur. I’m proud of all the years of hard work and dedication it took to get here, and endlessly grateful for a team that continues to blow my mind.

Rereading this from a few years farther down the road, I think the lesson of 2023 still holds up pretty damn well. More isn't always better. Bigger isn't always better. Sometimes the smartest thing you can do is narrow your focus, trust the people around you, leave some breathing room and give the best ideas enough space to actually become something.

From the bottom of my heart, thank YOU for following along and for believing in me... in us. I love you all so much and couldn’t do this without you.

With so much gratitude,
Colleen

 

© Colleen Mauer Designs. All rights reserved.
Published: December 21, 2023
Updated: August 22, 2026