Caroline Carlton is the owner and founder of Forever Linked, a permanent jewelry business in Middle Georgia. Carlton opened up her jewelry business in September of 2022 and is based in Macon.

“Permanent jewelry is the hottest trend in jewelry right now, ” Carlton said.  

Statistics from the U.S. Businesses Census found that 75% of businesses in Macon are small businesses.

“My initial startup costs were about $2,500. And that included a training and my welding machine, as well as like my starting chains. And I funded that just personally,” Carlton said.

According to a 2021 study by the U.S. Small Business Administration, Georgia has 1.1 million small businesses which make up 99.6 percent of Georgia’s businesses. The administration defines a small business as any business with less than 500 employees.

Carton has since made back her initial investment but has to keep spending money because she wants to serve the community well. Initially, she was just doing permanent jewelry that consisted of sterling silver and 14-karat gold chains. She’s since expanded her inventory by adding class jewelry and solid gold jewelry.

The 2021 U.S. Small Business Administration study also found that women make up 45.8 percent of small business owners in Georgia.

“I have a full-time job. So, I do this small business on the side of my full-time job. So that’s hard, just kind of juggling time and making sure I’m putting enough into the business. And then second to that another big challenge is just learning,” Carlton said.

Another small female-owned business in Macon is Gallery West, which is owned by Kirsten West. Gallery West is a photoshop on 447 Third St. The shop mostly sells the work of photographer Kirk West, but his wife runs the storefront as the only employee.

West said and her husband decided to open up the gallery originally as a “pop-up” shop just for the Christmas holidays. That was in January 2015, and they are excited to celebrate eight years in 2023.

“Initially, I thought I would do it for about six months. And of course, that was eight years ago. So, that was the start of it, you know…my husband had all these photographs that no one had ever seen,” West said. 

According to the 2021 U.S. Small Business Administration study, small businesses owned by females with no employees numbered around 416,000. 

“Every year I say is this the year I’m gonna retire and not do this anymore. But because Macon is a city that is so immersed in the music history here. And of course, with all my husband’s music photography, and all the tourism, it makes sense to stay open.” West said

Even though these two women are the only employees at their respective small businesses, they still find a way to serve the community, rather it is through photography or jewelry. 

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