- Jewelry business success moment

- What's new at Home Jewelry Business Success Tips

- Having a profitable jewelry trunk show

- Neat jewelry-related website to visit

I'd like to start out this issue with an inspiring jewelry business success moment, emailed to me by Gracye:

“Hello Rena,

Thanks to information you provided on your website, I had a very successful home jewelry show last month. I was very anxious at first, but the tips you offered helped me to relax. Would you consider $2,800 a successful home show???

Thanks,
Gracye”

Yes, I consider $2,800 to be a VERY successful home show! Way to go, Gracye, and thank you for letting me share your success story. :o)

If you have a jewelry business success moment to share, please e-mail it to me.

Thanks in advance for sharing your inspiring jewelry moments!

I've been busy adding lots of goodies to the site these past few weeks! In addition to a Jewelry Business Blog, we have two new sections – Jewelry Publications and Selling Jewelry on eBay.

Jewelry Business Blog - This neat section is a weblog of jewelry business tips, recommended resources, questions, answers, news, and more. I invite you to add entries to the blog whenever you have a tip, a resource to share, etc. And you'll want to stop in and check the blog often for the newest entries!

Jewelry Publications – Can you pass up jewelry making books and magazines? I can't. You should see my personal library of them! :o) The colorful, glossy photos . . . the intriguing project instructions . . . the inspiring profiles of other jewelry artists . . . !

Anyway, for the jewelry publication addicts among us, this new section has a page on Jewelry Making Books (with a selection of tempting new books that's dynamically updated by Amazon) and another on Jewelry and Beading Magazines.

Selling Jewelry on eBay – What you need to know to profit from buying or selling jewelry or jewelry supplies on eBay. To make your eBaying faster and more profitable, I've included a list of eBay management software and other resources, many of which are free.

The articles in this section are written by veteran eBayer Cheryl Coccaro, author of Easy Internet Selling and creator of the My Perfect Ear earring display. Cheryl will be adding an article to our Selling Jewelry on eBay section once a week or so.

A trunk show is a good opportunity to sell your jewelry and get established with a shop that may want to carry your jewelry line. If you've ever been to an author book-signing event at a bookstore, that will give you an idea of what a jewelry trunk show is like.

When a shop agrees to host a trunk show featuring you and your jewelry, they're basically giving you the opportunity to do a one-person show. You'll set up your display inside the shop on the designated day, similar to setting up your booth at a show. Often a trunk show display is placed near the shop's entrance to help lure passersby into the shop.

Usually the store takes a percentage of your trunk show sales as a commission for hosting and promoting the event.

How do you have a successful trunk show? The main thing is to get as much traffic to the shop as possible during your show. Encourage the shop owner to send a postcard or email to their customer list, and to run an advertisement in the newspaper or other media. If the shop is in or near your town, ask the owner to send a postcard to your customer list as well. Give the shop owner some artwork of your jewelry so they can use it in their ads. Ask whether they would prefer a jpg or gif file of photo(s) of your jewelry, or artwork that's already printed.

During your trunk show, remember that you're representing both the shop and yourself to the public. If you're working toward getting the shop to carry your jewelry, do everything possible to make your trunk show a pleasant and profitable event for the shop owner.

Survey the customers who spend a moment or two at your display – what jewelry styles, colors, and sizes are they looking for? By finding out this information, you'll be able to target the pieces you sell or consign to that shop, and their sales of your jewelry should be higher because of that targeting.

Visit JayChantell Studio Designs, handmade lampwork beads by Jocelyn and Alex Pappadakis. In addition to enjoying their incredible handmade beads, take the opportunity to notice what a neat, clean layout their website has. It's friendly and professional at the same time. Also have fun watching them make beads via their web cam, and sign up for free giveaways of their gorgeous lampwork beads.