December 03, 2009
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Welcome!
Do you tend to seriously under-estimate how much time it will take you to do things?
I sure do!
For quite a while I had wanted to give my Jewelry Display Ideas website a nicer, more professional look.
I really wanted to make the site worthy of all the wonderful jewelry display and packaging photos and projects you all so generously send in for me to publish!
So I thought, well let's see - redesigning an entire website and reformatting every page will take, what, a weekend? No problem!
:o)
It actually took about a week of full-time work (and re-adjustment of my brain) to change it from an HTML-based website to a CSS-based design. But I did it!
And now I'm pleased to unveil the new, improved Jewelry Display Ideas website.
I hope you find it easier to use and more pleasant to look at.
At some point in the near future, I'm going to do similar updates and reformatting of my other two websites (Home Jewelry Business Success Tips and Making Jewelry Now).
I just have to plan for that to take 4 times longer than I think it will!
~ Rena
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In this Issue of
Jewelry Business Success News:
- Quick Tip: Keep the Germs Away at Shows
- New Jewelry Business Ideas and Techniques:
- 7 new jewelry business ideas
- 4 new jewelry display / packaging ideas
- 1 new jewelry-making tip / inspiration
- 8 new highlights from the handmade jewelry gallery - Your Profitable Jewelry Business:
An Unexpected Blessing at a Holiday Craft Show
(a true Christmas story) - Neat Jewelry-Related Website:
Itty Bitty Clippy
Quick Tip:
Keep the Germs Away at Shows
I think we're all more conscious about keeping our hands and other surfaces germ-free this season!
Here's a quick, cheap way to make a big ziplock bag full of alcohol wipes that you can use to clean and disinfect surfaces at all the shows you do:
Buy a large container of baby wipes, and put a big stack of them inside a quart-sized ziplock bag.
Pour about 1/4 cup of rubbing alcohol into the bag. Swirl it around and squish it thoroughly all through the stack of baby wipes.
Seal the bag tightly until you're ready to use them.
Use these alcohol wipes liberally during and after your shows to disinfect your mirrors, pens, displays, and any other surfaces people touch.
Use them on your own hands regularly, and also offer them to your customers - who tend to greatly appreciate the opportunity to disinfect their hands during the show as well!
Don't worry about looking "germophobic". In this cold and flu season, people like to shop where they see a vendor who's conscientious about disinfecting things!
Sell Your Jewelry Like Crazy
at Shows, Fairs, and Festivals
Discover hundreds of things you can do to sell more of your handmade jewelry at shows, in my book Ultimate Guide to Your Profitable Jewelry Booth.
Get this 176-page, step-by-step resource before your next show.
New Jewelry Business
Ideas and Techniques
from My Websites and Blog:
Jewelry Business Ideas:
- Advice from My First Wholesale Trade Show
After exhibiting in her first wholesale trade show, Judith Bright took a moment to jot down everything she'd just learned about doing wholesale shows. Here she shares her valuable insights with us. - Building Your Jewelry Business with the Help of Others
Discover Dee Gordon's smart, easy ways to network and connect with new jewelry customers continually. - Scissor Charms
Kathleen Davis shares a clever new market niche for charm dangles. - Holiday Ornaments? Holiday Blues
Please share your tips and ideas for Molly Hansen, who's been struggling to help her mother launch an online business for her beaded holiday ornaments. - Unexpected Surprise
Suzan Evans' story of the serendipities that led her from illness to becoming an accomplished jewelry artist. - Combining Resources to Advertise Your Jewelry Business for Less
Helen Gilson invites you to participate in the Wall of Jewels advertising group - a gathering of jewelry artists who join forces to advertise their businesses at lower cost. - "Itza Girl Thing Creations" is Born
Please share your feedback about the new online jewelry business started by Pat Mulock and her sister Pam.
Jewelry Display and Packaging Ideas:
- Solar Lights for Your Jewelry Booth
Discover solar lights - a great new option for jewelry display lighting, especially when your booth has no electricity. At the end of this article, Virginia Vivier offers jewelry artists a special 25% discount coupon for solar booth lights. - Folding Jewelry Display Shelf
Geri's cool shabby-chic display shelf gets your jewelry up off the table so customers can see it, and is easy to transport to shows. - Design a Gift Box to Match Your Jewelry
See the lovely box Joan Williams designed to gift-wrap her Victorian Flower Garden bracelet. A nice idea for packaging your special creations! - A New Approach - Jewelry Business Card Re-design
See how Mechelle Fox's Polymer Clay Eclectic card has evolved - thanks to your helpful input!
Jewelry Making Ideas:
- Liver of Sulphur and Silver Clay in Glorious Color
Susan Whelan shares her neat process for adding beautiful colors to her silver clay creations.
Highlights from the Handmade Jewelry Gallery:
See lots more wonderful new jewelry designs in the Handcrafted Jewelry Designers' Gallery! I can't list them all here - so these are just a few of the most unique new submissions:
- Little Rosettes Necklace
by Mano Janoyan. - Trilobite Bracelet
by Dr. Gail Devoid. - African Evenings Zulu Flowerette Chain Bracelet
by Helen. - Sea Glass Bangle Bracelet
by Jean of Lucky Sea Glass. - Labradorite Nugget Bracelet
by Angie Simonsen. - Ode to Sunset Earrings
by Wanda D Mcphee. - Creamy Roses Jewelry Set
by Joan Williams. - Blue Silvery Beach Necklace
by Kathleen Davis.
Share Your Jewelry Content
and Get Great Exposure
I invite you to share your jewelry photos, tips, stories, tutorials, etc. - right here on my network of jewelry websites.
It's a friendly, creative atmosphere of ideas and networking.
You'll also receive links to your jewelry business, and gain exposure in the handmade jewelry community - and beyond.
Jewelry artists often tell me that the exposure they've received on my websites has brought them valuable new connections, opportunities, and traffic!
So come on in and take advantage of all these great opportunities for sharing:
(And of course, you always keep the copyright to all of your own content that you share on my network of jewelry websites.)
Sell Your Jewelry at Trunk Shows,
Private Showings,
and as Business Gifts
Learn how to sell your handmade jewelry to this HUGE untapped market, in my book Secrets of a Handcrafted Jewelry Shopping Service.
Get this 115-page, easy-to-read guide now, and make this your best jewelry selling year ever.
Your Profitable Jewelry Business:
An Unexpected Blessing at a
Holiday Craft Show
(a true Christmas story)
by Rena Klingenberg
Several years ago I got together with my good friend ( who was a "Mary Kay" cosmetics rep), and organized a holiday shopping and fundraiser show hosted at a local assisted living home for elderly people.
The show was open for the general public to come and shop, and it ran from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on a Thursday evening.
We had a total of 13 vendors - a variety of artisans, plus my Mary Kay friend, a Pampered Chef gal, and a Home Interiors gal.
Many wonderful things came out of this event.
Instead of donating a dollar percentage of our sales for the fundraiser, the assisted living home had us each donate an item or two for their fundraising silent auction.
Financially that's a better deal for vendors, plus it gets our products seen by more people. We were all generous with our items donated, and the administrators at the Home were thrilled with the beautiful and varied things they received for their auction!
The Home was so pleased with the way the whole event turned out that they invited us back to do shows whenever we wanted to (which we did, and very successfully for all).
The residents of the Home were proud and thrilled to have us do a show there - and for many of them, just going around and seeing all the things in our show was their highlight of their week.
We had sent in a small article to the local newspaper to publicize our event, and several customers told us that evening, "I stopped in because I saw the article in the paper."
A lot of our customers had never been to the assisted living home before, and they were very impressed with what a neat place it was. So it was a great public relations / marketing event for the Home.
One of the vendors in our show, who decorated all kinds of beautiful containers with beads, wire, and paint, launched her business that night and made several sales.
She had been so nervous about doing her first show that she called me twice on the day of the show with panic attacks. But after she quickly sold several items, her nerves turned into excitement.
The Pampered Chef gal, who I met while organizing this show, hosted one of my jewelry parties at her house a few months later. She gave me some helpful new ideas from her own vast home party experience.
There was so much good energy flowing in this show, and lovely things happening for everyone involved.
But the true blessing of this show was totally unexpected.
One of my friends was scheduled to take care of my son (who was then age 7) during this show. But something came up for my friend so that she had to leave my son with me for the last hour of the show.
So I geared myself up for leaving the show early if, by the last hour of a long day, my son was too tired to hang out at my booth.
However, as soon as my son arrived, the Spirit of Christmas Present stepped in.
One lovely resident of the Home, Miss Olive - a precious elderly lady with bright blue eyes, who was hardly bigger than my son - decided to become his "grandma" for the evening.
So he visited Miss Olive in her room, which was right next to my booth.
They watched TV together, and I could hear the two of them laughing and chatting and enjoying each other's company, in the warm coziness of her room.
When our craft show ended and it was time for us to leave, Miss Olive came to the front door of the Home and waved goodbye, and my son waved back till she was out of sight.
What a wonderful friendship for both of them! That's why it was meant to be that my friend wasn't able to keep my son at her house for the whole evening!
And to think I had worried about having him at the show with me.
This show was really neat in so many ways, with all kinds of wonderful things happening besides just making money.
If you're interested in doing an event like this - or even a solo jewelry show - in your community, you'll find the blueprint for how we organized this show (including our small newspaper article) in Fundraiser Jewelry Shows.
Neat Jewelry-Related Website
This week's neat site, Itty Bitty Clippy, is a source of cute hair clips, barrettes and hair accessories made especially for babies and toddlers.
This site shows how a niche product (hair accessories for wee girls) can be really expanded into a specialty shop online.
The owner of this business also demonstates an understanding of the issues involved with this market - Itty Bitty Clippy even offers items designed for babies with "itty bitty amounts of hair". :o)
Sell Your Jewelry Online
Grow a solid base of online jewelry customers, using the step-by-step strategies you'll learn in my book Social Networking: Sell Your Jewelry Online the New Way.
Get this 192-page, step-by-step resource now, and start growing your customer base.
Network and Get Noticed
in the
Home Based Jeweler's Showcase
The Home Based Jeweler's Showcase blog is a free opportunity to promote your jewelry business and find other jewelry artists to network with.
It's published by Rita Juhlin of Private Stock Jewelry.
To add your jewelry business to the Showcase - please email Rita Juhlin, at HomeBasedJewelers @ gmail.com .
SURVEY:
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Better for You?
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Thanks so much.
My Jewelry Business Websites
and RSS Feeds
This newsletter highlights some of the latest jewelry business tips and techniques from my websites:
Home Jewelry Business Success Tips
Each of these sites also has its own RSS feed. Look for the orange RSS symbol on the left-hand column of each of these sites to get the feed.
Thanks so much for joining me
for this issue of
"Jewelry Business Success News"!
~ May your jewelry journey be fun and prosperous ~