1. Question from My E-Mail Bag:
   Jewelry Business Plans

2. What's New at Home Jewelry Business Success Tips:
   - eight great new articles!

3. Featured Article:
   Sell More Jewelry by Educating Customers About Your Art
   by Rena Klingenberg

4. Neat Jewelry Related Website:
   Carolyn Forsman Conversation Piece Jewelry

5. Submit a Tip and Get a Valuable Link to Your Website

A reader named Suzi wrote in to ask:

I am starting to write a business plan for my business and want to know if you have any suggestions for a template for this? I know there are a million+ templates available, but was looking for any suggestions you may have.

Suzi, you'll be glad to know that your jewelry business plan doesn't need to be fancy or formal. It can be a simple document covering just five main areas: executive summary, company overview, business environment, company description, and action plan. These sections are much easier to write than their names make them sound, and most of them won't involve information that you don't already know.

You can find the details on how to write these five sections of your plan at Your Jewelry Business Plan. Best of luck to you!

Our creative guest authors have done it again. Enjoy these eight fantastic jewelry business articles, all new since our last issue!

Should You Incorporate Your Home Jewelry Business?
Learn why you may want to incorporate your jewelry business, what type of business entity you should choose, and how incorporating can protect you. Guest author Simon Maher of LLC Made Easy demystifies the concept of incorporation.

Pricing Jewelry for Maximum Profit
Pricing jewelry is a tricky issue. Will raising or lowering your prices help you sell more jewelry? The answer may surprise you, as guest author Patricia Snow of Patricia's Art Gallery discusses her experiences with jewelry pricing.

Online Jewelry Suppliers
How do you select online jewelry suppliers? These tips from guest author Lesley Jones of Bead Genie Creations will help you navigate between wholesale, retail, large and small jewelry suppliers, shipping issues, hidden costs, etc.

Security and Your Home Jewelry Business
Security is an important issue for your jewelry business. You can protect your inventory and yourself from becoming a jewelry crime statistic by taking these security measures and anti-theft tips outlined by Rachael Loving of Loving Jewelry.

It's All About Gold and Precious Metals
Learn how to calculate the base gold value of any item, why exchange rates affect people outside the US, and the importance of your coins. Part 5 of the mini-course, "How to Value Your Jewelry at Home or Work" by guest author David Foard F.G.A.A. of Online Jewelry Appraisal Center.

Your Jewelry Business Exit Strategy
Your jewelry business exit strategy is important to consider ahead of time, regardless of whether you're in business alone or with partners. Guest author Sally Jones of Tea Business Guide discusses exit strategies and what to include in them.

The Mysterious Chemistry of Jewelry Sales
Making jewelry sales can require a delicate balance of conditions. Join guest author Jeffrey Miller of Jeffrey Design on a quest for the perfect jewelry sale.

Tips for Selling Your Jewelry Creations
If you're like many jewelry artists, selling your jewelry is the most challenging part of your business. Entrepreneur Cheryl Coccaro of Gypsy Woman Caravan, "Easy Internet Selling", My Perfect Ear, and My Jewelry to Go shares her tips for getting your work out there - and getting it sold.

What unique experiences or knowledge have you gained in your jewelry business quest? You can share your story and build traffic to your website when you submit a jewelry business article. You'll receive a free permanent link from Home Jewelry Business Success Tips to your website - and your article will be read by thousands of people in the jewelry industry. Our guest authors report a significant flow of traffic coming from their article links on Home Jewelry Business Success Tips!

Have you ever watched an artist in another medium as he or she creates a new work of art? It's an entertaining and amazing experience - and it gives you the deepest respect and appreciation for that artist's work and materials.

At a recent art show I participated in, I learned a lot about educating the public on your craft - and how it can make a big difference in your sales.

Around the corner from my booth, I watched an artist with incredible drawing skills create portraits in pencil. Quietly he brought to life every nuance of shadow and light with his skilled strokes. Watching him work gave me a much greater appreciation for the drawings on display in his area.

Across from my booth, all throughout the four-day show, I thrilled to overhear a painter tell passersby the story of her most fascinating painting. "It came to me in a dream," she would begin in a hushed voice. Her presentation was so well done that I never tired of hearing it.

In contrast, the pottery artist next to me had beautiful and unique work - but she sat reading a book in her booth for much of the show. On the third day she complained to me that no one was buying.

At my own booth I had set up a small jewelry work area. It was behind my display table, but in plain view of passersby. I made jewelry steadily, while answering customer questions. I mainly did wire work at the show, since that requires fewer supplies than beading (which always seems to require my entire bead collection!).

So I was shocked to discover that - even though I was plainly making handcrafted jewelry there on the spot - many of the people who stopped by my booth automatically assumed I was just reselling manufactured jewelry.

They would ask me, "Where do you get the jewelry you sell?" - and were astonished when I answered that I had personally handcrafted all the jewelry in my booth. Maybe their assumption isn't so surprising, considering the trend of many "art and craft" vendors reselling low-priced imported merchandise.

But it suddenly occurred to me that merely making jewelry in my booth may not be enough to get people to understand my art and appreciate its creation.

So in a small area on my main display table, I set up a few of the jewelry-making supplies and tools I was using. I placed a roll of sterling silver wire and an unset gemstone on the table, with a couple of my handtools beside them. I put a partly-finished pendant nearby.

For the rest of the show, when people stopped by my booth, I kept a pair of pliers in one hand and my current work-in-progress in the other hand. And I let my fingers keep the black smudges they get from wireworking.

I engaged my passersby in friendly discussion, and answered their questions about my pieces, showing them my current project. I showed them my display of the raw materials I start out with, and described how I cut, bind, and shape the wire to turn it into a setting for the stone. I demonstrated on my work-in-progress piece of jewelry.

I could see people's appreciation and understanding of my art increase dramatically. And (not so surprisingly!) my sales increased dramatically too. A work of art is so much more valuable to a person when they've talked to the artist and have seen how it's created.

However, it's not always feasible to actually demonstrate your jewelry-making at a show or party. But there are still ways you can educate customers about your art:

• Set up a small display area of your supplies, tools, and a piece of jewelry that's in progress for a brief show-and-tell, as I mentioned above.

• Display a small photo series (in a poster, sign, or album) of you creating one of your pieces. Shots of you working in your studio - even if your workspace is messy - really help people connect with the handcraftedness of your products.

• Give a dramatic verbal presentation on one of your most spectacular pieces (remember the painter across from me, with her thrilling "It came to me in a dream...").

• Concentrate on discussing your materials and processes and what's neat about them, instead of talking about your jewelry itself. It's easier and more effective to tell customers about the history of your vintage beads or how you create with precious metal clay than it is to praise your own jewelry.

• Place one of your pieces in the customer's hand as you describe your materials and processes. Touching your work is an important part of experiencing (and purchasing) it, since jewelry is a personal, wearable form of art.

• Gear your demonstration / presentation to the style of your jewelry, your business, and your own personality.

The lesson I learned: Put a little creativity into educating customers about your work - and enjoy the increase in your sales!

This month's neat site is Carolyn Forsman Conversation Piece Jewelry. Carolyn's imaginative line of jewelry that "spins, sparkles, flips, flashes, glows & winks, snaps & slinks" is delightful and fascinating!

And I love how her website design actively captures the interesting characteristics of her pieces - be sure to see her page called The Stuff. There's a significant market for people who love jewelry that *does* something (my grandmother had an impressive collection of battery-powered jewelry!) - and Carolyn Forsman's jewels surely captivate them.

Do you have a good idea, handy hint, or helpful technique related to jewelry business or jewelry making? Send in a tip that's useful to jewelry artists and receive a free link to your website when your tip is published in the Jewelry Business Blog.

And thank you to the creative readers who have been sending in your truly excellent tips! Many of them have been published already, and more are coming. If you've sent in a tip but it hasn't yet been published in the blog - don't worry, it's coming soon!

Looking for specific jewelry business information or the answer to a question? Try our "Search This Site" feature to scour Home Jewelry Business Success Tips for any keywords you enter.

We have well over 270 articles on Home Jewelry Business Success Tips now, and new posts several days a week in the Jewelry Business Blog - plus lots more coming up - and sometimes knowing where to find specific information among so many articles can be tricky. But now you can search easily and find what you're seeking.

If your search doesn't turn up any results for our site, then you've discovered a topic we need to add - so please let me know the info or tips that are missing from our site.