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Contents of this issue of
"Jewelry Business Success News"

1) Great responses from our readers to last issue's "What Do You Think? Jewelry Business Decision Survey"

2) What's New at Home Jewelry Business Success Tips - new section of articles!

3) Featured Article: Finding Your Jewelry Business Path by Discovering What You Don't Want to Do

4) Interesting Jewelry Related Website: Paper Jewels

Results from the
Jewelry Business Decision Survey

Last issue I asked readers to voice your thoughts on whether jewelry artists should take inventory at the end of jewelry home parties, to check whether anything disappeared during the party. However, if we do take inventory and find that something's missing - what (if anything) should we do about it?

Here is an excerpt from one of the responses, sent in by a reader named Mike:

"If something is missing, first of all remember that it may have been dropped someplace. Get down on your hands and knees, people will soon catch on, and it's much better than shouting 'who stole my ring!' Even if someone has made off with it, if half the folks in the room are turning the place upside down for you, it will probably miraculously turn up!"

Read the rest of the interesting and thought-provoking responses readers sent in regarding inventory tracking at jewelry parties. A big thank you to everyone who took the time to express their thoughts on this question! :o)

What's new at
Home Jewelry Business Success Tips

I have to tell you how impressed and thrilled I've been with every one of the articles our guest authors have shared with us. The variety of topics, interesting viewpoints and unique experiences really help make this site your jewelry business success resource! And I receive loads of emails saying how helpful the articles written by our readers are.

So please don't be shy to join our list of distinguished guest authors - send in an article about something in your own experience as a jewelry artist. Did you know that being a jewelry artist automatically makes you a great writer? :o)

Here are three inspiring articles by our newest guest authors:

The Therapeutic Benefits of Jewelry Making
Guest author Karen Seng of Kool Jewels by Karen explores how jewelry making can take you deep inside, to connect with an inner stillness that leads to growth and healing.

Tips for Attending Gem Shows
Guest author Melissa Jeffries of Turquoise Sands advises how to define your market and plan your gemstone purchases in advance so you can get in and out of a gem show without blowing your budget.

Your Business Logo and Colors: A scheme for all seasons
Guest author Susan Midlarsky of Aspiring Arts provides excellent information on creating a business logo and color scheme for a professional, consistent impression throughout your jewelry business cards, displays, and packaging.

And now I'm very pleased to unveil a brand new, much-requested section of articles on Home Jewelry Business Success Tips. It's one that many of you have asked for and waited patiently for, and I'll be adding a lot more articles to it -

Selling Jewelry Wholesale and on Consignment
A growing collection of in-depth articles and success tips for selling jewelry wholesale and on consignment through shops and galleries. Strategies for production, marketing, pricing, and record-keeping in the jewelry business-to-business world.

And here are the first articles in this new section on wholesaling and consigning jewelry:

A Jewelry Niche Market Gets Shop Owners' Attention
By building her business in a jewelry niche market, guest author Karen Palevich of Black Tie Jewels finds success in marketing her work through specialty shops and salons.

Mass Production Strategies for Wholesaling Jewelry
Wholesaling jewelry sometimes means mass-producing multiples of the same pieces. Issues involved in wholesale jewelry production runs at home, paring down production time and costs, and a solution for temporary employees. Is wholesaling jewelry lines for you?

Pros and Cons of Consigning Jewelry to Shops and Galleries
Important considerations and tips for consigning jewelry to shops and galleries. How to protect your jewelry that's on consignment.

Jewelry Consignment Percentage
What's a fair jewelry consignment percentage between the artist and the shop or gallery? Splitting the proceeds fairly between the artist and the shop, and the most common jewelry consignment splits. Recommendations for avoiding low consignment percentages.

Keeping Track of Your Jewelry Consignment Inventory
It's essential to track your jewelry consignment inventory to protect your investment and to know where you're making a profit. Tips for easy yet thorough record-keeping on the jewelry you consign to shops and galleries.

Stay tuned for more excellent new articles - some by guest authors, some requested by you, and some surprises! :o)

Submit an article and receive a free, permanent link to your website!

Finding Your Jewelry Business Path
by Discovering What You *Don't* Want to Do

(or, Lessons I Learned from
Wholesaling Jewelry Through a Distributor)

A few years ago, a distributor of regional handcrafts approached me with an opportunity to make a line of beaded bracelets and earrings themed to our state, for wholesaling to local gift shops.

The distributor designed and priced the jewelry according to what the shop owners thought their customers would buy, so I didn't have any say in the design or the price; I just had to order the necessary components at the best price I could get, and then make the pieces according to his design.

Despite the facts that this project didn't offer me any creativity, and that my per-item profit margin would be quite small, I went for it. In a way, it sounded like a dream assignment - someone else would take care of all the orders and delivery, while I sat home just making jewelry and getting a check every week!

The extra volume of orders would make up for the small per-item profit, I told myself, and the regular income would make up for the lack of creative work.

So the distributor and I entered into an agreement where he would visit shops and take orders for the bracelets and earrings, then let me know every Monday how many bracelets and earrings of each type I had to make, package, and deliver to him by Friday of the same week. Then he would pay me directly and take care of delivering the jewelry to the gift shops along with his other wares.

The first few weeks were great. My distributor reported the orders to me on Mondays, and I filled and packaged them, and went to his office on Friday mornings to deliver the jewelry and pick up the check he had waiting for me for the work I had just done.

But the jewelry was so popular and the distributor was such a great salesperson that every week he brought me more orders than the week before. Soon he was adding all kinds of extra jewelry (designed by the shop owners but made by me) to the weekly orders - pearl baby necklaces, high school spirit bracelets, college mascot earrings.

Working as fast as I could and putting in long days just churning out identical bracelets, earrings and other custom items, I could just barely meet the deadlines.

My profit margin wasn't enough for me to hire help, so everything had to be done by me. There was no time for creative work or building my own inventory of jewelry for art shows, let alone time for anything in my personal life. I stayed up all night frantically beading several times a week.

After a few months, just when I was beginning to believe that I didn't enjoy making jewelry anymore and would give anything to never touch another bracelet, earring, or crimp bead again, the distributor decided to pursue other opportunities.

We ended our business arrangement agreeably (and with huge relief on my part!), and I took several months off from making any jewelry at all; the pace and stress of turning out a high volume of jewelry and struggling to meet deadlines had really worn me down.

And the lessons I learned?

1) I discovered that if you'll be producing jewelry in volume, you must price the pieces to allow for your venture to grow. I jumped into this opportunity without looking very far ahead, and it never occurred to me that this wholesale arrangement might expand to the point where I would need to hire help to keep up with the orders. And so my pricing didn't allow room for that expense.

But if I had been able to hire the help I needed, I could have taken over the accounts from my distributor when he left, and grown this into a very nice side-business managed and supervised by me. With other people making the line of wholesale jewelry for shops, I could have spent my jewelry-making time on more creative work.

Now I know that a little foresight could have turned this challenge into an opportunity instead of a nightmare. So I learned not to jump into business opportunities without thinking ahead and doing a little business planning first.

2) I learned that it's important not to let your home jewelry business unbalance the rest of your life. My life had become focused on keeping up with bracelet and earring production, while I put everything else in my life on the back burner.

As a result I was exhausted, and depressed about being removed from other things that were important to me. Letting the scales tip too far in the favor of a home business is very common among self-employed people, and it's a huge mistake. It took me a while to catch up again on the other things I had neglected, and to recover a sense of balance in my life.

3) I realized that not all ways of making money with my jewelry are interesting to me. The reason I started my jewelry business in the first place was to be able to fill my life with jewelry activities I enjoy - and being a one-person bracelet and earring factory was definitely not my cup of tea.

So I spent some time considering what I enjoyed about my business and what was important to me, and eventually came back to my studio table more fired up than ever about making jewelry - but this time, with a focus on making and marketing primarily one-of-a-kind pieces, because that's what I enjoy most.

4) And now I know that it's just as important to your success for you to know what you *don't* want to do as it is for you to know what you *do* want to do! Knowing which roads to avoid can make the best path much easier to find.

(P.S. - If you read last issue's article on Experimenting and Evolving My Way to Jewelry Business Success, you might recognize this "wholesaling jewelry through a distributor" episode as a classic example of the cycle: experiment -> flop -> aha! -> new success -> repeat.

The new success in this case was discovering what I really do want from my jewelry business and re-dedicating myself to making it happen. But I could also have made other decisions that would have brought me different successes as a result of this experiment!)

Neat Jewelry Related Site

Our neat site this time is Paper Jewels, a collection of unusual and beautiful jewelry crafted from four to ten layers of paper that are inked or painted by hand and lacquered. In addition to seeing this intriguing and off-the-beaten-path jewelry medium, I enjoyed this artist's clean, inviting, easy to navigate website. Altogether an interesting and inspiring place to visit!

Visit the Jewelry Business Blog

Stop by the Jewelry Business Blog for the latest tips and information about the business of jewelry art! And feel free to post any questions or tips of your own - just use the form at the bottom of the blog to post your comments; I'll add them when I do the next blog update.

Find Specific Jewelry Business Info

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. A link to Search This Site is available from the bottom of the navigation bar at the left side of every page.

We have well over 100 articles now, plus lots more coming up - and sometimes knowing where to find specific information among so many articles can be tricky. But now you should be able to 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 - please let me know the info or tips that are missing from our site.