How To Start Your Own Home Based Jewelry Making Business
Are you creative? Do you love to make crafts and show them off to your friends? Does everyone rave over your crafts and say you should sell them? Then maybe you should consider jewelry making! Making jewelry is not only fun, it is really very easy to do and can bring nice profits. It just takes some creativity, and a little skill. In fact, you could easily start your own jewelry making business!
There are many great books available with instructions and ideas for jewelry making. There are also numerous web sites where you can learn how to make your own jewelry and get lots of ideas.
When you first start out you will probably want to follow instructions in a book or on a web site until you get the hang of it - but after a while you should let your creativity take over and design your own jewelry styles. You can get all of the supplies that you need for making your own custom designed jewelry wholesale through sources online. Be sure to order from a site that sells jewelry making supplies in bulk so you will always get the best prices. You can buy low cost costume jewelry supplies as well as real sterling silver and gold. Everything that you could possibly need can be purchased online.
After you have made a few unique jewelry pieces, you should show them to your friends,co-workers and family members. Ask for their honest opinions and listen to what they say to improve on your skills. You might be surprised at how many of these people want you to make pieces of custom jewelry for them!
At this point you many want to try some other outlets for your custom made jewelry. Craft shows are always popular, especially the larger shows held around Christmas and major holidays. Attendance is usually high during these shows and people are looking for gift ideas. Be sure to display your custom jewelry attractively on a black or red velvet background board and have some sort of lighting to make it shine and glitter to attract your customers eye. Let them pick it up and examine it easily. Greet them when they walk up to your display but don't be pushy and just sit back and let them ask the questions. Being too anxious to close the sale can cause the customer to feel uncomfortable and leave without buying. Print out some business cards on your computer and be sure to have a stack of them sitting where they can easily be accessed by potential customers. If you want to do custom orders be sure to say so on the cards. If things go well you should at least make a few sales and also gain some customers from your business cards.
Next you may want to try a consignment store to sell your custom made jewelry. I would recommend a nice quality women's clothing consignment store for your first attempt. Take several of your best selling items in and approach the owner and offer to leave them on consignment. Many consignment stores have a contract for you to sign and will state exactly what percentage of the sale they will take. Try to negotiate some space on the counter where customers check out to display your custom jewelry items. It is the very best place in the store to place items that people may impulsively purchase and is one of the highest exposure areas. If you are successful in this first store then you will have more confidence to approach other small stores to sell your items.
Email your local newspaper fashion editor and suggest that they might want to do a feature on custom made jewelry. They are usually eager to explore new possibilities for a story idea and may be willing to do a feature on your business. Place yourself where ever you can get some exposure for your business. Donate a few items to a fund raiser. Present your child's teachers with jewelry gifts. Wear your custom made jewelry where ever you go and take business cards with you because you are sure to get comments from potential customers.
You might even want to set up a web site to take orders for your jewelry.There are web sites that will let you have a free store setup. One is ecrater.com. You may want to try ebay or other online auctions to sell some custom jewelry also.
Soon you may find yourself well known all around town for your custom made jewelry and be busier making it than you ever dreamed possible!
Sandra Kennedy operates a website http://www.photojewelrymaking.com that sells wholesale photo jewelry making supplies. She is a part time instructor of jewelry making classes.
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