Sell Your Beaded Jewelry Online

Some Tips for Success

Be sure to take great pictures of the jewelry you have for sale. No one wants to buy a pig in a poke, so reassure your would be buyers with top quality photographs. When taking digital photos of your jewelry be sure that the background looks professional - a hastily cleared kitchen table is not a suitable venue for fine jewelry. Invest a couple of dollars in a black velvet backdrop and perhaps a jewelry modeling mannequin - you will be glad you did.


Also be sure that the descriptions given are accurate and that all applicable measurements appear somewhere in the ad. Even the best digital photographs can be a bit misleading in terms of scale, so be sure your buyers know what to expect by providing accurate measurements. Be sure that your buyers know how long that necklace is, what size those rings are and how far those earrings will dangle. Providing accurate descriptions will increase customer satisfaction while reducing the time, money and hassle spent dealing with returned products.


After your business is up and running you may want to institute some kind of loyalty reward program. Repeat customers are key to the success of any business, so why not reward your best buyers with free products, discounts and other rewards? You may also want to start some kind of referral program, Starting such a program is a great way to make the most of your current customer base while expanding your visibility and the value of your products. Simply asking your existing customers to refer their family members and friends is a great way to get new customers while giving your loyal buyers a reward. When those new customers sign up and make a purchase the customers who referred them can receive a special coupon, free shipping promotion or even some free products. Offline businesses have been using loyalty rewards for years - now your business can too.
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Reaching Success In Jewelry Making

One day, you buy your first plier and some rolls of wire and make your first loop. Disastrous, of course. You add one bead and painstakingly get to add the hook and you feel like the Queen of Jewelry Land. You actually get it to make a pair. Double feeling of being the queen.

Years go by and you keep working. Adding the hooks does not take hours anymore, so you start adding little embellishments, maybe a spiral loop. During these years, you learn the hard way all the ways you can make mistakes in this business. A few times along the way you decide you won’t make it anymore and maybe ramble with other arts, but pliers and wire always call you back and you find yourself awake at 5 AM because you suddenly woke up with that necklace design in your head. But it’s not easy. It makes you mad to think “why others can?” while you can’t seem to make it. Your artist ego is frustrated. You are tired of going nowhere. Things like marketing, advertising and promoting sound like from another world. A scary world. You’re an artist, you’re not a salesperson. But maybe you can’t quit your day job because you wouldn’t bay your bills selling jewelry.

But then, one day, you start working patiently and silently. Do not argue anymore about your doomed fate and overcome yourself by working seriously, making a business plan that works and give good results soon. You find ways to promote yourself that are easy and enjoyable and learn the right way to work a business. A real one that grows and grows in many directions.

What happened to you?

Well, you just lost your ego. Your amazing power to make each of your dreams come true can now arise and materialize. Obviously you don’t need this article at all but if you feel still included in the second paragraph, maybe you should keep on reading this

7 Tips to Be a Better Jeweler: The Ego Issue
According to both Buddhism and Psychology, your ego is a small angry child that never grew up. Instead of thinking rationally, we humans tend to act forced by that little child that, of course, cannot manage with an adult’s issues and just cries and moans and get completely paralyzed in fear of the unknown. Surprising, ah? If you ask yourself too much things like “Why do I never have luck?” or “Why does this always happen to me?”, maybe you’re letting that little child control your life.

The key to personal (and world) happiness is putting that child to rest letting it flow through creative activities, love and self – acceptation, but making choices with a higher conscience. Good choices bring happiness to us and good energy to the Universe, that will flow back to us through opportunities helping us achieve our full potential. As artists, we are even more inclined than many other people to reach a higher state of consciousness, so it should be easier for us to understand this facts.

1: You can always make it better.
Ego says: “I’m very very good” but really, how good you are? This is a very competitive world and you must be objective about the quality of your work. How can your jewels be improved? Can they be safer? Have you double-checked everything before you package it? Are you selling something that may eventually break or fall off?
Remember that the kind of customer that you will die for is one that looks for quality and durability. A very good question to ask yourself is “Would I pay that money for this jewel?”

2: You can always treat your customers better.
Ego says “Making that custom gift box is really hard work, and for free!” Please, be more respectful with your customers! Some of the money they pay for a (never forget that) completely unnnecessary item you sell is very hard-earned! From all the jewelers around they’ve chosen YOU! There is always time to add and extra gift for a good customer. As artisans we need customers that come back again and again, and that always think of you first when they need a special jewel for their social events or gifts. We need a customer that speaks wonderfully of our work and bring new customers with them so, what do people find when they meet you, whether if the meeting is at your studio or at your booth? Treat them all the same, whether if they make big of small buyings. Know them as much as you can and try to put all your best efforts to make them feel at home with you.

3. Work hard to find your own style.
Ego says “Oh, my style is truly unique!” but the truth is that there is almost no such thing in jewelry business, or in any art business. Finding your own way includes a LOT of constant learning and humility. Strive to make the jewel you really dream of and do not feel pressured by what you can sell or whom you can sell to. If your pieces breath uniqueness they will sell out.

4. Give and Teach as much as you take and learn from others.
Ego says “oh, if I share my techniques everyone will make copys of my work and sell more than me for sure” Really, have you heard how childish that sounds? Change your view about yourself and ask yourself if someone could envision you as a master in your particular style.

Sharing your techniques, whether as downloadable files for small prices (tutorials are usually very cheap) or simply for free like I’m doing now, will not only improve your business karma wonderfully, but also will make you get a lot of respect from learners and professionals alike. Building a good reputation will mean a good percentage of your sales one day, but you have to start now.

5: Forget about inspiration
Ego says: “I’m an artist, I can’t work if I’m uninspired”…well, and Pablo Picasso said inspiration exists, but it has to find you working. Who do you believe? I chose to believe Master Pablo, of course. Inspired or not, work everyday. I’m sure there are a lot of “office issues” like web updating, taking better pictures of your items, making tags or whatever that you have pending, as we all have, that you can make it on your uninspired time. My husband is an electrician company director and he goes to work everyday, whether if he’s inspired or not! Why should I have that privilege?

6. You can make your own ways to sell and promote your work
Ego says “I’m an artist, I can’t deal with sales and publicity. That’s not what an artist is supposed to be.” Something I really hear a lot. I truly believe that, as artists, we are even more able to sell ourselves than other professionals because creativity is the real key to publicity success. The true instinct to find beauty is inside every true artist. Though I think is essential to read a good quantity of marketing articles, we have an ability to create that is a natural advantage. Again, change your point of view about yourself and create new ways to promote your work.


7. Don’t take critiques personally
Ego says “Oh, that person I don’t know at all thinks my jewelry is awful…I am a complete failure!” Well, you don’t like everything, so don’t expect your jewelry to be loved by everyone. What a person says about your work may be influenced by many things that do not have to do with your work at all. Be always ready to follow positive advice inmediatly, but don’t let other people’s feelings reflect on you self image. Remember, maybe that person is also talking through her/his little angry child!



Epilogue
Learning the business takes time and effort. There is no instant success and if there is, it will pass soon leaving you wondering what you did wrong… and making you learn another good lesson – which should always be seen as a valuable thing. I am personally guilty and all crimes said above and in many, many more that have turned into a deeper knowledge of myself, my work as an artist and the world around me. I am very proud of all my mistakes, in fact!

We all are on an endless road of personal growing, with no finish line. There is always someone wiser than us and someone that may need our advice as well. I really hope this article helps you in your way to reach complete success; knowing that you’ve found your way is one of the highest feelings a person can have… and you deserve to have it too.

Starting a Jewelry Business? 10 Things to Start Making NOW

When I started making jewelry it was just fun. Friend's inquiries about pendants or earrings really made the dream start to take shape, as it may be happening to many of you. You have started wondering if you could make jewelry for a living. Well, the answer is as simple as YES. Every jewelry artist has started somewhere, and the lucky ones that today show their pieces on jewelry magazine covers started with little or no money and no clues about where the jewelry experience was going to take them.

Making jewelry is therapeutic and profitable, you can make it at home, be your own boss, work at the hours when you feel best and, above all, is a wonderful profession in which you add beauty to people's lifes through your jewels. Making jewelry is fun!

But why is it that so many jewelry makers, some very talented, fall along the way and never reach their full potential? Mainly, for reasons that do not have to do at all with Jewelry Making, and the most common four are lack of commitment, procrastination, lack of confidence and of course, lack of knowledge about business and marketing techniques.

It is said that it takes 21 days to leave or start a habit. Changing from procrastinator to effective jewelry maker takes less, I think, but many of the things that will start showing its benefits in the (near) future must start being done today!!! Making a big decision like leaving your "proper" job really need a strong commitment to avoid ending up to your nose with debts and wondering " What did I do wrong?" If you really want to success in this business, here are 10 tips that will help you start avoiding the more common beginner mistakes:

1. This is your trip, not anybody's: be very careful with the advice you follow and try to stay always within your own limits and desires. Focus on learning the business and stop listening to what people would do if they were you. Read jewelry websites, marketing and sales articles and never stop learning new things.

2. If you don't have a studio, set up one. Yes, as small business owners we must sacrifice home spaces to our business. Cluttering the dining room or using a small corner will affect directly into your productivity and creativity. You need space, organization, light, and a door you can close whenever you decide your work has finished for today.

3. Organize your time effectively: work as many hours a day as in a "proper" job…well, the truth is that you will find that you will need more than proper job hours to get everything done! As in point 2, we must also sacrifice time.

4. Set up a blog/website. There are many free webs and blogs to choose from. Avoid repetitive descriptions and talk a little about yourself in every post. Take your time to write a good biography and take a good picture of yourself. Read other websites for examples and study the texts – which ones are more appealing to you, and why? Promote yourself in any way you find.

5. Dare to dream – do not underestimate yourself and try every crazy idea that comes to you mind... all of the biggest jewelry artists of the world were somewhere you are now. They made it because they were bold and trusted their own abilities. That business card design or new packaging boiling in your head deserves, at least, a try. What would you lose?

6. Don't be scared of asking for favours to relative and friends when you're starting, and always reward them in any way you can. A favour any female member in your family will love to do to you is wearing your gorgeous jewelry on parties and special events, and of course without having to buy it! They will return it to you after showing your jewelry to many people; of course you should provide them with business cards!

7. Learn to make good pics of your work, or you will never sell online. You can make a simple lightbox and digital camera and tripod are necessary. Learn to use the macro and light sensitivity settings of your camera and experiments with backgrounds and displays. Do as above: research and work!

8. Being a jeweler is not only about making jewelry! You can have other incomes coming from the same source. Teach classes or workshops, sell tutorials online, kits, become a gem seller…and if you have html knowledge you could even offer to make websites to jewelers!

9. Don't wait until everything is perfect to start, because it will never be perfect. If you're just a beginner, don't overprice your products. Be honest and humble with your own work, but don't miss opportunities to show your work in every way you find.

10. Be very patient. There are no fast success stories in jewelry making. You will have to prove you are really commited to your work If you don't start now, it will never come!

Where You Can Find Jewelry Making Patterns

Jewelry making is by far one of the most popular and well known hobbies in the world today, and if you are interested in jewelry making then you should know that there are many different things that you are going to have to take into consideration here.

When you want to begin something like jewelry making, one of the first things that you are going to have to get is jewelry making patterns.

With jewelry making patterns you are going to be able to find different types of jewelry that you can make, and because you have actual jewelry making patterns, you will be able to follow the patterns step by step, making the entire process much easier on you.

More About Jewelry Making Patterns

If you are interested in getting jewelry making patterns then you should know that there are many different places that you can go to in order to get them. One of the first places that you should check out is your local arts and crafts store, where you should be able to find a great selection of jewelry patterns.

However there are many other places that you can go to as well, and for instance, you can go on the Internet, and his is a really great idea because the speed and efficiency of the Internet allows you to be able to quickly and easily find exactly what it is that you are looking for.

Your options are really endless here, and so regardless of what type of jewelry making patterns you are interested in, you are surely going to be able to find something that works perfectly.

Browse through as many different jewelry supply stores as you can, so that you can have the most options, and thus end up being the most satisfied in the end. Just make sure that you set out a budget for yourself beforehand so that you can calculate out how many patterns you can purchase and thus you will not end up going overboard and spending more than you should.

Taking your time is incredibly important here, and so you want to make sure that you do this so that you pick out patterns that you are going to be able to complete without trouble and that you are going to have fun while you are making the jewelry as well.