1. style and fashion
2. jewelry

How to Run a Home Based Jewelry Party
Business for Fun and Profit
“A Step-by-Step Action Plan for Building your Dream
Business”
By Lorri Ely
Copyright, Lorri Ely – All rights reserved
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Copyright Notice
Copyright © 2006-2010 Lorri Ely, Smart Sisterz LLC
Published by Lorri Ely, Smart Sisterz LLC.
All rights reserved.
Only customers who have purchased this book have the rights to view it. Purchase of this book does not
grant resell rights. Please help support and protect the author’s business by not sharing or duplicating
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No part of this publication may be transmitted or reproduced in any way without the prior express written
permission of the author. Violations of this copyright will be enforced to the full extent of the law. These
rules have been established to protect the rights and ownership of the author.
Limits of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty
I’ve been successful selling my own jewelry, and I sincerely hope that the readers of this book will follow
my advice, carefully plan their business and set realistic goals and expectations, and then work hard to
become successful in business as a result. But, I can’t promise success will happen for you. With any
business, a lot of factors can go into success or failure. I want you to succeed and I will give you all the
tools and information I can so you are prepared to try and make it happen for yourself. But since I can’t
promise it or make any guarantees of success or earnings, I need to include a legal notice and disclaimer
here. If you need to contact me, please visit http://making-jewelry.ning.com/ where you can create an
account and then send me a personal message.
While all attempts have been made to verify information provided, the author assumes no responsibility
for errors, omissions, or contrary interpretation of the subject matter herein. This book contains links to
many additional resources that are online websites: links may change at any time and the publisher has
no control over third party websites or their contents. Any perceived slights of peoples or organizations
are unintentional. The purchaser or reader of this publication assumes responsibility for the use of these
materials and information. Results may vary and no guarantees of income are made. The contents of this
book are not intended to provide legal advice. The author reserves the right to make changes and
assumes no responsibility or liability whatsoever on behalf of any purchaser or reader of these materials.
In no event shall Lorri Ely, Smart Sisterz LLC, agents or suppliers be liable for damages of any kind or
character, including without limitation any compensatory, incidental, direct, indirect, special, punitive, or
consequential damages, loss of use, loss of data, loss of income or profit, loss of or damage to property,
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been advised of the possibility of such damages or losses, arising out of or in connection with the use of
the book or any web site with which it is linked. Lorri Ely is in no way responsible for the content or
behavior of any linked websites, and has no liability whatsoever for claims or damages against any web
site maintained by a third party.
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How to Run a Home Based Jewelry Party Business for Fun and Profit
A Step-by-Step Action Plan for Building your Successful Dream Business
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright Notice..................................................................................................................... 2
Limits of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty............................................................................ 2
 Introduction ..................................................................................................6
 Section 1 – Getting Started  .........................................................................9
How to Stop Procrastinating and Get Motivated ...................................................................... 10
Step 1 - Your Reasons for Starting a Business ........................................................................ 11
Step 2 – Establish Goals and Objectives................................................................................... 12
Step 3 – Is a Jewelry Business the Right Fit for Me? ............................................................... 12
Step 4 – Setting and Managing Expectations on your Time..................................................... 15
Step 5 - Identify Your Customers ............................................................................................. 16
Step 6 - Identify your Products ................................................................................................. 16
Step 7 - Competition, Supply & Demand ................................................................................. 17
Create your Competitive Advantage..................................................................................... 19
Excellent Service .................................................................................................................. 20
Creating Demand .................................................................................................................. 20
Step 8 – Pricing Strategies ........................................................................................................ 21
 Section 2 - Business Operations and Legal Issues  ................................. 27
Step 9 - Maintaining Records ................................................................................................... 29
Step 10 - Identifying Startup Costs........................................................................................... 31
Step 11 - Planning to Pay Yourself........................................................................................... 32
Step 12 - Projecting your Income ............................................................................................. 32
Step 13 - Business Legal Structure ........................................................................................... 34
Step 14 - Business Name .......................................................................................................... 36
Step 15 - Handling Taxes.......................................................................................................... 38
Step 16 - Business Licenses, Certificates, and Restrictions...................................................... 40
Licenses................................................................................................................................. 40
Employer Identification Number .......................................................................................... 40
Zoning Concerns................................................................................................................... 40
Step 17 - Business and Personal Insurance............................................................................... 42
Step 18 - Credit Card Processing .............................................................................................. 43
Step 19 - Building an On-line Presence.................................................................................... 45
Step 20 - Protecting your Business ........................................................................................... 50
Copyrighting Designs ........................................................................................................... 50
Trade marking your Name .................................................................................................... 50
Business Ethics ..................................................................................................................... 51
Additional Business Planning Resources.................................................................................. 52
Step 21 - Writing your Business Plan ....................................................................................... 54
 Section 3 – Sales and Marketing .............................................................. 55
Step 22 - Building Client Relationships.................................................................................... 56
Starting a Customer List ....................................................................................................... 56
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Expanding your Invitation List ............................................................................................. 58
Client Demographics ............................................................................................................ 58
Maintaining a Client Database.............................................................................................. 58
Stay in Touch with Clients through Social Networking ....................................................... 59
Following up with Clients..................................................................................................... 60
Step 23 – Create Marketing Materials ...................................................................................... 62
Your Brand Image................................................................................................................. 62
Photographing Jewelry.......................................................................................................... 62
Text Styles in your Image ..................................................................................................... 63
Logo Design.......................................................................................................................... 63
Party Brochures..................................................................................................................... 64
Business Cards ...................................................................................................................... 65
Jewelry Cards........................................................................................................................ 66
Jewelry Catalog..................................................................................................................... 67
Additional Advertising.......................................................................................................... 67
 Section 4 - Having a Successful Jewelry Party ....................................... 68
Step 24 - Recruiting Party Hosts with Incentives ..................................................................... 69
Incentive Plan Templates.......................................................................................................... 70
Party Incentive Example 1 .................................................................................................... 70
Party Incentive Example 2 .................................................................................................... 71
Party Incentive Example 3 .................................................................................................... 72
Scheduling More Parties ....................................................................................................... 74
A Great Party Intro................................................................................................................ 74
Show the Rewards................................................................................................................. 74
Follow Up ............................................................................................................................. 75
Step 25 – Design Great Party Invitations.................................................................................. 76
Step 26 - Party Preparation ....................................................................................................... 77
Creating Enticing Displays ................................................................................................... 78
How to Decorate ................................................................................................................... 79
Lighting Jewelry at Parties........................................................................................................ 80
Packing for the Party................................................................................................................. 81
Traveling Display Kit ........................................................................................................... 81
Jewelry Transport.................................................................................................................. 81
Step 27 - Party Refreshments.................................................................................................... 83
Step 28 - What to Expect During the Party............................................................................... 85
Handling Money ................................................................................................................... 85
Gift Wrap .............................................................................................................................. 85
Booking Parties..................................................................................................................... 86
Step 29 – New Jewelry Party Formats..................................................................................... 87
“While you Wait” Jewelry Party........................................................................................... 87
“Make your Own” Jewelry Party.......................................................................................... 88
On-line Party......................................................................................................................... 90
Step 30 - Post Party Tasks ........................................................................................................ 91
Following up with the Hostess.............................................................................................. 91
Following up with Guests ..................................................................................................... 91
Step 31 – Growing your Business............................................................................................. 92
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What to do if the Party Business is Slow.............................................................................. 92
Craft Fairs ............................................................................................................................. 93
Jewelry Trunk Shows............................................................................................................ 93
Selling to Retail Stores.......................................................................................................... 94
How To Make Jewelry.............................................................................................................. 95
 Section 5 – Additional Helpful Information ........................................... 96
Inspiration – Where to find new Design Ideas.......................................................................... 97
Suppliers ................................................................................................................................... 97
Bead and Gem Shows ........................................................................................................... 97
Bead Stores ........................................................................................................................... 97
On-Line Suppliers................................................................................................................. 98
eBay ...................................................................................................................................... 98
 Section 6 – Marketing Jewelry On-Line – Social Networking  ............. 99
Social Networking and Marketing Jewelry Online................................................................. 100
Twitter.com......................................................................................................................... 100
Facebook.com ..................................................................................................................... 104
MySpace.com...................................................................................................................... 106
Images & Video: YouTube, Flickr, and Photobucket......................................................... 107
More Social Networking Sites ............................................................................................ 108
On-Line Craft Marketplaces: Etsy and More.......................................................................... 109
Selling Jewelry on Etsy....................................................................................................... 111
 APPENDIX A - Forms and Templates  ................................................. 114
Business Plan Brainstorming Form ........................................................................................ 115
Startup Costs Worksheet......................................................................................................... 120
Income Projection Worksheet................................................................................................. 121
Business Plan for <My Jewelry Party Business> ................................................................... 125
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 Introduction 
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Hello, my name is Lorri Ely, and I love jewelry! Big and bold jewelry, delicate jewelry,
fun jewelry, and sophisticated jewelry—I love it all. Because of my passion for jewelry,
I started making beaded jewelry as a hobby, and immediately realized how exciting it
was to make my own jewelry to create a very personal form of self-expression. My
journey on the road of becoming a jewelry designer with my own business was
completely accidental, but also a great learning experience and a lot of fun. So, how did
I turn my love of jewelry and my fun hobby into a successful jewelry business—and
more importantly, how can you do the same thing? Read on…
My Accidental Journey
When I first got started, I’ll admit that I wasn’t all that impressed with my jewelry and I
didn’t have much confidence. I thought my designs were a little boring and ordinary,
and my construction techniques weren’t perfected. At that point, I certainly wasn’t
thinking of selling my jewelry to anyone else. But my friends encouraged me and told
me I was really onto something because even though I lacked confidence--they really
loved my designs. So, I kept making jewelry because I enjoyed the process and loved
making new things.
eBay
It wasn’t long before someone suggested I try to sell my jewelry. At first, I listed some
of my jewelry on eBay. The idea of testing my jewelry sales on-line was appealing to
me. I could list my sales and be somewhat anonymous, while not feeling the
embarrassing sting of personal rejection if no one bought my jewelry. While I made a
lot of mistakes initially (and many auctions closed without a single bid), I learned a lot,
and in my first month of working very hard at it, I managed to earn over $1,000! I also
sold some of my jewelry to customers in other countries. How exciting--my jewelry was
actually going International! I was building a customer base and getting great
feedback. My successes on eBay got me really excited and for the first time I started
thinking about turning my love of creating jewelry into a real business.
Website Store
The next step in pursuing my dream was to open an on-line store and website. I admit,
didn’t get many visitors on my website, but again, I learned a lot, and I was proud to
have my very own store out on the World Wide Web. I made a nice logo to identify my
image, and got to experience the feeling of being a little bit famous.
Craft Fair
I heard about a craft fair at work, so I made up a bunch of jewelry and went to my first
holiday craft fair—and sold many items and got to experience meeting and working with
my customers directly for the first time. Again, I learned a lot about what works, and
what doesn’t work when selling jewelry at a craft fair. I was much better prepared for
the next craft fair, and the one after that, and the one after that…
Selling in a Real Store
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Next, I mustered up my courage and tried selling my jewelry to a local boutique. I
remember I was so scared to try to directly market my wares by asking the Manager of
the store if she was interested in selling my line of jewelry. But, much to my surprise
and delight, the storeowner purchased some of my pieces to sell in their store, and my
jewelry sold well. I was so excited! Now my jewelry was being sold locally to more
customers in my city!
Fundraisers
I heard about a fundraiser, and so I made some jewelry for an auction that donated the
proceeds to charity. Donating my jewelry to a good cause was very rewarding and
gratifying to me.
Home Jewelry Party
A friend of mine asked me if I had ever had a home jewelry party, and asked me if I
would have one at her house. Believe it or not, the thought hadn’t occurred to me to sell
my jewelry at other people’s homes! So, I had my first home jewelry party, and it was a
great success. People loved the chance to socialize while enjoying a casual party
atmosphere, and my jewelry was a big hit! I made lots of sales, and eventually booked
more parties. I realized that parties were a great way to sell a lot of jewelry in just a few
hours, while also having fun. I was onto something…
Wow – I own a business!
The ball was rolling for my jewelry business! After all of these different forays into
selling jewelry, I eventually learned the ropes and found my own success. I didn’t set
out with a plan, just a natural passion for creativity and making jewelry, and a lot of hard
work. I made lots of mistakes along the way, but eventually I figured it out. I had turned
my love of jewelry and the thrill of making it, into a real business venture.
You can do the same thing, and I’m going to share valuable information on how you can
do it. Best of all, you can take a short cut! You won’t have to start from scratch like I
did, learning everything the hard way, and wasting hundreds of dollars on mistakes.
You’ll get to benefit from my years of hard work and experience and get started on the
path to success from day one in your business!
Since jewelry parties are one of the most lucrative, easy and fun ways to sell jewelry,
the jewelry party business will be the primary focus of this book. Of course, I will share
lots of other tips along the way, so you can expand your business. Thanks for joining
me on this journey, I can’t think of anything more rewarding than helping you to realize
your own dreams for a successful work from home jewelry business!
Best regards,
-Lorri Ely
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 Section 1 – Getting Started 
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How to Stop Procrastinating and Get Motivated
“Can I Run a Successful Jewelry Party Business?”
Well, the simple answer is—YES! With time and effort, creativity and commitment—I
think nearly anyone can. Since you purchased this book you’re obviously interested in
jumping right in to start your jewelry business. To make this process easier, I’ve
broken the process up into a step-by-step action plan so you can easily work your way
through creating your business.
Starting to Brainstorm your Business Plan
We’ll start the step-by-step action plan with a brainstorming session. Your responses to
the questions will ultimately take shape and become your business plan. Don’t worry if
you have never created a business plan before. It’s easier than you think. I’ve even
included a brainstorming template at the back of the book for you to use, and a
business plan template to use once you are all finished with the questions.
So, what is a business plan, and why spend time writing one? Your business plan will
outline your goals and objectives and help you set clear expectations on what you want
to achieve with your business. A typical formalized business plan document
establishes the blueprint for your company. The good news is that creating a business
plan is more about the process of walking through these questions than it is about
making a perfect document. This exercise will help you in understanding why you want
to run your own business, and in setting realistic expectations, goals and objectives so
your business can succeed. Take the time to go through this process and answer all of
the questions. Trust me—you’ll be glad you did.
Let’s get started by answering the questions that will form the basis of your plan. Be
totally honest! You aren’t answering these questions for me, for your spouse or friends,
or to impress anyone—you are only answering these questions for YOU, because it’s
your business.
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Print the “Business Plan Brainstorming” section at the back of this book, then answer
these questions and record your responses on the form.
Step 1 - Your Reasons for Starting a Business
Why do I want to start a business?
List your reasons for starting a home business. Here are just a few examples to
help you get started:








I dream of the day when I can quit my current job and work from home
I want to be self-managed
I want to create financial independence
I long for a way to express myself creatively
I want to share my creative talents so others can enjoy them
I want to have the freedom and flexibility to work out of my own home
I need a work schedule that allows me more time with my family
I want enough money for the finer things in life
Are there any other personal reasons you want to start your business? Write
them down!
There are many great reasons for starting a home jewelry business. You’re about to
uncover your own personal motivation! The reason these questions are important is
because your responses explain the “Why?” and the drive behind why you want to start
a business. How important are your reasons and what would it really mean for you to
run your own business? What would change in the quality of your life if you were able
to work from home with your own jewelry party business? Write down your most
compelling reasons.
In addition to recording your response on the “Business Brainstorming” form, I also want
you to write your reason(s) down on an index card or piece of paper and post it
someplace where you are likely to read it often. Why? All businesses experience ups
and downs and require hard work and dedication, so when the going gets tough or
you’re having a frustrating day, you will see your list of reasons and it will reinforce why
you wanted to do this in the first place.
These frequent reminders will serve as positive encouragement for you to keep your
commitment to starting your business. Feel free to include photos if they help you
visualize your commitment—perhaps a photo of your children to remind you why you
want a work at home business, or a photo of a home or new car that you want to
purchase with the extra income you bring in from your business.
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Step 2 – Establish Goals and Objectives
What are my business goals and objectives?
You just thought about the reasons why it was so important for you to start your own
business. These are most likely personal reasons that have to do with improving your
quality of life. Next, I want you to think about setting one concrete goal for your
business by turning your wishes into something achievable. A goal is simply a specific
measurable objective that you wish to achieve with your business. By achieving each
goal, you are progressing towards your dream. You can set additional business goals
later after you get the hang of this and have more time to give your business plan some
thought. For now, just try to create at least one goal. When goal setting, you want to
be sure your goal is realistic and something you really believe that you can accomplish,
but also stretch yourself a bit.
I also want you to write your goal on the index card or piece of paper you used for the
last question. Again, remember to put this card someplace where you will see it often.
Put it on your refrigerator or bathroom mirror! Reinforcing both the reasons behind your
dream, as well as your concrete goal will serve as a positive reminder to stay on track.
Here are some examples of goals:
 “I will start my own home jewelry business by August”
 “I will complete all of the steps in this action plan and have my first jewelry
party within 30 days.”
 “I will earn enough money through jewelry parties so that I can quit my
current job within a year.”
 “I will work hard at building my business so that I can be a work-at-homemom within 6 months.”
 “I will earn $20,000 this year working part-time, doing home jewelry parties.
Your own goal can be as simple or as challenging as you want—the point is to make a
real goal—then remind yourself every single day as positive reinforcement so you will
stick with your commitment and be successful!
Step 3 – Is a Jewelry Business the Right Fit for Me?
Next, let’s determine if this is the right type of business for you.
Why is a home jewelry business the right fit for me?
List your reasons why you think a jewelry business is a good match for you.
Here are a few reasons to help you get started:





I love jewelry
I like to spend my time on creative endeavors
I find it gratifying to make things
I like people
I have some basic sales and marketing skills
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
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
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I have the skill and ability to design and craft my own jewelry
Others tell me that I am creative, and that they love my jewelry designs
I am self motivated and work well when I direct my own time and activities
I am organized
I am customer focused
Are there other reasons?
Everyone will tell you when starting a business--Do what you love! The point of this
step is to help you recognize all of the skills that might help you succeed in running a
jewelry party business. This will also help you to see for yourself whether this business
is a good fit for you. It’s always a good idea to identify your strengths and weaknesses
so your business can be a success.
If you’re naturally creative and enjoy making things, and you love jewelry, then a
handcrafted jewelry business is probably a great fit for you. A handcrafted jewelry party
business requires some creative talent, and some basic skills in crafting jewelry.
Of course you can find many sources for new design ideas, instruction, and inspiration
(like making-jewelry.com!), but you should love designing and making jewelry because
you will be doing quite a bit of it when your business takes off! If you don’t love
designing and making jewelry yourself (but you still love jewelry), there are several other
jewelry party business options that might work for you. If you choose one of these
options, the tips in this book will still prove valuable in your business.
Here are a few recommendations on party businesses where you don’t have to make
your own jewelry designs. If you want a home jewelry party business but don’t have the
time to make jewelry, or don’t simply don’t want to make all the jewelry yourself,
perhaps one of these companies has a good option you can explore:


Silpada Designs
Stella & Dot
Each of these companies focus on setting you up with a work-from-home jewelry
business—and they provide you with the marketing instructions and jewelry. This is an
easy way to get started if you don’t want to make the jewelry yourself. Of course, by
running your own business you will get to earn far more profit and have complete
freedom to run the business the way you want. I prefer selling my own handcrafted
jewelry, because I enjoy the process of designing and making jewelry.
Jewelry parties involve working with people, so obviously it will help if you like spending
time around people. You don’t have to be outrageously social or extroverted to be a
successful jewelry designer (I’m quite introverted myself!), but if you really hate parties
and social events, you might not enjoy doing jewelry parties. And, if you’re terrified of
selling, this will be a skill you need to learn to become more comfortable with, if you
want to get the most from your business.
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Don’t get too worried if you don’t have every skill you think you might need. The most
important thing to have is passion for your business. You can always continue to learn
and grow your skills, and you can get help running the parts of the business that you
aren’t so good at (or you hate!). But it helps to be honest with yourself and know right
off the bat if this is a good fit, before you invest lots of time and money going in the
wrong direction.
You’re making great progress! So far in Steps 1-3, we’ve established the “Why” behind
your dream of running a business, you’ve set one or more real goals establishing “How”
you will be able to accomplish your dream, and hopefully you just reinforced for yourself
that a jewelry business is a great fit to your skills and interests—giving you the
confidence that you can achieve this dream for yourself. You can do this!
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There are a few more important questions you will want to ask yourself, so that
you can set and manage realistic expectations:
Step 4 – Setting and Managing Expectations on your Time
Will I have the support of my family when I start a business?
How much time will I have to run my business?
There are always lots of demands on our time. Starting and running your own business
will take some time, so having the support and understanding of your family is
important. Being realistic about how much time will be involved in running your
business will help you manage expectations—both your own as well as your family
members.
Give this some thought now—how many hours a week can you invest in running your
business? Try to be realistic.
Now that you have a number of hours in mind, is this achievable for you, or do you need
to find a way to make the time you will need? You will get out of your business what
you put into it. If you don’t put any time into it and make it a priority, you need to be
realistic about what it will take to meet your goals. Are there barriers to you finding the
time you need to run your business? If you need to arrange childcare for several hours
a week while you handle the business tasks, for example, then think about that ahead of
time before you (and your spouse or children) are surprised or frustrated with the new
demands a home business will place on your time. It’s a good idea to have a meeting
with your family to discuss their questions and concerns before you get started on your
business.
Congratulations, you’re making great progress so far! You’ve just identified WHY
you want a business and how important it is for you to meet your goals. You’ve
determined that a home jewelry party business is a good fit for you, and you’ve thought
about the implications that running a home business will have on your time. You’re also
setting realistic expectations on the time demands that the business will have. You’re
off to a great start and we’re ready to proceed with more of the practical planning steps
to starting your business.
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Next, let’s identify your unique business proposition. Answer these questions for
yourself:
 Who is my customer?
 What types of jewelry products will I sell?
 Who is my competition?
 What is my business's advantage over existing businesses?
 Can I deliver better quality service?
 Can I create a demand for my business?
Every business should have a “unique selling proposition”. All this really means is,
“How will my business be competitive”? Luckily, there are millions and millions of
women, and when I look around I see nearly all of them are wearing jewelry! This
creates a huge potential market base for you, so you shouldn’t have any problem
finding enough people to sell your jewelry to, even if there is a lot of competition.
You just want to identify a good niche for your jewelry where you can fill a demand. You
should be aware of your competition, and take the time to study it. Recognize that
competition isn’t necessarily a bad thing! Look at it as an opportunity to learn and make
your own business better.
Who else is selling handcrafted jewelry in your community? Who are they selling to?
Who is their target demographic? What are their prices? What do you like (and what
don’t you like) about their jewelry designs and the way they run their business? What
would you do differently?
In the next several steps, we’ll address each one of these questions. Record your
responses on the worksheet.
Step 5 - Identify Your Customers
Who is my customer?
Think about the customers you will be selling to. Where do they live, what is their age
range, what are their interests, and what sort of education, jobs and income do they
have? Is your jewelry a good fit for your target market? Why or why not? Before
starting your business, you want to give some thought to the customers you plan to
serve, because this will help you target your marketing efforts by understanding their
needs. When you are first starting your business, you may not know who your
customers are exactly, but you will want to pay attention to this because over time it will
help you sell more jewelry by giving your customers exactly what they like.
Step 6 - Identify your Products
What types of jewelry products will I sell?
Do you plan to sell inexpensive jewelry, or high-end jewelry with expensive materials?
What is your product? You always want to offer what your target customers want to
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buy. If you don’t think your product matches well with your customers, then you may
need to come up with a more suitable product line. The good news is that with jewelry,
this isn’t hard to do—you can offer a variety of styles and prices and once you figure out
what your customers like the most, you can fine tune your product line and add more of
the best selling items, while phasing out products that don’t work as well. Of course,
you’ll always want to keep your product line fresh by trying out new designs and styles
to see what appeals to your customers.
Step 7 - Competition, Supply & Demand
Who is my competition?
These next few questions are really about supply and demand. To have a successful
business you need to identify that there is a demand for your jewelry (luckily, there is
always plenty of demand for jewelry). Next, you need to know how much supply there
is in your market. If there are too many other jewelry designers selling the same
identical styles of jewelry, then supply in your market is high and you might not do so
great to go after that competition, unless you can set yourself apart.
The good news is that home jewelry parties are going to give you a “captive audience”.
Unlike shopping in a store where there are lots of products for sale, when customers are
viewing your jewelry for sale at a party, you won’t have direct competition. There may
not be much competition in the home jewelry party market. However, don’t let that
make you lazy, or careless in understanding competition. Your client will only buy so
much jewelry, regardless of where she finds it for sale. So, you still want to do all you
can to maximize your business and increase your profits. So, leave no stone unturned,
so to speak, when thinking of ways you can improve and grow your business.
Take the time to do some research locally. Do you know anyone else in your area that
is doing jewelry parties? Is there anything you can learn? Go through the stores that
sell clothing and jewelry in your town, and make notes about styles and what is selling.
Also do some research online and try to find out selling prices, materials used in the
design, styles, and other information about your competitor’s business. Also, observe
jewelry trends by reading fashion magazines, or looking at your favorite clothing and
accessory websites and catalogs. See what you can learn to help you gauge what
your own prices and offerings should be.
To research other competitors in your local area, you can search Google and Yahoo. At
Google Maps (http://local.google.com/ or http://www.google.com/maps) you can type in
“handcrafted jewelry”, followed by your city and state. Google will return business
listings matching “handcrafted jewelry” in your area. Here is a screenshot when I typed
my search:
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Google tells me there are 39 handcrafted jewelry business listings in my city of Portland!
Honestly, only a fraction of these are probably my direct competition, as most are
jewelry stores or gift boutiques selling direct retail, but it’s still a good idea to see what is
going on in your area. These may or may not be your direct competitors in the jewelry
party arena, but it’s always fun to learn more about other designers in your area and
you might get some good ideas when visiting their business or website.
To do the same local search on Yahoo Local, go to http://local.yahoo.com and type in
“handcrafted jewelry” and your location. I got the following search results:
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Again, many of the search results turn out to not be direct competition, but it’s worth the
time to look. You might also try the search terms “jewelry party”, or “home party” to see
what you can find.
Create your Competitive Advantage
What is my business's advantage over existing businesses?
Make some notes on what you want your business to be and how your business will be
unique. How can you do something that separates you from your competition and gives
you an advantage? Maybe you can offer different types of design styles or jewelry
products. Perhaps you can appeal to a different market demographic if the one you had
in mind is already too competitive. Try to find your niche and always be on the lookout
for new ideas to make your business better. What makes your style unique? Do you
specialize in gold jewelry, or personalized jewelry, or semi-precious stone jewelry, or…?
Every month or so, do a brainstorming session, and jot down some notes and ideas on
how to keep your business fresh and competitive.
TIP - I carry a little journal around in my purse and whenever I have an idea for my
business, or I see something interesting that I like, or a new business name or
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competitor I want to learn more about, I write it down right then and there, so I don’t
forget it later when I have time to do research.
Excellent Service
How can I deliver better quality service?
Service is an important aspect of any business. Can you think of a company that you
love doing business with because of their great service? Wouldn’t you like to have your
business known as one of those great companies who really “get it”? What added
services might you offer in your business? Could you offer additional services like free
re-sizing or a lifetime repair warranty? What about offering a custom jewelry order
business? How about always providing free gift-wrap and a nice box with every
purchase? I suggest you explore all of these ideas and determine which ones you want
to implement.
Personally, I offer free gift wrap, free re-sizing (up to a certain length, then there is a
nominal fee for extra supplies), I always do free repairs, and when selling jewelry on-line
I offer a money back satisfaction guarantee so jewelry can be returned within 7 days for
a refund. This greatly increases my credibility as a business, and to this day I have a
coveted 100% positive feedback review rating on eBay. My customers have learned
that they can count on me to provide excellent service, no matter what. The secret is in
great communication, setting clear expectations, and following through every time.
With jewelry parties, make sure that if you do accept custom orders, you are realistic in
managing expectations on how long it will take to complete and deliver the jewelry to
the customer. It’s better to add a few days buffer on your delivery estimate than to
disappoint the customer because you fell behind in making their custom piece or you
were waiting on supplies to show up.
Excellent Customer Service Ideas
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Free gift wrap (just build something into the price of each piece so you don’t lose
money)
Free re-sizing on bracelets and necklaces
Free repairs
Custom jewelry orders
Discount coupons for repeat customers
Free delivery or shipping
Return for Refund within x Days
Guarantee
Creating Demand
Can I create enough demand for my product?
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Generally, if you have answered the questions above and studied your market and
competitors, the answer should be a resounding “yes”! When you know your customer,
and you know what they like, and you deliver it well (and hopefully a little better than the
competition)—you should have a good business model. You’re on your way to success!
Step 8 – Pricing Strategies
How do I know how to price my jewelry?
This is a great question, and generally you will need to do some testing to find the
answer that works for you…AND, it may change from time to time. I hate to be so
vague, but as with any business, fluctuations in your own production costs, supply and
demand, and other factors can all influence your pricing. You’ve noticed that retail
stores change their pricing all the time, so clearly this is an inexact science. Also, your
reputation will have some influence and as you become more popular and in demand,
your prices might go up a bit accordingly. While there is no perfect answer to this
question, there are a few strategies and techniques to help you get started.
Here’s a simple formula:
Costs + Time + Profit = Price
There will be fixed and variable costs you will want to consider. Not only do you pay for
the supplies that go into the jewelry, you also have some overhead costs in running the
business. What do you pay for business supplies, rent (portion of your home office
used for business), and gas mileage to drive to the party, promotional materials, and
other “business stuff”? This should all be built into your pricing somewhere. Rather
than trying to figure out business costs for each and every little thing, it is easier to just
average it out, then build that into the jewelry price based on how much jewelry you sell
each month. By keeping good records you will get an idea over time of how much you
spend each month to run your business and you can average this out to build it into
your jewelry prices. Let’s say you spend $200 a month on business cards, printer toner
and paper, a percentage of your telephone phone and internet access bill, and other
business materials, plus your gas mileage driving to parties. Assuming you sell about
200 pieces of jewelry a month, you might decide to add $1 to the price of each piece of
jewelry to cover the costs of doing business.
Obviously, you need to know your fixed jewelry supply costs as well. You simply cannot
sell your jewelry for less than it cost you to make it or you won’t be profitable. Well,
sure—everyone knows that much! Just make sure you keep records on supply costs so
you will know if there is an increase and you’ll know what it costs you to make the
jewelry. For example, the price for silver and gold just skyrocketed and so
unfortunately, I will need to raise prices for my jewelry because it now costs me more to
make it. Don’t shortchange yourself. When you come up with a new design, spend the
time to calculate what materials go into it, and what those materials cost. This way you
won’t inadvertently charge far less than the piece is worth.
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Your time has value as well. What do you want to pay yourself per hour? You should
build something in, and again—don’t short change yourself. Often new business people
think they have to undercut their competition and they also lack confidence so they sell
their jewelry for way too cheap! (Yes, I’ve made this mistake too.) Your business will
not succeed, and you will not be happy, if you spend a ton of time working and never
make any money. Again, when you come up with a new design, try to calculate how
long on average it would take you to recreate that piece so you’ll have an idea what to
charge for it. A wire-wrapped chain necklace that took you three tedious hours to
complete should be sold for more than a simple beaded bracelet that took 15 minutes!
Next build in a little profit margin, as a buffer. Profit is just profit—a cushion that gives
you something above and beyond your costs and time. This is the most variable
number and the one you will probably play with the most, but build some profit into your
price as well.
Your own formula for calculating prices for your jewelry may vary, and may change
based on many factors. For example, once you have an established business and
great reputation, you may be able to charge more. You may get more for your products
during certain seasons, or holidays, but may need to reduce pricing at bit or hold sales
at other times.
You can test this formula out to see what works best for you.
1/3 costs + 1/3 my time + 1/3 profit margin = total price
Here’s an example, assuming I want to pay myself $10 per hour for making jewelry.
Example - Beaded Earrings Pricing Formula:
1/3 for costs + 1/3 for my time ($10 per hour) + 1/3 markup for profit = total price
$5.00 for jewelry earring supplies costs (beads, wires) and business overhead
(marketing costs, business supplies)
+
$2.50 for my time to make ($10/hour * 15 minutes time to make, 10 divided by 4 = 2.50)
+
Add additional 1/3rd of existing price for profit ($5+$2.50=7.50) $7.50 /3 = $2.50
= $10.00 Final Price
In this case, you might try lowering this to $9.97 to see if that price sounds more
appealing, or you might round up/down all pricing to the nearest $5. There is some
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proof that psychologically, a price tag of $9.97 or $9.99 still sounds better to the
customer than $10.00. The only downside to using cents instead of round numbers is
you will need to be prepared to make change for customers who pay in cash.
Personally, I think it is worth carrying a little change to the party if it means people will
buy more if my prices are rounded down to the nearest .99-cent marker. It’s up to you,
but experiment a little and you will figure out what works best for you. Remember, if you
don’t have any idea where to start your prices, study a competitor with similar jewelry
and see what she is charging.
Here is a second example, giving myself a pay raise to $15.00 per hour for my
work:
$5.00 for jewelry supplies/business costs
+
¼ hour at $15.00 hour for my time ($15/4) = $3.75
Total so far = $5.00 (supplies) + $3.75 (my time) = $8.75
Profit = additional 1/3, so $8.75/3 = $2.92 Profit
$3.75 + $8.75 + $2.92 = $15.42 Final Price
You can see the price of the same pair of earrings went from $10, to over $15—but that
doesn’t mean the customer won’t be willing to pay it. Just decide what you think is a fair
price for your work and try it out.
This is not an exact science, but should give a good idea on how you can create your
own simple formula to roughly calculate prices.
Here are my suggestions for you as you are just starting out. Make an attractive
product that is well-made, and set a FAIR MARKET PRICE (not too low!) that is in-line
with your competitors (you spent the time studying them so now you know what to
charge for a similar piece of jewelry), and you will do fine. Your business and reputation
will grow, and you won’t need to make a bunch of adjustments and raise your prices
later because you started pricing too low and aren’t making enough to keep the
business going.
Please trust me on this point--you do not have to sell your stuff for less than it is worth
to get people to buy it—if anything they may just assume your product is cheap and isn’t
worth much if your prices are too low, and that is not the image you want to create.
Jewelry is about projecting an image, and a form of personal self-expression—while
people enjoy a bargain from time to time, who really wants to think they are wearing
something cheap? On the other hand, if you make your jewelry too exorbitantly
expensive and you don’t already have a loyal customer base that has shown they are
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willing to pay those prices, you may have a very difficult time getting your business off
the ground. It is a balancing act.
Here is a little story for you to illustrate the importance of pricing in your business
strategy:
I was designing fashionable beaded jewelry made from Swarovski crystals, semiprecious gemstones, sterling silver and 14KT gold filled wire, and generally speaking-really nice materials. One day, while walking along the sidewalk in a popular shopping
area of my town, I spotted a jewelry boutique. I stopped in and discovered lots of
jewelry that looked a LOT like mine. The jewelry had similar materials, similar styles—
and probably a similar customer base.
So, this was an indirect competitor of mine. They weren’t selling at home parties, but
were selling jewelry that was a lot like mine, in the same town. And to be honest, I
actually thought some of my own products and designs were a little nicer, and in some
cases better made. But the prices at this store were WAY higher than mine, and I’m not
just talking about the added cost to own a store—these prices were like 5 or 10 times
higher than mine. I was so surprised—why would people pay so much more for the
same exact kind of jewelry? I assumed this jewelry designer was crazy and would
probably be out of business in short order.
Now it is two years later—so, is the store gone? NO! They have moved to a bigger
shop in a better location and have hired more designers to keep pace with demand.
Their business has grown even more—and their prices are still high (in my opinion). So
what’s the secret?
Well, I have determined that a lot of things go into the success of a business. And,
being a wise business owner myself I study my competition with interest. First off, I
realized that they didn’t undervalue their jewelry and start off with prices that were
probably way too low (like I did when I first got started). They made a nice product with
good materials, and they believed in themselves. Then, they targeted their
demographic—and based on the neighborhood their shop is located in, they were after
fairly affluent customers who were willing to pay a little more for unique, handcrafted
jewelry that you can’t find in any store or mall.
And what are you selling? Unique, handcrafted jewelry. So…in theory, customers
might pay a little more for jewelry that they can’t find anyplace else. Finally, this
business had an advantage of a retail store in a great location, which I am sure is no
accident. The store was nicely decorated, very sophisticated with tulle drapery
everywhere, and nice jewelry displays, and wooden boxes with velvet lined trays—all of
this lending an upscale atmosphere and sense of cache’ to the business. They always
gift-wrapped their jewelry in a nice box or bag, so when the customer walked out with
jewelry in hand, they felt they had gotten something really special.
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You won’t have a retail storefront, and the location of the party will always vary. But you
can do a lot to create a sense of exclusivity, quality, and atmosphere around your
business image. We’ll go into those details later. My point is that all of these factors
combined equal a successful jewelry business. Probably one of the key factors in this
jewelry shop’s success is that they didn’t undervalue, and under price their jewelry to
start with—they had a plan and strategy around the image their brand would represent,
who their customer would be, and what those customers would be willing to pay for nice
unique jewelry. So will you.
The moral of the story is - Believe in yourself! Believe in your business. Price your
product line fairly.
Here is another suggestion on getting started with your pricing. Create your main line of
jewelry and the bulk of your product within a certain price range and spend the time to
price it well to start with. Test prices at a few parties to see if you need to make
adjustments (either up or down). Also, create a smaller set of lower priced pieces (say
under $20), and a set of high-end or one-of-a-kind pieces, and test those at your party
as well. You will probably find you sell higher quantities of the lower end pieces, but
you might make a greater profit on the high end ones, because they are perceived as
more valuable and exclusive—especially one-of-a-kind or limited edition pieces. The
best way for you to find out if your prices are in line is to test them at a few parties and
make adjustments accordingly. You can also ask some trusted friends and family if
they think your prices are too low or too high (tell them to be honest, the constructive
feedback shouldn’t hurt your feelings).
To entice buyers without having to adjust prices, offer a “sale” on select items, or other
discounts. I like to give discount coupons to repeat buyers. It’s easy and fun to print
your own coupons up on the computer for $2 off next purchase, %10 off purchase of
$50 or more, or whatever you want to reward your customer with. Try these out, I have
found my customers love them and it is a great way to get more business and build your
repeat customer base.
Here is a link to some free downloadable Microsoft Office templates to make coupons
and gift certificates (visit http://office.microsoft.com and search their templates):
Coupons template link: http://office.microsoft.com/enus/results.aspx?Scope=DC%2CEM%2CES%2CFX%2CHA%2CHP%2CQZ%2CRC%2
CTC%2CXT&Query=coupon
All templates link: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/templatesFX101741961.aspx?CTT=97
Remember, it is unrealistic to expect an exact formula that will always equate to the
perfect price for your jewelry. Also, you will probably want to balance some costs
across your jewelry if one piece turns out to be terribly expensive to make and another
is super cheap. Maybe you got a great bargain on some nice beads but spent a little
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too much on some others. You don’t have to sell a nice pair of earrings that cost only
$2 in supplies for $4. Maybe $10 for that pair or earrings would be more aligned with
your other products and pricing for similar designs. Let’s say you have another pair that
cost $6 to make and you want to charge $10 for those, too--you can round up or down
to average and split the costs across the whole line, for example.
The one thing you want to take away from this section is that you MUST factor in all
your costs, plus your time and profit, and study your product against the competition to
devise a FAIR MARKET price—and that none of this is an exact science (unfortunately).
Just please always make sure your business is earning a profit so you don’t get
frustrated and give up!
Great, so you’ve completed the action steps that helped you to define your business,
your product, and your service offerings. And, you’ve given some thought to your
approach to calculating a fair market price for your jewelry. You’re making great
progress on your business plan. Now we will continue with the steps to legally establish
your business, and get organized. This is the rather boring section, so please hang in
there, you’ll get through it and move onto the fun stuff about parties, soon.
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 Section 2 - Business Operations and Legal Issues 
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Next, let’s talk about some business fundamentals and important decisions you need to
make in the formation of your business. Most of my information for the next few action
steps is in regards to formation of United States companies, so if you live elsewhere you
will want to check your local rules and regulations around business formation. The
concepts are similar regardless of where you live, but explaining the legal and tax
regulations on how to go about forming a business in every single country is beyond the
scope of this book.
For companies outside of the United States, different legal rules and regulations may
apply. Here is some information on how to legally start a business in these countries:
United Kingdom - Business Link Startup Guide:
Link: http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?topicId=1073858805
Starting a Business in Canada:
Link: http://www.canadabusiness.ca/eng/125/
Starting a Business in Australia:
http://www.business.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx
For other countries, search online, or please consult your local business and
government agencies, or seek the advice of legal counsel.
Disclaimer - Because we are about to delve into legal issues, and laws change and vary
depending on your location and jurisdiction, please take my advice in this section as
informative, but always verify with your local authorities what legal requirements apply in
your area. I’ve made every attempt to provide good information that is current, but my
information is general in nature, and is not intended as a substitute for legal advice
provided by your local governing bodies, or your accountant or attorney. My advice
here is not warranted or guaranteed in any way.
Ok, now that the legal babble is out of the way, let’s get started. In this section, we will
answer these questions:
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How will I maintain my business records?
What tools, equipment, and supplies will I need, and will I need financing or
start up funds?
How will I compensate myself?
What business legal structure will I use?
What will I name my business?
How will I handle my taxes?
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What licenses or certificates do I need to do business in my area?
How will I handle insurance?
Do I need to protect my business with a trademark or copyrights?
Let’s tackle these questions one at a time.
Step 9 - Maintaining Records
How will I maintain my business records?
You need to keep track of supplies coming in and what you have paid for them so you
can track and price your jewelry and make a profit. You also need to track sales that
are made for tax purposes. And, many of your business expenses are tax deductible.
Get organized up front—it will make your business run much more smoothly and you
can spend time focusing on the more enjoyable aspects…like making jewelry!
Keep records and receipts for everything you buy for the business! I suggest you keep
your records using Quicken, QuickBooks, or an Excel spreadsheet, but you can also do
it on paper—whatever you use, just keep records of what you spend! Much of what you
spend on your business can later be deducted from taxes, so you don’t want to short
change yourself by keeping sloppy records. Also, for tax purposes you will need to hold
onto some documents for a certain time period.
The IRS website indicates “To be deductible, a business expense must be both ordinary
and necessary. An ordinary expense is one that is common and accepted in your trade
or business. A necessary expense is one that is helpful and appropriate for your trade
or business. An expense does not have to be indispensable to be considered
necessary.” You cannot deduct personal expenses, so be sure to separate out
business and personal expenses.
If you have vendors who will send invoices to you on-line, create folders on your
computer to keep them organized. Or, if you receive paper statements, create real
folders in your filing cabinet to keep them organized.
Here are links to some US IRS business resources to help you understand what is
deductible and what types of records you need to keep, and why.
IRS –What kind of records should I keep?
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=98551,00.html
IRS – Publication 583 – Starting a Business and Keeping Records
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p583/index.html
IRS – Publication 535, Business Expenses
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p535/index.html
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Additional IRS Business Information
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/index.html
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Step 10 - Identifying Startup Costs
What tools, equipment, and supplies will I need, and will I need financing or start up
funds?
This is important, as with any business there will be some start up costs. I recommend
that until you get going with your business, you don’t make any huge investments or
take out loans. Most jewelry businesses can be launched with an investment of a few
hundred dollars--or even less. If you absolutely must take out a loan or use credit cards
to get started, just be careful in tracking your costs--and set a concrete goal for how
soon you will recoup that investment and start making a profit with your business. For
example “My business will break even and become profitable after three parties.”
“Break even” means you made back the money you started with, so now you can start
keeping the income you make.
If you have been making jewelry as a hobby, you probably already have much of what
you will need to get started except perhaps for some business supplies. If you are
totally new, you can probably expect to spend around $200-300 or so buying enough
supplies and marketing materials to get ready for your first jewelry party. This would
include a set of jewelry tools, beads and findings, printing a set of business cards, and
some jewelry display items.
You can launch your business by planning for one jewelry party. After that first party
you can take the proceeds and invest some in additional supplies, and after that party
invest in a little more. This way you can build your business slowly over time without
taking on too much financial risk. Within a few months you should be on a roll!
TIP - If your starting budget is tight, don’t just go to the bead store and go hog wild
buying everything you think you might need. (I’ve been guilty of doing this so many
times…) Think about your best designs that you want to take to your first party, and
identify what supplies you need to make the jewelry in preparation for that party. Then
make your shopping list. When you buy supplies, be sure to record the purchase date,
supplier, and costs in your spreadsheet or tracking software, and hold onto all of your
receipts. This will help you with taxes as well as in pricing your jewelry for sale.
Complete the Start-up Costs Worksheet at the back of this book.
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Step 11 - Planning to Pay Yourself
How will I compensate myself?
You’ll want to think about how you will pay yourself for your work. Perhaps it is as
simple as keeping all the income you earn with each party. You can transfer the funds
from your business checking account to your personal account or write yourself a
check. Or, maybe based on your financial goals and plans, you have decided you will
pay yourself a flat salary of $1,000 a month, regardless of how your income varies that
month. Then, if you had an excellent month where you had an income of $2,000 a
month, but then a slow month of only $1,000, you can use the excessive income you
kept in savings from the first month to off-set the slower month and you don’t notice a
difference in your “pay check”.
Regardless of what method you choose to pay yourself from the business, you probably
will decide to re-invest some percentage from each party back into buying new supplies,
and another percentage into a savings account (or whatever ratio makes sense to you).
It’s really up to you, but give it some thought ahead of time and prioritize what is
important with your income. It’s always a good idea to save a little something back to
have as a cushion. You want to be able to have a nice steady income stream, so if you
have saved a little from your busy months to compensate for slow ones, it won’t be as
stressful on you, financially.
The reality of any sales business is that certain times of the year are busier than others
(such as the Holidays) and you will want to have enough spare funds set aside to stock
up on extra supplies to prepare for parties during your busiest times. You don’t want to
be caught off guard and not have what you need to keep your customers happy.
Step 12 - Projecting your Income
How Much I Can Make?
This is an important question that everyone wants to know the answer to. How much
money can I really make with my jewelry party business? Well, not to be evasive, but it
really depends. It’s true that you will get out of your business what you put into it! You
can absolutely make a full time income and create a career out of being a jewelry
designer. Many people do this today, and you have a lot of information here to help you
get started and stack the odds in your favor.
All successful businesses require hard work, and there is no “get rich quick” to a jewelry
party business, unfortunately, but you can earn quite a bit of money for a few hours of
work. I think it’s realistic to expect to earn several hundred dollars profit, per party,
especially once you get going and establish a good reputation and party base. You
could expect even more, perhaps even a thousand per party during the holiday
shopping season. So, if you do only one party a week, you’ll have a nice part time job
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and supplemental income. If you do three parties per week (or more) you can develop
a full time job and nice income.
In the first section, you did some thinking about how much time per week you could
spend working on your business. That should give you some sense of how many
parties you can hold a week. Assume it takes anywhere from 6-12 hours to do a party
(three hours for the party, the rest of the time to make the jewelry and handle other
issues). The more parties you hold, the more you will earn. Also, you’ve given some
thought to your pricing strategy. As long as you are pricing your jewelry with a decent
profit margin built in, you will make money.
The best way to forecast income projections will be to have a few parties and average
the results. You’ll have a good idea what to expect from an average party, but of course
you will always be learning and growing, and developing new ideas to make even more
income. For your first party, you should be ok with just breaking even—you are still
learning and over time your profits will definitely increase.
You can do some basic income projections now simply by estimating how many parties
you will hold each month, and coming up with some estimates on income for each party.
Want to give this a try? Complete the Income Projection Worksheet at the back of
this book, doing both a best case (be optimistic!) and worst-case scenario. What is the
best income you can expect from an average party? How many parties will you hold
each month? What can you push yourself to do? (Set a stretch goal for yourself.)
Of course your results may vary, these are just estimates and after a few parties you’ll
have a good idea on what is realistic for you.
Example Income Projection:
Workload
Number of
Parties a Month
Income Potential
Worst case –
Low part time
(~10 hrs week)
1-2 parties per
month
A few hundred
dollars per month
Average Part Time
(~24 hrs week)
3-4 parties per
month
$600-$1000+ per
month
A full time income,
Best case - Full Time
6 – 8+ parties per
$2000 – 3000+ per
(approx 24-30+ hrs week)
month
month
Are you still with me? Good, you are really making real progress on your business so
far. Now we are about to tackle some of the less exciting business and legal aspects of
creating a business, but you really need to understand these things so don’t skip this
section entirely. Just take these questions one at a time, set aside a day to work
through them, file your forms, and you’ll be on your way!
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Step 13 - Business Legal Structure
What business legal structure will I use?
This question refers to the legal structure of your business. When you form a business,
you determine what kind of business it will be from a legal liability and tax handling
perspective. There are several types of business structures and you can read and learn
more about them in grueling detail on the IRS website.
Link: http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=98359,00.html
Note - If you are forming a business in a country other than the United States, please
check your local business resources for help on this section. You can also seek the
advice of an accountant or attorney if you need more help in understanding the
implications and how this decision might affect your taxes.
I am only going to cover the two most popular types of business that would be likely for
your home jewelry business, Sole Proprietorship or a Limited Liability Corporation.
There are also a few other business structures you might read about or discuss with
your accountant; a standard Partnership, and a few other Corporation structures, but I
don’t recommend them for a small home party business as they are more complicated
and costly to establish. If you plan to hire employees or turn your small home business
into a larger operation, you might look into these other legal structures.
Sole Proprietor
The simplest business type of business to form is a Sole Proprietorship. When you are
just starting out, this is probably the best type of business for one owner, although there
are some risks and drawbacks. This business is owned by one person (the sole
proprietor) and has no paid employees. The profits from this type of business are
handled on your personal income tax return and business expenses are recorded on a
“Schedule C” form. Be sure to keep track of all your expenses throughout the year
because many of them will be tax deductible! If you are forming a sole proprietorship,
then simply read this Sole Proprietorship document on the IRS website to get started.
Link: http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=98202,00.html
Limited Liability Corporation (LLC)
This business structure has grown increasingly popular over the last few years. It
allows you limit your personal liability in the event the corporation should be sued
(unlikely but possible), thus protecting your personal assets. It is relatively easy to form
and offers some tax benefits compared to other types of corporations (C and S corps).
There are many services on-line to help you get incorporated, or check with your
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accountant or attorney for more assistance in forming an LLC. There will be some fees
to get your corporation formed, and fees vary by state. You can also pay an accountant
or attorney to just handle it all for you. I was able to form my own LLC Company for
about $100. If you are interested in forming an LLC, then read this LLC document on
the IRS website for more information.
Link: http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=98277,00.html
Additionally, here is “How to Form an LLC” article at BizFilings.com that answers most
of the common questions about forming LLCs.
Link: http://www.bizfilings.com/products/llc.asp
If you would like someone else to handle all the paperwork for you, here is a company
providing basic legal services that will help in the formation of an LLC:
LegalZoom – Form an LLC in three simple steps:
Link: http://www.legalzoom.com/limited-liability-company/limited-liability-companyoverview.html
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Step 14 - Business Name
What will I name my business?
This is a fun question—but also very important. To keep it really simple, just use your
own full name. Many jewelry designers decide to use their own name in their business
name because jewelry design is so personal. From a legal perspective, if you use your
own name you don’t need to do anything special to legally use it in operating your
business, such as opening checking accounts and advertising. However, if you don’t
like your name, or want to create a separate trade name and image for your company,
you can create a fictitious business name for yourself. This is known as “DBA” which
stands for “doing business as”. If you go this route, some legal forms and additional
expense will be involved. It generally costs $100 or less to file your DBA. It’s not
advised to use a fictitious name for your business without filing for a DBA though, or you
could end up getting into trouble if someone else claims right to your business name.
So how do I get a DBA? A “doing business as” DBA designation means you have filed
for a fictitious business name or trade name, and that you are doing business with a
legal company name other than your own name. With a DBA statement, you can legally
conduct business transactions using your business name, and publish your business
name (such as in advertising or the yellow pages). Unfortunately, just to make things
confusing, setting up a DBA is not handled the same in every county and state. So, you
will need to check with your local county clerk’s office to determine how you do it where
you live. Also, some states may require that you publish your notice of DBA intent in
your local paper (just to make sure no one else claims right to your name), so be sure to
find out if you need to do this as well. To find your local county clerk’s office, search
your local phone directory, or do an on-line search for “state county name, county clerk”
or “business name”.
If you’ve decided to create a unique business name and file for a DBA trade name, try
to come up with a great business name that identifies your personal image. Make a list
of a few potential business names and get the input of your friends and family in
selecting the best one. What message do you want to convey in your business name?
Is there a word that sums up your personal style?
Remember, you need to find a unique name so before selecting your name, it’s prudent
to check and make sure no one else already has it by checking with your local county
clerk’s office. You can also do an on-line search – “Search for a Business Name”:
Link: http://www.start.biz/business_names/search.php
One other thing to watch for--If you plan to trademark your business name, you will want
to do a search to make sure no one else already owns it. The last thing you want to do
is have to change your business name after you are already established! Trade
marking is covered in a later section of this book.
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If you want some help to make the DBA filing process simple, here are some resources
that can help you file your DBA for a fee:
LegalZoom.com - DBA:
Link: http://www.legalzoom.com/legalzip/dbas/dbas_procedure.html
NOTE – For companies outside of the United States, different rules and regulations may
apply. Here is some information on how to start a business in these countries:
United Kingdom Business Link Startup Guide:
Link: http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?topicId=1073858805
Guide to Starting a Business in Canada:
Link: http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/subjects/business/index.shtml
For other countries, please consult your local business and government agencies, or
seek the advice of legal counsel.
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Step 15 - Handling Taxes
How will I handle my taxes?
Once you are self-employed and running your own business, you will need to handle
the tedious task of ensuring your taxes are paid on time. The IRS (US) website offers a
wealth of information on how and when to pay your taxes, as well as downloadable
forms. There are many on-line resources for tax information for other countries as well.
In addition to paying your business taxes, you may need to also collect and pay sales
taxes (depending on your state law). Here are some of the taxes you may need to deal
with:




Income Tax (tax on the income you make from your business)
Self-Employment Tax (social security and Medicare tax for self employed)
Employment Taxes (if you should hire employees)
Sales Tax (on goods sold in states where there is a sales tax)
Note - If you are operating your business outside of the United States, please consult
with your local taxing authority to determine what business taxes you need to deal with.
Learn all about United States Business Taxes and Starting your Business at the
IRS One Stop Small Business Resource:
Link: http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/index.html
Learn about Sales Tax at the SBA website:
Link: http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/taxes/salesuse.html
State Tax Obligations – learn more about what sales taxes are required in your state.
Link: http://www.toolkit.cch.com/text/P07_4500.asp
International Business Tax Information (non-US countries):
United Kingdom Business Tax Information
Link: http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?topicId=1073859200
Canadian Tax Information:
Link: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tax/business/menu-e.html
Australia Tax Information:
Link:
http://www.business.gov.au/Business+Entry+Point/Business+Topics/Taxation/Taxes+ex
plained/Income+tax+for+business.htm
For other countries, please check with your local taxing authority.
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You can certainly take on the task of handling your own taxes, but it’s generally a good
idea to get an expert to help you in establishing and operating your business. I suggest
that you find a good small business accountant to help.
An accountant can answer many of your questions around business structures, taxes,
and financial planning. He or she will help you prepare your taxes, and can explain
what expenses are tax deductible so you can get the most income from your business.
Look for a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), who is a professional licensed
accountant. Try to find an accountant who is familiar with small home businesses.
Also, “word of mouth” is always a good way to get a referral. Ask your friends, business
associates, attorney, or family members for a referral to a good accountant. You can
also check your local yellow pages listings and on-line directories and CPA referral
services. There are several CPA referral services that can help you locate an
accountant.
Here are a few:
GoodAccountants.Com
Link: http://www.goodaccountants.com/
CPADirectory.Com
Link: http://www.cpadirectory.com/careerinfo/index.cfm?PageId=29
UK Accountants
Link: http://startinbusiness.co.uk/flowchart/4flowchart_accountants.htm
You will want to interview at least a couple of accountants to find one that you are most
comfortable with, and check their references. Ask them what types of clients they
represent, what their fees are, and how you will go about working with them. You are
looking for someone who has clear, reasonable fees and also someone who is available
when you need them, and above all—is competent and experienced in handling small
business taxes. The accountant will be a key member of your business team, so you
want someone you will feel comfortable working with.
If you just don’t have the money to hire an accountant right off, and you plan to do your
own taxes, then please take the time to read IRS Publication 334, Tax Guide for Small
Business, so you will understand how and when to send your payments. You don’t
want to get into trouble with late tax payments or penalties.
Link: http://www.irs.gov/publications/p334/index.html
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Step 16 - Business Licenses, Certificates, and Restrictions
What licenses or certificates do I need to do business in my area?
Licenses
Unless you are a sole proprietor and have no employees, you will very likely need to
register for a business license and federal tax identification number (employer
identification number, also known as an EIN). Depending on your location, you may also
need a “sales and use” tax certificate since you will be selling products that may have
sales tax.
Business license requirements fees also vary by location, so check with your local
business resources. There may also be local licenses, such as county level licenses
that also apply to your business.
Don’t be concerned if this sounds intimidating, all you have to do is locate the resource
that handles your local area and they can answer all questions regarding what licenses,
sales tax and certificates apply to you.
There is a side benefit of getting your license—you will be able to purchase jewelry
supplies wholesale. Wholesale suppliers may have a minimum dollar order, and they
will ask you to fax a copy of your license or certificate as proof that you are a legitimate
business, but this is a small price to pay in time for the money you will save!
Here is a link to business license requirements by State:
Link: http://businesslicenses.com/Licenses/Browse/
Here is a list of where to file for a business license in each state:
SBA Website
Link: http://www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/start/getlicensesandpermits/index.html
Employer Identification Number
An EIN is needed if you have filed your business as a Corporation. Learn about the
employer identification number (EIN), whether you need one, and apply for your EIN
online (luckily it is easy to get, and it’s free):
IRS Website - http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=98350,00.html
Zoning Concerns
There may be local zoning restrictions on the type of business you run from your home.
For the most part, you don’t need to worry about that for a home jewelry party business
because you aren’t going to be putting up a business sign in your residential yard,
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having droves of customers and delivery trucks parked in front of your home, and other
things that might irritate neighbors and create potential zoning concerns, but just to be
on the safe side, you can check with your local zoning authority to make sure. Here are
a few informative links on this topic:
Common Zoning Restrictions
Link: http://www.alllaw.com/articles/legal/article14.asp
What kind of business can be conducted within the home?
Link:
http://www.coollawyer.com/webfront/internet_law_library/articles/0,4621,305827,00.php
In closing this section, I just want you to recognize that it will take a little time to get your
business organized, and may cost you a little start-up funds for licensing fees. Operate
your business like a business though, and just spend the time to get these things
handled and organized right up front. Just set aside a day or two to deal with these
things, then you can check this section of the Action plan as complete, and move onto
the more interesting and fun parts of running a business.
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Step 17 - Business and Personal Insurance
How will I handle personal health and business insurance?
Health Insurance
Do you need health insurance or do you already have coverage? Before quitting a
current job to work for yourself, you must consider what type of personal health
insurance coverage you need, what’s available, and what it will cost you. In the United
States, usually you can obtain extended group medical insurance coverage under
COBRA law for some period after leaving your job. Read more on the COBRA
website so you can learn how it works, and whether you are eligible.
Continuation of Health Insurance Coverage (COBRA)
Link: http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/health-plans/cobra.htm
Of course it’s best that you explore your medical insurance needs and options before
you quit your job and become self-employed, so there are no surprises.
If you would like to get your own independent medical insurance plan, check for
comparison plans. Here is a good website for comparing information on insurance
plans: http://www.healthinsurance.com
Another option for small businesses is a medical plan through Mega Life and Health.
Get more information about the Mega insurance plan.
Link: https://www.megainsurance.com/
Business Insurance Coverage
In addition to medical insurance, you are also going to want to look into insuring your
business against loss. Your homeowner’s insurance policy may not cover your
business. Even more importantly, in some cases your home business could jeopardize
your home insurance policy so you want to be sure you speak to your homeowner’s
insurance agent before starting your business to make sure your business and home
have the proper coverage. This is really important because you don’t want your
business to jeopardize your homeowner’s coverage and find out after a loss is incurred!
You also want to make sure you are covered for business equipment like your
computer, as well as all your beads and supplies, as they can really add up.
Yes this is boring, but don’t procrastinate, go on and do it right now—pick up the phone
and call your agent, so you can check this task off as complete and move on with your
business.
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Step 18 - Credit Card Processing
Will I Accept Credit Card Payments?
To accept credit card payments for your business, you’ll need a merchant account
service through a financial institution that will handle processing the secure credit card
transactions for you. All merchant services involve paying some fee for this
convenience.
Accepting credit card payments for your jewelry is not only a good idea—it is very
important to the success of your business. Trust me, you will get far more sales when
you offer a convenient payment method for your customers to buy your jewelry.
Imagine your customer comes to the jewelry party with $25 cash in her wallet, and she
finds a great bracelet for $25. But then she spots the pair of matching earrings for only
another $15…and of course she just has to have those earrings that go so well with that
bracelet! But, she doesn’t have her checkbook with her, and anyway, payday isn’t until
next Friday. Of course you could just give this customer your business card and hope
that she will call you back next Friday to buy that bracelet. Right…  You just lost the
chance to “up sell” another $15 sale, and these hidden losses (due to your lack of
accepting convenient credit card payments) can really add up.
Often, jewelry purchases are triggered by an emotional response to buy—when your
customer sees something that is a “must have”, you want her to get the instant
gratification of taking the jewelry home right then and there. Once the customer leaves,
it is very unlikely she will come back and buy that jewelry later. So, take the time to get
set up with a merchant account so you can accept credit card payments. You could see
triple the sales…or more! Is this worth your time?
Here are three merchant services you may evaluate for your business:
ProPay
Link: http://www.propay.com/
2Checkout.Com
Link: http://www.2checkout.com/
Cardservice International
Link: http://www.cardservice.com/
Or if you prefer, you can also apply for a merchant account directly through your own
local bank.
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If you are not ready to get set up with a merchant account to accept credit cards, there
is another good alternative, called Paypal. You can accept credit card payments and
instant payments (via bank wire transfer) through Paypal. Paypal is recognized and
used by millions on eBay but you can use it for your jewelry business as well. All you
have to do is sign up for a free Paypal account, and as part of the sign up process you
link your email address to your business bank account. Then, if someone wants to pay
you on-line, all they have to do is go to the Paypal website (www.paypal.com), and click
the “Send Money” tab, and fill in your email address, and the total payment amount to
send you money on-line. Paypal charges a small fee based on the amount of the
transaction, but it is incredibly simple to use and very convenient for customers. I have
even had people login to a computer right at a jewelry party and pay for their purchases
with Paypal, which means I didn’t lose a sale.
Paypal – No set-up fees for basic account. Paypal allows you to accept credit card
payment and transfers after setup.
Link: https://www.paypal.com/
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Step 19 - Building an On-line Presence
Building your own Website
Do you need your own website for your home jewelry party business? It really depends
on what you want to do with your business. Clearly, to hold basic in-home jewelry
parties, you won’t need a website. But, if you want to expand your business with new
sales avenues, add credibility to your image, and host “on-line” jewelry parties, then you
may want to explore this option. But, do it when the time is right.
I would suggest that when you are first starting off, you wait to build your website until
you have had a few successful parties and your business is rolling and you are growing
comfortable with your progress. You will know when the time is right to take it to the
next level and build a website. I suggest this, because it can be rather time consuming
to learn how to photograph jewelry, write good descriptions, and build a nice looking
website. Also, there are some costs involved, and while they aren’t high costs you still
want to wait until you are happy with your income before spending more money. Since
your primary focus right now should be on building your business, meeting new
customers, and bringing in some good income, you don’t want to distract yourself by
spending a lot of time and energy on the wrong tasks.
But, I am in no way discouraging this option! Once you get rolling, by all means look
into bringing up your own website to expand your business. After all, I have several
websites myself and I think they are great fun to create. Nothing makes me feel more
“famous” than seeing my name and jewelry designs out on the web where people from
all over the world can see them.
So, when you’re ready, here are my recommendations for building your very own
website. There are two approaches you can take. The first (recommended) approach
is to use a service that allows non-technical folks to build a nice website without having
to learn all about technology and other confusing stuff that will drive you crazy and
detract from the time you have to make jewelry. The second way to build a website, if
you are more ambitious and interested in learning about all the nuts and bolts, will allow
you far more freedom in creating the exact look you want for your site, but will require a
LOT more time.
Website Builders for “Normal” People
Site Build It
If you want to build a website that gets traffic (visitors), you’re going to want to learn all
about Site Build It (SBI). When you do business on-line, you’ll quickly realize that traffic
equals more business. I have used SBI myself to build two websites (including makingjewelry.com) and it amazes me how many visitors come to visit my websites since I
have followed their suggested approach to building my website! Site Build It caters to
ordinary people who want to build websites about niche topics, and they also have a
store option for those who want to sell their items directly from their websites. Learn
more at www.sitesell.com to see if this is a good option for you.
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Vendio
If you plan to sell your jewelry on eBay as well as on-line from your website, I can
recommend the services at Vendio. Vendio allows you to have an on-line store, as well
as integrate your auction listings directly on your store. I have used them for years
because their site is fairly intuitive and easy to use once you learn their process for
uploading photos and adding descriptions to your jewelry. Plus, for an ecommerce site
(ecommerce is a fancy word meaning “you can buy stuff off the web”) it is relatively
inexpensive to run. I pay a nominal monthly fee to run my website, and the fees vary
depending on which plan you choose. Learn more about their services at
www.vendio.com.
Pappashop
I have also used the ecommerce shop at www.Pappashop.com. They offer affordable
online website options with a shopping cart built right in. I found the site was relatively
easy to set up, and within a day or so I had a nice looking website ready to go!
Yahoo Small Business Services
Another popular option to explore when building your own website is Yahoo. Yahoo
Small Business Services offer many options, including an ecommerce store to meet
your small business needs. While I haven’t tried Yahoo yet myself for the store feature,
I use Yahoo services for many other tasks and I do know several people who are using
the store service and are very satisfied with the results. Obviously, Yahoo is a wellknown company that knows how to do business on the web, and they are one of the
number one domain hosting companies. Click here to read about plans and options
provided by Yahoo Small Business Services.
Link: http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/ecommerce/
If you don’t want to use Yahoo, there are many, many other website building tools now
available. Here are a few others you might want to compare:
http://www.GoDaddy.com
http://www.NewbieSite.com/
http://www.HostGator.com
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Website Builders for “Techies”
Want to build your own website from scratch? I don’t mean to discourage anyone with
an interest in building a website the hard way. I’ve done it myself, but for complete
“newbies” (newbie means “I’ve never done this in my life!”), I really would recommend
going with one of the package options described above when you are first starting out.
Or, refer to Section 6 in this book to get started with a craft selling marketplace like
Etsy.com.
There are some benefits to building your own site. It can cost a little less to do it
yourself, and one main benefit of building your website completely by hand is total
control of your site—you can select which products and vendors to work with, and you
have complete freedom to totally customize the look and feel of your website. Or, you
can hire someone to build it for you from scratch.
If you want to spend the time exploring this option for your business, you will need three
things.
Domain Name Registration
First you need to decide what “domain name” you want, and then reserve the name so
that you own it. The domain name is the address or “URL” of your website (for
example, my website domain name is making-jewelry.com). You will want to find an
available name ending in “.COM” (pronounced “DOT COM”) if at all possible, because
people are simply familiar with typing that extension in when visiting a website and
some of the newer extensions like .BIZ just aren’t as well known.
There are many domain registrars where you can buy and reserve your website domain
name. You can check to see what names are available, and reserve your own domain
name, here:
www.Godaddy.com
or
www.HostGator.com
Because many great names are already taken and reserved by others, you might need
to brainstorm a little to come up with a good name. If you need a little help
brainstorming a good name, try this website for ideas (you can keep trying out names
and don’t have to pay for it until you are ready, so this is a good brainstorming tool):
www.NameBoy.com
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Web Hosting
Second, you will need to select a web-hosting provider. A web host provides the server
(shared computer), disk space (storage), bandwidth (how many files can be accessed
from your website and how quickly), and other computer resource stuff that is needed to
run your website. Web hosting providers will typically allocate a set amount of storage
and bandwidth to you, depending on which web-hosting package you select. Many
hosting providers also offer the “e-commerce” or shopping cart option as part of the
solution. You will want to select a package with a shopping cart built in, or you will need
to purchase the shopping cart software separately and install it on your website (are you
beginning to see why doing all of this yourself can become a little time consuming and
complicated?).
Here are two web hosts that I can recommend, and there are hundreds of them out
there to choose from:
http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/
http://www.godaddy.com
http://www.hostgator.com
Web Design
Third, to bring up your own site you will need to design your website using a website
design tool. These are also known as “HTML Editors”. HTML stands for hypertext
markup language, the name of the software that allows you to view websites on your
computer. There are many HTML editor software tools that will allow you to create
websites. Microsoft FrontPage is one popular tool, as is Dreamweaver. I would
recommend either one to create a website from scratch. There are also some free
HTML editor tools available if you want to try one (search for “free html editor” in your
search engine). Here is one that I read about on a jewelry forum (it was
recommended), NVU: http://net2.com/nvu/
I recently tried a website builder tool called XSitePro and I found it very easy to use,
and quite effective. XsitePro makes it very easy to design your website, and it also
helps with internet marketing, which means how you go about optimizing your website
so you get lots of traffic and visitors. http://www.xsitepro.com/
Of course, the very website that brought you to this book, www.making-jewelry.com was
built using SiteBuildIt from the folks at Sitesell. This option actually combines the
domain name and the hosting, AND the site building/design into one complete package
that is very easy to use and get started with (even with very little computer knowledge).
Honestly, of the three options, this one costs the most to start, but also (in my own
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experience, anyway) performs the best at actually building traffic (which of course,
brings customers). Over time, that is really important to your business! Learn more at
www.sitesell.com to see if this is a good option for you.
Advanced - Internet Marketing or Pay-per-Click Advertising
Once your website is up and running, you might be interested in learning how to run an
internet advertising campaign to drive traffic (visitors) to your site. This concept is called
Internet Marketing, and there are many choices of advertisers to choose from. To do a
pay-per-click advertisement, you first decide what keywords you want to bid on, then set
a price “per click” you will pay for each visitor who clicks your ad and comes to your
website. In this manner, you are literally paying per visitor to come to your site. Your
goal is to get new website customers to buy your jewelry, and of course you hope that
you earn enough back in sales to exceed the price of your advertising campaign. For
example, I might want to run an advertisement for people who are searching for
“handcrafted artisan jewelry”. I would bid on that keyword phrase, decide how much per
click I was willing to pay (let’s say I bid $.10 per click or visitor) and my advertisement
would then appear when someone searches for that phrase. For every person who
clicks my advertisement, I pay $.10.
There is quite a bit to learn about this concept, and it can get expensive if you don’t
know how to do it properly, so I would suggest that before you launch your first
campaign, you take some time to read more about it. Then, run some small budget
campaigns to learn how it works and fine tune your campaign.
If you want to learn more about the concept of pay-per-click advertising and how to go
about running your own internet marketing campaign to drive visitors to your jewelry
website, I would recommend you start with the two biggest and most successful online
marketing sites, Google Adwords, and Yahoo Search Marketing. They each offer
extensive help on how to set up your own campaign.
Google AdWords
Yahoo Search Marketing (Overture)
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Step 20 - Protecting your Business
Copyrighting Designs
Copyright protection protects a finished work, such as a jewelry design. On my website,
I have shared many of my jewelry design ideas with the public for free. It is ok with me
that these designs are used by jewelry designers for their own personal use—that was
the purpose of my website, to teach others how to make jewelry. However, you may not
be so willing to share your designs if you are selling your jewelry for profit. What would
happen if someone took all of your designs and started copying them and selling them
for less than you? They might take away some of your business.
Of course, we all hope nothing like that will happen, and it’s probably unlikely but
unfortunately not everyone out there is ethical. You don’t have to copyright your
designs, but if you are concerned, or worried about protecting your unique designs in a
competitive market, you can protect your work by registering your designs under
copyright protection. Learn all about copyrights, what they are, and how to get one right
on the official Copyright website.
Copyright Basics - http://www.copyright.gov/
Trade marking your Name
Choosing a business name is important because you want it to identify your business,
but also you want to make sure you have not selected a name that is already being
used by someone else who has trademarked it. If you have used someone else’s
business name, you might get a letter from that company one day asking you to change
your name! You can do a basic search, and if you like you can trademark your name.
It’s expensive, and probably not absolutely necessary for most small local home jewelry
businesses, but if you have big plans for your business and want to make absolutely
certain no one can claim your name later, go ahead and proceed with a trademark.
Learn more about trademarks on the official trademark website:
Link: http://www.uspto.gov/web/trademarks/workflow/start.htm
You can also search for existing trademarks using this free search utility:
Link: http://avantiquick.markenbusiness.com/en/
Because it can be rather time consuming and you don’t want to make mistakes when
filing for your trademark, this might be something you choose to have an attorney
handle for you. There are numerous trademark registration services available, and at
the time of this writing it looks like the going rate is close to $500.00. Again, this is not
absolutely necessary for your business, but perhaps something you want to look into.
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Business Ethics
It goes without saying that you should run your business with integrity and always
practice good business ethics. Speaking of ethics in business, I wanted to address my
philosophy on design ideas. They say that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”,
and “there is nothing new under the sun” but when you turn your unique creativity into
your business you might not be so flattered if someone steals your work by copying
your designs, so you shouldn’t do it either. Granted, there are many similar ideas and
similar components and findings being sold and used, so sometimes there will be
accidental similarities. I am often inspired by photos of jewelry that I come across in
books and magazines, on-line and in jewelry stores. I may borrow a concept, or
incorporate an element that I like in my design, but as a general rule of thumb in running
a handcrafted jewelry business with integrity—never steal designs from another jewelry
designer. Always run your business with honesty and integrity, and you’ll be glad you
did.
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Additional Business Planning Resources
Whew! We’ve covered a lot already, but don’t worry if you still have questions or are
unsure on some of these topics—there are many free on-line resources out there to
help you learn if you need more information or have questions on specific issues.
SBI Brainstorming Utility – Choose It!
This nifty free tool helps you make decisions. If you’re on the fence about whether a
jewelry business is really right for you, or if you’re having trouble making any important
decision in your life—try it out! It’s fun and illuminating. Choose It – Decision Making
Tool.
Link: http://chooseit.sitesell.com/
Business Plans and Templates
Bonus Jewelry Party Business Template
I’ve included a jewelry party business plan template at the back of this book. Use it to
compile what you learned in your business brainstorming to compile your own
comprehensive plan.
More Sample Business Plans
If you would like to see other completed business plans, check www.bplans.com - This
website offers 60 free sample business plans, business advice and more.
Microsoft Office – Downloadable Business Templates
Office Business Plan Templates:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/results.aspx?Scope=TC&Query=business+plan
Miscellaneous Business Forms:
http://office.microsoft.com/enus/templates/results.aspx?qu=business+forms&av=TPL000
Small Business Administration
www.sba.gov - The Small Business Administration site offers a wealth of business
information.
SBA - On-line Business Courses
http://www.sba.gov/training/
Internal Revenue Service Links
IRS Information – Small Business and Self-Employed Resource Page
Link: http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/
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IRS Article - Starting and Business and Keeping Records
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p583/index.html
IRS - Small Business Tax Workshops, by State
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=99202,00.html
SCORE – business advice and mentoring
http://www.score.org/learning_center.html
Online Women’s Business Center
http://www.sba.gov/aboutsba/sbaprograms/onlinewbc/index.html
USA.gov Business Gateway
http://www.firstgov.gov/Business/Business_Gateway.shtml
Family Budgeting Tool
http://www.toolkit.cch.com/tools/fambud_m.asp
Checklist for Evaluating your Personal Strengths and Weaknesses
http://www.toolkit.cch.com/tools/swchek_m.asp
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Step 21 - Writing your Business Plan
You’re up to Step 21, and making excellent progress. Great work! Now you’ve done
all the preparation for how you want your business to be structured, and you’ve
considered how you’ll operate your business, and how much income you can
realistically expect. You’ve thought through your business name, taxes, and other
boring yet necessary parts in forming your business. Believe it or not, you’ve just
completed the most important part—the process. This is the real value in making a
business plan! You’re done with your planning! But, at the moment the plan is in your
head or in notes from your brainstorming session.
So, if you’d like to complete your real formalized business plan, you can take what
you’ve done so far and use the Business Plan Template at the back of this book to put it
in writing. Or don’t—it’s up to you to decide whether compiling your results and writing
the business plan will add value. Sometimes it helps to have it all written up so you see
how far you’ve come in creating a real business.
The important thing is that you took the time to walk through your plan, step by step, to
get your business started.
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 Section 3 – Sales and Marketing 
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So now you’ve gotten all the business planning out of the way so it’s time to focus on
the actions that will bring income your way. Let’s jump right in and focus on the sales
part of your action plan. Here comes the fun part!
Step 22 - Building Client Relationships
There may be no single more important aspect of your business than building your
client list, and maintaining good client relationships. I noted this myself when I first
started selling on eBay. At first, sales started off slow and took a lot of work. Within a
few months, customers who had purchased my jewelry would seek me out—they
actually looked for my jewelry auctions online. Some clients would contact me directly
by email and ask me to create custom jewelry, or special occasional pieces for them.
Pretty soon, I had a nice group of regular customers who were always coming back and
asking me for more jewelry. That’s right—I didn’t have to do any selling at all—they
came to me. Wow, that’s the power of building good client relationships.
You can have this same success, and you will, once you build your customer list and
start building your own relationships. It’s not hard, and you’ll find once you get started
you really enjoy all of the wonderful new relationships you’ve built. It’s also exciting
when you see your friends and customers and they are all wearing your jewelry. It’s like
a walking advertisement, and it always makes me smile!
But what if you’re not a “people person”? Let me let you in on a little secret. I’m
actually a little shy. I do genuinely like people, and I enjoy helping people find great
jewelry, and I particularly love making custom pieces, such as for a special occasion like
a wedding. I really enjoy providing great quality jewelry and great service, and my
customers respond! But, I am not naturally extroverted. Yet I am successful running
jewelry parties, so I know that the secret lies not in being naturally gregarious, but in
paying attention to your customer. Listen to your customers in your business, so you
can give them what they want--and you will be a success. It’s quite simple, really. But,
if you ignore this aspect of this business, you will have to work much harder, and pretty
soon you might not have a business at all.
So, what are the secrets to building a great client list? Let’s talk about some ideas that
will help you get started.
Starting a Customer List
The very first thing you should do when starting a jewelry business is to make a list of
everyone you know who likes jewelry. Your goal is to start creating an invitation list to
your very first jewelry party. Start with your inner circle of friends and family. These are
people you trust and feel the most comfortable with. This is your invitation list for your
first jewelry party, because you will be most relaxed with this group of people and won’t
be anxious over making mistakes if things aren’t perfect. I’ve included a Starting a
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Customer List worksheet in the back of the book so you can start brainstorming right
now.
Next, make a list of your acquaintances. These could be co-workers, babysitters, hair
stylists, and other people you might know socially. These are the people you will invite
to your second party. You’ll be a little more comfortable because you got the hang of
things in your first party, and your second party will go more smoothly, and you still
know these people a little bit so you won’t be too nervous.
So what do you do when you have run out of your own friends and acquaintances?
Well, have you heard of the small world phenomenon? According to Wikipedia, the
small world phenomenon (also known as the small world effect) is the hypothesis that
everyone in the world can be reached through a short chain of social acquaintances.
We’re going approach building new client lists on this theory. There are countless small
businesses, including many home craft businesses, which operate successfully on this
same principle. I am willing to bet that everyone you know, knows someone else who
also loves jewelry. Just look around, and tell me how many women you know who
don’t wear jewelry?
It is your goal to get one or more people to volunteer to host a party for you, at each and
every party that you hold. Because every person has a list of other people who they
know and might invite to a party, your list of customers will grow over time. And, at
some point you’ll experience the magic that having repeat customers brings to your
business, and you will have hostesses asking you to hold another party. We’ll go over
hostess incentives in a bit, so you will have some ideas to make party hosting really
appealing for new guests.
I’ll be the first to admit, sometimes it takes a little work to get started with your first party
lists, or it may take you a little out of your comfort zone trying to get new people to host
parties if you are not used to being a little bit “salesy”, but pretty soon you will have a
rather large customer base who will seek out and welcome repeat parties. At one point
I had more people asking to book parties than I really had time to do them. What a
great thing to happen—too much business! It’s a good thing to aspire to. Give yourself
six months to grow your business, and see if I’m not right— you will have repeat
customers who love having jewelry parties!
So how many clients do you really need? There’s no magic number, but ten people per
party is a good number, and depending on how much income you want to make, and
how much time you have, you could have several parties per week! Try to start your list
with ten people, then grow it to twenty, and then set some real stretch goals for yourself
on how many new clients you will reach each month or following each new party.
Remember—everyone knows someone who loves jewelry.
Your responsibility is to make your parties fun, and successful, and to build such great
client relationships that you build your repeat customer base. There’s nothing like great
word of mouth advertising. You want your clients to tell their friends about the great
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party and to want to have a party at their house! If you do this correctly, the amount of
work and effort involved in scheduling new parties should go down over time.
Expanding your Invitation List
Here’s another tip for growing your client list. For every person you invite to the party,
ask that person to bring a friend. Not everyone will, but even if you get an extra three or
four people per party, those are more opportunities to meet new jewelry friends, and
make new clients…and sign up new hostesses to hold more parties.
TIP – To make sure you get the maximum number of attendees, always call the hostess
the day before the party and ask her (or do this yourself) to call each of invitees to
remind them about the party and tell them to bring a friend. This little reminder is very
effective in making sure people show up to the party.
Client Demographics
So now that you have a new client, what do you do? Manage the relationship. This
isn’t difficult. Your goal is to learn something about every client. What does she like?
What doesn’t she like? What is her personal style? Does she prefer silver or gold?
Does she like small jewelry or big and bold jewelry? Does your client have children or
pets? Is she married? Is she affluent or does she prefer bargain jewelry?
You don’t have to be pushy or come on too strong to learn something about your client
and to build a trusting relationship. Just talk to her, pay attention, ask questions, and
above all…listen! If you feel comfortable doing so, ask everyone to fill out a simple
client information card when they attend your party. Gather a few pieces of information
and collect the cards before people leave for the night. Don’t come on too strong or be
pushy because you might turn people off, but most guests will be perfectly ok with a few
minutes of “selling” in an overall night of relaxed party fun.
Maintaining a Client Database
This is where you might want to take advantage of software to create a client database.
You can use an Excel spreadsheet, Word document, Access database, or, simply fill out
the card for each client and record the information on it, then keep your client
information in a manila file. I’ve included a sample Client Information Card in the back
of the book. Here is some information you might want to obtain:
Client Information Sheet
Name, Address, Phone Number: ____________________
Birthday:________________________________________
Email Address:___________________________________
Referred by:______________________________________
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Optional:
Spouse’s or Significant Other’s Name:__________________
Children’s name and ages: ___________________________
Pets (what type):____________________________________
Occupation:________________________________________
Jewelry Preferences:
Color:_____________________________________________
Style:______________________________________________
This last part is something you will keep notes on yourself, but won’t share with the
client on the note card:
Notes:
Last contact date:
What have they purchased in the past:
Why is this good information to have? It can help you target your marketing efforts, as
well as build a stronger relationship. You can send your client a birthday or holiday card
(even an e-card) or coupon for a discount on jewelry. She may be interested in
personalized jewelry with her children or pet’s name. Use your imagination, but get to
know your clients and make building a relationship with each one a personal goal of
yours.
Can you think of any business goals you can make right now, something concrete that
you can work towards? How about “I will get 10 new party clients this month”, or “I will
start using client information sheets at my next party”. Just by putting it down in writing,
you are making a personal commitment to make this goal of building a strong clientele
important to your business, so you are more likely to achieve your goals.
Create your folder or database structure right now, so the moment you have your first
client information sheets in-hand, you can start organizing your client data.
Stay in Touch with Clients through Social Networking
Consider the world of on-line social networking, such as www.Myspace.com,
www.Facebook.com, etc. to keep in touch with clients. You may even consider starting
your very own on-line jewelry designer identity by creating an account that features your
new business. This way you can invite your friends, family, and new contacts and keep
them up to date with what is going on, including upcoming parties, events, special sales,
and more. Don’t underestimate the power of networking on-line.
Build your own Social Network
I recently discovered a great new service that allows you to build your own social
networking site—it works much like Myspace.com, only you control it. It is free to start
with, and very easy to use—in fact, within just minutes you will have your very own new
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social network on-line. If you are interested in using this great tool to create and
manage all of your contacts, just visit Ning at: www.ning.com and follow the instructions
to create your own brand new jewelry social network! They do offer some advanced
features (premium services) for a small monthly fee, but you are unlikely to need to use
any of them. If nothing else, since is free and very easy to set up, give it a try and see if
you want to use this in staying connected with your clients. I’ve added a whole section
to this book about online marketing using social networking. So, keep reading for even
more ideas.
Following up with Clients
What else can you do to build strong relationships? Follow up! Here are a few ideas
you might try.
Publish a Newsletter
Email newsletters are a great way to stay connected to your clients. Write up a
newsletter each month and share new jewelry designs, special sales, or other jewelry
and fashion related information in the newsletter. Make your newsletter attractive and
enticing.
Why not offer a special coupon just for newsletter customers that they can use at their
next jewelry party? Or, offer special hostess incentives, like an extra 10% commission
for signing up to host another party before the end of next month.
Just be careful with sending emails as you don’t want to be accused of “spamming”
people with junk mail. Only send email newsletters to your own clients and don’t send
them too often or people will start to “tune you out” and won’t open them to read them.
If you don’t want to send an email newsletter, you can also print one out on your
computer and mail it, instead.
Postcards
Just like newsletters, a postcard is another great way to remind your client that you
have jewelry for sale and to prompt them to schedule another party. This is a great way
to introduce new jewelry designs as well. You can purchase folding note cards or
postcard paper stock at your local business supply or craft shop, and you can print
these with a regular printer, and decorate at home. Photograph your jewelry and put it
on the front of your card, and add some other decorative touches, along with your
contact information, then mail it out to all of your clients whenever sales are slow or you
need more party bookings.
Coupons
You get fliers with coupons mailed to your home, right? Well, everyone loves to save
money with a special discount or sale. When you are compiling your list of customer
information, identify repeat customers and send them a “special customer appreciation
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reward” coupon, to be redeemed on your jewelry at a future party. People really like
surprise bonuses like this, and they will usually come back to buy more jewelry.
Hopefully in this section you have learned that customers are the key to your business
success. Build your customer list, maintain it, and continue to grow it in one simple
step—treat your customers like gold. Follow up with customers to keep your business
“alive” in their minds and to continually spark new jewelry sales.
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Step 23 – Create Marketing Materials
Your Brand Image
You’ll want to give some thought to creating an image for your business. What are your
favorite colors? What is the style or feeling that your jewelry evokes? Are you elegant
and sophisticated? Crazy and fun? Is your look soft and feminine, or bold and
provocative? What do you want your image to say about you and your business?
You’ll want to use nice color combinations in your marketing materials, and include
good photos of your jewelry as well. You can take photos with a digital camera, or scan
printed photos using a scanner to turn them into digital files that can be worked with on
a computer.
Photographing Jewelry
Jewelry photos are key to your business because you will want images that represent
your best work to use in marketing materials, business cards, and perhaps even a
jewelry catalog. Jewelry is actually difficult to photograph because of the reflections off
the metal and stones, but here are a few tips to make it easier.
Use a scanner or a digital camera so you will have images that can be easily
manipulated on your computer. A scanner is less expensive than a digital camera, so if
you’re just starting out this is a great option. Place your jewelry on the scanner bed,
scan it, and you’ll have nice detailed “photos”. You can place a sheet of colored paper
behind the jewelry for a background.
I use a standard 4MP digital camera for my photos. I use the close up photo setting
(macro) and I don’t use any special lenses although you certainly could if you wanted to.
The key to getting excellent photos is in the lighting. You must have bright, diffused
light. You don’t want any obvious reflections or glare bouncing off parts of the jewelry,
and if at all possible, you don’t want the camera to “flash” because that will create
additional shiny spots. So, you will need to set yourself up with a photo studio that has
the lighting you want so you can easily take great photos every single time.
There is a special plastic dome that is used specifically for close up photos, and it is
great for photographing jewelry. It is called a cloud dome and I would recommend you
invest in one if you plan to do a lot of photos for a website or selling online. You direct
bright lights around the outside of the dome, put your jewelry inside on your choice of
jewelry display, and take photos through a hole in the dome. The dome reflects a nice
soft white light all around the jewelry with no bright flashy reflections, so it captures the
jewelry detail beautifully.
You can also use a less expensive photo tent, or you can try to make your own “cloud
dome” using any white plastic box. Cut a hole in the box for your camera lens to fit
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through, direct some bright lights around the outside, and take your photos. You may
need to experiment a bit to find the best lighting, or just invest in some professional
photo lights if you want to make it easy.
Finally, once you have your images, you may need to crop or re-size them or otherwise
edit them using any photo editor software. Photo editing software usually comes free
with your digital camera, or there are several software products you can buy such as
Adobe Photoshop that will do a great job.
Here are a few links to photo equipment for sale (just visit eBay or your search engine
and type in these search terms):
 Cloud Dome Photo Kit
 Photo Tent
Text Styles in your Image
When selecting a text style for your marketing materials, try to select a font style that
conveys your personal style. If you have word processing software, try a few different
font styles (text styles) and pick the one you like the best. The font should be easy to
read, but beyond that there are many great styles that all present a different result.
You can work with the fonts that are installed on your computer, or you can download
fonts either for free, or buy the one you like online. I would suggest of course, that you
not spend money on fonts since you are just starting a business, but if you see one you
just have to have that works for your image, go for it! If you are having business cards
printed on-line, you may only have their selected group of text styles to work with, but if
you print them at home you can use the ones on your own computer to create your own
unique look!
If you’d like to explore text styles, here are some sources for free fonts:
1001 Free Fonts - http://www.1001freefonts.com/
Dafont.com - http://www.dafont.com/
Logo Design
A logo isn’t absolutely necessary, but might be a nice touch to brand your jewelry. You
can print your logo on all marketing materials, as well as on the jewelry hang cards
themselves. You can have a logo designed if you like, or if you are really creative,
make your own logo design. If you have a scanner, you can draw your logo and scan it
into the computer.
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Or, to create your own free logo, simply use a nice photograph of your jewelry as your
logo, or use a special font for your name. This works very well and it won’t cost you
anything but a little time.
Here is an example of a logo I created for Ely Designs, and since I made it myself it was
free (an added bonus to the new jewelry business owner!). This logo is my real
signature, with a similar style of font used for the word “designs”. I used an image
editing software package to produce this in a digital file.
If you want to have a professional logo created, here are a few links I found that might
help you get started.
FreeLogoServices.com - http://www.freelogoservices.com/
LogoDesignEngine.com/ - http://www.logodesignengine.com/
Once you have your image figured out, you are ready to proceed with creating
marketing materials for your business.
Party Brochures
A party brochure is marketing material that you bring to the party to provide as a
handout to guests. On your brochure you want to create an attractive and professional
business image that highlights your jewelry as well as all the great reasons why hosting
a party is such a great idea. Make sure everyone who comes to the party gets a
brochure, and if you desire—the client information card. You can print the brochure at
home if you have a color printer, or take it to your local copy shop to print color copies
there. You can now purchase an affordable color ink jet or bubble jet printer for home,
so I would look into this option.
Check out the Party Brochure Templates from Microsoft.com, which you can edit for
your own use. The brochure should contain:






Your unique image—font, logo or other branding appearance
Photos of your jewelry
Features of your jewelry
Reasons for Hosting a Party
Your Contact Information
Anything else you would like to add, like a coupon or incentive (e.g. “Schedule
your party tonight and receive bonus jewelry!)
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Link to brochure templates: http://office.microsoft.com/enau/templates/CT010104303.aspx
Business Cards
Print some business cards and give them to everyone you know who likes jewelry.
Also, have a stack of cards available at your parties so clients can take some to share
with friends who didn’t make it to the party. You can easily print business cards at
home using a pre-made template, or you can order a set of business cards on-line at
very low cost, generally $10.00 or so for 250 cards.
Also, you might take one of your brochures, and attach a set of business cards at the
bottom in a small envelope and place the brochure on bulletin boards at favorite coffee
shops, grocery stores, and other places of business that you think your client might
frequent (get permission to post any advertising materials, of course). This can bring
unexpected new business your way, as well as help you market your image in the
community.
Once you’ve decided on a design and image you are really happy with, I would
recommend having your cards professionally printed. It just really isn’t that expensive
anymore and you get really nice cards.
Here are a few to try, I used the first one and was satisfied with the results, plus they
have a few jewelry related themes if you don’t want to design your own logo from
scratch:
www.Overnightprints.com
Or try:
www.Vistaprint.com
To print business cards at home on your own printer, use business card stock available
at any local business supply store. Get the nicest ones and use a good quality printer
so they don’t look cheap and homemade. Just be aware that toner cartridges for home
printing can be rather expensive and while this is great for your first supply of cards, or
for a quick printing, you might actually save money if you have a large quantity of cards
professionally printed for you.
Avery Business Card Templates
Download free Microsoft Word business card templates from the Avery website and
make your own custom business cards using Microsoft Word. Just buy the blank Avery
business card stock you like at your office supply store, and download the template that
matches the Avery label number on the package. This is a great way to print a small
quantity of cards, and is very convenient because you can print your cards immediately
at home!
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Avery Business Card Templates - http://www.avery.com/avery/en_us/Templates-&Software/Templates
So, what do you put on your business cards? Well obviously you will want all of your
contact information as well as a website address if you have one, and you might even
consider making a slogan for your business, for example “When you want a little
something special”, or “handcrafted jewelry art”, or whatever.
Jewelry Cards
Jewelry cards are a great way to create a professional image for your business. You
can print your own, or have them made. Earrings go on a card with holes, and
hangtags loop around your bracelet and necklaces. It’s not absolutely necessary to use
hangtags, but I would suggest you use earring cards to keep your earrings together and
present them nicely.
On the inexpensive side, you can make your own jewelry cards using a rubber stamp
with a nice design, and hole punch and straight pin so you can attach earrings. You can
buy stick-on hangers that go on the back so you can display your earrings on an earring
rack display stand. (Note, some rubber stamp designs are copyrighted and you can’t
use the design as your logo on a product you sell, so check your stamp before using
one.)
You can print your own cards at home on any card stock that works with your printer
type, or you can order the cards and have them pre-printed with your logo. You can
even use perforated business card stock that you purchase at any office supply store.
Just punch holes where you need them for the length of your earrings.
Here are some places you can buy materials to make jewelry cards, or have them
printed:
Earring cards at Jewelry-Supply.com http://www.jewelrysupply.com/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&request
_type=NONSSL&search_in_description=1&keyword=earring+cards
Jewelry Hang Tags - http://www.rippedsheets.com/laser/jewelryTags.html
Earring Cards http://www.rippedsheets.com/laser/100739EarringTags.html?gclid=CLKw1bfE0IUCFQY
BGAod2XBw1Q
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Earring Clip Cards from Rings and Things - https://shop.ringsthings.com/cart/pc/showsearchresultsCustom.asp?pageStyle=M&resultCnt=10&k
eyword=earring+cards&submit=Go+%3E%3E
I would suggest that you put your contact information on the back (or front) of your
jewelry cards, and of course you may include the price (on a removable sticker in case
you change your pricing), and materials used in the making of this jewelry. On my
cards, I would always write the materials (“rose quartz and freshwater pearls”) using a
Sharpie marker, or print this information out on a sticker and put it on the back of the
jewelry card.
You’ll want to find ways to save time, so I would suggest purchasing pre-made cards
once you get going, and print stickers for the other information.
Jewelry Catalog
If you’d like, print up a catalog with images and prices of some of your best-selling
designs. You can also use the catalog as a way to get custom jewelry orders, like for
special occasions like wedding or prom. Take one catalog to the party to let guests flip
through it and get ideas.
Additional Advertising
Look for a local paper or online community forum like www.craigslist.com in your
community, as this is a great way to do some inexpensive advertising. Run a classified
ad that explains the benefits of hosting a jewelry party. Include a limited time “special
code” like “May Parties” in the ad and say you’ll give an extra bonus of free jewelry to
anyone who calls in to schedule a party from that ad, using that code. Just make sure
your classified advertising costs make sense for the party bookings you get. It’s better
to test a small inexpensive ad to see what happens that to run an expensive ad and be
disappointed with the response.
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 Section 4 - Having a Successful Jewelry Party 
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Now we’re ready for the best part—having the jewelry parties. This is where all the
planning comes together and the real fun and the money come in. You are so close to
having your first party!
Step 24 - Recruiting Party Hosts with Incentives
Since getting parties booked is key to your overall business productivity and success,
this is a very important area to focus your time and energy on. Let me repeat that
part—you’ll want to focus time and energy on this important business task. This may be
a new area where you need to grow your skills to become good at it. Look at it like
learning anything new—you can’t expect to be great at it right out of the gate, but with
just a little time and practice you will be experienced in no time.
If you are not at all comfortable with sales, you will want to set some specific goals for
yourself in this area so that you can work towards being more comfortable. For
example, a specific business goal might be “I will make phone calls to follow up with
clients at least once a week.” Or, “I will book four parties this month…no matter what!”
It is really important because if you never bother trying to get parties scheduled because
you just don’t want to “sell” anything, and you never bother to follow up with clients after
the party to book additional parties, your party business could eventually fizzle out, or
you will only see a fraction of the sales you could have had if you had only applied
yourself a little more. One extra party a month could mean a few more hundred dollars
in your pocket—what could you do with that extra money?
You CAN learn to sell, it is a learnable skill, and you don’t have to be obnoxious and
pushy to do it. I already told you I was a little shy, and so I can assure you that I do not
have a natural outgoing sales personality. I don’t really have an aggressive bone in my
body when it comes to pursuing sales. I am totally embarrassed and uncomfortable
with the mere thought of trying to sell someone on something they might not want—I
would hate to offend someone, and rejection is just plain uncomfortable. Does this
sound like you?
Well, I have learned that with only a little effort and follow through—the parties will
eventually sell themselves as you will build a clientele of repeat customers. But you
have to get over your initial fears and this hurdle to get your business going. Trust me,
if I can do this, you can do this. Really! So, let’s do everything we can to make this
easy and stack the odds in your favor. I have a plan that will make this easy for you.
First off, you’ll want to create a nice incentive for people to want to host your jewelry
parties. That’s easy—offer free jewelry! You will typically reward the hostess with free
jewelry based on a percentage of the sales made at that party. Everyone loves free
jewelry, and what could be better for you, because by giving jewelry away you are only
paying for the costs and time to make it. There is usually no big cash outlay on your
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part, plus the hostess is motivated to have a really successful party because the more
jewelry sold at her home party, the more free stuff she gets.
The incentives you offer are entirely up to you, and you might offer additional incentives
and bonuses from time to time to get more parties booked during a slow time of year, or
for repeat party hostesses as a special reward. I have lots of ideas for you to explore
in this area.
Incentive Plan Templates
Here are some guidelines and tips for creating your business Hostess Incentive Plan.
Your actual percentages and bonus will depend on your jewelry and pricing, and you
can always fine-tune the amounts and percentage after the first few parties. What you’ll
want to do is give the party hostess some amount of free jewelry for holding the party,
and then you’ll add additional incentives on top of that to make it even more appealing.
Let’s walk through some examples. You will add up the total party sales, and figure the
hostess incentive based on those sales.
Party Incentive Example 1
Total Party Sales of:
Up to $100
$100 - $500
$501 - $800
$801 or more




Hostess Earns Free
Jewelry of:
$30
$40
$50
$60
Hostess Earns Additional
Jewelry Discount of:
N/A
10%
15%
20%
For each party, the party Hostess receives $30 of free jewelry (set an
amount you feel comfortable with, but one that will be enticing to a
potential hostess)
Plus an additional $10 in free jewelry and a jewelry purchase discount of
10% off for your combined guest party total of $100-500 in sales
Plus an additional $20 in free jewelry and another discount of 15% off for
your combined guest party total of $501-800 in sales
Plus an additional $30 in free jewelry and another discount of 20% off for
your combined guest party total of $801 or more
Additional Party Incentive Examples:
Of course one of your goals is to get additional party bookings, so why not build in a
hostess incentive to get future party bookings? This takes some of the pressure off of
you because your hostess will be helping to try to get someone to sign up to do a party.
If you hate trying to sell people on the idea of having a party, then this is a good
incentive model idea for you to try!
Here is an incentive model that takes future party bookings into account. Adjust the
figures to work for your business and jewelry pricing.
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Party Incentive Example 2
Total Party
Sales of:
$0 – 300
$301 – 400
$401 – 500
$501 – 600
$601 – 700
$701 - 800
$801 – 900
$901 – 1000+
Hostess Earns Free Jewelry Based on Future
Party Bookings from her Party
0 new party
1 new party
2 new party
bookings
booking
bookings
$20 Free
$35 Free
$50 Free
Jewelry
Jewelry
Jewelry
$30 Free
$45 Free
$60 Free
Jewelry
Jewelry
Jewelry
$40 Free
$55 Free
$70 Free
Jewelry
Jewelry
Jewelry
$50 Free
$65 Free
$80 Free
Jewelry
Jewelry
Jewelry
$60 Free
$75 Free
$90 Free
Jewelry
Jewelry
Jewelry
$70 Free
$85 Free
$100 Free
Jewelry
Jewelry
Jewelry
$80 Free
$95 Free
$110 Free
Jewelry
Jewelry
Jewelry
$100 Free
$105 Free
$120 Free
Jewelry
Jewelry
Jewelry
Hostess Earns
additional
Discount of:
15%
20%
30%
40%
40%
40%
40%
40%
So in this example, the following incentives apply:
 Hostess gets a minimum of $20 in free jewelry, no matter what, and gets a
15% off discount on jewelry that she buys at the party.
 For total party sales of up to $300 for the party, if she books 1 party, the
amount of free jewelry goes up to $35, if she books 2 parties, she gets $50
in free jewelry.
 For sales of $301- 400, she gets $30 in free jewelry and a 20% off discount
on jewelry that she buys at the party. If she books 1 party, she gets $45 in
free jewelry, and if she books 2 parties she gets $60 in free jewelry
 And so on…
This is a little more complicated of an incentive model, but it is very flexible in applying
incentives for the hostess to try and help book more parties and encourage sales at her
party!
Maybe you like the idea of building in an incentive if the hostess books additional
parties, but you want a simpler model to use. No problem, here is a third example you
can try.
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Party Incentive Example 3


Total Party Sales:
Hostess Receives Free
Jewelry Incentive:
$0 - ?
Hostess gets FREE jewelry
equal to 30% of her total
party sales
If 2 additional parties
are booked from this
party:
Hostess gets a $50
coupon for free future
jewelry at or after the 2
parties are held
The hostess always receives 30% of the total party sales in free jewelry.
Hostess receives a $50 coupon for future free jewelry, redeemable upon
completion of two shows booked from her party, held within the next three
months
So, in this example, let’s assume your party total is $700. This means at 30%
your hostess would receive $210 in free jewelry. ($700 * .30 = $210)
And, if she helps by getting two additional parties booked, she gets a coupon for
another $50 of free jewelry to be redeemed during or after those parties.
You’re beginning to see how you can use good hostess incentives both to increase
sales during the party, as well as to get more bookings so you don’t have to do any hard
selling!
In each of these examples, the hostess always gets some free jewelry no matter what,
just for being kind enough to host the party. To entice the hostess with an additional
incentive to invite lots of people and increase the overall party sales, as well as sign up
new party bookings during her home party, give her added incentives.
Tweak these numbers and ranges so that they work for you. If your jewelry line is
inexpensive, you might reduce the figures, and if it is expensive, increase it. It’s your
business, so it is up to you and you will need to try to find what works best for your own
product and market.
You may want to offer additional incentives, both for the hostess as well as the
guests.
Pick and choose from this list, or think about what other incentives you might offer.
Ideas for Additional Incentives
 For inviting 20+ guests, the party Hostess receives another $10 of free
jewelry (whatever amount you want to offer), or a discount coupon
 For each guest who books a party that night before they leave, they receive
a coupon for another $10 in free jewelry (redeemable at her own party)
 Or, for each guest who makes a commitment to book a party within a week
of this party, she receives a coupon for another $5 in free jewelry
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


(redeemable at her party) (Note – The party is booked/scheduled within a
week of this party, but the party may be held at a later date)
For each guest who brings a friend, they receive a coupon for $5.00 off
their purchase
Or, for each guest who brings a friend, she receives free jewelry (have a
selection of inexpensive yet nice “freebies” for people to select from)
Offer a door prize of free jewelry to guests
More Tips for Successful Incentives
Make sure all of the party incentives are communicated in your party brochure, which
each guest will receive at the party. This way they will have the chance to review the
incentives and get excited about booking their own party before they leave. Plus, once
you have a few parties under your belt, you can use an “average party” example in your
brochure. For example: “Our average party sales are $700, so the hostess earns on
average of $210 FREE jewelry just for having a party!” Who doesn’t want that much
free jewelry just for having a fun “girls’ night out” party in her home with some good
friends? Make it sound easy, fun, and appealing, and you won’t need to do much hard
selling at all!
Once you’ve decided on your own incentive plan, write it down! You can even just
make up a table like I did above, and print it out. Also, be sure to make and print any
coupons or other incentive goodies for free jewelry out and bring them to the party. I’ve
included some sample forms at the back of this book. The bottom line is that you come
prepared to your first party, because you don’t want to be scrambling to try to remember
your own incentive plan once you are there. Bring a calculator and pad of paper so you
can easily tally up total party sales and figure out incentives due to your hostess.
One other note on incentives—they are an expense of doing business so when you are
calculating your jewelry prices and trying to decide what to charge, you will want to
make sure you are off-setting the cost to make the free hostess jewelry. Otherwise you
may wonder where your jewelry supplies are going and why your business isn’t as
profitable as you thought it should be. So, now that you have had time to devise your
incentive plan, figure out what the average hostess bonus will be and build this into your
jewelry prices. You can always adjust prices after a couple of parties so you can
properly cover your costs without fear of losing income or charging too much.
So now your pricing formula will look like this:
Costs + Time + Profit + Average Cost of Hostess Gift (divided by average quantity
of jewelry sold at a party) = Total Price
Because you are only paying for your costs on a hostess free jewelry gift, you may only
need to add a small amount to the total price to make up for the hostess gift, but just
make sure you are aware of it in your pricing model.
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Scheduling More Parties
Now that you’ve outlined and selected your own great incentive plan, you’ll want to
follow up and make sure you get at least one more party booking each time you hold a
party. You’ve already made this relatively easy because you have a great product, and
great incentives. So, what else can you do to ensure you get those bookings?
A Great Party Intro
Pass around your party brochure to party guests. Your brochure should have all the
information describing benefits of hosting a party. During the course of the party you’ll
find your great jewelry, great service, and fun party will do more natural selling than you
think—you usually won’t need to be too aggressive or pushy to get more parties
booked.
If you are comfortable doing a personal introduction, another way to share the
information with clients is to spend a few minutes at the start of the party thanking the
hostess, telling everyone a little about yourself and your jewelry, and asking each guest
to spend just a moment completing the client information form (if you’ve decided to do
that).
Mention to your guests that you would really love to hold a party for them too, and they
can also get free jewelry and a special bonus if they book their party (tonight or within
the next week or whatever your bonus is)! A short little introductory speech will take
only a few minutes and isn’t too pushy at all. People expect you to talk about your
product and to sell them jewelry! That’s why they came to the party—to buy jewelry.
So, now they know a little more about who you are, and they will see that you are a
perfectly nice jewelry designer who just wants to sell some of her great jewelry
products! What’s wrong with that?
Don’t hesitate to talk up your products, to make suggestions on how to accessorize, and
to talk about jewelry fashion trends and how your own jewelry is really in style. Be
excited about your products, because enthusiasm is contagious.
Show the Rewards
It’s a good idea to make sure the hostess gets to pick out her free jewelry and bonuses
while people are there to see and enjoy her excitement (and hopefully get excited to
have their own party, too).
A door prize of free jewelry creates a fun and exciting atmosphere. Give away a pair of
earrings—they don’t have to be expensive, people just love getting a surprise for free.
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Follow Up
After the party you’ll want to send a thank you note to the hostess and follow up with
guests who indicated they might be interested in hosting your next party. Set aside
some time, sit down, pick up the phone—and just call! You can also send an email, but
people are generally more responsive on the phone (plus it’s harder to say “no” in
person). This will get easier with practice and you will be so glad you learned this skill
because it will make a difference in your business.
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Step 25 – Design Great Party Invitations
If you are sending invitations by email, ask your hostess to send the party invitations
herself, as people are more receptive at getting an email invitation from someone they
know. My favorite online service for party invitations is evite.com. You can select from
a number of fun invitation templates, and you can see how many people have accepted
the invitation and plan to attend the party. Evite will also send out party reminders, and
has a handy mapping feature so people can get directions to the party location. It’s
easy to use and fun! You can even design your own invitation totally from scratch and
upload images (like your jewelry photo or logo!) for your custom invitation.
You’ll want to include all the party details as well as incentives when making your
invitation. Here is an example party invitation on evite.
The text of my invitation reads:
“I am hosting a “Lorri’s Jewels” jewelry party, so I hope you can make it. If
you’ve never attended a “Lorri’s Jewels” party, you’re in for a treat. Her jewelry is
gorgeous and features semi-precious gemstones and sterling silver, and you can
find all the latest styles just like you’ve seen in the fashion magazines at great
prices! There are even some exclusive one-of-a-kind designs being offered that
you might want to snap up.
Come treat yourself, or buy someone a nice gift, while enjoying cocktails and
tasty treats with the girls.
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There will be free jewelry door prizes, and if you bring a friend or two, you’ll get a
coupon for $5 off!
Please RSVP, and don’t forget the date.
p.s. you can preview the jewelry at myjewelrywebsite.com. The jewelry prices
start at only $5, and you can pay with cash, check and all major credit cards.”
Always include this Information on your Invitation:
 Party Specifics – Date, Name, Location, Time, Address
 An enticing description for the party. Be imaginative and fun.
 Provide some details about the jewelry and how fabulous it is (of course)
 Tell them about any incentive bonuses, door prizes or other goodies
 Provide details about the pricing and payment options. Also, tell them
about your website if you have one.
 Indicate what refreshments and food will be served (Or ask them to bring
something to drink if this is appropriate for your group. This is up to the
hostess!)
 Ask for an RSVP, and tell guests you really hope they can come!
You can also make up your own printed invitations. You can buy card stock at any
office supply store and at some craft stores. Use your logo or photos of your jewelry to
decorate the invitation, and include the same information above on a printed invitation.
Allow enough time to get these in the mail. Since these invitations are being mailed
instead of coming via an email, it is ok if you mail these yourself, instead of having the
party hostess do it. It is a nice service if you handle all of the mailing so the hostess
isn’t hassled with anything before the party. Just ask the hostess for the guest list,
including the name, address, and phone number of each party guest. Send the hostess
a copy of the invitation, too.
Whether you send electronic or printed invitations is up to you. Whichever method you
choose, send the invitations two weeks in advance, and always call guests the day
before the party to remind them (and tell them to bring a friend!). You can make
these calls, or the hostess can make the calls, you decide what works best.
Step 26 - Party Preparation
You will want to set up a jewelry display kit that is easy to assemble when you arrive at
the party hostess’s home. Allow yourself about an hour to set up. It may not take you
quite this long once you have some practice, but better that you are ready to go when
the customers start to arrive, than rushing around all stressed out. You will want to
come up with display and décor that matches your personal image. Think about what
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colors and accessories would work well to best highlight your jewelry design. This is
known as “merchandising” and it is really important. Spend some time creating a nice
display for your jewelry. If you have a cheap looking display, it will be harder to sell your
jewelry. It doesn’t have to cost a fortune to create a rich looking display.
Creating Enticing Displays
Purchase some inexpensive tablecloths or fabric to drape and protect the furniture. You
can also use solid color sheets for this purpose. Make sure whatever you use is
washable, and preferably a fabric that won’t need ironing. You will want both darker
and lighter colors. Some jewelry looks better on a dark background, and some looks
better on a light one. Experiment before the party by placing some of your jewelry on
the cloth to see how it looks. Select colors that go well with your jewelry without
overpowering it with complex patterns or garish colors that clash or overwhelm the
jewelry. I usually keep it simple with a light gray cloth and a black or white one. I use
table runners or other decorative details when I want to accent with some color.
I usually use a black velvet cloth because velvet is rich and dramatic and it goes well
with my sophisticated and expensive pieces of jewelry. Because some jewelry can get
lost on the dark background, often I will place jewelry display busts and other display
items like a bracelet holder and earring stand on the velvet, or I will place my jewelry in
white cotton lined gift boxes.
You don’t have to purchase expensive jewelry display items, but a few nice necklace
busts and earring stands will take up little space on the table and will look really
professional. I have found bargains on these items by buying my jewelry displays at
wholesale prices on eBay. I bought one really nice “head and shoulders” necklace bust
model that I use to display my favorite (or most expensive) necklace, and then I use
less expensive displays for my other pieces.
Just visit eBay or go to your favorite search engine, to search for these items on sale:
 Jewelry Displays for Sale
 Earring Displays
 Jewelry Busts
 Bracelet Displays
Additional Display Ideas
Also, you can get creative and make your own displays without spending a ton of
money. Look around your house and see what might work as a jewelry display. Do you
have any pretty plates, trays, or baskets that might work? Take a trip to the craft store
and see what bargains you can find, and get creative in inventing your own unique
jewelry display. Fill a vase or a flowerpot with stones or glass marbles and plant a tree
branch (real or fake) or silk flowers in the marbles. Drape your necklaces or bracelets
from the branches of the tree for a really natural and dramatic display.
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Place shallow wood trays or woven grass and wicker baskets on tables, and fill them
with brown rice, black beans, plastic pearls or beads, or any other inexpensive “filler”
that creates a nice color contrast to the jewelry. For an easy bracelet display, place a
few wine bottles in a tray with a cloth or other some other material to hold the bottle
steady, and drape the bottle with bracelets. This theme works very well if this is a wine
and cheese party!
Pick up some inexpensive paper or wooden boxes at the craft store and paint, stain, or
decorate them to match your personal style, and then place some of the jewelry in open
boxes displayed around the room. You can line the boxes with pretty paper, felt, or
cloth.
If you’re feeling particularly crafty, you can also find small boxes that work as jewelry
boxes and if you like you can sell your hand decorated, one-of-a-kind jewelry boxes as
an “up sell” item along with the jewelry as a nice gift item.
Purchase some plastic melamine plates in different coordinating colors from your local
store. These plates are super inexpensive and are indestructible. Place three of them
together in a row on a table for an interesting and colorful display. You can contrast or
match the jewelry colors that work best with the plates.
Be on the lookout for good display ideas. Think about your favorite store or boutique
and take a little time the next time you are out shopping to see what merchandizing and
decorating ideas they have used to make their products more appealing.
How to Decorate
There is really only one rule of thumb to follow when making your jewelry display:
Just be sure whatever you decide to do that you don’t make your display too “busy” or
distract from the beauty of your jewelry, which should always be the centerpiece! If you
go crazy with decorations, your jewelry might get lost. So, make an appealing display
that does a good job of reflecting your personal touch and image, but don’t go
overboard with too much stuff.
More Decorating Tips
If possible, try to create a couple of “stations” of jewelry display, placing jewelry in a few
locations around the room, versus cramming all of your products on one small table.
Give people the chance to walk to each display station and discover new things, instead
of bumping into everyone or having to wait for someone to move so they can see some
jewelry.
I always make matching jewelry in sets. It doesn’t have to be too “matchy”, but try to
create jewelry that goes well together, like a cherry quartz bracelet and matching cherry
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quartz earrings or rose quartz earrings that go well with the bracelet. Place sets of
jewelry throughout your display as this is a great way to up sell additional jewelry.
Customers love to get things that can be worn together.
I always arrange my jewelry by color theme, since usually people are looking for jewelry
to match a particular outfit, or they are drawn to their favorite color. Plus the display
looks a lot less cluttered this way instead of having every mismatched color thrown
together. It’s also a good idea to organize jewelry by style if you have a couple of
different “lines” in your jewelry. For example, I might place my chunky silver and leather
items in one place, and my delicate chain and semi-precious jewelry in another because
these are drastically different styles. For each style, I might pick one accent element to
place on the table next to the display. For example, I might place a bowl of fake pearls
next to my sophisticated jewelry and a fake cactus next to my western influenced
jewelry.
Make sure your jewelry is accessible, meaning it isn’t pinned down and hard to try on,
and that you have placed price tags on each product. I’ve found people are generally
uncomfortable asking about prices.
Always have a few mirrors available at the party. Purchase a few inexpensive hand
mirrors, or stand mirrors. Otherwise all the guests will have to keep running to the
bathroom mirror to see how the jewelry looks on!
Candles are a nice way to add a soft and romantic ambiance, plus scented candles
smell good! But, be sure to place them out of the way so they don’t get accidentally
knocked over, and they should never be in the way of the jewelry. Another option is to
ask the hostess to light up the fireplace for a cozy ambiance.
Soft music playing in the background is another good way to set the mood. Select
music that matches your style and image, or party theme. Just be sure it isn’t too loud,
you want the guests to be able to relax and chat.
Feel free to dress up your display with colors and accents to match the seasons, or a
theme or style for the party. For example, when I had a party during autumn, I used a
russet colored tablecloth, and purchased some leaf-shaped paper confetti and fake
leaves, and sprinkled those on the table around my jewelry. It was really pretty and set
a nice mood for the party. Again, as long as your display doesn’t detract attention from
your jewelry, it should be fine.
Lighting Jewelry at Parties
Lighting is extremely important to your jewelry sales. All jewelry looks best when it has
bright light showing off the true color and sparkle. Ask your hostess what lighting she
will have available, but to be safe you will want to bring your own lights, too. I would
recommend you just purchase a few small portable lamps, and an extension cord or two
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(if needed) just so you’ll always be prepared. Trust me, you will not have a good party if
people can’t see your jewelry very well!
Lighting is even more important that the other display items, so if you only have a little
money to get started, spend it on the lighting instead of fancy display items. Well-lit
jewelry even on a plain table will sell better than jewelry lying on a gorgeous velvet cloth
that no one can see.
They sell many varieties of small battery operated lamps now, and the good thing is you
can put them anywhere and not have people tripping over the cords. Of course, the
downside is you will need to keep a stock of batteries on hand so don’t forget to keep
some spares.
Here’s a neat lighting idea. You can pick up a few of the inexpensive small round touch
lights (tap lights) and place each light inside a bowl with a translucent glass or plastic
plate on top. Place the jewelry on the plate and it will be lit from underneath. This looks
dramatic and is a very inexpensive way to light up a unique display!
Halogen bulb lighting is super bright and usually this is the type of lighting used in
jewelry stores. You can purchase a few desktop halogen gooseneck lamps and direct
the light right onto your jewelry to bring it to life. Natural light incandescent bulbs are
another great option. Natural lighting is always good because it shows off the true
colors of the gemstones.
Packing for the Party
Traveling Display Kit
Get yourself an inexpensive rolling travel suitcase, large backpack or duffle bag, or
stacking plastic bins (a folding luggage carrier will help you transport these). This will
be your traveling jewelry display kit. You want something large enough to hold all your
items, so put together your complete kit before choosing your storage case. Having a
traveling kit will make it easy for you to transport your display setup kit to and from each
party. Before the party, test packing your jewelry display “kit” so you can easily fit
everything in it and prevent items from getting crushed or broken. Rolling fabric up
instead of folding it is a good way to prevent creasing. Wrapping jewelry busts in fabric
can prevent them from getting scratched and damaged. Fragile items can be placed
inside other smaller plastic boxes, or shoeboxes inside your kit. Marbles, rice, beans or
other “filler” items should be kept inside plastic zip loc bags. Get bubble wrap or
padded bags to protect your mirrors and other fragile items, or wrap them in the fabric
tablecloths.
Jewelry Transport
You will also need to transport your jewelry items to and from the party. There are
many great travel jewelry case solutions available now, including nice handle bags that
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hold shallow stacking jewelry trays. You can always just keep the jewelry on these
trays and display the trays right on the tables, for a quick and easy party set up. I
purchased one of these bags along with some with black and light gray velvet lined
trays and they work great!
Visit eBay or your favorite search engine to search for “jewelry display travel case”.
You can save a small fortune over buying one at a craft store! Here is a link to some
jewelry case options:
Jewelry Display Travel Case
I prefer to keep earring on cards already attached to an earring display for transport,
because there are so many of them I don’t want to have to rebuild my display from
scratch for each party. I just slip the whole earring display into a plastic trash bag. That
way if earrings should fall off the display during transport, I don’t lose anything. The
plastic also offers some padding and prevents the earrings from rubbing against
anything else in the bag and getting scratched up.
For bracelet and necklaces, I usually store these on stacking jewelry trays and just pull
the trays out for the party.
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Step 27 - Party Refreshments
It’s entirely up to your hostess to offer whatever refreshments she wants at her home
jewelry party. Typically, it’s a good idea to have a few drink selections and some simple
hor doevres or snacks. This isn’t a dinner party, so elaborate meals are not required. If
the hostess wants to make this a dinner party, that is her decision.
To keep costs down and to make this a simple party for your hostess, I would suggest
the following:




Cola selection (one diet and one non diet option)
Bottled water (with sliced lemons or limes)
One or more alcoholic drinks (if appropriate). This could be a large bottle of red
and white wine, or a punch or sangria is another good option that doesn’t break
the bank!
One or two appetizers, or dessert
Here are a few recipes I found to help make your party a success:
Punch Recipes – http://allrecipes.com//Recipes/drinks/punch/Main.aspx
Sangria Recipes – http://allrecipes.com/Search/Recipes.aspx?WithTerm=sangria
Appetizer Recipes – http://allrecipes.com/Search/Recipes.aspx?WithTerm=appetizers
If your hostess wants to, she could serve one special drink and make it a “girls’ night
out” theme party, such as Wine Tasting Event, Tea Party, Margaritaville Party or
Cosmopolitan Party. Let your hostess set the theme, after all it’s her home and her
party!
For easy “no work” appetizers, chips and salsa are always a good option, as are cheese
and crackers. You can buy a big bag of chips and some salsa along with a box of
crackers and one or two cheeses for less than $20! You can always pick up a premade party tray with cheese and crackers, veggies and dip from the deli for added
convenience.
A dessert party is also a fun idea, and you can serve coffee or tea or dessert wines.
You should never pressure your hostess to feel she needs to spend money on
expensive drinks or food—take your cue from her and just offer your food and beverage
suggestions if asked. If you feel the hostess is hesitant and concerned with booking a
party due to the cost involved in providing refreshments, as an option, you could offer to
provide the refreshments for the party, and then just build this into your pricing (add a
dollar or two to your prices to off-set the cost of refreshments). Then go to a store like
Costco where you can get bulk party trays and wine at super low prices.
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If your hostess wants to, there is absolutely nothing wrong with making this a “BYOB”
(bring your own…) party or even a potluck event where the hostess ask her friends to
bring their favorite drink, snack, or dessert if that is the type of party she wants to have.
I have actually had several jewelry parties like these, and while they tend to run a little
longer because of all the eating and drinking, ultimately I sell more jewelry and the
guests seem to have more fun!
If you are hosting a party at your own home, just watch what you spend on food and
beverages as these expenses will cut into your income if you don’t factor these costs
into your pricing.
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Step 28 - What to Expect During the Party
Now you’ve set up your display and jewelry, and the hostess is ready with food and
drinks. The guests are about to arrive. Now what?
Hopefully by now you are feeling confident and excited, and ready to meet your guests
and sell some jewelry. You’ll want to look good because that will make you feel
confident inside. You’re the artistic star of the show as the Jewelry Designer, so wear a
favorite outfit (but comfortable!) and of course you will be wearing some of your own
jewelry. You might ask the hostess to model some of your jewelry, too. Greet your
guests with a warm and friendly smile, and just be yourself. Be sure to talk up all of
your designs, answer questions, make suggestions, and be willing to re-size pieces and
take custom orders if someone seems interested in your work but isn’t finding exactly
what they want. Be sure to make suggestions on gift ideas for upcoming holidays, and
take every opportunity to up-sell a matching piece of jewelry. Be sure customers are
aware that you take all payment types and credit cards (assuming you do), so they will
know how convenient and easy it is to buy. Make sure customers are aware of any
services you offer, like lifetime repairs, and free gift-wrap.
Handling Money
Keep a notepad and calculator handy, or a laptop computer or personal organizer (PDA
like a palm pilot) to total up the purchases. Have a small box or zipper bag to hold cash
and checks. Be sure you make notes of what each customer is buying so you can
record this in your client information database or worksheet. Most customers will likely
pay with a check or credit card, but bring along enough spare change and a little cash
(ones, fives, tens) to make change. At the end of the party, total up all of the guest
purchases and tell your hostess what additional discounts or incentives she received!
Also, be sure she has a chance to pick out her free jewelry while everyone is watching
so they will be excited to book their own party and get free jewelry, too.
Gift Wrap
Be sure to nicely gift wrap all of the jewelry. I use white cotton lined boxes and organza
drawstring gift bags. They are really elegant and great for storing jewelry later, and the
guests feel they got a little something special.
You can buy the boxes in bulk from eBay or your favorite jewelry supplier. Do a search
for:
White Cotton Lined Jewelry Boxes http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_kw=white&_kw=cotton&_kw=jewelry&_kw=boxes
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Organza Pouches at Favormart.com http://www.favormart.com/store/site/department.cfm?id=000675EA-7EF0-1E3CA7EA0114C0A8E83F
Booking Parties
Hopefully someone at the party will express an interest in holding one of her own. If at
all possible, try to book at least one more party while you are there, to save you the time
of having to make follow up calls later. Make sure you get the contact number and ask
the guest when the best time is to contact her.
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Step 29 – New Jewelry Party Formats
In addition to a standard party format, you can also try to get new business by trying
one of these two jewelry party formats, a “Made While you Wait” party, and a “Make
Your Own Jewelry” party.
These parties take a little more planning and some additional supplies, but they are
wildly successful and very fun for your party guests. After my first “While you Wait”
party, all of my parties turned into this format as my guest loved (and demanded) it—
and the next thing you knew they all wanted me to teach them to make jewelry, which
leads into the “Make your Own Jewelry” Party format. So, let me explain how you can
host these exciting party formats yourself.
“While you Wait” Jewelry Party
This means that you will make up new jewelry for customers right then and there, at the
party. In addition to displaying your pre-made jewelry as usual, you will also set up a
table with your jewelry pliers and tools, and a selection of beads and findings, and the
guests can select beads that they like and wait while you make their jewelry on the spot.
For complicated requests, you may need to take custom orders and complete them
later, but for most simple earrings and bracelets on beading wire, it only takes 15
minutes or so to make a new piece so this works well for this party format. Here’s how
to make this party format work for you.
Know your Costs
Before a jewelry making party, do the work up front to make sure you have recorded the
cost of each bead and component, and determined a fair price to charge. Or, simply
calculate a flat rate for basic findings and components, and then add the price of the
beads.
For example, you might charge a $5 flat rate per silver bracelet to cover your wire, crimp
beads, and clasp, and then add a "per bead" charge to that. It is really important that
you do this homework before the party because you won't have time once you are
there, and it is all too easy to want to please someone and just give them the beads
without thinking about your costs. After all, you do want to make a profit from all of your
hard work, and if you give away the genuine tourmaline beads for the same price as
your less expensive glass beads, you probably just took a loss! If you are using bead
boxes with bins, use a piece of tape and write the bead/component price on some tape
and stick it inside each compartment. Don't forget to bring along a calculator and pad of
paper to your jewelry making party so you can write up the cost of the jewelry
components just to make sure you know what to charge. Of course, you will add
something additional to the component costs for your own time and design talent! This
mark-up is entirely up to you; just make sure you think it through before the party so you
won't feel pressured to give your jewelry away at cost.
Come Prepared
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Find a good bead box or a toolbox that is easy to transport. Organize all of your beads
by color, and make sure your components are also categorized so they are easy to find
and work with. You don't want to appear sloppy and disorganized at the party, and
sorting beads by color makes the entire design process so much easier.
A few weeks before your jewelry making party, you might want to take stock of your
inventory so you can order a good supply of basics, like ear wires, clasps, and crimp
beads, to have on hand for the party. Of course, bring along your jewelry pliers and
cutters, measuring tape or bead board, and basic jewelry making materials.
Talk to the party hostess to make sure you have arranged a table, good lighting, and a
trashcan. Don't forget to protect the table with a tablecloth or bead cloth.
Some days, it is easier to come up with new jewelry design ideas than others. Bring
some of your favorite best-selling designs along, so you can use those as your base
designs to customize for clients. They might like a certain bracelet design but want it in
a different color, for example. For additional ideas and inspiration, bring along the latest
fashion magazines with jewelry photos, or make your own photo idea book ahead of
time. While I would never directly copy someone else's design, you can certainly get
ideas and sell more jewelry when you provide some inspiration and photos for people to
look at.
For custom orders, make up an order form in your word processing software ahead of
time and bring several printed copies to the party. It shows professionalism and adds
confidence when you come prepared to take orders. Get the client's name and contact
information, write a description of the custom jewelry order, and indicate the price and
delivery time.
“Make your Own” Jewelry Party
A relatively new idea that is taking hold is the concept of a party where the guests make
their own jewelry. It’s a great idea, and there are so many crafters out there getting into
jewelry that it might not be as hard as you think to make this party a success.
You will need to have enough pliers, flush cutters and crimping tools for each person to
make jewelry, if they do not already have their own. Before the party, you will want to
find out the skill level of each guest (if they have never made jewelry before) and
whether they have their own tools. You’ll try to keep people of the same skill level
together.
I would suggest you set a nominal charge for those needing tools, and sell the sets at
the party. You don’t want guests to get frustrated because they have to wait to share
one set of tools! Because you took the time to get your business license in the early
steps of planning your business, you are now prepared to buy jewelry supplies at
wholesale prices, so you can mark these wholesale pliers up enough to recoup your
time and trouble, and sell them directly to guests at a fair price. If you don’t want to deal
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with the hassle, then find a local bead store or craft store, get the inventory information,
and before the party send the guests to that store to buy their tools.
In addition to pliers, each guest should have a place to make the jewelry. A large table
will work, or those little individual TV tables work nicely. Guests might want a bead
design board or a bead mat as well. You won’t want to invite quite as many guests to
this type of party because you will need time to demonstrate and teach people how to
make jewelry. I would limit it to ten or less people per party. Once you get the hang of
it, you will know what works best.
You will need to bring your beads with you, and just like the last “while you wait” party, it
is important you have figured out your costs ahead of time. As an alternative, you might
suggest the guests bring their own favorite beads, and the party can also be a “bead
swap” where guests share their stash. I still suggest you have a good supply of staples
with you (beading wire, crimps, toggles, head pins, ear wires and clasps) so people can
buy these things from you if they are out.
If you have a website, send guests to it ahead of time and let them pick out and
purchase the designs kits for jewelry they want to make. This way you will be prepared
to bring along the supplies they need to make that design.
If you don’t have a website, then make your own printed catalog (with photos of your
jewelry designs) or bring along at least 10-20 completed designs, and the beads and
supplies to make them, and sell those kits directly at your party.
Bring some of your finished jewelry to serve as inspiration, as well as your own catalog,
beading magazines, fashion magazines and catalogs to prompt ideas and get the
creative juices flowing.
Finally, you will need to have printed step-by-step instructions on the main jewelry
making techniques that will be used in making the jewelry. I have included several of
those at the back of this book so you can print them out and use them in your parties.
You can always visit www.making-jewelry.com for fresh ideas and How To instructions,
as well as pick up new jewelry techniques by taking classes.
Don’t do this party unless you have enough patience to teach people how to make
jewelry. Good communication skills and a friendly demeanor are important. It’s not hard
to teach people—it’s actually quite fun, but you have to stay positive in case someone
lacks confidence or is easily frustrated. You always want the party to be light and fun!
As you can see, this party format will take a lot more time to prepare for initially, but
once you have a set of favorite designs figured out, and/or a website, it will become
much easier and guests absolutely love this type of party.
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On-line Party
Another popular format for a party is an on-line jewelry party. This is extremely
convenient all around, but you’ll need a website to do this one. Basically, your hostess
will email her guests with a link to your jewelry sales website, along with a code you
assigned for her party, and a cutoff date for the party to close. Guests will go order and
purchase jewelry directly from the website, and they will place the code in when they
order. At the cut off date, you can go total up all the sales for your hostess’s party using
the code that you assigned to her party. Then, you simply notify the hostess of her free
jewelry and discount incentives based on how well her “party” did on-line. As you can
see, this is a remarkably easy way to bring in some extra money selling jewelry through
incentives and using a hostess to create the guest list—but there isn’t actually any
“party”, so from a guest perspective it isn’t as fun.
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Step 30 - Post Party Tasks
After your party is over (phew!) and you are back home counting all your money , the
work isn’t finished. Now you need to follow up with the hostess, as well as any other
guest who might want to book a party.
Following up with the Hostess
Emails are fine for invitations, but when it comes to thank you notes I prefer to be a little
more old fashioned. Send a written thank you note to the hostess promptly the day
after the party, or call her on the phone to express your thanks. Even better, when you
mail a thank you note, tuck in a free pair of earrings with your note as a special way of
surprising the hostess with your appreciation. Tell your hostess what a great party it
was, and what a great time you had meeting her guests. Tell her you would love to host
another party at her house in the future, and include an extra incentive coupon if she
books another party within the next four months. (put a deadline on the coupon).
Following up with Guests
You don’t need to send a thank you note to each and every guest, but it is a nice touch
and gives you another opportunity to include information about your jewelry as well as
another “call to action” to book their own jewelry party. You might also include a coupon
or incentive of extra free jewelry or a special discount if they book their own party within
a certain timeframe.
Now it’s time to make phone calls! Contact any guest who seemed even remotely
interested in hosting her own party. Be sure to call her at the number and time she said
was convenient, and remind her that she expressed interest in holding a party. If she
seems hesitant, see if you can find out why (maybe it is the cost of buying refreshments,
or simply the timing) and try to address any concerns so you can get the party
scheduled. But, don’t be pushy. If she has changed her mind, thank her for her time
and let it go.
You really ought to be able to build enough clientele and repeat business over time, that
getting new parties scheduled will become easier.
Remember those marketing materials you made? If you have a newsletter, be sure to
send one out to your client list periodically. Keep a calendar or organizer, and send
your clients a birthday card with a coupon for your jewelry, or even a free pair of
inexpensive earrings to your loyal repeat customers. They will LOVE this surprise gift of
thoughtfulness, and I built a loyal following of repeat customers myself by adding these
simple little touches and giving my customers more than they expected.
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Step 31 – Growing your Business
What to do if the Party Business is Slow
From time to time there will be slow seasons in your business, just as there is with any
retail business. The good news is that there is always a fairly consistent demand for
jewelry--but what do you do when your party business gets slow?
First of all, accept it as a fact of doing business that there will be busy times and slower
times, and don’t get overly anxious and worried. Take the downtime as an opportunity
to take a vacation, or to make more jewelry to stock up for your next busy season which
is probably just around the corner. Take this time to seek some new inspiration. All
creative people can burn out and suffer from a form of writer’s block, where you just
can’t seem to dream up a single new jewelry design. Go to an art museum, take a walk,
see a movie—or whatever inspires you and recharges your jets so you can feel relaxed
and refreshed again. Take a new jewelry making class and learn a new technique or
get some new jewelry books and magazines for your personal library.
You can take some practical steps to bring your business up, as well. You can augment
your party business with several other jewelry selling techniques, like selling at a craft
party or on-line on a website or from eBay. We’ll talk about some ways you can grow
your business in the next section.
It’s also time to dust off your client list, and if you haven’t contacted people in a while,
it’s time to launch a new marketing campaign. Usually, it’s not that people don’t want
new jewelry, it’s just that they have forgotten about you or they are busy. Do you have
a new product line, or new jewelry design that is in-line with a current fashion trend?
Make up a new incentive or coupon, and mail it out to your list—announce yourself and
put your image back in front of them again. Then, wait a few days and follow up with
phone calls to your top 20 potential customers and see if you can’t generate a couple of
party bookings. Usually you can get the ball rolling again pretty easily with just a little
time, patience, and concerted effort.
Just don’t get too frustrated and give up on yourself. Here are some ideas on new
product lines and seasons you might want to use as a trigger to start a new marketing
campaign:
New Jewelry Lines:
 Have a special all-earrings party – all earrings under $20!
 “Designer’s Trunk Show” party to announce a totally new design technique
or style
 Launch of a new personalized Mother’s bracelet line
 Launce of a new Awareness bracelet line
 Launch of a new Charm bracelet line
 Launch of a new personalized Pet bracelet line with dog and cat charms
 Announcing new Kids or Teens Jewelry Party
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Jewelry Shopping Holidays:
 Valentines Jewelry Sale
 Mother’s Day Jewelry Sale
 Holiday Jewelry Sale
 Summer Themed Jewelry Sale
 Etc. (think of a holiday and you can usually invent jewelry around it)
See what I mean? Use your imagination to dream up a reason to send an
announcement to customers and ask them to host a party. Include a special coupon or
incentive.
Remember, all businesses take work, and all businesses have busy and slow
seasons—don’t make the mistake of being too hard on yourself if a slow season takes
you by surprise. Try to enjoy it while it lasts because if you’ve been following my advice
up until now, your business should be successful in the long run.
Craft Fairs
Another great option for you to explore in growing your business is a craft fair, street
fair, arts show or festival. Arts and craft fairs are held in many local communities, at
churches and other gatherings, and workplaces. A craft fair works much like a jewelry
party except you will likely need to bring your own display items and possibly a table or
tent or other covering depending on what the craft fair venue provides and whether it is
indoors or outdoors. You’ll have a lot more traffic at a craft fair, so be sure to bring lots
of marketing materials along, like extra business cards.
For a list of craft fairs, check CraftLister.com, FestivalNet.com, and
Craftmasternews.com. If you are in the UK, check UKCraftFairs.com. There are many
other listings, just do an on-line search for “craft fair, yourtown” and you should find
some local listings. You can also check with your local chamber of commerce.
Be sure you understand all the rules, regulations and fees for each fair so you can
decide if it is a good fit for you. You should be familiar with the other types of crafts sold
at the fair and know whether your product is a good fit for the target demographic.
Jewelry Trunk Shows
A trunk show is where you take your jewelry to a local store or boutique and set up a
table for a day of selling. Approach local business owners (with your excellent
marketing materials and jewelry samples in hand) and see if you can find one who is
willing to let you give this a try. The storeowner will want a commission for a
percentage of all the jewelry sold (10-20% or so) for allowing you to hold your show in
her store.
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Do your research first-- be sure to know the store, their price ranges, and whether your
product is a good fit and you can make a profit. Be sure you have built in the
storeowners cut into your pricing strategy. Of course you will want to have your own
marketing materials, like business cards ready to pass out to perspective new
customers.
Ask the Business owner to market your trunk show with postcards, fliers, signs, or other
advertising so you’ll be sure to get a good turn out. Another good idea (if the weather
permits) is to set a table up right outside the store, so passers-by will be intrigued to
stop and browse.
Selling to Retail Stores
To add even more income streams to your business, you can sell your jewelry in a retail
store, or you can place it on consignment. Consignment means the store will take some
of your jewelry and try to sell it for you. If they do accept your product on consignment,
you will pay the storeowner a percentage of the total sales price. Consignment has
some pros and cons. On the downside, you will leave your jewelry behind and
sometimes there is a risk that it will get beat up or even stolen. There is no income
unless and until the jewelry sells. But, it is a good thing to try to supplement your
jewelry party income. You will need some sales presentation skills as you will need to
talk to store owners, show off your wares, and entice them to sign a consignment
agreement. Often, they will have their own cookie cutter consignment agreement for
you to sign. This is a simple legal document that lays out the terms, commission, and
other details of the arrangement.
You can also sell your jewelry directly to a store if they don’t do consignment. The
important thing to be aware of is your pricing strategy—you will be selling your jewelry
to the storeowner at wholesale so they can then mark it up to a retail price and get their
own profit. So, your prices need to be in-line, so take the time to know the store,
product, and pricing before you approach a storeowner. Always make an appointment
to speak with the owner, it can be perceived as rude to just walk in and try to sell your
jewelry to an owner who might be busy or distracted.
You can use your nice portable jewelry display bag with trays to transport your product
to the store to show it to the owner. Be sure you also have any marketing materials and
price sheets to leave behind in case they don’t want to purchase today but might when
they need to stock more jewelry.
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How To Make Jewelry
If you are totally new at making jewelry, of course you will need to learn some
techniques. My website www.making-jewelry.com will cover all of the basic techniques
you will need to get started making basic beaded jewelry. Make sure you read through
the entire “How to Make Jewelry” section for lots of step-by-step instructions, with
photos on how to make jewelry. If you have questions about any of the techniques on
the website, feel free to Contact Me.
Another great website and course to explore if you want to make advanced wire
wrapped jewelry is Preston Reuther’s www.wire-sculpture.com. For about $300 you
can get his entire course and supplies on making wire jewelry. You can generally sell
wire jewelry for higher prices than regular beaded jewelry, so consider this a good
option to explore if you want to learn how to add wire wrapped jewelry to your product
line.
There are many other on-line resources available for learning to make jewelry. Here
are links to a few other jewelry making websites and community discussion forums
where you can ask questions and share ideas:
Bead and Button Community http://cs.beadandbutton.com/bnbcs/
Art Jewelry Magazine Community –
http://cs.artjewelrymag.com/artcs/
You can also start your own personal library of jewelry books and magazines. Pick up a
single copy of a magazine to see if you like the styles and designs, then subscribe. This
is a business expense so you will likely be able to deduct it from your taxes.
You can also take jewelry making classes at your local bead store and often community
colleges and art colleges offer metalsmithing and jewelry making classes as well.
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 Section 5 – Additional Helpful Information 
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Inspiration – Where to find new Design Ideas
We all need new inspiration so we can continue to dream up new designs. Make a list
of your stores and on-line catalogs. Whenever you are totally dried up on ideas, go do
some window-shopping, or web surfing and see what other designers are making. It’s a
great source of inspiration for me, and it never fails to give me brand new ideas. (Never
copy someone else’s design, of course).
Take an inspiration trip
Also, think about what recharges you, spiritually. For me, I love nature and I am always
refreshed and inspired by the beauty in natural things. So, a trip to the beach or forest
will fill me with appreciation for beauty and it recharges me. I also enjoy going through
the art museum or to an arts fair to get new ideas. Even if it isn’t jewelry related at all, I
still get a spark by looking at other people’s creativity.
Think up your own inspiration trip and whenever you are feeling particularly blocked on
coming up with new ideas, see if this doesn’t help recharge your spirit.
Suppliers
We all have our favorite suppliers, of course. You’ll want to do your own research to
help find the best prices and service suppliers for the type of jewelry that you make. I’ve
included a list of some of my favorites, below.
Bead and Gem Shows
One of the absolute best places to get beads at wholesale prices is at a bead or gem
fair. These fairs tour around the country and usually stop in major cities about every
quarter or so. You can buy entire strands of beads at huge discounts. I tend to stock
up and spend about $500 on supplies at every show. This seems like a lot of money,
but it saves me over buying individual smaller quantities throughout the year.
Bead Faire - http://www.gemfaire.com/beadfaire/
Gem Faire - http://www.gemfaire.com
Lapidary Journal also has a calendar with a schedule of US and International Shows http://www.jewelryshowguide.com/event/
Bead Stores
There are a ton of fabulous bead stores, and due to the popularity of beading there are
more stores popping up all the time. I hate to tell you this, but once you are running a
jewelry business, you will want to avoid bead stores. Ok, so bead store shopping is a
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lot of fun and I still do it from time to time. But you don’t want to pay full retail prices
when you have a business license and the ability to pay wholesale prices. This can
make a huge difference in your income, so try to find wholesale suppliers.
On-Line Suppliers
Rio Grande – www.riogrande.com
They have everything under the sun—and if you buy in quantities you can get deep
discounts. Order a catalog and they will refund the catalog price at first order.
Rings & Things – www.rings-things.com
A great selection of product and great service
INMCrystal – www.inmcrystal.com
Crystals, beads, alphabet blocks and findings all at wholesale prices.
Best Buy Beads – www.bestbuybeads.com
Great selection of Swarovski crystal beads
ArtBeads – www.artbeads.com
Great selection and service for most beading basics.
ForeignSource – www.foreignsource.com
Metal beads and findings
AuntiesBeads.com – www.auntiesbeads.com
Check their FAQ to learn discounts for wholesale
eBay
I do tend to buy a lot of supplies on eBay because the market is so competitive that
prices are usually very low, plus there is an enormous selection. When buying from
someone on eBay, check their feedback rating as this gives an indication of how this
seller does business. I never buy from anyone with less than a 99% overall rating. Here
are a few of my favorite suppliers on eBay. Do an advanced search to search for these
sellers:
Beadaholique – www.beadaholique.com
All the basics beads and findings at good prices.
FoxyFindings – unique vintage findings
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 Section 6 – Marketing Jewelry On-Line – Social Networking 
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Social Networking and Marketing Jewelry Online
I added this whole new section to this book because you may want to explore selling or
at least marketing your jewelry online. The buzzword of the day is "social networking",
but what does that really mean when it comes to selling your jewelry? How can you use
Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and other social media to sell jewelry?
These sites can provide you an easy and effective way to reach out and connect to your
clients (and prospective new clients) on the web. You are forging relationships, and
establishing an online presence and personality for yourself and business, that others
will relate to and connect with. Over time you can build a following of clients who will be
interested in seeing your latest designs, and who may become your best repeat
customers.
These can be powerful marketing tools if used on a consistent basis.
Twitter.com
Twitter is a micro-blogging platform that allows you to post ("tweet") short status
messages about what you are doing. It is called micro blogging because you can only
post a short message at a time: you can't write a long block of test or use it as a real
blog.
From the Twitter website: "What is Twitter anyway?"
Twitter is an information network made up of 140-character messages called Tweets. It's
a new and easy way to discover the latest news (“what’s happening”) related to subjects
you care about.
So how is Twitter relevant when it comes to making and selling jewelry? Well, what you
Tweet about it entirely up to you. I have seen many successful sellers use Twitter to
talk about their latest inspiration, events, and products.
Here are a few examples:
 Tweet about how you visited a local park and how the autumn colored scenery
inspired you to use carnelian and wood in that day’s jewelry design.
 Tweet about how excited you are about the upcoming craft fair where your
jewelry will be featured in a booth.
 Tweet a picture of your latest jewelry design. Or, tweet a picture of yourself in
the park where you got your jewelry inspiration: people like to know there is a
real person behind your business.
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 Tweet about each new product listing, with a link to the sales page on your
website (or to your Etsy shop, eBay listing, or whatever).
 Tweet about a custom jewelry design and the positive comments that your client
shared when she got her piece.
 Tweet about other Designers that you like and follow.
 Tweet a link to your favorite inspiration blogs and websites.
 Tweet about the fashion design trends, or color inspiration for each season.
Example - Screen shot of my Making-Jewelry Twitter page:
Some people don't "get" the concept of Twitter and think it is kind of silly. I'll admit that I
was in that camp myself, at first. But, before you write off Twitter as a meaningless tool
for people who talk about themselves all day long, consider that every opportunity you
get to build connections with your clients and promote your business online provides
some value. The ten seconds it takes to write and post a Tweet to your Twitter page is
a pretty low investment for the benefit that it can bring over the long term.
But, you have to use it regularly, and it isn't just about you: make sure you follow other
Twitter members and share information that you like. Be real, and try to contribute
something to the community. If it is only about you and your business, your posts may
start to sound stale and less than genuine. Like anything else, you will probably get out
of Twitter what you put into it.
Follow others on Twitter (which means you receive their Tweet updates), reply to other's
Tweets, and use the Re-Tweet (RT) feature of Twitter. If someone else on Twitter says
something you like, you can Re-Tweet their posting, which essentially adds their Tweet
post onto your own Twitter page. This is a great way to show support and respect, and
to expand your Twitter universe and following.
Ok, so how do I get started on Twitter? It's easy. Sign up for Twitter, and build your
profile page. You will need to fill out some basic information and create a unique user
name to identify yourself on Twitter. When you create your profile, be sure to include a
link back to your jewelry website in your profile, so people can find you and contact you
if they are interested in buying your jewelry!
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Sign up for Twitter at: http://twitter.com/
Just click the Sign Up button and follow the instructions.
Now What?
Start Tweeting. How often you use Twitter is up to you, but the most successful users
Twitter users Tweet often: try to use it at least once per week at a minimum, or however
often you have new information to share (e.g., new products, new events, new
inspiration).
Twitter Guidelines
Some people Tweet all day long about every mundane part of their day, such as
Tweeting what they just ate for breakfast. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with
using Twitter to talk about other things in your life, and providing a personal touch,
constantly tweeting all day long about mundane events can come across as a bit
excessive, and could come across as annoying.
While there's nothing wrong with discussing personal facts about your life if you feel
comfortable sharing, remember that everything you post on Twitter is viewable by the
public, so keep your personal privacy in mind when posting Tweets. Be safe, and never
share anything that you wouldn't want everyone in the world to know!
What if I don't want to use Twitter? You certainly don't have to, and it is only one tool
in your social media arsenal, but as I mentioned above, the low time investment of using
Twitter makes it a fairly easy choice. Why not give it a try? If it doesn’t work for you
after a couple of months, you can always quit using it. Oh, and yes: Twitter is free to
use.
If you would like to know more about the ins and outs of using Twitter, visit their Help
pages:
Twitter Basics: http://support.twitter.com/groups/31-twitter-basics
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Twitter Glossary: http://support.twitter.com/groups/31-twitter-basics/topics/104welcome-to-twitter-support/articles/166337-the-twitter-glossary
Twitter FAQ: http://support.twitter.com/groups/31-twitter-basics/topics/104welcome-to-twitter-support/articles/13920-frequently-asked-questions
How to Use Twitter for Business: http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/
One Last Thing on Twitter
Now that you have a Twitter account, be sure to add that Twitter link to your other social
networking pages such as to your Facebook profile, LinkedIn, YouTube profile, etc. Put
your Twitter link on your web site, too. Every place you have the chance to share your
Twitter account info, do it! This cross-sharing of information is one of the benefits of
social media, and it makes it easier for people to find and connect with you regardless
of which platforms they are using.
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Facebook.com
I am pretty sure most people have at least heard of Facebook, as it is one of the largest
and most successful online social networking sites in the world. Not everyone likes
Facebook, and not everyone uses it, but it is another social media tool at your disposal
and a way to connect to your friends and clients online.
What is Facebook?
Facebook allows you to connect and share with the people in your life.
Find your Friends (from Facebook.com):
Most of Facebook’s features depend on the idea that there are people in your life that you
like to stay in touch and connect with. Whether these people are best friends, family,
coworkers, or acquaintances, once you connect to them, they are considered Facebook
friends. We’ve created a few ways for you to easily find your friends. Without friends,
Facebook can feel kind of empty.
So, in a nutshell, Facebook is a platform that allows you to connect to friends, family,
acquaintances, and even your jewelry clients. Much like Twitter, Facebook allows you
to post brief messages about whatever you want on your status page. People who are
following you as friends will then see those postings show up on their pages. Facebook
also offers business-specific features, in addition to the usual way to connect to friends.
Facebook also has a "Like" feature, which is a way you can show your support and
interest about what others post on their Facebook pages: "Like" is a way to give positive
feedback or connect with things you care about on Facebook. You can like content that
your friends post or Pages that you want to connect with on Facebook.
Sign Up for Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/
More Information on Signing Up for Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=173
If you'd like to learn more about the ins and outs of Facebook, be sure to read their
online help:
Facebook Help Pages: http://www.facebook.com/help/?ref=pf
Setting up a Facebook Business Account:
http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=721
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More Facebook Business Tips
I came across a few extremely helpful articles with the best practices on how to use
Facebook for business. Take a few minutes to read these before setting up your
Facebook page.
32 Ways to Use Facebook for Business
Facebook 101 for Business – Your Complete Guide
Much like Twitter, use Facebook postings to share news, events, information, and
inspiration: one benefit that Facebook has over Twitter is that a huge number of people
use it every day (often connecting several times per day), and another advantage is that
you can post your own photos to your Facebook page. You may create photo albums
that feature your jewelry designs and share them easily.
Do I use Facebook or Twitter, or both? Choosing which social tools to use is a
personal decision that will come down to how much time you have to invest, as well as
your personal preference on favorite tools. I would suggest that you post to both: post
something on Facebook, then cut and paste that posting right into another window to repost it on your Twitter page.
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MySpace.com
Like Facebook, MySpace.com is a huge online network where you can build your own
profile page. In addition to allowing you to post short updates, MySpace also has a blog
feature which is handy for writing longer posts. Much like Facebook, the concept is that
you add connections as “friends”. Your MySpace profile page is highly customizable so
you can format it with a style to match your personal taste. This can be nice because
you may want to use the same style on your Facebook that you do on your business
website (if you have one). The ability to share more information (full blogs) as well as
customizable profile pages gives MySpace a couple of advantages over Facebook.
But, MySpace doesn’t have as many members on it, which is a potential disadvantage.
Before you start panicking at the amount of time you will be spending on all these
websites, just remember that you don’t have to use them all. Try two or three of these
tools out, and over time you will realize which provide the most benefit, and you can
drop the others.
To sign up for MySpace, visit http://www.MySpace.com
You will follow a similar sign up process as you did for Facebook, then you can
personalize your profile page.
For more information on getting started and customizing your profile, visit the MySpace
Help Pages at:
http://faq.myspace.com/app/home
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Images & Video: YouTube, Flickr, and Photobucket
Don’t underestimate the value of sharing and tagging your jewelry photos on major
photo sharing sites such as Flickr.com and Photobucket.com. When you upload your
jewelry design images, be sure to write nice descriptions and use tags that describe
your jewelry. Also, in the description fields, add a link back to your website or Etsy
shop, that way if someone comes across your photo and wants to buy the jewelry, they
will know how to find you. Just go to these sites and sign up for a free account. Paid
accounts are also available for additional photo storage and features.
YouTube.com is the world’s most popular video sharing site. It may not have occurred
to you to make videos of yourself making jewelry, or a slideshow of your jewelry photos
compiled into a “video”, but this is another way to gain exposure. Go to YouTube.com,
create an account and a channel for yourself, then begin uploading videos. Add nice
descriptions, and again: always include a link back to your own jewelry website or Etsy
shop in the description box.
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More Social Networking Sites
The above sites are by no means an all inclusive list: in fact it is only the tip of the
iceberg. At last count there were hundreds of social media websites out there. I am
only focusing on the most well-known and popular ones, because if you value your time,
you will only spend it where it will count! There is nothing wrong with branching out and
using other sites as long as you have the time and desire to do so. Some other popular
social networking sites include:
LinkedIn.com – LinkedIn is a business focused networking site. When you join, you
create a profile that summarizes your professional expertise and accomplishments. You
can then form enduring connections by inviting trusted contacts to join LinkedIn and
connect to you. Your network consists of your connections, your connections’
connections, and the people they know, linking you to a vast number of qualified
professionals and experts. (Source: LinkedIn.com)
Orkut.com - Orkut is an online community designed to make your social life more
active and stimulating. Orkut's social network can help you maintain existing
relationships with pictures and messages, and establish new ones by reaching out to
people you've never met before. (Source: Orkut.com)
Friendster.com - Friendster, a pioneer and leading global online social network, is
focused on helping people stay in touch with friends and discover new people and
things that are important to them. (Source: Friendster.com)
Ning.com – Allows you to build your very own personal social networking site. Ning is
the leading online platform for the world’s organizers, activists and influencers to create
their own social network. Design a custom social experience in under 60 seconds giving
you the power to mobilize, organize and inspire. (Source: Ning.com)
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On-Line Craft Marketplaces: Etsy and More
Things have changed considerably in the online marketplace since I first began selling
my jewelry on eBay. Scores of easy-to-setup online storefronts for handcrafted items
now exist. One of the largest and most popular is Etsy.com. There is also
Bonanza.com, Artfire.com, eCrater.com, and many more. There are pros and cons to
dealing with each one. I will cover Etsy since it is currently the largest and most popular
sites. You may prefer dealing with a smaller one because there will be less competition,
but the tips that I share below on running a successful Etsy shop will apply almost
universally to being successful in any online marketplace.
Also, be aware that the costs and terms of use for each different marketplace selling
site will vary and could change at any time. The information in this section is provided
as a reference at the point in time this was written – do check each website out to get
the most recent information.
Fees
There tend to be two ways that the online marketplace sites will charge you fees: 1)
they allow you to list your products for free and only charge you a small commission
upon a sale (a percentage of the final sales price), or 2) they charge you a small listing
fee to post your products on their site, and then also charge a percentage commission
upon a sale. Fees vary from site to site, so check each one before creating your shop.
Pros of Selling at a Craft Site
The obvious benefit of selling your product online from a craft website is that it is yet
another way to get your jewelry out there in front of prospective customers and to make
more sales. If you do it well, you can attract a whole new client base of happy
customers, even from around the world. Selling online opens up many avenues to
jewelry makers to reach their audience and gain exposure, regardless of whether you
live in a small town or a big city. You don't need to lease an expensive "bricks and
mortar" shop in your town, you just need enough start-up funds to bring up your first
online shop.
The fees at each site vary, but generally speaking, you can start your first online craft
store with very little initial investment. As I mentioned above: typically, you pay fees as
a percentage or commission of each sale. In some cases, no fees are taken from your
listings, unless and until a product actually sells, which makes this a low risk way to test
the market and try your hand at on-line selling.
Cons of Selling at a Craft Site
Let's be realistic: there are also a few downsides to selling at a major craft website.
First and foremost, there is a lot of competition. You really need to understand a few
things on how to make your shop and your products stand out from the crowd.
Otherwise, you will get lost in literally millions of other pages of products, all competing
with yours. There are some good processes you can follow to increase your chances of
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making sales, but it takes time and hard work to succeed when selling at a major craft
site like Etsy where there are literally hundreds of thousands of jewelry items listed.
Another potential downside of selling jewelry online is that it takes time. If you already
have a successful jewelry party business, or are selling jewelry in shops in your town:
deciding to market and sell jewelry on the web is a strategic decision: it takes a lot of
time and energy. So, be sure you are investing your time and energy in the place
where it makes the most sense for your market.
If you don’t already have an established jewelry business, can’t get enough jewelry
parties going, or don’t have much of a local marketplace, then selling online is a great
choice. Just be realistic: in my own experience, making the jewelry is about a third of
the time and effort it will take to sell it on the web. Taking great photos, uploading them,
writing descriptions and listings, and maintaining your postings, sales, etc. will eat up
another two-thirds of time in selling a given item.
I don’t mean to discourage you at all: some people sell their jewelry exclusively online
at a site like Etsy, and are extremely successful at it. Some sellers that have developed
a following have sold hundreds to thousands of pieces and make a decent income at it.
Again, like everything else I mention in this book: the amount of effort you put into it will
be a good reflection of what you get out of it. If you take lousy pictures, write poor
descriptions, and otherwise don’t market your jewelry well (and your brand image), you
may not succeed at it.
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Selling Jewelry on Etsy
There are a ton of jewelry sellers on Etsy, and many are very successful. If you are
ready to try Etsy out, first learn the basics by reading their Help pages, then make a
plan for your Etsy shop (which includes deciding what categories you will need, your
shop name, making a banner image, etc.), take lots of photos and get your products
together: THEN sign up and open your shop! You don’t want to launch your Etsy shop
with only three items in it, it won’t look right. It is better to make a plan, take some
photos, and launch with at least ten items for sale.
Basic Steps to Getting Started on Etsy:
 Get your Jewelry Ready and Categorized
 Decide your Pricing
 Pick your Shop Name
 Make a Shop Banner
 Take Excellent Product Photos
 Sign Up and Build your Shop Profile.
 Add Your Products and Upload your Photos
 Write Good Descriptions and Use Tags
 Launch your Shop!
Etsy provides a vast amount of helpful information on their Seller Handbook, Help
Pages and Community pages. Spend a couple of minutes reading through these
resources before you get started.
Etsy Seller’s Handbook - http://www.etsy.com/storque/how-to/the-etsy-sellerhandbook-all-our-how-tos-about-selling-2383/
Etsy Help Pages - http://help.etsy.com/app/home
Etsy Community - http://community.etsy.com/
Etsy Seller’s Basics – Get a Jumpstart on a Stellar Shop http://www.etsy.com/storque/how-to/the-etsy-seller-basics-get-a-jumpstart-on-astellar-shop-7428/
And, one of the best articles I have read on how to be a successful Etsy seller can be
found at this link:
Seven Tips for Etsy Success
http://indiefixx.com/images/Downloads/piddix_SevenEtsyTips.pdf
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If the above links didn’t provide enough information about what is involved in selling on
Etsy, there is a wealth of other resources on the web. Here are some additional
articles that I found useful:
How to Run a Successful Etsy Shop http://greenbeanbaby.typepad.com/main/2008/01/how-to-run-a-su.html
Successful Long Term Selling on Etsy http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1522994/successful_long_term_selling
_on_etsy.html?cat=35
Ms. Dynomite’s Formula for Selling on Etsy http://www.etsywiki.com/index.php?title=Ms._Dynomite%27s_Formula_for_Sellin
g_on_Etsy
How to Get Your Jewelry Seen on Etsy - http://www.home-jewelry-businesssuccess-tips.com/get-your-jewelry-seen-on-etsy.html
Etsy Survival Guide for Jewelry Artists – Part II - http://www.home-jewelrybusiness-success-tips.com/etsy-survival-guide.html
Marketing your Etsy Shop – Next Steps
Once you have your Etsy shop up, you will want to market it every single place you can.
Make note of your shop’s URL (web address), so you can begin sharing that link to get
your Etsy page some exposure. I came across this helpful posting in the Etsy Forum. It
lists places where you are allowed to post advertisements or links back to your website
or Etsy shop in this case:
Posted by Etsy user cocoapod:
Sites to advertise in:
1. http://www.postaroo.com/postaroo
2. http://www.craigslist.com
3. http://www.myspace.com/etsy
4. http://www.cracker.com.au
5. http://www.cmather.com
6. http://www.stumbleupon.com
7. http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl
8. http://froogle.google.com/
9. http://www.search.msn.com/docs/submit.aspx
10. http://www.dmoz.org/add.html
11. http://www.ecom.yahoo.com/dir/submit/intro/
12. http://www.adwords.google.com/
13. http://seocompany.ca/directory/free-web-directories.html
14. http://www.blogger.com/start
15. http://www.flickr.com/
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16. http://www.freecraftfair.com/link_exchange.html
17. http://www.freecraftfair.com/categories.html
18. http://www.bust.com/girlweb/index.html
Other advertising ideas:
1. Join forums and put your Etsy store URL in your signature, if the forum rules allow it.
2. Find people to link to your Etsy store, and do the same for them in return.
3. Put your Etsy URL in your e-mail signature.
4. Advertise in free bulletin boards.
5. Do business card swaps with other Etsy sellers.
6. Vistaprint.com – Get free business cards and give them away like crazy.
(Source: Advertising Ideas, http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=4505)
You certainly don’t need to advertise in every single site on the above list, but you will
want to spend some of your time marketing and building links back to your Etsy shop.
Certainly, mention your Etsy page in your Facebook and Twitter postings, too!
Hopefully, this section of the book has given you some good ideas of how to begin
marketing or selling your jewelry online. Just be patient when you first get started:
selling online is a whole new experience and you will get better at it as you gain some
experience. Each person’s jewelry is unique, and there really isn’t a cookie-cutter
approach for how best to appeal to your customer base.
Good luck with your jewelry business, and always feel free to post your questions or
contact me personally at:
http://making-jewelry.ning.com/
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 APPENDIX A - Forms and Templates 
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Business Plan Brainstorming Form
The responses to this worksheet for Steps 1-20 will help you think through many
important decisions in forming your business. Once you have completed the
brainstorming session, you may choose to compile this into a formal business plan.
This is optional, as the real benefit to creating your plan is found in the process of
answering the questions.
Step 1 - Your Reasons for Starting a Business
Why do I want to start a business?
List your reasons for starting a home business. Here are just a few examples to
help you get started:








I dream of the day when I can quit my current job and work from home
I want to be self-managed
I want to create financial independence
I long for a way to express myself creatively
I want to share my creative talents so others can enjoy them
I want to have the freedom and flexibility to work out of my own home
I need a work schedule that allows me more time with my family
I want enough money for the finer things in life
Are there any other personal reasons you want to start your business? Write
them down!
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Step 2 – Establish Goals and Objectives
What are my business goals and objectives?
Here are some examples of goals:
“I will start my own home jewelry business by August”
“I will complete all of the steps in this action plan and have my first jewelry party within
30 days.”
“I will earn enough money through jewelry parties so that I can quit my current job within
a year.”
“I will work hard at building my business so that I can be a work-at-home-mom within 6
months.”
“I will earn $20,000 this year working part-time, doing home jewelry parties.
Your own goal can be as simple or as challenging as you want—the point is to
make a real goal—then remind yourself every single day as positive
reinforcement so you will stick with your commitment and be successful!
Step 3 – Understanding why a Home Jewelry Party Business is a Fit for Me
Why is a home jewelry business the right fit for me?
List your reasons why you think a jewelry business is a good match for you. Here are a
few reasons to help you get started:
 I love jewelry
 I like to spend my time on creative endeavors
 I find it gratifying to make things
 I like people
 I have some basic sales and marketing skills
 I have the skill and ability to design and craft my own jewelry
 Others tell me that I am creative, and that they love my jewelry designs
 I am self motivated and work well when I direct my own time and activities
 I am organized
 I am customer focused
Are there other reasons?
There are a few more important questions you will want to ask yourself, so that you can
set and manage realistic expectations:
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Step 4 – Setting and Managing Expectations on your Time
Will I have the support of my family when I start a business?
How much time will I have to run my business?
Give this some thought now—how many hours a week can you invest in running your
business? Try to be realistic.
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Step 5 - Identify Your Customers
Who is my customer?
Think about the customers you will be selling to. Where do they live, what is their
age range, what are their interests, and what sort of education, jobs and income
do they have? Is your jewelry a good fit for your target market? Why or why not?
Step 6 - Identify your Products
What types of jewelry products will I sell?
Write a description of your product, here.
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Step 7 - Competition, Supply & Demand
Who is my competition?
Create your Competitive Advantage
What is my business's advantage over existing businesses?
Make some notes on what you want your business to be and how your business
will be unique. How can you do something that separates you from your
competition and gives you an advantage?
Excellent Service
How can I deliver better quality service?
Excellent Customer Service Ideas
Free gift wrap (just build something into the price of each piece so you don’t lose
money)
Free re-sizing on bracelets and necklaces
Free repairs
Custom jewelry orders
Discount coupons for repeat customers
Free delivery or shipping
Return for Refund within x Days
Guarantee
What services will your business offer?
Step 8 – Pricing Strategies
How do I know how to price my jewelry?
Here’s a simple formula:
Costs + Time + Profit = Price
Adapt this formula so it works for your business.
How much do you want to pay yourself an hour?
How much will you build in for profit?
Do you plan to round up or down?
Example:
1/3 costs + 1/3 my time @ $15/hr + 1/3 profit margin = total price
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Step 9 - Maintaining Records
How will I maintain my business records?
Make notes about how you intend to keep your records, and what types of
records you will keep. If you need files or software to get organized, take care of
those details now.
Step 10 - Identifying Startup Costs
What tools, equipment, and supplies will I need, and will I need financing or start
up funds? Complete this worksheet for yourself so you can be realistic in
planning what you will need to get your business started.
Startup Costs Worksheet
Estimated Expenses
Amount
Source of Funds
Monthly Expenses:
Base Salary
Rent or Mortgage
Advertising
Shipping Expenses
Supplies
Telephone
Internet Connection
Utilities
Insurance
Business Taxes
Marketing Materials
Website Hosting
Beads and Supplies
Jewelry Packaging
Miscellaneous
Monthly Total Estimate:
Estimated Start-Up
Expenses (one time only)
Jewelry Tools and
Equipment
Beads and Findings
Jewelry Making Station:
Desk, Light, Bead Design
Board, etc..
Jewelry Packaging, gift
boxes, gift wrap
Jewelry Photography
Items – Camera, Cloud
Dome
Computer, Software
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Business Cards
Other Marketing Materials
Jewelry Party Display
Items (table cloth,
lighting, jewelry display)
Bead Storage and
Transport Case
Miscellaneous
Total:
Step 11 - Planning to Pay Yourself
How will I compensate myself?
You’ll want to think about how you will pay yourself for your work. Perhaps it is
as simple as keeping all the income you earn with each party. You can transfer
the funds from your business checking account to your personal account or write
yourself a check. Or, maybe based on your financial goals and plans, you have
decided you will pay yourself a flat salary of $1,000 a month, regardless of how
your income varies that month. Then, if you had an excellent month where you
had an income of $2,000 a month, but then a slow month of only $1,000, you can
use the excessive income you kept in savings from the first month to off-set the
slower month and you don’t notice a difference in your “pay check”.
Make notes about how you intend to handle your income:
Step 12 - Projecting your Income
How Much I Can Make?
Make some estimates on your own personal best case and worst-case scenario
on how much you can earn. Try to set some goals around how many parties you
intend to hold each month. Use the worksheet below to estimate your income.
Income Projection Worksheet
Workload
Number of
Parties a Month
Income Potential
Worst case –
Low part time
(~10 hrs week)
1-2 parties per
month
A few hundred
dollars per month
Average Part Time
(~20 hrs week)
4 parties per
month
$600-$1000+ per
month
Best case - Full Time
6+ parties per
A full time income,
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(approx 20-30+ hrs week) month
$2000 – 3000+ per
month
Make notes about how much you plan to earn in your business.
Step 13 - Business Legal Structure
What business legal structure will I use?
Make this decision and file whatever paperwork you need to get started.
Sole Proprietor
Limited Liability Corporation (LLC)
Partnership
Other Corporation
Step 14 - Business Name
What will I name my business?
Decide what your business name is, and determine whether you need to file for a
“DBA”. File whatever paperwork is needed to secure your name.
Step 15 - Handling Taxes
How will I handle my taxes?
Make a plan on how you will handle your taxes.
Decide if you will hire an accountant, and if so, go ahead and make those
appointments now.
Step 16 - Business Licenses, Certificates, and Restrictions
What licenses or certificates do I need to do business in my area?
Contact your local business resources and make a list of business licenses,
certificates, and EIN numbers you need to take care of.
Now, go ahead and make the time to file any paperwork to get these business
formation issues out of the way.
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Step 17 - Business and Personal Insurance
How will I handle personal health and business insurance?
Health Insurance
Business Insurance Coverage
Decide what insurance coverage you need. Make the time to contact your agent,
explore your options, and make a decision on how you will handle your
insurance. Do this now, right up front so you won’t have to deal with it later.
Notes:
Step 18 - Credit Card Processing
Will I Accept Credit Card Payments?
Decide if you will accept credit card payments or Paypal.
Go ahead and compare your options, select a merchant and get set up.
Notes:
Step 19 - Building an On-line Presence
Building your own Website
Decide if your business will have a website. When you are ready, explore your
options, select a vendor and products, reserve your domain name, secure
hosting, and build the website.
Notes:
Step 20 - Protecting your Business
Decide what, if any, additional protections you want for your business. If you need to
secure copyrights or trademark protection, go ahead and take care of that now.
Copyrighting Designs
Trade marking your Name
Notes:
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Step 21 - Writing your Business Plan
You have reached the end of the Business Plan Brainstorming section.
You’re now ready to compile all of your planning into a completed Business Plan
document. If you would like to complete the business plan, a template has been
provided for you, starting on the next page.
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Business Plan for <My Jewelry Party Business>
Instructions:
Answer the numbered questions on the Business Brainstorming Template. The value of
creating a business plan lies in the process behind assessing your own expectations
and objectives. Your responses to these questions will form the basis of your Business
Plan Document. Go through each section one section at a time, and replace the
example text in <brackets> with your own. Complete the Executive Summary section
last, because this will be a summary of your other sections. When you’ve finished, you
will have a complete Business Plan document!
BUSINESS OWNER NAME
My Business Name
Street Address
Address 2
City, ST ZIP Code
Telephone
Fax
E-Mail
Website
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1.0 Executive Summary
You will write the executive summary section last. After you have written the rest
of the business plan, come back to this page and summarize everything into a
couple paragraphs here.
Example Summary: <My Jewelry Company> is a new home-based full service
jewelry party company that provides quality handcrafted jewelry to our clients in
the <Portland, Oregon> community. Because our jewelry is handcrafted, identical
designs are not available in local stores. This makes the jewelry exclusive, with
many one-of-a-kind products that are sought after by clients. <My Jewelry
Company> creates a fun and relaxing party atmosphere as the primary vehicle for
selling jewelry. Parties are hosted in a home setting, and hostesses earn
incentive rewards of free jewelry in exchange for hosting a party. Additional
services offered to clients include custom jewelry, such as personalized
bracelets, and special occasion jewelry (weddings, prom) as well as full-service
jewelry cleaning, repair, re-sizing, and a lifetime warranty. Jewelry party sales are
augmented with additional jewelry sales through our on-line store at (website),
and craft fairs.
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2.0 Objectives
In the Business Brainstorming, you established your first concrete business goal.
Try to flesh out goals for the first year of your business and record them here.
These goals should be realistic and align with what you want to achieve with your
business. In setting goals, try to come up with something that is measurable, and
try to create goals that will stretch you a little.
Goals:
 <To schedule my first jewelry party by x/x/xx.
 To book two jewelry parties per month by x/x/xx.
 To break even on my business start up expenses by x/x/xx.
 To earn a profit of $x00.00 per jewelry party
 To earn $xx,000 part-time annual income by holding x parties per month.>
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3.0 Mission Statement
Many companies create a brief mission statement, usually in 30 words or fewer,
explaining their reason for being and their guiding principles.
Examples –
“It is the mission of <My Jewelry Party Business> to offer quality, handcrafted
artisan jewelry with unique designs that delight customers and exceed service
expectations.” This mission speaks to a desire to provide exceptional quality
jewelry and excellent service.
“It is the mission of <My Jewelry Party Business> to host fun jewelry parties that
excite customers and create enthusiastic buyers.” This mission speaks to a
desire to offer a fun, social business where people want to buy.
Draft your own mission statement and put it here:
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4.0 Keys to Success
Keys to success are simply the factors that will make your business successful.
Examples –
The keys to the success for <My Jewelry Party Business> are:
 Great handcrafted jewelry products
 The creation of a successful home jewelry party format and approach that
will entice customers to buy through a fun and relaxed party atmosphere
 Developing a list of new hostesses to hold parties by offering the hostess a
low stress/low work party format and exciting jewelry incentive rewards
 Building and maintaining a loyal customer base to generate repeat
business
 Excellent customer service and follow through.
List your keys to success:
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5.0 Company Summary
This is where you summarize your company in one or two paragraphs.
Example <My Jewelry Party Business> is owned and operated by <owner name>, and is
located in <my location>. We will sell handcrafted jewelry, offered in a
convenient home party atmosphere. We will offer our clients handcrafted jewelry
made from quality materials such as semi precious stone and crystal beads
crafted with precious metal (silver and gold) accents that are made to last. Our
jewelry designs are fresh and current with fashion trends. We can offer clients
fashionable and unique and custom jewelry that can’t be found in stores, at
affordable prices. We understand the desire of our client to get great jewelry at a
good value. Our client enjoys creating her personal statement and unique image
by wearing beautiful accessories. Our convenient home party atmosphere will
create a comfortable and fun social environment that entices clients to shop for
jewelry. The exciting hostess incentive rewards will inspire new clients to sign
up to host their own jewelry parties.
Summarize your company here:
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6.0 Company Ownership
Describe your business legal structure and owner(s).
Example <My Jewelry Party Business> is owned by <me> and is established as a home
operated, part-time <sole proprietorship>. It is the intention of the company to
develop sales and broaden the client base so as to become a full-time business.
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7.0 Products and Services
In this section, describe all of the products and services that you will offer.
Example - <My Jewelry Party Business> will offer quality handcrafted jewelry
made from semi-precious gemstone beads, and sterling silver and gold-filled
wire.
I will offer a lifetime warranty with free repairs, free re-sizing, and all jewelry
comes with free gift-wrapping.
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8.0 Market Analysis Summary
Clients
In this section, you will identify your targeted customers, their characteristics,
and their geographic locations, (known as demographics).
Describe your target customer base:
Competition
Describe what you learned about your competition, and how you plan to create a
competitive advantage.

What products and companies will compete with you?
 List your major competitors:
(Names and addresses)

Will they compete with you across the board, or just for certain products,
certain customers, or in certain locations?

Will you have important indirect competitors?

How will your products or services compare with the competition?

What else is important about your competitive market?
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9.0 Strategy and Implementation Summary
Now, describe your business marketing strategy and incentive program.
Example –
I will develop a client list and will book 6-8 parties. During my direct sale jewelry
parties each month, I will use the following incentive program for my parties:
Total Party Sales:
Hostess Receives Free
Jewelry Incentive:
$0 - ?
Hostess gets FREE jewelry
equal to 30% of her total
party sales
If 2 additional parties
are booked from this
party:
Hostess gets a $50
coupon for free future
jewelry at or after the 2
parties are held

The hostess always receives 30% of the total party sales in free jewelry.

Hostess receives a $50 coupon for future free jewelry, redeemable upon
completion of two shows booked from her party, held within the next three
months
In addition, I will send special discount coupons to repeat customers, and send a
monthly newsletter to my client list.
Describe your marketing strategy and incentive program:
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10.0 Management Summary
Describe the management of your business.
Example – <I> will manage The Company. In addition to performing the artistic
design functions of the business, the Owner is also the proprietor and initially
must be involved in all aspects of the business, such as marketing, payroll,
management of both accounts receivable and accounts payable, and other
miscellaneous business details
Describe your management plan:
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11.0 Sales Forecast
In this section, describe your sales forecast based on the best case and worstcase scenarios you worked through in the brainstorming sessions. If you expect
to grow your business over time, you can show that increase in sales as well.
Example – Best case and worst case scenario
Number of
Workload
Parties a Month
Income Potential
Worst case –
Low part time
(~10 hrs week)
1-2 parties per
month
A few hundred
dollars per month
Average Part Time
(~20 hrs week)
4 parties per
month
$600-$1000+ per
month
Best case - Full Time
6+ parties per
(approx 20-30+ hrs week) month
A full time income,
$2000 – 3000+ per
month
2006 Sales Forecast
Number of
Parties a Month
Income Potential
4 parties per
month
$600-$1000+ per
month
Number of
Parties a Month
Income Potential
8 parties per
month
$2000-3000+ per
month
2007 Sales Forecast
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12.0 Business Operational Plan
Legal Environment
Describe the following aspects of your business:

Licensing and bonding requirements

Permits

Insurance coverage

Trademarks, copyrights, or patents (pending, existing, or purchased)
Describe your Credit Card/Payment Policies
Credit Policies

Do you plan to sell on credit?

Who is your merchant services provider
Describe your Professional and Advisory Support
List the following:

Attorney

Accountant

Insurance agent
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13.0 Startup Costs and Expenses
Forecast your estimates for startup costs and on-going expenses.
Estimated Expenses
Amount
Source of Funds
Monthly Expenses:
Base Salary
Rent or Mortgage
Advertising
Shipping Expenses
Supplies
Telephone
Internet Connection
Utilities
Insurance
Business Taxes
Marketing Materials
Website Hosting
Beads and Supplies
Jewelry Packaging
Miscellaneous
Monthly Total Estimate:
Estimated Start-Up
Expenses (one time only)
Jewelry Tools and
Equipment
Beads and Findings
Jewelry Making Station:
Desk, Light, Bead Design
Board, etc.
Jewelry Packaging, gift
boxes, gift wrap
Jewelry Photography
Items – Camera, Cloud
Dome
Computer, Software
Business Cards
Other Marketing Materials
Jewelry Party Display
Items (table cloth,
lighting, jewelry display)
Bead Storage and
Transport Case
Miscellaneous
Total:
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This is the end of your business plan. Go back and complete the executive summary at
the start of the plan, and your business plan is complete.
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Client Information Card
Name:
Address
Street
City/State/Zip
Phone Number(s):
Birthday:
Spouse or Significant Other’s Name:
Children (names and ages):
Pets (name/type):
Occupation:
Jewelry Preferences:
Styles Preferred:
Colors Preferred:
Notes:
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