How to Turn Your Jewelry Making Hobby into a Successful Business
Making jewelry became a major hobby for many crafters in the last few years. With incredibly beautiful, custom designs and easily accessible supplies it is easy to see how you could wish there was a way to make money from it. Good news – there is. You can turn your jewelry making hobby into a successful business. Full time, part time or somewhere in between, you can create a business selling your jewelry. Here are some tips:
#1 Research your competition and your market. The first step to creating a successful business is finding a unique niche or market. If you make a variety of jewelry types and styles, then there’s a great chance you can find a unique niche. Research online to learn who your market is and who your competition may be.
In addition to researching jewelry websites, also visit etsy.com, eBay and other seller websites to see what’s available there. Based on your research, determine the approach you want to take. Do you want to specialize in single stone rings? Do you want to specialize in zodiac jewelry? What’s your unique niche?
#2 Create your inventory. In addition to having an inventory to sell from, you can take photos of your items for your online catalog. Potential customers will want to see samples, and the photos of your jewelry will motivate them to purchase. Have fun with this part of the business-building phase and do your best work.
#3 Price your jewelry. This is the fun part; don’t underprice your jewelry because you want to sell it. Price it for what it’s worth, price it to make a profit, and price it competitively. This will require a bit of research and depend on the quality of product you use to create your jewelry as well.
#4 Create your website, or have someone create it for you. Your website needs to accomplish several goals. It needs to market your business and your jewelry. This will be accomplished with several tactics, including search engine friendly content, a product catalog and information about you and your art. You’ll also need some way for people to order jewelry, a shopping cart system, and a fulfillment procedure. At Easy Wahm Websites we specialize in websites that are ready to launch immediately or our team can help you build a custom site that is very affordable.
#5 Consider creating stores on other websites. Etsy.com, eBay, or even Amazon.com have store options. These sites offer you the ability to create ‘stores’ and they manage the shopping cart and search engine aspect of business. It can be a great way to start out.
#6 Market your jewelry. There are various ways you can market your business. In addition to creating stores on the websites mentioned in #4, you can also advertise online or utilize content marketing and search engine optimization tactics to drive traffic to your website. However, don’t forget your community. Friends, family, and local advertising can be a wonderful way to get your first few clients. In fact, word of mouth is one of the best marketing tactics.
For example, you could host a home party to sell your jewelry, or give your jewelry to family to wear with the agreement that they hand out your card every time someone compliments them on their jewelry. Also look to your local farmers market to try out a booth. It’s wonderful to get feedback from and get your name out there. Just make sure you have marketing brochures and cards to hand out whenever you do local events.
Turning something you love to do into a business is a win-win situation. Remember that if the business aspect gets to be too overwhelming, hiring a VA for marketing, blog promotion and site updating will relieve some of the stress so you can continue being creative.
I heard about your blog from somebody on our Facebook page and I thought I would check it out. Thank you so much for this information, I thought it was fantastic!
thanks Kent, glad it was passed on to you and you can agree with the tips
These are certainly bright ideas to sell any product not just jewellery as such.
Thanks for the info and tips.
I majored in fashion design in school, and I have always wanted to design my own line of clothing, jewelry, and stuff like that; so this was just a step for me in that direction. But the idea of selling it in an organised manner is what I learnt here.
Very cool on designing your own stuff. I wish you luck, let us know how it goes as I’m sure we’d love to see your stuff and I know I’d welcome some guest blog posts telling your progress.
You have provided a perceptive analysis which should help in making this business of selling jewelry, so much less cumbersome.
Selling jewelry is as much an art as designing it.
I really like your blog, Its good to know not everyone is just posting a lot of rubbish now a days!
It is really a great idea to turn something that you love to do into a business. Because you don’t have to give so much effort on it. It will flow naturally from you. Your tips are also helpful. I enjoyed reading this one.