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Jewelry Making: Turn Your Hobby into a Profit
Maybe you love making jewelry and have an eye for creative pieces, perhaps you make your own jewelry and always get compliments, or your friends are dying to receive your handmade jewelry as birthday and Christmas gifts.
If you are unhappy at your day job, or are in between jobs, you should consider turning your hobby of jewelry making into a business. Before you begin running a list of doubts in your head, hear us out! After all, we successfully turned our love of jewelry into a profitable business!
In fact, according to Forbes, making careers out of one’s hobbies and interests usually turns into a rewarding and successful endeavor, and apparently not enough of us are doing this.
If you are truly passionate about making jewelry and believe that you can be good at it, we suggest you learn these tips and branch out for yourself! Plus, we’re not saying to quit your day job, but if you’re already making jewelry in your off time, why not turn a profit and make some extra cash?
Here are the top tips that will help turn your hobby into a successful business venture:
- Research
Your research is vital to starting your business. This is often one of the most important parts of starting a business. If you base your decisions on faulty research, then you could sabotage your business from the get-go.
Take time to research the market, and find what styles and trends are most popular right now. Figure out if there is a certain style that is lacking in the market and if you can potentially fill that niche.
Your research will also allow you to check out your competition. See what other jewelry artists are doing and how much they are selling. Look up the standard prices for similar pieces that you create.
Lastly, decide if there is room in the market for your pieces. If you find that you are doing something truly unique, then you have free range to create pieces and prices. However, if you find other similar pieces, you might want to model your prices after your findings, and start slow, to test how well everything will sell.
- Create inventory
This is the fun part! Create, create, and create some more! When building your inventory, you want to put your best foot forward. Use high quality beads and gems to display your best work yet.
After creating your inventory, you need to take sample photos for your potential customers. Make sure you take high quality photos and take various angles for each piece. You want to showcase your beautiful pieces of work! It also helps to photograph the jewelry on a living model. Since you’re in the beginning stages of a business, ask family and friends to be your models!
- Sell
After you have your inventory, images, and prices ready to go, you will need to sell the items. There are several different options to choose from here, and you can try all methods or whichever ones you think are best.
First, you can try your hand at selling your pieces at local galleries and art festivals. Art festivals are always looking for creators who want to sell their pieces of work. All you have to do is rent a booth and bring along your inventory. For these situations, you’ll want business cards that give your website and online store information. You want these first customers to be loyal customers. Even if someone didn’t buy anything, but seemed interested, give him or her a card with your website/online store.
The other option is to create a store on Etsy, eBay, or Amazon. Online stores reach virtually anyone, and they will provide a place for you to sell your items without constantly worrying about updating a website if you aren’t ready for that yet.
- Market
Another excellent way of marketing is by word of mouth. Tell your friends, coworkers, family, and everyone you know about your business. Encourage them to spread the word, or lend them a few pieces to wear out and about. You’ll be amazed at how many potential customers you will gain with word of mouth marketing.
