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Grow your business

"Creative earning" indeed

January 26, 2009

We thought the title of a blog post by Akaiya was perfect. She called entering jewelry / design contests
Creative Earning.
That really conveys the benefits you can get out of Rings & Things’ ”
Your Designs Rock!” contest (entries accepted Feb. 1-28)…

The obvious payoff is that you win prizes that are worth money. The least you could win in our design contest is $75 of Rings & Things credits, and you could win as much as $750 of credits!

But don’t forget, you’ll also get lots of publicity. Like Lynn Kvigne, who created the
Owl’s Eyes bracelet, you could find your
design
featured in Rings & Things’ catalog. Along with your name. ?? That means exposure to literally millions of eyeballs. You can figure out how valuable that is!

And as we like to say, you can turn right around and use that publicity in your own marketing. Zoya Gutina recently did this when she created a
wonderful slideshow
about how she created the
Mermaid’s Garden necklace.

This was her first-prize winning seed bead design in our 2008 contest. Now Zoya is building on the interest in her necklace by turning it into a tutorial on her blog.
The possibilities go on from there…how about touting your accomplishments in your own advertising? “As seen in Rings & Things’ catalog” might make a powerful tagline.

So pick out your best design, take a good photo of it and enter Your Designs Rock! 2009. We’re looking forward to a great crop of creations this year!

Growing your craft jewelry business (part 2): Newsletters

January 13, 2009

(Part 1: Books)

If you could have a mentor who would patiently guide your fledgling craft jewelry business, and not charge you a dime, wouldn’t you leap at the chance?

Well, there are experienced coaches out there who regularly give information away for free in their newsletters. All it takes is for you to click “Subscribe” at their websites,
and you’ll have email access to all kinds of insights for nurturing your little business.

One of these is Rena Klingenberg’s
Jewelry Business Success Newsletter.
A couple of times per month, Rena sends a potpourri of selected, focused tidbits. These include specific pointers on how to run your business, advice on how to remove stumbling blocks from your path,
and actual stories from jewelry makers about how they’ve grown their businesses. This newsletter is always worth reading.

A second great resource is the Jewelry Seller Newsletter
published by Dr. David Weiman. This is published weekly, and tends to feature one article that goes into quite a bit of depth on its topic. Other article links go to David’s website,
where he shares insights based on his unique combination of experience with jewelry and training as a psychologist. We never miss an issue!

For guidance that spans the basics of jewelry-making techniques and running a business, check out Christine Gieren’s
I’m Making Jewelry in My Jam Jams
newsletter for neat tips from this writer of the How to Make Jewelry Blog.

We’d also like to mention
IndieBizChicks.com, a newer circular with a focus
on “women who’d rather work for themselves, than work for the man.” It’s a very digestible weekly that zooms in on one topic per issue, so it won’t eat up your valuable time.
For even more information, also download and listen to their podcasts!

As always, Rings & Things produces an
email newsletter you can subscribe to, supplied to you without charge every month.
Get the latest tips, hot product information, free projects and more from a trusted source.
(You can also read back issues of our newsletter.)

If you’re a more advanced crafter, or would like to become one, check out the highly respected
Orchid forum,
available as an email digest (like a newsletter) from Ganoksin.

Share your tips: what’s your favorite newsletter for craft jewelers? Post your reply below! 🙂

Jewelry organizing tools from Rings & Things

December 19, 2008

Are your beads escaping? Are your tools AWOL? We feel your pain! The end-of-year holidays, and those winter days when you just want to stay in, are a great
time to pause and re-organize your jewelry-making stuff. Let’s check out some helpful antidotes to the insanity.

Beadsmith’s
six-compartment storage container not only corrals those beads and findings, but can actually add a neat design element to your work area. Check out this picture to see what I mean:

If you’re inclined to arrange things carefully enough, you may wind up with some cool color wheels!

A more linear arrangement option is the
Bead Caddy, available in various sizes.
Here’s what the 13-compartment one looks like:

These stack up nicely, leaving extra shelf space for other items!

And speaking of space conservation, we also carry Beadsmith’s
two-sided storage container, shown here:

This one is nice and portable, since it’s got a suitcase-style handle. It opens up from either side to maximize ease of access to your stuff!

A similar design that includes a bonus in the form of a built-in stringing board for designing on the go is the
Bead Buddy:

Stay tuned for more great bead organizing tools from Rings & Things!

Growing your craft jewelry business (part 1)

December 5, 2008

Sometimes, some extra money is really welcome. Make that “all of the time”. And sometimes you’re tempted to take the leap into being your own boss.
In both cases, a sensible option is to turn your craft jewelry into a business. Today let’s start talking about helpful resources for growing that business.

(In honor of our readers’ interests, let’s say you can go from a
tiny seed bead to a giant trade bead.) 🙂

There are several good books available to guide you from the first steps through the more advanced stages. Let’s look over a few of them…

If you
consider yourself a beginner at jewelry making, you’ll get a lot out of
Jewelry Making &
Beading for Dummies. Just don’t take the title personally. One thing that recommends this book is that it’s part of the respected “For Dummies” series.
Another is that it’s written by veteran crafters Heather Dismore and Tammy Powley. And best of all, it’s filled with countless friendly, clear tips on every aspect of jewelry making,
including chapters on launching your own business. This is a great all-around resource for jewelry crafters, and makes a fine stocking stuffer.


Viki Lareau has written another really helpful book that’s an official Rings & Things Staff Pick. It’s
Marketing and Selling Your Handmade Jewelry, subtitled the Complete Guide to Turning Your Passion into Profit. A glossy, relatively compact 94 pages long, this little volume covers every conceivable detail of building your reputation, pricing your work, and keeping things growing. Viki provides very specific points of advice, each in very few words, so every page distills her years of experience into readable form.

Plan ahead — once you’re in business you can save a lot of headaches by setting everything down in black and white.
Business and Legal Forms for Crafts, by arts lawyer Tad Crawford, contains both printed and CD-ROM versions of documents you’ll use for every need. From copyrighting your creations, to leasing space, to setting up agreements to sell through a distributor, it’s all here. Every document is customizable to your exact needs, making it easy for you to run a professional business without hassles.

These three books are a good start on getting your craft jewelry business up and running smoothly. Stay tuned; we’ll come back and explore a wide range of resources for turning your hobby (or passion) into a career!

(Part 2: Newsletters)