jewelry you can sell from home

Review by Edwin Scroggins "Author of How to Self-Publis... : GEMS OF MARKETING WISDOM

Hi, jewelry-making entrepreneurs, You've heard it said that three things determine whether or not a business will be successful: location, location, and location. While this may be true, in part, for a brick-and-mortar store, the success of a do-it-all-yourself, jewelry-manufacturing business absolutely hinges upon offering a quality PRODUCT, a well-calculated PRICE, and a creative PRESENTATION. Stacie Vander Pol's new book, SELL YOUR JEWELRY, not only covers each of these topic in great detail, but it also gives readers the psychology underlying their successful development. PRODUCT In regards to designing and producing a successful product, Stacie advises you to "define your style," "specialize in a technique," "concentrate on a material," and "find a theme." Extraordinary manufacturing talents are not required; only a few basic skills will enable you to build a successful line of jewelry, provided that you strive to produce quality products. "The complexity of a piece has little impact on its popularity," says Stacie. "If a product is stylish, well made, and appropriately priced, people will buy it regardless of the skills or materials used to make it." In short, Stacie advises, "sell what sells." In designing your jewelry, do pay attention to trends, but avoid short-lived fads. They may leave you with unsalable inventory, once the fads are gone. PRICE Setting the price of your pieces, says Stacie, requires an accurate accounting of all the elements that go into their manufacture: not only the cost of materials used and the dollars that you set for each hour (or fraction thereof) of assembly time, but also an allowance for other time and expenses required to maintain your business (time spent buying materials and conducting sales parties, cost of office and sales materials, etc.). In one of the most valuable parts of this book, Stacie explains the derivation and use of simple formulas to set the price of any given piece of jewelry. She even suggests various people-profiles that you may find useful in determining jewelry prices. PRESENTATION "The only thing more important than the quality of your work," says Stacie, "is the way it is presented." She then goes on to give you a variety of presentation techniques and formats, all based upon the use of style-conscious packaging and display materials. Display materials, says Stacie, should strengthen and enhance the look and feel of your jewelry, not compete with it. Additionally, Stacie provides you with a list of "effective promotional words" for use in describing your jewelry and the materials from which each piece is made. She concludes her chapter on Presentation with five different formats you can use to present your work: Exotic, Urban, Earthy, Whimsical, and Sophisticated. OTHER INSIGHTS AND OFFERINGS In addition to advice on Product, Price, and Presentation, Stacie gives you a complete mini-course on establishing and running a business. Included are sections on managing your manufacturing process, controlling your inventory, fulfilling your orders, and even paying the sales taxes on your jewelry sales and your income taxes on the profit you make. CRITIQUE Readers who are serious about starting and running their own jewelry-making business will find this book highly informative, authoritative, and motivating. Stacie's MBA-backed, sixteen years of professional experience in sales and marketing illuminate and make invaluable every page of her book's amazingly comprehensive overview. If you have any thoughts about making and selling jewelry, you simply MUST read this book. Readers who are lackadaisical and lazy-minded about starting and running their own jewelry-making business may find that this book demands too much of their time and energy. They may be unable or unwilling to supplant their own minimal efforts with Stacie's tested techniques and strategies. However, even these would-be entrepreneurs who read this book may better be enabled to pull a bare piece of jewelry from their purses or pockets and make a sale. P.S. I read SELL YOUR JEWELRY because my daughter makes and sells jewelry. I thought if I read this book, I would be able to give her a few marketing tips. Maybe then she might just think her old dad knows a thing or two about a lot of things. Edwin Scroggins is author of HOW TO SELF-PUBLISH YOUR BOOK WITH BOOKSURGE FOR LESS $$$: A Step-by-Step Guide for Designing & Formatting Your Microsoft Word Book to POD & PDF Press Specifications

Review by Lupa : A great niche book that has all the right information!

I've been making and selling jewelry and other artwork for over a decade, so I've had plenty of experience in running a small business to that end. I was interested in reading this book primarily to see what I could learn, as well as determine whether this would be a good how-to guide to recommend to would-be jewelry artisans wanting to break into sales. I am pleased to report that the book was excellent on both accounts! For the beginner, the author offers up a wealth of information. She covers everything from deciding what sorts of designs to create, to figuring out who your target audience is, to what the best way to display your creations may be. Rather than being formulaic and *telling* you how to do things, she asks some very important questions to get you to think about things on your own terms. For those who have been in jewelry sales a while, it's still worth a look. She covers a lot of territory in the book, and I even managed to pick up some ideas I hadn't thought about before. She doesn't waste any words, and even if you don't run across anything here that's precisely new, it's a great tool for periodically re-evaluating your current setup. This isn't a "how to make jewelry" book, nor is it a complete guide to running a small business. What it is, is a perfect guidebook to fill in all the blanks that more generalized texts can't tell you about selling and marketing your jewelry. There are plenty of missing pieces in these pages, and while it's a slim volume, it has plenty of value!

Review by C. Yarborough : Good book, but was expecting a little more...

I was really excited about reading this book... mostly because I wanted to hear what it had to say about selling your jewelry on [...] and other websites. Overall, the book was good, lots of useful info. But when it came to selling jewelry on a website, I felt it was lacking... There were maybe only a few pages dedicated this type of selling. There were also a few grammatical errors (which really annoys me) and there was no conclusion at the end of the book - it just stopped after the final chapter on taxes. I would have liked it to have re-capped the main topics a little. I was excited to see the gem show list at the back of the book, but was disappointed when it only listed two. I actually work for a company that travels and works these gem shows - we travel to many more shows than just the two listed. For beginner jewelers, who couldnt afford to travel to Tucson for the largest gem show in the world, I felt there needed to be more wholesale shows listed around the country. Here are the gem shows that I travel to every year: Asheville Gem Show at the Asheville Civic Center(early Jan. & late Oct.) Tucson Gem Show -This show takes over the entire city! (1st two weeks of Feb.) Minneapolis, MN at the Ramada Inn across from the Mall of America (early April & late Sept.) Franklin, NC Gem Show at the Watauga Festival Grounds(early May & late July) Springfield, Mass.- Martin Zimm Expos (mid-Aug.) Denver, Co - The Great American Gem Show (2 locations) (mid-Sept.) I also want to mention that if you do plan on going to your first wholesale show that it can be very overwhelming. Don't buy the first strand of stones you see - there are always vendors willing to make deals. A couple of my favorite vendors are Lilly's Bead Box & SII Findings - both have great deals and will treat you right. Each has a website and Lilly's also has an etsy store. Hope this helps!

Review by E. A. Lovitt "starmoth" : Informative guide on turning a hobby into cash

My sisters make and sell jewelry, and I was wondering whether this book could help them promote their products. They've tried eBay, but that's been a pretty spotty market. Stacie Vander Pol, the author of this book has an MBA and sixteen years of experience in sales and marketing, plus a passion for jewelry-making so she seemed like the perfect guide for my sisters. This is not a book on how to create jewelry. Stacie assumes her readers already have a product they would like to sell. Nor is it a magical guide to spinning jewelry into gold. You could substitute `dollhouse furniture' or `leather goods' in the title and still be able to use 70% of the book. It's basically a guide to starting up a small, portable business, although there is jewelry-specific information such as directions on constructing a theft-proof ring display. The author's discussion of demographics and presentation is very useful. One of my sisters created a line of tubular vinyl bracelets that sold very well in Los Angeles, but bombed out in rural upstate Michigan. If she had read Stacie's chapter on "Know Your Customer" the shiny vinyl bracelets would have stayed in California. Parts 1 and 2 of "Making the Sale" are packed with techniques and resources for marketing your jewelry, including a section about Etsy.com, the website where "people from all over the world bought and sold handmade merchandise. Today, Etsy sells half a million items a month for an annual sales revenue of more than $84 million." Another suggestion for making sales is to emulate Tupperware

Review by mary greenwood : Sell Your Jewelry is a Winner!

Author of How to Negotiate Like a Pro: 41 Rules for Resolving Disputes How to Mediate Like a Pro: 42 Rules for Mediating Disputes Sell Your Jewelry is an indispensable book for anyone starting a jewelry business. Just like selling any other product, marketing is key. This book gives the reader many resources so the reader does not have to reinvent the wheel. The author, Stacie Vander Pol, has an MBA and sixteen years of experience in sales and marketing. Vander Pol's Appendix is worth the cost of the book. She lists bead suppliers, casting services, findings suppliers, gemstone suppliers, general suppliers, glass and enamel suppliers, specialty suppliers and shows and expos. This book really helps the reader brainstorm as to where to sell their jewelery. For example, VAnder Pol lists some retail outlets to approach: art galleries, day spas, country clubs, resorts, nail salons, clothing boutiques, college campuses, Chirstmas stores, hospital gift stores, hotel gift shops, pet shops, tourist gift shops, yoga studios, museum stores, bridal sh ops, hair salons, gift shops, coffee shops, shoe stores, new age stores, retirement centers, and religious bookstores. Vander Pol gives a lot of information in a small book. She helps the jeweler devlop his/her own niche in the narket. She is also internet savvy and shows the reader how to list on Etsy.com. If you are starting in the jewelery business, get this book. If you are already in the jewelry business, I would still recommend this book for new ideas. I give this a 5 star rating and recommend it highly.

Review by Elda Rae : Excellent Resource

This book definitely earns five stars. It is easy to understand, inspirational, and great for people who want to sell their jewelry. I felt like she was walking me through it in person. I've been unsure for a while about starting a business, and after reading this book, I feel confident and inspired to go ahead and go for it. I found this book extremely helpful. The chapters are outlined below: 1. A Jewelry Business 2. Style and Niche 3. Know Your Customer 4. Professionalism 5. Pricing 6. Presentation 7. Making the Sale (part 1) 8. Making the Sale (part 2) 9. Your Business 10. Lower Costs and Higher Profits 11. Business Operations 12. Tax Deductions Appendix of Gem and Jewelry Suppliers and Expos

Review by Sam A. Banton : Well Worth the Price

This book is fantastic, it covers business licenses, how to find the best craft fairs, how to name your business, where to sell your jewelry... you name it! This book will be of great value to anyone in the jewelry business. I wish I could say which section was the most helpful, but I think even the appendix of jewelry suppliers alone made the book worth the price. The information on pricing was fantastic. And just the little tips on how to make a few more sales were quite valuable. I was also intrigued by the chapter on increasing the efficiency your business. This is something I had never thought about before, but so much time (and money) is wasted by duplicating efforts, or making things harder than they need to be. For instance, I didn't realize that I could set up a US Postal Service account on my home computer, print out the postage label on my printer, and have my mail man pick it up. This alone is going to save me several hours a week. I highly recommend the book. If you are starting a business, it will point you in the right direction. If you already have a business, it will give you a lot of help on smaller details that will make a big difference. The author is a jewelry person, but she also has an MBA. She knows what she's talking about, and she offers a little more inside scoop on the business tricks to making this work. I'm really glad I found this book.