Running a business

Although I might not always see it as such, my jewelry design has evolved into a business.

When I started out designing it was purely for the love of creating. I saw something that I liked in a store and said, "I can make that better myself." I wandered into bead shops browsing through the strands of beautiful beads seeking inspiration which was easy to come by.

If I wanted to learn a new technique, I would try to figure it out on my own or I would buy a book or magazine with a tutorial. The possibilities were endless. I created for myself, I created what I loved.

That passion for creation lead to an amazing amount of jewelry. I had to do something with it. I gave it to friends and relatives for every conceivable present giving occasion and sometimes just because.

But just like I couldn't possibly wear everything I made, my friends and family were reaching a saturation point as well. I had to start selling to other people. I started out at a local farmer's market. Every Saturday I would set up my tent and eagerly await my customers. I always sold something, at least one thing. But more often than not I sold lots of pieces. It was an amazing feeling, people I didn't know loved my work as much as I did.

After that experience, I ventured into some local boutiques selling pieces on consignment. It was fun to walk into a store and see your jewelry displayed next to professional designers.

But all this time, I never really treated it as a business. It was a fun hobby that I made some money doing. The money went to buy more beads and sometimes it helped me buy something for myself.

When I started selling on Etsy in March of this year it was also a fun little experiment. If I put my stuff on the internet, what would happen. If I opened my shop would people come? The short answer is no, not really. They didn't know I was there.

So I started promoting, promoting, promoting. That helped somewhat. People began to know I was there. They hearted my shop, showing that they liked what I was doing. But the sales didn't necessarily follow. I got frustrated and jewerly was no longer fun for me. This lead to my creative funk that I've detailed here before.

Well I've gotten my creative mojo back and am again creating for the love of creating. But what to do? I now know I need to channell some of this creative energy into running my business. I've been through some training sessions at my day job on how to run a successful business. The lessons I've learned there definitely apply to jewelry. But how to make them fun? This is my challenge.

I'll be posting some of what I've learned on this blog in the next few days to see if I can turn my business from ok to good to great.