Start-Over Success Business Under $2,000:
Jewelry Business
If you’ve had a jewelry-making hobby, you’re a perfect candidate to build an online business with your jewelry creations.
The good news is: You choose what to make, who to sell to, when to work, and all the rest. And the bad news is: You choose what to make, who to sell to, when to work, and all the rest.
It’s not all making jewelry, anymore. Now that you’re looking at building a jewelry business, there are business admin and marketing tasks for you to attend to.
More good news is, you can start small, transitioning from a hobbyist to a businessperson.
What Kind of Jewelry to Sell
FINE JEWELRY
This costs more than $2,000 to start; inventory is expensive and competition is fierce.
COSTUME JEWELRY
These pieces sell for such low prices, you’ll have to make a gazillion sales before you even break even on your costs.
DESIGNER JEWELRY
You be the designer. Create unique pieces customers will love to buy for themselves and as gifts for others. This is what Goldilocks would choose. After seeing the downsides of costume and fine jewelry, designer jewelry looks “just right.”
What Does it Cost to Start an Online Jewelry Store?
As with any business, there are things for you to do and fees to pay. ($80)
To start a Jewelry Business, your biggest costs are :
1) The materials for your creations, from stones and other materials to tools ($500+)
2) Packaging ($60/100 boxes Uline) Design with logo later.
3) Work areas and storage space are additional costs.
4) Reviews from micro-influencers (30 reviews $750+)
5) Email marketing plan ($15/mo)
There are also costs for your online store and marketing. You can choose from Etsy, Shopify, Ebay, and more. Each has its advantages and disadvantages.
Your website costs can vary; you can start with BlueHost for $3/mo, or build your store directly with Etsy ($0, 20c to post) Shopify ($3/1st 3 mo, then $39/mo, or eBay ($5-$22 to start). You will need a domain name. Make your company and domain name general enough to leave room to grow your business, maybe “Creations something.” Don’t add “women” in your name, maybe you’ll want to add jewelry for men as you grow.
Typical start-up costs $1,368.
Put earnings back into your business, to grow it.
Choose Your Niche, Market & Unique Angle
How will you choose a niche for your jewelry store?
- Consider who you want to sell to, their lifestyle, and demographics
- Develop a unique angle for your audience, with different materials or theme
- How will you make your brand stand out? Put yourself into what you offer. Chanel is founded on CoCo, Ralph Lauren on, well, Ralph Lauren, and so on. You do the same; add your unique twist to your creations and your brand.
- Do research on your niche and market and develop products to appeal to it.
Why & How to Develop Your Brand
Your brand can be a key element in attracting customers, buzz, and loyal followers. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that your brand is your logo; it’s not. While Nike and Apple are iconic brand logos, it’s not the logos that are key to their success.
There are many considerations when contemplating how to develop your brand. There’s a lot of information available online. You may want to start your studies with this article from Shopify.
Don’t pay for expensive branding classes; save your funds for investing in materials and marketing. Those will pay off more than anything else.
What You Need to Begin Your Online Jewelry Business
- Know how to make jewelry
- Develop your style and brand aesthetic
- Workspace for creating jewelry & fulfilling orders
- Storage space for inventory, parts for creating with and completed pieces
- How to take great photographs
- Quality camera & lighting
- Storytelling Product Descriptions
- Shop platform with payment acceptance
- Domain name
- Shipping & returns plan
- Customer Experience, onsite, ordering, problems, returns
- Establish Pinterest boards to test products & branding
- Plan to grow; put all earnings back into your business
How to Attract Customers
- SEO
- Multichannel Selling (Your website, Etsy, and/or other)
- Email Marketing (Get emails for upsells and more)
- Social Media (Develop your brand, build relationships, send traffic to your store(s)
- Customer Reviews
GETTING REVIEWS. Shoppers like to see reviews. Consider contacting social media micro-influencers (around 10,000 followers). Offer to send them your jewelry free, if they will make a review. Send them pictures of your creations first, so they are sure to like them. Your investment is in the cost of your piece of jewelry, packaging, and shipping. That’s a small price to pay for jump-starting your reviews.
Grow Your Jewelry Business
There are many ways to grow your jewelry business.
- Expand your staff, to increase production, shipping, and customer experience
- Expand your product line. Have you been doing rings exclusively? Add. necklaces and bracelets
- Expand your market. Been selling only to women, maybe you’ll want to develop a line for men.
- Broaden your niche
With every expansion you make, you go through all the steps of first starting: research, testing, production, and the rest.
What's Next For You?
Once you’ve established and grown your business, you’ll have loads of options for what’s next.
You can
- Develop collaborations with other fashion creators.
- Become a speaker at conferences for your niche market.
- Get your jewelry brand into retail stores.
- Open your own shop.
- Build “celebrity brand” status. Hey, it worked for Richard Branson, why not you?
- Sell your business and brand.
