equilibrium-girl.com

lessons learned, questions posed

i had a great time at my jewelry open house this past weekend. while i didn't rake in the cash, i definitely covered my costs. i got my neighbor to buy this amazing collar-style necklace with citrine briolettes--but i think in all fairness, the piece really sold itself. one woman bought the amazonite chandelier earrings right off my ears. i met some wonderful people and networked with a wonderful woman who has been selling jewelry for about 20 years, and now i have some ideas to work with for the future. i think there are two lessons that i learned: a) invite as many people as you can, and b) create or bring pieces geared towards the people that are invited/most likely going to come. we saw a lot of women buy simple pearl strands and earrings.

i am really humble about my pieces, and a couple of co-workers have asked to see my stuff and while i love talking about it, i just feel a little awkward about it. i'm just not really that "sales-y" and i really hate randomly approaching people. there are a couple of stores that might be good candidates to approach, i just don't know how i feel about that, or if i'm really ready for it.

i think the big project on this front is maybe a "look book" where i feature pictures of some of my favorite pieces and a short description of my aesthetic, materials, and process. about the fact that i'm picky and have chosen the wrapped eye loop technique because i want to be sure that my customers have long-lasting pieces. and that i think every woman deserves at least one good sterling silver item? and should i even be promoting myself to stores before i start a little web operation? my concern is that there is just so much to do--tax ID registration, e-commerce operations, just coding a site (getting someone to do it), etc. the problem is that i am so very comfortable with the online context--i just don't know what the returns might be. anyone with insight, please chime in.