Host a Juli's Jewels Jewelry Party in Your Home.

Do you live in the Greater Sacramento area? Do you like jewelry and love an excuse to shop? How about a little free jewelry?

 

Hosting a Juli's Jewels jewelry party is a great way to get friends and family together to shop for yourselves and for gifts in a relaxed, fun, pressure-free atmosphere. I am present during the entire event, available to answer any questions and to take custom orders, but there will be no sales pitches or presentations. I want you and your guests to enjoy a casual and convenient shopping experience.

 

You just need to provide a location, guests, any refreshments you wish to have and send the invitations. I'll take care of the rest. It's a fun way to have a girls' night out and treat yourselves to some jewelry!

 

Every guest who attends will be entered in a drawing for a $25.00 Gift Certificate.

 

What's in it for you?

You will earn 10% of your party sales in free jewelry! You can use it toward your jewelry party purchase. Any amount not used will be put on a Juli's Jewels Gift Certificate issued to you via e-mail after the party for you to use at your convenience. Once you've decided to host a Party, please contact me here.

 

And if any of your guests book a party during yours, you will be sent another $10.00 Gift Certificate after their party ends.

An example of a Juli's Jewels display

Jewelry Trunk Shows

 

Juli's Jewels can also come to businesses for a shopping event. If you own a business and would be interested in having me set up during or after business hours for your employees to shop, please contact me.

A Website? Really? It's about time!

So, ArtFire, where my online shop is hosted, is going through a transition period. They are upgrading for "mobile optimization". That's cool and all, but it's playing a little havoc with my shop. I'm ready to weather the storm and I'm sure it will all be great in the end, but for now, I needed to do a little something to keep my name out there and make it easier for my customers to find me and navigate a little better.

First, I reopened my Etsy shop. Yes, I know what I said, but I need to be more available. The shop only has 11 items right now, but more will be listed in the not-too-distant future.

The Return of the Etsy.

Second, I made a little informational website. You can find me at Juli's Jewels new website and it will link you to my ArtFire shop, or you can access the Etsy right on the website.

The New Juli's Jewels Website!

Third, ArtFire added a new "visual catalog" that I am using instead of my usual item packed home page. It shows an example of the product in each catagory and you just click on it an you can then just scroll through the items from there.

The Visual Catalog on my ArtFire landing page

If you stop by my website or one of my shops, please leave me a comment and let me know what you think. Thanks a bunch!

The hidden costs in running your crafty business, or what is overhead exactly?

Some of your crafty costs are obvious and you can easily recoup them. For instance, a simple pair of earrings cost you $5.00 in assorted parts, and about 15 minutes to make at your $20 hourly rate (or whatever rate you are paying yourself, as discussed in “Starting your crafty business, Part 2 -Okay, I've decided how I want to sell it, how do I price it?”), so, about $5.00, but what is this mystery overhead?

Overhead is all the hidden costs of doing business. Did you buy a canopy for your outdoor craft shows? The cost of that gets paid in your overhead. Folding tables? Display pieces? Business cards? How about the tools you used to make the earrings? That is all covered in your overhead, as well as the less obvious, but still very necessary. In my overhead are things like the fuel I need for my torch so that I can enamel or work with metal clay; also, my enamel powders. It would be impossible for me to figure out how much enamel powder I use per piece (or fuel for that matter), so I can't assign it a price when figuring out my cost for pricing, it absolutely has to become part of my overhead or I wouldn't be able to continue enameling.

If you don't figure your overhead into your prices, you might as well be giving your crafty awesomeness away. The same goes for making sure you get your time paid for and you recoup the cost of your parts. If you think your stuff is good enough to sell, do it right.

Super Model Mannequins = Overhead!

Starting your crafty business. Part 1 - So, you want to start a crafty business?

So, you've amassed a pile of whatever your crafty madness is...jewelry, collage, afghans...whatever your awesome creativity has spawned and you have that moment, the one where you think "whatever am I going o do with all these?" Everyone you know has one; you even gave one to that person don the street, you know, the one everyone sees but no one knows. Yeah, that one. Now what? Then you get the bright idea (or, in my case, some one says) "you should sell these!" Okay! Hmmm... Okay? How do I do that? 

Decisions, decisions. Online shop? Craft fair? Consignment? Wholesale to that little shop? All of the above? How do you choose?  Well, there is a lot to think about before you decide which way to go with your new crafty busines. Yes, business. The first time you take money for your creation you are leaving the world of crafty hobby and move over to crafty business. You're gonna need to decide if its just a little hobby business that is just a means to buy more crafting supplies, or will it become your sole income. Either way, you're gonna need some stuff. First and forwmost, if you are planning on selling anywhere outside of the occasional one-off with the gal in the cubicle down the hall, you are going o need a sellers permit. Here in California, they're free.  You've got to have one if you are going o sell at craft fairs or to that little boutique. You don't need one if you are going to consign (the consignment shop will have one though).  The cool bonus of your sellers permit is that you can now purchase your supplies wholesale!  Also, depending on your local laws and regulations, you may need a business license, check with your city or county. That will cost you money annually, but for a tiny home-based crafty business it will be nominal.

Does it seem like too much? Yes? Turn back now! No? Alright then, lets go! 

You need to decide how you want to get your stuff out there. I'll leave you with this until next time; how do you want to sell your craft? You'll need to decide that, so you can figure out your prices. No matter what, you don't want to lose money on this endeavor, so you really need to decide that question first. 

So, come back next Wednesday for Part 2 - Okay, I've decided how I want to sell it, how do I price it? 

 

Starting your crafty business, Part 2 - Okay, I've decided how I want to sell it, how do I price it?

Okay! You've made the big decision to sell your handmade awesomeness and now you are ready to price it...umm...yeah...but how?

It's a pretty big deal, getting the prices right. You want to be able to make a profit otherwise you might as well go back to giving it away. You want to be competitive with other artisans and crafters, too.

Do not sell your stuff cheaply! It, and you, are worth more than that. Undervaluing your items hurts you in the long run, but it also hurts the handmade marketplace. That being said, there is also a limit of what your regional market will bear. Yes, you have to take your customer type into consideration when pricing your items, but that doesn't mean selling an item for less, sometimes it means revamping your line to fit your customer base (i.e. making less expensive pieces for the church bazaar vs. the high end ones you make for the gallery).

You have to remember, this is now a business. Even if you are just a hobbyist, you are going to need to keep records of your supplies and what you paid for them. You are going to need to know how long it takes you to make a piece (including design time). You need to decide what your time it worth. Imagine you did this as a job; what is your boss paying you per hour to create your awesomeness? Most artisans rate their time in the $18-$20 range. I think you're worth it, you should too. Trust me, you wouldn't do this job for minimum wage. You also need to add some overhead for packaging and other materials that can't make it into the rest of the price, because all of that stuff really goes into making your sale.

There are several formulas for pricing items to keep you competitive and profitable; the one I use is pretty simple. First I figure the base price, that is the price it cost me to make it. I add parts plus time (labor) plus overhead (I use a flat 20% on the parts + labor to get my overhead). To get my base. (P + L + O = B)

My parts on this piece were $5, my labor was 15 minutes at $20, so $5, my overhead then was 20% of $10, so $2. Adding these all together, my base price for this item is $12. This is what it costs me to make this item. If I were to sell the item at this price, I would have no profit whatsoever.

On top of my base price, I have 3 price points; wholesale, direct and retail. The markup I use for wholesale is 2.5 times parts plus labor and over head. (P*2.5 + L + O = W); for direct it’s 3 and for retail it’s 6.

So, an item that costs me $12 to make would be priced at $19.50 for wholesale, $22 for direct and $37 for retail.

You will have to decide what you think is the right pricing for your craft business, but remember, there is no benefit to you or anyone for underpricing (and undervaluing) your work.