How to Start a Jewelry Business

The formal process to start a jewelry business is pretty straight forward.  The planning stages of it, however, will take some time for you to work through.  Take your time in planning your future. Every company encounters changes as it grows, and the more care you put into developing your artist statement and your business plan, the better your company will be able to withstand the coming changes.

Just keep in mind that this process takes time...and we're not talking a couple of days to figure it out. Some of the basics you'll have to do right away in terms of filing paperwork with various agencies, but other things such as writing your artist statement and hashing out your formal plan take time.

Running your own company isn't just about making things and then selling them, there's planning involved, market research to be done, and strategies to be formulated and implemented. Take your time in with this process and good luck with everything!

Why Start a Jewelry Business?

Noted seed beads artist Virginia Brubaker guest writes an inspirational article on how she came about starting a jewelry business.

You can even read how I got to graduate school and earned a Master of Fine Arts using my home business to support me.

7 Tips to Get Your Craft Empire Started

1. Write an Artist Statement.  This is a short, 2 paragraph summary of you as an artist, your values, and why you do what you do.  It’s the foundation for all the other things that you will be doing, including branding, business plan, marketing and merchandising strategies, and how you will approach selling your work. Spend time here, on the surface it looks like a short essay, but the power of a great artist statement is that it will say everything there is to say about you in 2 short paragraphs.

2. Jewelry Business Plan:  A quick overview of what a plan is, including a planning worksheet to help you prep for writing the real thing.

3. Branding:  Building off of your artist statement, you’ll begin to explore the concept of, and developing your own company brand.

4. Learning Time Management Skills:  Keeping careful watch of the amount of time you spend working on specific tasks will help you establish a fair wholesale price for your work.  This segment is divided into wholesale and retail sections, and explains how to track your time and use that information to come up with pricing strategies in the Pricing section of this website.

5. Accounting:  An overview of the various expenses you will likely incur and have to discuss with your accountant or CPA as how to report that on your tax forms.

6. Business Names Ideas:  Thinking of using a fictitious name for your jewelry making business?  Read my (hilarious) story first before you decide what name to use for your business.

7. Getting a Business License:  A quick overview of the various legal organization structures you can choose from, and some pointers on getting a seller’s permit or resale license.

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More Tips to Start a Jewelry Business

Photographing Jewelry

Learn all about f stops how it affects your photographs, as well as what you should be aware about when using Macro Mode when taking pictures. This section also includes tips on how to take photographs using daylight, and how to set up your own tabletop studio.

Pricing Jewelry

Helpful tips on how to go about pricing your handcrafted designs. We'll start with a look at how to set a wholesale price before coming up with a retail price.

Also find out why selling online can be detrimental to gaining wholesale accounts.

Sell Jewelry Online

Explore the various venues available for you to sell your crafts, from setting up a shop on Etsy to going after a more international clientele with DaWanda.