Start a Jewelry Business Turn your hand-crafted jewelry into an ongoing source of cash flow.

(YoungBiz)- Wearing the right piece of jewelry is a great way to stand outfrom the crowd, and the same is true for designers makingone-of-kind pieces. So while there are plenty of mass-producedjewelry lines out there, custom designs are unique, and profitable,business options for creative types.

"Every girl who makes Infinity jewelry does her ownthing," says Paloma Reyes, part of a teen team of jewelrydesigners in Chicago. "You know when you buy our jewelry thatyou won't ever see anyone else wearing the samedesign."

Infinity Jewelry is a business project operated by teen girlsthrough a program sponsored several years ago by Family Matters, anonprofit organization in Chicago. The girls sell theirpieces--made from silk thread, semi-precious stones, pearls andglass beads--at local galleries, craft shows and museums.Uniqueness is so important that the girls even turned down abusiness offer from Marshall Field's department store becausethe company wanted Infinity to mass-produce one design only.

Do Your OwnThing
Infinity Jewelry's teen designers say it's not difficult tomake jewelry. "Once you get the hang of it, it'seasy," says Lydia Redmond. "And it's fun."

So easy and so fun that many teens are finding out that jewelrydesign is a good solo business opportunity. Just ask 15-year-oldAshley Easley of Heflin, Alabama, owner of Ashley'sAccessories. When she began falling behind on orders for her uniquejewelry designs, Easley knew she had a winning businessconcept.

After researching what products she wanted to make and theprices of the supplies, Ashley determined a start-up cost of $100,which she borrowed from her mother and has since paid back.Business was great, with bracelets selling for $2 to $3 each, untilshe hit an unexpected snag: "Everyone started selling the samething I was," she says.

For Easley, there was only one way to combat the copycats. Usingsome of her profits, she made her products stand out from thecompetition by using more upscale supplies and beads. Her designsnow sell for as much as $20 and are quite popular.

Time Is Money
Regina Jackson in Washington, DC, agrees that making handcraftedjewelry is an easy way to make cash. She has sold everything fromearrings (approximately $5) to earring and necklace sets (between$40 and $60), netting Regina's Jewelry Designs profits in thethousands.

The biggest problem for Jackson has been managing her time."Making the jewelry is not difficult," she explainedshortly after starting her business. "It just takes a lot ofpatience. I try to work at least one hour every evening."

In addition to selling her wares to family and friends, Jacksonsold items at craft shows, and, soon after starting the business,found a way to avoid some of the time crunch. The busiest craftshow season, she found, was in the fall leading up to Christmas, soshe began work on pieces during the summer to make sure she hadplenty of inventory for the fall.

According to both Jackson and Reyes, honing your craft is themost important aspect of a successful jewelry business. "Myjewelry has gotten better than it used to be," Jacksonadmits.

Quality is so important at Infinity that each piece is checkedfor knotting, closing and pattern, as some pieces are even sentback for improvements. "I can tell the difference between aquality necklace and one that is going to fall apart soon,"Reyes says. "Our buyers keep coming back and bringing theirfriends with them, and we want to keep it that way."