Tips to Establish a Successful Jewelry Brand It's not just about setting up shop with your wares and expecting people to buy them. It's about researching the styles people buy, the prices they're willing to pay

It's about making something glittering and beautiful. It's about creating a sparkling necklace or a pair of stunning earrings. It's designing and manufacturing jewelry to your heart's content while making profits at the same time. Think you can handle the glamour of running a jewelry business and seeing your creations adorn hundreds of people?

Go Direct

One way to start is doing craft shows so you can get direct customer feedback. It's not just about setting up shop with your wares and expecting people to buy them. It's about researching the styles people buy, the prices they're willing to pay and what works in a particular geographic area. A key to success in the jewelry business is making sure your designs are unique, it should not something one can buy everywhere.

Once you set yourself apart as a hot jewelry designer, you'll be ready to approach trendy boutiques to carry your wares. First, create a catalog of your designs or sell sheets with your designs and wholesale pricing information. Send the packet to the buyer from a particular shop, and then make an appointment to meet. Many buyers have specified days and times to meet with new jewelry vendors.

Time to Expand

Deciding when to expand depends on your volume. The decision is dependent on your skill level, production size and cost-effectiveness. If you cannot make your jewelry by yourself well enough or fast enough, then you need to outsource. There are contract shops in many major cities, and many work by mail as well, so you don't have to physically be there.

In fact, the world of jewelry design is rife with options. In terms of what's hot, be aware of the fashion trends in your area. Note that forthcoming jewelry trends include a return to yellow gold (a rollback from the all-white gold and diamond phenomenon) and the addition of lots of colour. Beads, stiletto earrings and layered necklaces are also heating up. Long-term success comes from developing your own unique style through which you can interpret the ever-changing tide of trends.

The Struggles Ahead

If you are a struggling designer, the best one can do is to accept that while it is possible to be successful in this industry regardless of the shifting sand, it will just take more work than you might have anticipated. Facing the industry's challenges is the measure of your ability to make it as a designer and the key to your success. Your motivation and resolve will be tested — by employers, clients, and contemporaries day in and day out.

Diversify your skills where possible and look into opportunities for passive income. Hedge your bets when working in traditional employment situations by building a strong personal brand and developing a powerful network of contacts that might be useful in the future. The gig economy and crowd-sourcing aren't going away. Learn to market and sell your services on value and not price, and how to leverage these things instead of directly competing with them. Remember that quality still matters, and that regardless of how many people compete in the field, the top is still sparse. Set your sites on climbing the mountain.