Sparkle Bliss Jewelry: 2010

Friday, November 5, 2010

Selling on the streets is tough!

Well... I did it. I finally built up enough courage to go out and sell my hand crafted jewelry on the streets today. It's been many months since the last time. Last time was a big letdown. I went and was in the cold for 2 hours... didn't even make 1 buck. Selling on the street presents many problems and requires a lot of courage. Sometimes people look at me like I'm below them.. like I'm trash. It's hard to brush it off, but that's exactly what I do. Others tell me.. " yeah when I get out of the store I will look at what you have." After I wait hoping for that sale ..having my hopes up they walk out and ..yep.. you guessed it... right past me. I don't understand... why can't they just tell the truth and say no instead of crushing my hope for a sale. Today I went to sell outside of McDonalds. At first it was reaaalllly disappointing and I'm mean reaaaaaaaaallllyyyy!!! I tried to give away a pair of butterfly earrings for free... it is packaged in a little plastic baggie with a paper with all my info on it like my web site, BlogSpot etc.... They said "No". I was thinking "how can anyone say no to a pair of free earrings?" Okay.. so I try again...... and again and got the same response... NO! I couldn't believe it. Luckily it didn't stay that way. I gave about 4 pairs away for free then started making sales. At first it was hard to stick to it... I had one person actually laugh at me.... the nerve! People can be so cruel! Maybe they want to work for a boss all their life but I don't want to work for a boss all my life. I want to make a business for myself and be my OWN boss. I did have some good experiences from selling on the street. There was one lady whom said she made jewelry too and was going to check out my supply's shop on Etsy at http://www.sparkleandbliss.etsy.com/ My other good experience was a lady I gave a free pair to. She was sitting in her car waiting for her friend to come out of McDonalds. I approached her car and explained I was trying to create my own jewelry business. I asked if she would like to make a donation for a pair of earrings that was in a package with my info on a paper in it. She said she just gave away her last dolor so her friend could get a ice cream. I then said no problem thank you anyway and gave her the pair free. I went back to sit on the side walk waiting for the next sale. A few minutes later she got out of her car and handed me 3.75! WOWY!! That was cool and totally unexpected! I thanked her and gave her another pair. There are cruel mean people in this world but there are great ones too! Here's a small part of one day of my life in selling on the street. I hope you enjoyed reading. I'm not giving up. I am going to make a living out of making jewelry one day. Please subscribe to my blog and leave a comment... I would love to hear ... well read what you have to say! Come see my jewelry shop... still working on posting more creations... http://www.iloveanabel730.etsy.com/ or if u need jewelry supplies come to http://www.sparkleandbliss.etsy.com/ I will be listing more Tibetan silver charms at wholesale prices soon!

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Monday, October 18, 2010

More about "Sparkle and Bliss Jewelry"

This is my first blog here... and actually anywhere. I want to share more about me and my self made jewelry business. Well for basics I am 26 yrs old. I am a mom of one toddler. She's 4 yrs old now. I love my little helper! She always finds my beads that stray off on to the floor. She gets a kiss and hug for every bead or finding she finds. Lucky me! Lots of kisses!!! I am also a wife to my wonderful husband. I could not ask for more. He is very supportive of me making a business for myself and puts up with me asking.. "So do you like this one?" He gets that from me every time I make a new design loll! I have always had that creative flair inside me. I just never knew where to direct it. I tried many things. I made decorative boxes.. scrap booking.. painting.. etc. I was never satisfied and always got bored from it. Creativity wasn't the only interest I had. I also loved being a sales person both at my job and at home. At home whatever I believed in I found myself trying to sale to others. A good example is Netflix. I absolutely loved Netflix. I told my friends, family and anyone who would listen to me how great it was and how they should sign up. Another interest besides being creative and sales was photography! The first thing I ever bought on credit is my beloved camera and an expensive one at that! I spent so much on it figuring I would have to take wonderful pictures of my baby girl. I never dreamed it would end up being so great for jewelry pictures. How I ended up making jewelry is interesting. One thing leads to another really. You see... it all started like this... One day a friend of mine said I could make a little money on the side selling for Cookie Lee Jewelry. Cookie Lee Jewelry is like Avon. You buy their jewelry at a lower price and sell it. I was considering it until one day when I was at the mall. I happened upon what I thought at the time was a good idea! There was this booth selling these beautiful glass made pendants. They are common now, but back then they were not and it was the first time I saw something that beautiful. The woman told me they had been selling them at the price of $20.00 but reduced them to $5.00. I thought this was a great opportunity to make a few extra honest bucks so I bought a lot and started selling them on the streets. I did well. I made my money back plus a little extra. I started thinking.. jewelry.. selling..hmmm... I can make and sell jewelry. So I used the Internet.. books.. individuals.. classes and whatever I could get my hands on to learn how to make jewelry. Now I make and sell one Etsy and sometimes on the street outside of a grocery store. I have been able to put all three of my interests together to sell of Etsy. I take my own photography..I use my creativity making jewelry and I get to sell it all! Little did I know it is a true dedication building my own business and selling on the Internet. I have come a long way in the aspect of making unique sophisticated jewelry. I'm not beginner at jewelry making any more. I'm currently taking a little break from metal jewelry and working more on beaded jewelry. There are really a lot of different type of jewelry making things. I want to eventually explore how to melt and cut metals, but that takes much more money to invest and more space than I currently have. Selling on the street is a lot different than selling on the Internet. I am learning everyday and have a tone more to learn be for I can start making more money than I put into it. I love always learning new things in this field and making myself better. As my business stands now.. I have and continue investing it by buying supplies and paying for classes. I have definitely put more into it with countless hours, days, months, and money than I have gotten out of it yet. I am dedicated to becoming successful with myself created "Sparkle and Bliss Jewelry" business. A few things that make me different from others who try at jewelry business and don't make it is that I have such love and dedication for it. I am NOT giving up. I will keep going. I am open to any advice I can get and work hard and learn new things all the time. That's a good part of what will make me successful one day...