Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Selling my handmade jewelry: getting my name out

One of the most important things that I'm doing in setting up my jewelry business is getting my name out. Word of mouth pays off and I want to make sure that people remember Naomi's Designs and MayaGirl Creations. Obviously, this blog is a way to put my name out there and I also include business cards in all of my packages.

Well, today I took a little risk in getting my name out and so far, it was worth it. As you know, I've been working on making a professional looking jewellery catalogue so that I can sell my pieces to stores at wholesale prices. I'm not yet done with the catalogue as we unfortunately had a family emergency and things are on hold. However, I don't want to sit idle, either.

After meeting girlfriends for lunch at South Street Seaport in New York City, we went shopping in the waterside mall. We stopped in a boutique-type store that had little statues, bags and costume jewelry. I purchased a bag and my friend got a beach hat. On a whim, I then asked the owner if he ever accepts work from local artists. I gave a brief description of my jewelry and he was really interested! He gave me his business card, as well as all three of his e-mails and told me to contact him when my catalogue is put together.

I know that I was advised to not approach store owners; that I should instead e-mail them with the line sheets, but I didn't think that it would hurt to give this guy my name -- and it didn't. He was so friendly and open to the idea of selling my work. This obviously won't guarantee that he'll buy anything from me once he sees my inventory, but it did give me some confidence. And I do think that my stuff would fit right in with this store, which sells jewelry in the $20 range.

I don't know what will happen with this store, but I'm glad that I at least made an effort to get some sales going. It will be so exciting, though, if my work ends up at South Street Seaport!

To purchase my jewellery, head to Naomi's Designs. To purchase my children's jewelry, head to MayaGirl Creations.

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