Five Year Plan

I started dabbling in jewelry design five years ago. I didn't expect much to happen for the first three years at least. I read that most businesses don't turn a profit the first five years. I told myself I'd give it five years. So here I am...I don't feel like I have come any closer to turning a profit than when I started doing this five years ago. It has been ultra hard during this recession to convince people that, yes, they should buy a new piece of handmade jewelry even though they lost their job and their house is about to go into foreclosure.


I have seen other artists who have had sales...numerous sales, actually. Artists whose work is no better than my own. Why is that? What makes the difference? Well, I'm not entirely sure. I think a lot of it is luck, honestly. I know that there are some things that I need to do better, though:


1. Marketing. I have to get into the habit of doing some marketing every. single. day. I have a short amount of patience and often I will go full force on marketing myself for a week, see no results, then give up. I have to remember that it doesn't work that way. It builds up over time. I read Jack Canfield's The Success Principles, which was a great read. He talks about doing five things every day that help market your business. I think about that every day, but don't follow through. That hurts my business because if I don't hit the market with my name every day, people will forget who I am.


2. Hustling. If I had the courage and confidence to really hustle my product, I could sell it. I'm sure of it. The problem is I don't. The confidence is coming along, but the courage? I get an anxiety attack just thinking about it. I prefer to do shows and tell people "hello" and "let me know if you have any questions." The other day I was browsing at a Swarovski store. The saleslady was trying SO hard to make a sale to me or my mother. It was so annoying, I just wanted to get out of the store asap! It was like she didn't even really "see" us, she just saw a potential sale. I don't want to be that sort of person, always pushing a sale. That said, I miss great opportunities when I'm out and someone says "I love your necklace." and I simply say "Thanks." I know what you're thinking. Believe me, I know. I'm working on it.


3. Patience. I have realized that five years is nothing. It has gone by in a flash. I may not be making a profit, but I have come a long, long way since 2007. This dawned on me when I created a board on pinterest recently. The things I have accomplished in five short years made me proud of myself. It's not all about the money, anyway. It's about the journey.


So what's my five year plan now? I'm not sure. I think I'll just focus on one year at a time.

A Vine Time

I recently had dinner with a group of women who blog about fashion. Since discovering fashion blogs, I have had SO much fun perusing through hundreds of them! It is so interesting to see how different people put fashion together in different ways throughout the world!

I never considered myself a fashion blogger because this blog is mainly for my jewelry designs. However, the more I think about it, the more I realize that jewelry is such an integral part of fashion, that I should infuse more fashion with my jewelry to better show it. So, I have decided to try my hand at photographing myself wearing my jewelry - thank goodness for my tripod!

The other day I finally got to my hairstylist for a long overdue cut and style. This was my ensemble for the day, accented with my one-of-a-kind Waffle Necklace, and a stack of three of my resin bangle designs: Floating Gold, Muted Gold, and Black Crystal , which was recently sold to a buyer in London (yay!). I should note that the jewelry shown was only worn for the photo.

The rest of my outfit consists of: vine-printed shirt, Frazier Lawrence via TJMaxx (I bought this shirt years ago and it has been fabulous! It's just stretchy enought that I was even able to wear it through half of my pregnancy six years ago), skirt (I love a skirt with pockets!), Forever21, $10.50, shoes, Mila Paoli, $20 via TJ Maxx.

Line Sheets

In my previous post, I mentioned "line sheets". Until a few months ago, I had no idea what a line sheet was or it's function. Basically, it's a sheet that has your products listed and pictured, along with the wholesale price, suggested retail price, and wholesale terms (minimum quantity, etc.). At least that's my take on it. After doing some research and looking at other line sheet examples, I came up with this for my new summer line, Ocean View.
It features the following: Clear photos of the merchandise, short and concise descriptions, basic measurements of each piece, the wholesale price and suggested retail price, and the minimum purchase requirements.

I might need to make changes down the line, but you have to start somewhere! Plus, it sure is nice to have something that can easily be emailed to retailers!

Speaking of retailers, I have an appointment next week at a fabulous boutique in town! All because of the promo card I sent out! If anything develops, I'll be sure to post the news on this blog!

2010 Will Be The Year!!!

2009 was great, really. I grew enormously as an artist, and my understanding of business has grown exponentially. Ok, maybe not exponentially, but I do understand more than I did!

As great as 2009 was, 2010 is going to be even better! I will have some fun and fabulous "collections" and I will promote them ferociously! I am working on several of these collections currently, and hope to have a photo shoot in the next month! For the first time, ideas are actually coming together into multiple pieces...very exciting, as I have spent a lot of time evolving my style and focus since beginning my company in 2007. I feel more than ever that I actually "know what I'm doing".

My main goal for 2010 is to further develop the branding of my business, as well as obtain press coverage to get my name out there, all while having fun and continuing the learning process, which never stops!

I hope all of you realize your goals in 2010...at least some of them. Never stop trying! And never stop dreaming!

Jewelry Tag Branding

As anyone who is trying to build a business knows, branding is a crucial part of marketing. For quite a while I have realized that when someone purchased one of my items, chances are, two months later they will not remember who made the necklace or where it came from. I finally came up with a solution after seeing what a fellow seller on etsy was doing.

After running out of ink on my inkjet printer and not wanting to pay the money for new cartridges, I decided to hand-typeset a logo tag on shrink plastic. Not perfect, but it really adds something to my pieces, and at least now people will remember where their purchase came from. I wish I had done this sooner! I was able to fit about 48 tags on one 8x10 sheet of shrink plastic. The cost of one sheet is around 60 cents. So each tag costs me just over 1 cent!

Don't get me wrong, I would love to have tiny metal tags with a professionally embossed logo like this, but for now, my charming little hand made plastic tags will have to do.

Gift Gallery 2009

Yesterday I participated in the 2009 Gift Gallery, held at Cure of Ars church and school in Leawood, Kansas. It was a great show - the best I've ever had, actually! Here are some shots of my booth:My good friend Lauri Meyers also had a booth with her mom that was super cute!And here's a shot of Angie with JunieC's setting up her darling booth.

I think I had more success at this show than in past shows because of my booth set up. In the past I have had just one small table, but I have learned to utilize more space and spread things out so buyers can see. Overall, it was a great experience! I really, REALLY appreciate my mom helping me with this show, although I didn't get a photo of her - she's the BEST!!!

New Press Kit - Finally!

I have been working on my "new" press kit slash look book since early this year and finally have it up. Feel free to take a look by clicking on the link in the upper right of this page.

Collections?

When I began designing jewelry a couple of years ago, I never really thought about where I wanted it to go, who I wanted to market to, what my ultimate goals were. I'm still trying to figure this whole thing out, but am starting to realize some things.

First, I've realized that I want to be a brand. I want people to see my product and know that it is a "Deanna Burasco". How to go about that is a long and arduous journey. With so many designers out there, I think it can be daunting to establish yourself apart from everyone else. Also, I've seen how designers are constantly copied, and that to remain on the forefront, a designer has to re-invent themselves constantly to stay ahead of the copycats.

Second, I've realized that I have wasted a lot of time creating pieces and have not spent enough time marketing. I would try to make new pieces weekly or even daily, hoping each new design would spark a sale. This led to a mish mash of products (I think) with a lack of consistency and direction. One of my new goals is to create fewer pieces, then focus on marketing them, eventually gaining a solid fan base and establishing some solid wholesale accounts.

Third and last, I am working on creating "collections", which ties into what I just mentioned. Not only do I want to create fewer pieces, I want to have lines of pieces that coordinate and compliment one another. Whittling down all of the designs that I'm excited about is the hard part. My mind seems to not understand the concept :). When I look at the mainstream successful designers, most, if not all, have collections. They carry these collections for a time, then retire them and introduce new collections. It allows them to have a more cohesive grouping of products, which is easier to market and sell, in my opinion.

So, that's where I am...

On a side note, I am excited to be involved in the next Impact Fashion workshop. It's a day-long event for fashion designers, make-up artists, photographers and stylists to explore ideas and build portfolios. I'm the only participating jewelry designer, so this will be a great opportunity to get some model shots of my "collections", which I will figure out soon....I hope!

Photo Shoot!

Recently I had the opportunity to collaborate with photographer Vicki Smith, make-up artist Jolie Carrillo-Allen, and model Sarah Nelson. It was actually my first experience being involved in a professional photo shoot! Not only did I learn a lot, I had a great time and made some new contacts I hope to work with again in the future. Thank you all for bringing my jewelry designs to life!

Eighties Leopard - Resin Heart Necklace

Hot Pink Leopard - resin heart necklace
Nailed and Ball Chain - resin bangles

Silver Rising - resin pendant necklace

Mardi Gras - hand painted wooden bead and fringe necklace

Neon Zebra - resin heart necklace

Pinwheel - resin pendant necklace

Purple Leopard - resin heart necklace

All of these items are available in my etsy shop, except Mardi Gras, which is available in my other shop on smashingdarling.com.

Special thanks to my collaborators: Sarah Nelson (Sarah is also an aspiring clothing designer: see more here. Vicki Smith Photography, and make-up artist Jolie Carrillo-Allen.

Trunk Show featuring music by Jillian Riscoe DECEMBER 12, 2008

I am SO excited about this upcoming event! I have been collaborating with local musician Jillian Riscoe and we are creating a new line of jewelry titled "Pink Symphony". There are three necklace designs and one ring design that will debut at the event on December 12th. Jillian will be performing a live acoustic set! We are going to raffle away a gift also! This will be such a fun event! There is no address on the flyer because it's taking place at a private residence. We will be giving the address of the event when people rsvp. Fun fun fun!!!

Press Kit - Finally!

When starting a new business such as mine, or any other, really, it is important to create a press kit to "spread the word" to media outlets that might just give your business publicity through featuring it on their website or in their publication. I had never heard of press kits before becoming involved in this new venture. So, I did research for about a month, looked at many of them online and read through articles giving tips and tricks. Finally, after making the final polishing touches, I sent it out to several places last week, which is exhilarating and terrifying at the same time :)

If you want to see it, there is now a link at the top right of this page.