Sandra J. Paluzzi
The Bead Peddler®

 So you are inundated with jewelry.  Your family and friends are begging you not to gift them with one more piece.  You are still buying beads at an amazing rate.  What to do, what to do?

This is the point where many beaders turn to selling their wares.  There's a lot of information about how to start a business - everything from how to set up books to how to make your business legal, from how to market to how to motivate yourself.  One thing I have never read about is the fact that your designs will change once the hobby becomes  a business.

In some ways, you will now be freer to design.  You will no longer love a bead but decline it because it's 'not you'.  Beads you wouldn't wear will make their way into your designs. 

In other ways, you will be more choosey.  You will keep a closer eye on the price tag.  When you design for yourself, you may be willing to pay 25.00 for a string of beads.  After all, 25.00 is not all that much for a necklace.  But for resale, you  add in a profit margin on the beads and the cost of your labor.  All of a sudden, that necklace may be priced out of the market place.

Another challenge for jewelry designers is to design something they don't particularly like.  The beads work together.  Others love the piece.  It's quite simply not your taste.  As long as you design only what you like, your range will be too narrow.  You have to push your limits creatively to meet the needs of your marketplace.   It is when you have made this leap that you can truly consider yourself a professional designer instead of a hobbyist.

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