I did shows for 7 years and then started slowing down and invested more time into my Etsy shop. My shop is a baby and needs constant care. I often say if I were better off I’d hire someone to write my copy and get those listing completed. I’m pretty sure I flunked out in copy writing and when I started this I didn’t even know what SEO was.

The first thing I did when I decided to reopen my Etsy shop was to think about my business plan. What did I want from my business? How could I reasonably go about getting where I wanted to be. I chose to be humble and not expect much.

We all have limitations that will weave into this important first step like vicious weeds in your garden. Some can with time be removed, some will continue to come back. 

I set out to make a realistic list of the issues I foresaw in the beginning. You can’t see them all and I didn’t worry about that. First my income was small and I couldn’t invest very much into my business. I’m sure this is common with most home based businesses. You aren’t getting a salary but you still have to support yourself and your little baby business.

There are a tons of people selling jewelry on Etsy and at shows. I felt I had to go in a direction that made my heart happy, but I was pretty sure wouldn’t be the best or fastest at making tons of sales. That is I chose to make unique jewelry - not for the everyday person. To complicate matters more I didn’t make duplicates. 

If you make 20 earrings the same you can zip threw the last 19 in no time. You don’t have to take time to design/select materials. Also if you do unique you often don’t have 20 of an element. I still knew what I wanted to do and haven't regretted it.

I started off being so cheep I printed my own business cards, but that ended shortly when I came to my senses. I do still print my own price tags. Most jewelry makers I see at shows use a small store bought tag which is fine. I chose to make a 1” sq tag with my logo on the front and price and inventory number on the back. My logo is on my earring cards too. 

Every event I go to I have at least 4 people say oh I remember you (tapping on my business card stack) - were you at the such and such show? Yes, I was! I think my jewelry is memorable, but there is so much out their maybe it’s only unique to a few. The logo thou that I’ve put on everything is getting remembered. I also have hand outs at the shows and I use them as package stuffers for my Etsy orders. They have my full contact info and a print of my artwork on card stock. They can be used as book marks. These get picked up a lot. I tell customers take one for your friends. I have 6 different designs. 

In another life when I was a graphic designer I always told a client that your business card spoke for you when you weren’t there to speak for yourself. I still think this is a good way to look at your logo. If you could tell a perspective customer about you in one glance what would that be. I like a nice clean simple logo. Nike and Apple nailed it. So keep it simple and design something you can live with for a long time. Changing your logo every few years is confusing for shoppers. I keep my booth display near the same and it's remembered. Nothing fancy as you can see. 

Keep it simple and plan well

That's our motto.