Elizabeth of Stones in Harmony wrote to tell me about a jewelry business success day she had this past week:

First, she did a jewelry trunk show at a financial services office, where she made some great sales from just five customers.

While she was there, the necklace Elizabeth was wearing caught the eye of a top-level financial planner.

This executive fell in love with the necklace - and not only insisted on ordering it, but also wants to shop directly from Elizabeth's home jewelry boutique / studio.

(Since then, this executive has been spreading the word to her friends, who also are now interested in Elizabeth's jewelry.)

After the trunk show, Elizabeth returned home and the cable guy arrived.

Elizabeth says,

"I mentioned that he'd best buy something for Mamma for Mother's Day. It is creeping up on us. Would you come into my studio?

"The studio was empty of course. So I pulled my jewelry case from the car. [It was still there from the trunk show.]

"We sat down on the rug and pored through jewelry options.

"I gave him a really good price (yes, I did make a profit) because this boy had so much love in his heart for his mother and girlfriend that I just felt so gifted to be able to give him something so personalized and special, not to mention with gift boxes."

So here is one of Elizabeth's very happy customers - the cable guy who now has his Mother's Day gifts completely taken care of, well in advance, including lovely gift boxes:

You may remember Elizabeth's first jewelry success story - when she helped her washing machine repairman take care of his Christmas shopping with her jewelry gifts (you can read about it near the bottom of my Jewelry Business Success News issue #65).

Elizabeth very kindly gives me credit, saying she learned her success techniques from my Secrets of a Handcrafted Jewelry Shopping Service book.

But obviously her jewelry is a big part of the magic, and so is her manner of putting customers at ease and solving their gift-giving problems.

Elizabeth's jewelry business success story illustrates a couple of ways to recession-proof your jewelry business:

1) Take your jewelry for private showings to people who can afford to buy it (the financial services office trunk show).

2) Connect directly with people who have gift-giving needs to take care of (the cable guy).

The next day, Elizabeth sent a dozen roses to the woman who had invited her to do the trunk show.

She says, "developing friendships is much more meaningful to me than sales."

Congratulations, Elizabeth - for putting yourself out there and doing it, and for all the wonderful things that came from it! Thanks so much for sharing your success story.

A few years ago I started exploring social networking on the Internet, to see if it could bring more traffic to my websites.

At first I just dabbled here and there on a few social networking sites, testing various strategies to see what brought me more visitors and what didn't.

I already had a fair amount of traffic before I started these experiments - but during the first six months of playing around with social networking, the traffic and sales for my websites tripled. And they haven't let up.

So I've spent the past couple of years learning everything I could about all kinds of social marketing - especially how to use it to promote an online jewelry business.

If you've tried to sell your jewelry online, you know that no matter what kind of online storefront you have for selling your jewelry - whether you sell via Etsy, eBay, your blog, your own website, etc. - you have to do your own marketing if you want to sell your jewelry.

And if you want to have control over your own traffic and bring interested customers to your online jewelry business, social websites are the "power tools" you need to be using.

I've found out which social sites really help you connect with potential customers, and some simple but effective strategies for using them to build your online jewelry business.

I've laid it all out for you to follow, step-by-step, in my new book, "Social Networking: Sell Your Jewelry Online the New Way".

This book will be available beginning at midnight (U.S. Eastern time) tonight.

At midnight you should be able to click on the book cover image over at the top of the right-hand column of this blog, and it will take you to the page where you can access the book.

It's the complete guide to selling more of your jewelry on the Internet in this exciting new way.

1)  Delegate as much as possible around the house. My husband is a great grocery shopper…he finds bargains, uses coupons, and does a far better job than I do. (He recently purchased 40 boxes of Kleenex at our local supermarket for 20 cents a box versus the regular price of about $1.25 - we won't run out for a while and we saved a lot of money). Guess who is responsible for keeping the fridge and pantry filled? Not me. I have more time to make jewelry.

2)  Have projects lined up so when you finish one you'll have another one ready to go. I use small altoid-sized tins to set up projects in advance. I usually have about a dozen going at once. Spending the time to set up projects in advance will save time when you can sit down to work. It's also great for traveling as you can just pick up a tin and go.

3)  Make sure you always have a good supply of the basics that use you on a regular basis. Nothing is more frustrating than running out of something simple, like crimps, when you are ready to work on a project. As you start running low on a regular item, order more.

4)  Put away tools, equipment and supplies when you are finished with them. Have a regular place for everything. You'll save time if you know your pliers are always in the top drawer of your workbench rather than hunting all over the house for them.

5)  Try listening to audible books while working so you kill two birds with one stone - reading and beading! Audible.com is a great source for audible books. I love to read but can't bead and read at the same time (though I can knit and read at the same time) so I use audible books to get my reading fix. I play them on my iPod while I work.

6)  The last but most important tip is to learn to say NO! Don't commit to anything unless you truly want to do it. Don't bake cookies for school unless you really want to. Don't volunteer for that committee unless it is really important to you. Eveything you say yes to means less time for jewelry making. A friend taught me years ago to say to myself "what part of no don't you understand: N or O"?

Note from Rena:

Thanks, Charlene!  These are great ideas for very do-able things that can make a huge difference in creating more time.

I use plastic stacking jewelry trays to keep separate projects organized and ready to work on (although without some sort of cover they're not portable for traveling).

I like the Altoid tin idea.  It's a great way to recycle these nifty little containers too!

I came across a collection of very unusual and creative business cards - and couldn't help being pretty impressed at the inventiveness of these businesspeople!

Check out Cool Business Card Designs and Cool Business Card Designs Part 2, and see if you get any ideas for making your own cards more unique or memorable!

Carolina Gonzalez of My Little Magick Shop says,

"Making promos has proved to me to be a wonderfully effective way to grow a home-based business.

They let people sample the real quality of your work, actually they let them know why you stand above the rest!

Go through that part in your craft inventory you never dare to use. That lace that is just too beautiful and you have been saving project after project. Those lampwork beads. That ribbon.

Anything that transmits luxury to you will transmit it to your customers.

Make a special packaging, add that extra touch, and your promos will stand by itself and become a future sale!"

Learn more about how Carolina makes magical promotional items for her business (and see lovely photos of the promos she creates!) in her article Making Promos - the Importance of Giving for Your Business.

As Carolina says, promos are “good karma insurance” for your business – there is nothing more true than "prosperity cannot be reached without generosity".

What is New Old Stock?

by Charlene Anderson

of Unravelings

New old stock (abbreviated NOS) is merchandise being offered for sale which was manufactured long ago but that has never been used.

The items may not be produced anymore, and the new old stock may represent the only market source of a particular item.

Although not an officially recognized accounting term, it is in common use in the auction and retail industries, including eBay.

Some people also refer to such merchandise as New Obsolete Stock to further indicate that the parts have not been manufactured for several years.

New old stock differs from vintage in that vintage items may or may not have been used (and in most cases they have been) where as NOS are new, never used items.

In the jewelry realm, vintage parts more than likely have been salvaged from broken pieces for reuse in new designs, while NOS are old jewelry components that have never been used.

Businessdictionary.com defines New Old Stock as: Items purchased but never used and still in their original packaging.

Also called new unused stock or surplus stock.

Just came across this PayPal fee calculator that helps you figure out your PayPal fees, reverse-engineer your fees before you decide how much to charge, convert currency for PayPal transactions, and more.

Jo Guerra of JoJewelry has been importing and selling sterling silver jewelry, costume jewelry and accessories for over fifteen years.

She now travels several times a year to import unique jewelry designs in sterling silver and costume jewelry from India, Thailand and other foreign countries.

Jo's new blog, Wholesale Jewelry, features interesting stories and tips from her adventures in importing jewelry from other countries.

It's a fascinating read while you wait for Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull to open on May 22!

When she first began importing jewelry, Jo struggled to find suppliers.  However, the Internet and foreign jewelry shows now make it much easier to connect with sources.

Recently Jo shared a bit of her journey in Importing Jewelry - Finding Suppliers In Foreign Countries.

What's the best thing about being a professional jewelry designer?

"What I like best about working in design is being creative, and ultimately when you see your product in a store it brings a satisfaction that I cannot begin to explain. It's so gratifying to know that you created that design from concept to final approval - and then there it is in stores across the country!"

Read the rest of an insightful interview with a successful jewelry designer:

An Inside Look at Jewelry Design - Interview with Jewelry Designer Fernanda Medina.

Anne Rush of The Savvy Designer shares her fascinating chat with Fernanda, in this peek inside the professional jewelry design world.