How to Start a Bead Business

The humble bead has been a staple of jewelry making for over a millenia across nearly all cultures and styles of jewelry. This means that when it comes to starting out as an entrepreneur in jewelry crafts, there are few business choices more reliable than dealing in these simple decorations. A small craft bead business can be started with little starting capital, overhead costs or complicated business connections.

Difficulty:

Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Determine a niche for your product. Chances are you will have the best success focusing on creations that are a variation on a style that is unique to you, or something otherwise out of the ordinary (such as an unusual material).

2. Develop techniques for mass production, if possible. This may involve full duplication processes such as making molds, or simply finding ways to streamline production while keeping pieces unique. A good way to do this is an "assembly line" process of making several pieces at each stage of creation (i.e., sculpt 50 clay circles, then make all 50 holes, then paint all the beads) rather than following each individual piece through all steps before starting another.

3. Create sample projects using your beads. Sample products are not only pieces that you can sell on their own, they provide potential buyers of your beads with an example of how they look when they become a part of completed jewelry.

4. Make a website. Use the photographs you've taken of your items. While your website doesn't need to be complicated, it should be attractive (since you want your customers to have confidence that your product will be, as well), so use a pro (or at least a web design template) if this isn't something you're skilled in.

5. Create publicity materials. This includes fliers, business cards, and perhaps catalogs of your creations. Choose your best photos and make sure they look good on the printed materials. This will probably mean spending more money for quality color prints or even glossy paper, but even if this means you can't afford as many prints, it will be better to have fewer, higher-quality copies.

6. Find local retail sellers. Small, independently owned bead sellers are a more likely and more suitable option for a craft seller. Contact the owner/manager with samples of your work and offer the proprietor the option of both wholesale (they buy products from you and sell for a profit) or consignment (they give you space for your items in the store and keep a share of profit when and if they sell).

7. Sell your beads and finished jewelry at craft fairs. Finding local craft fairs can be a little tricky and usually involves word-of-mouth, or scouting newspaper listings and craigslist ads. Luckily, once you find an upcoming fair, getting a booth is usually as easy as signing up and possibly paying an entry fee (usually less than $100 unless the fair is particularly big).

8. Sell on-line. You can either sell through your own website (the simplest way to do this is to set up a PayPal store), or sell through one or more of a number of popular crafters' marketplace sites (see links below for a list).

Resources

• Craft Selling Websites