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[J39]Jewelry Making For Dummies

by Rena Klingenberg, Ren

You'll find a ready supply of students waiting to learn from you; currently there's a big demand for jewelry workshops and classes.

Many people are thrilled with the idea of creating jewelry, but don't want to invest in the supplies until they've tried it. Or they may want to add a new jewelry making skill to their repertoire, or simply enjoy socializing while they create something beautiful to wear.

Teaching is a good way to keep money coming in during the times of year when sales are slower for your finished jewelry. You can even choose to limit your workshops to only those months of the year when you're not busy selling your own jewelry at shows.

Teaching opportunies abound. A few examples of places to hold workshops include your own studio; in local art, craft, or bead shops; in active retirement communities; in schools or for homeschooling groups; at birthday parties; for women's clubs; at lapidary clubs; in community colleges; and at RV parks.

You can put together a variety of jewelry kits that your students can purchase from you to use at your workshops, or bring an open selection of supplies for them to choose their own components.

However, the more choices you make available, the longer your students will take to select their components. Your workshops can be much easier for you as the instructor if you simply provide a variety of kits containing all the parts to make something.

The more jewelry making workshops you teach, the more people will ask you to teach. Your students will want to make more jewelry, or they'll ask you to do a workshop for a group they're in, or to lead a jewelry-making session with their Girl Scouts.

Your teaching opportunities tend to snowball once you get started.

You probably won't run out of workshop ideas, because your students will always let you know what they want to make next, or someone will have heard about your through the grapevine and contact you to ask if you can teach them how to make something special.

Here is a list of potential jewelry workshop students – groups who are VERY interested in what you have to offer them:

Girl Scouts
Women's Clubs / Organizations
City Parks and Recreation
Local Art Galleries
Local Craft Stores
Local Bead Shops
Needlework Shops
Local Lapidaries
Lapidary Club
Women's Craft Groups
Women's Church Groups
Country Clubs
Community Colleges
Private Schools
Home-school Groups
Active Retirement Communities
Activity Centers
Women's Home Parties
Spouses' Activity at a Conference
Cruise Ship Activity
Summer Day Camps
Mentally / Physically Challenged
Veterans' Groups
YMCA's
Retired People's Organizations
Adult Education Centers
After-School Care Programs
Vacation Resorts
RV Parks

This list should get you started; it's just a general list, and with a little brainstorming you'll probably come up with some great ideas for the area where you live. Every region has its own culture, with lots of possibilities for specific jewelry making workshops!

Keep your eyes open and be creative, and you'll begin to find jewelry workshop students everywhere! And once you get started, ask your students and everyone else you know for suggestions on other groups who would be interested in a workshop.

Word-of-mouth publicity will soon bring you all the new students and opportunities you can keep up with!

Does the thought of trying to sell something to someone make your heart race and your palms turn sweaty? For me, the thought of going up to someone and saying, "Hi, let me tell you about a great product or business opportunity, etc., etc." just kick starts an excess of acid juices flowing in my stomach.

In our over-advertised and over-marketed to society we all have our defenses up when the sales pitch starts. No matter how skilled the salesperson, we can smell it coming from a mile away.

So, is there a business where the product literally "sells itself" so that you don't have to push anything on someone? The answer is YES! I was lucky enough to discover some years ago that jewelry making fits the bill perfectly.

Why? Well, jewelry is one of those products where you get to actually wear what you make. When you do that you literally become a walking advertisement for your jewelry. As long as you make attractive handmade necklaces, earring, bracelets, rings or other types of jewelry they will attract attention where ever you go when you wear them in public.

Then you get to take advantage of an instinct that most of us women have. We can't help ourselves when we see a very nice unique looking piece of jewelry. We've just got to find out more about it.

I can't tell you how many times over the years that women I don't know at all have approached me while I was wearing my jewelry out in public, and struck up a conversation that goes something along these lines:

"Hi, I'm sorry to bother you, but I noticed your necklace and it's so beautiful and I was wondering if you could tell me where you got it."

Do you see why this is so magical? Most salespeople would think they had died and gone to sales heaven to have people coming up to them and basically telling them, without the sales person saying a word, that they are extremely interested in buying the sales person's product.

When this happens to you and you respond, "Thank you. Actually, I have a small jewelry making business and I made this myself," it's very easy to move toward getting an order for your jewelry. This happens to me all the time.

The added bonus is that most of the women who become your customers will continue to order jewelry from you in the future. That's another thing that sales people love: repeat business.

Article Source : Buy Diamonds

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Both Rena Klingenberg & Eri Attebery are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Rena Klingenberg has sinced written about articles on various topics from Marketing Tips, Jewelry and Marketing. Learn more about teaching profitable jewelry making workshops at jewelry workshop success tips by Rena Kl. Rena Klingenberg's top article generates over 40500 views. Bookmark Rena Klingenberg to your Favourites.

Eri Attebery has sinced written about articles on various topics from Jewelry. Eri Attebery is a jewelry making teacher for www.JewelryMakingProfessor.com, a site dedicated to teaching jewelry making using videos with the E.A.S.Y. Jewelry Making System.. Eri Attebery's top article generates over 3600 views. Bookmark Eri Attebery to your Favourites.