The Big Plan

When I started, I had no idea of what a business plan was. As many beginners I thought “well, I’ll make the pieces and people will come”, but that only led to frustration! I had no one to show my jewels to, and sales were low or none for months.

Learning about marketing techniques is the best I’ve done for my business – in fact, before I learnt about marketing I did not have a business. I was just another person that made earrings and other sparkly items. Nothing of interest. I was losing time, losing money (that hurted the most!) and losing hope I could do that for a living.

If you have a home-based business making a good business plan is absolutely necessary. The longer you procrastinate this fact, the harder it will be for you to succeed. You have to set goals, see how you are going to accomplish that goals, work as hard as you can to reach that goals, and give a time to that goals to show. Does it sound like too much business talk for you? Yes, I know: you’ve probably been already searching the web about this matter and found many articles, all of them curiously vague and promising you a golden future if you let the Big Business Author help you…paying a little fee, of course. Or maybe not that little.

So, you actually grabbed a piece of paper and are ready to write your Super Business Plan. It does not need to be a formal statement, and you don’t need to know all the answers now. Leave room to add as many things as you need as you keep learning. Be sincere! To set goals properly you have to analyze deeply your situation today; you can use this questions as a guide.

1. You have to set goals.
- Where are you now and where do you see your business in 6 months/a year?
- Do you need to keep learning for maybe six months more before you start a business?
- Is your price competitive or self-indulgent? How much do you consider you should get paid per hour?

My Advice: Be reasonable.
Be reasonable with the amount of money you are paying yourself per hour. It takes years of mastering your skills to deserve 20€ an hour! Beginners tend to complain about not selling when the truth is, simply, that the work is not good enough.
Be reasonable with the time you give yourself to reach your goals. Forcing yourself to grow too quickly will only burn your creativity. Growing a business, branding and having customers coming back takes time and needs to be built little by little.
Be reasonable with the time you give a day for your business: don’t expect to succeed working five or six hours a day, because it takes twice that time!

2. You have to see how you are going to accomplish that goals.
- Are you showing your work to the appropriate customers? O you choose your customers, or do they choose you?
- Are you taking time enough to learn, or are you stuck using the same techniques over and over again?
- Are you learning enough about marketing/promotion?
- Do I have proper studio space, tools and supplies to accomplish my goals?

My Advice: Learn the Rules, but Add your Twist.
The world of business is just as it is. You have to learn almost as much as you will have to learn jewelry making techniques, and I think you should do both at the same time! Though you should follow the advice of business experts, always try to find out how does that apply to your specific situation. Every game has its own rules, and the jewelry business is no exception, but try not to sound and look like everybody or you’ll get lost in a crowd of crafters all trying for the same customers with the same methods. You are special and unique, so show it!!!

3. You have to work as hard as you can to reach that goal.
- How long does it take to take your ideas into action? Which parts of this business are you procrastinating and why?
- How many ideas or projects you have unfinished?
- What are you doing to promote your business and what will you do if that doesn’t work?
- What additional incomes can you make if you don’t sell? Do you teach classes, sell tutorials, write freelance articles? If you don’t do any, what would you need to learn or purchase to make it?
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My Advice: Just Do It.
Don’t think: “Oh, I’d love to make a necklace like this” or “Oh, I’d love to make my own newsletter”. Go and do it. Learn whatever techniques you need and start making your dream take shape. Waiting for this and that won’t work. Do you want an example? When I didn’t have a printer I used to handwrite my business cards, one by one. Making 100 business cards by hand may seem crazy, but everyone has time to make 10 or even 5 a day.
Overcoming shyness is another big issue if you are interested in consignment in shops, but the advice is the same: just do it. Do as much as you can to put your jewelry out of your house, because it won’t sell from your studio by itself- and better today than tomorrow!

4. You have to give a time to that goals to show.
My Advice: Be Active, but Patient.
There is only one important question here, and it is about your alternative plans. You cannot expect to succeed and have a constant flow of customers until you have been working very hard for at least a few years. Going back to the topic in the paragraph above, you have to start working on alternative incomes from the start and focus on learning well what it takes to get them working and making money while you master your skills both at making jewelry and at selling it. If you are busy 12 hours a day growing your mastery you won’t have time for grousing about your unlucky destiny.