How To Start Your Own Jewellery Business

Listen in! Pick up some expert advice to a reader's question that we selected from CyberSchmooz.

Whilst we may have resorted to wearing lounge-wear, one thing that hasn't changed is our love of jewellery. In fact we're spending more money than ever of jewellery, with silver jewellery the biggest money maker. If you've been inspired by the BBC show All That Glitters, or perhaps you started dabbling in creating jewellery over lockdown and you're wanting to turn your hobby into a full blown business, we've got the steps you need to start your own jewellery business.

Decide on your style

Before you launch your business, you'll need to decide on your style. Typically this will be either fashion jewellery or fine jewellery. Figuring out the quality of the metals and the gemstones are all it takes to determine whether a piece of jewellery is considered fashion jewellery or fine jewellery.

Fashion jewellery, also known as costume jewellery, is usually made with base metals and manmade stones. These pieces are often made with brass, copper, or aluminium, which bend, tarnish and mark easily.

Whereas fine jewellery is used to describe jewellery made of solid gold, sterling silver, platinum, and/ or other precious materials. Given that our recent propensity towards fast fashion is changing, it might be wise to consider setting up as a designer of fine jewellery.

Whilst the costs involved in creating fine jewellery may be higher, the income can also be considerably higher too.

Invest in the essentials

Once you've decided on your style, it's time to find suppliers for your chosen medium. Sterling silver is the cheapest of all the precious metals and is often the most popular. Silver can also be plated in gold.

It's important you factor in the cost of the raw materials as well as the time it takes you to create your pieces when selling them to help make your business viable.

When starting up it's important to keep costs down so only invest in the essential tools like blow torches, wire cutters, saws, and soldering block. Once your business is more established you can then expand your range of tools to include more specialist equipment.

Make it legal

Once you have made a selection of jewellery you're ready to sell, you'll need to make sure there's no other business out there with your name on it. You should also decide whether you'll be operating as a sole trader or as a business.

If you're working as a sole trader, you will need to inform HMRC and if you're operating as a business then you'll have to get in touch with Companies House. Both have their pros and cons, so it's worth speaking to a financial advisor or accountant to talk through your options.

Find your marketplace

When you've made your business legal, you should find your marketplace. Online shopping is now one of the most popular way for people to buy goods, so setting yourself up online a great place to start.

There are plenty of eCommerce sites for you to choose from, all you have to do is find the one that resonates the most with what you offer.

Social media is the easiest way to get your name out there. Think about who your target market is and create content that appeals to them. And don't forget to interact and engage with your followers regularly to build-up a good relationship.

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