[Jewelry making - Article 00263] - Re: [Orchid] Just how hard is it to make a living selling your

[Suzanne Wade]

jewelry?
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    Elaine, Over half of all new businesses fail in the first five years,
    according to statistics from the Small Business Administration.  That
    means it's more likely you'll fail than succeed. 

    As you say, it's not like water off a duck's back, and it requires
    more than talent or a good idea.  It also requires more than hard
    work. It requires money and good planning, and a healthy dollop of
    luck. Even successful artists rarely got that way overnight!  And
    those  are things most people with visions dancing in their heads
    don't want to hear. It's "discouraging." They want to be encouraged
    to pursue their dream: damn the torpedos, full speed ahead!  But
    unless these are starry eyed adolescents, they should be able to
    handle the reality that the money isn't going to just fall off the
    back of a truck. 

    I say, by all means, encourage your students to pursue their dream
    --in a way that might lead to their achieving it. That means studying
    marketing as well as metal, writing a business plan, or whatever
    else it takes to figure out not just how to start a business, but how
    to make money at it. 

    After 10 years of talking to successful artists, my take on it would
    be "it's not easy, but it can be done." If your students find that
    discouraging,  I don't hold out much hope of their success. They
    don't want to hear about how real people are doing it because it's
    harder than they envision? Definitely not heading for success.
    Someone who has what it takes to succeed may be discouraged at first,
    but then they'll ask themselves, "So how can I learn all this stuff?
    How can I make it work anyway?" They'll find your advice extremely
    valuable, since it will help them prepare to succeed -- not just
    encourage them to throw caution to the wind and plunge right in,
    whether the venture has any chance of success or not. If they think
    you're discouraging, wait until they encounter the first customer
    like those described by you all in our recent thread "worst things a
    buyer has said to you"! 

Suzanne
Suzanne Wade
Writer/Editor
Phone: (508) 339-7366
Fax: (928) 563-8255
suzanne AT rswade.net
http://www.rswade.net


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