Side Hustle - Home Jewelry Party Biz

16 Ways to Market your Home Jewelry Party Business by Kristie Leong M.D.



Do you sell jewelry through home jewelry parties? If so, you already know how important it is to recruit new hosts for your home jewelry party business.

1. Hand out business cards freely. Make sure you have a separate business card promoting your jewelry home party business. Don't use a business card designed to promote sales of your jewelry. Your home party business card should specifically list the benefits of hosting a jewelry home party.

2. Post your home jewelry party business cards on bulletin boards in schools, libraries, restaurants, and grocery stores.

3. Stay motivated by reading positive thinking and motivational books and literature. These really do make a difference if you put them into practice.

4. Host an open house to sell your jewelry and recruit new sellers for your jewelry home party business.

5. Make a list of everyone you can think of who might enjoy making extra money selling jewelry through home parties. Resolve to call at least two people each evening to let them know how your home jewelry party business can help them make money.

6. Set up a recruiting booth at a school fair, craft show, or business fair. This is your chance to promote both your jewelry and your jewelry home party business.

7. Wear a catchy button promoting your home party business. Use a slogan like "Earn extra money while having fun! Ask me how!" or "Ask me how to get free jewelry."

8. Advertise in low cost and free publications such as church bulletins, dance recital programs, school publications, buy and sell newspapers, and local classifieds. There are lots of people out there looking for ways to earn extra money who love beautiful jewelry!

9. Wear a sweatshirt or t-shirt that promotes your home jewelry party business. You can use the same slogan you use on your button or badge.

10. Wear your jewelry everywhere. When people compliment it, let them know about how they can get free jewelry and earn income by hosting a home jewelry party.

11. Place signs on telephone polls advertising your home party business. Don't laugh! This really works.

12. Turn your car into an advertising vehicle with a magnetic car sign advertising your home party business.

13. Advertise your home jewelry party business prominently on your web page.

14. Write articles on how to be successful in the home party business. Submit the articles to article databases along with a link to your web page.

15. When you're shopping or running errands, keep your ears open for people who are complaining about wanting to earn extra income. Give them one of your business cards.

16. Include a business card advertising your home jewelry party business along with your tip at restaurants.

These are just a few of the many ways you can recruit more people to host home jewelry parties for you.. Pick out two of these ideas and resolve to do them on a regular basis and track the results. If one idea isn't working for you after several weeks, discard it and try another one. It's important to test each idea thoroughly before moving onto the next one so you can see which marketing ideas are most effective for you. Focus and consistency will pay off. Be sure to document where each of your leads comes from so you can know which advertising methods are working for you. Be consistent about this and you should be rewarded with lots of new recruits for your home jewelry party business.

Kristie Leong M.D. specializes in helping handmade jewelry designers find new markets for their jewelry. She publishes a blog and has website full of information on jewelry marketing at http://www.jewelry-marketing.com/.

Excerpted from How to Start a Jewelry Business.

Kreative Worthy Causes!!!!

Please visit Sa Lone Pikin to learn about the 2008 pledge!!!!!! So many people have taken the Pledge. Please read more about it and let us know if you would love to participate. You may take the Pledge Poll and read about how you too can participate. Thanks and God Bless!!! From educating children to providing micro loans through Kiva, we can do so much to change lives in the United States and around the World!!!

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If you haven't done so already, don't forget to enter the Valentine's Day Sweepstakes below. It ends on Feb 5th!!! Good Luck!!!

Small Biz New Year Resolutions

Here are the most common New Year's resolutions by small-business owners and the percentage that make them:

Be more profitable 56%
Be a better boss 36%
Get to know customers better 36%
Make personal time for me 36%
Get outside help I need 25%
Do something to benefit the environment 22%
Establish an emergency-preparedness plan 16%




Source: Survey of 627 owners/managers of U.S. companies with fewer than 100 employees, by American Express

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Retirement Planning for Small Biz Owners

With less than a month to the end of 2007, small biz owners should reassess their business plans to determine which areas need tweaking. We need to evaluate the following:

Budget – How did we do? Are we over or under budget? What do we need to include or exclude from the 2008 budget?

Financing – Reassess your loans and other forms of financing. Did you refinance the interest rates on your home to finance your small biz? Make sure you pay close attention of the small print. You don’t want to lose your home and your biz.

Employees – Do you need to hire employees? Or fire the current employees, if any?

Taxes – I will do a separate post on taxes.

Inventory – Did you run out of materials/supplies during 2007? Find ways to plan more efficiently so that you’re not stuck waiting for your materials during a high demand rush period.

Retirement Planning – Are you adequately planning for retirement? Most small biz owners are so busy trying to build their business that they don’t focus on planning for retirement. Get off to a fabulous start in 2008 by planning now for your future!!! Your top business goal should be paying yourself first.

Please take the Retirement Planning & New Year Resolutions Polls [to your left]!!!


Below is an informative Small-Biz Retirement Planning article reprinted from The Montley Fool.

If you're a typical small-business owner, you know how many things you need to keep in your head at the same time. Not only must you do an exceptional job in your chosen occupation, but you also have to make sure you take care of all of the technicalities involved in running a small business. Hiring employees can take some of the burden off your shoulders, but employees also bring a host of additional legal requirements into play.

With the many responsibilities that business ownership entails, it's easy to understand why retirement planning often gets placed on the back burner. Yet business owners are uniquely placed to take advantage of some retirement-plan options that most employees don't get to choose from.

Your many options

Several retirement plan options exist for small-business owners. They vary in how much money can be contributed, whether employees other than the owners may participate, what (if any) contributions the employer must make on behalf of employees, what deadlines there are for creating and putting money into the plan, and how hard it is to run the plan. Among the options small businesses commonly use are SIMPLE IRAs, SEP IRAs, profit-sharing plans, SIMPLE 401(k) plans, and single-participant 401(k) plans.

Simple IRAs

Congress likes acronyms, so it picked the name "Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees" to spell the word "simple." Employers with fewer than 100 employees can choose this option. It allows the owner and any employees to save up to $10,000 per year, indexed for inflation, of their own money; if an employee is older than 50, an additional "catch-up" amount of $2,500 is allowed. The employer must generally either contribute an additional 2% of each employee's compensation to the plan or match 100% of each employee's contribution up to 3%; additional employer contributions are not allowed. The business owner must set up the SIMPLE IRA before October 1, unless the business starts after that date.

Most financial companies offer SIMPLE IRA options at a low cost compared with some other plan options. And as the name suggests, administering SIMPLE IRA plans is relatively easy. However, if you choose this option for your business, you are not allowed to set up any additional type of retirement plan.

SEP IRAs

The Simplified Employee Pension IRA has significant differences from SIMPLE IRAs. Perhaps the biggest difference is that the employer funds the SEP IRAs entirely. The employer is allowed to contribute up to 25% of compensation to the plan, up to an overall maximum of $42,000 per employee (indexed for inflation). Business owners have extra time to set up a SEP IRA; the deadline is the same as the deadline for the business income tax return, which means that most businesses that use a calendar year have until March or April of the following year to set up a SEP IRA.

SEP IRAs are also fairly easy to administer, and many financial companies offer them at a relatively low cost.

Profit-sharing plans

Like SEP IRAs, profit-sharing plans are generally all employer-funded. The same 25% contribution limit exists, although the per-employee limit is $44,000 rather than $42,000. And unlike the other plans discussed here, employer contributions to profit-sharing plans do not have to vest immediately. So if an employee leaves the company before a designated period of time passes, that employee forfeits any contributions the employer made on the employee's behalf.

Because profit-sharing plans allow for this added complexity, costs may be higher than for other plans, and some administrative tasks may be more burdensome or require professional assistance.

SIMPLE 401(k) plans

SIMPLE 401(k) plans share many similarities with SIMPLE IRAs. The same 100-employee limit applies, as does the $10,000 limit on employee contributions. The employer also has the same choice between contributing 2% of compensation or matching up to 3%of the employee's contribution.

The differences are relatively minor. The guidelines for how and when a new employee qualifies for the plan are slightly different, and there are some small variations in the amount that highly compensated employees can receive in employer contributions. Perhaps the biggest difference is that SIMPLE 401(k) plans can include provisions that allow employees to take loans against their account balances -- that's not an option with SIMPLE IRAs. In addition, business owners must file an information return with the IRS.

Single-participant 401(k) plans

These plans allow business owners without employees (other than a spouse) to take advantage of the higher limits that 401(k) plans allow. By using a single-participant 401(k) plan, a business owner can choose to save $15,000, plus an additional $5,000 for owners older than 50. In addition, the business can make a tax-deductible employer contribution on the owner's behalf of up to 25% of compensation. The total contributions cannot exceed $44,000, indexed for inflation.

A business owner must create the plan before the end of the year but can generally wait until the tax-return deadline to make deposits. In some circumstances, an IRS information return is required. Because the single-participant 401(k) is somewhat more complicated than SIMPLE and SEP-based plans, not as many providers offer them, and the costs can be somewhat higher. However, the higher contribution limits may mean that potential tax savings more than make up for any additional costs.

While this list of retirement-plan options is not exhaustive, it gives a good idea of the range of alternatives available to small business owners. A good retirement plan can not only attract faithful employees but also make it easier for business owners to achieve their own personal financial goals.

Click Here for additional tips from David Bach (The Automatic Millionaire).

Click Here for additional tips from Wells Fargo.

Click Here for additional tips from Wachovia.

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Small Business Owners and Holiday Shopping

As we all know, small business owners need all the help they can growing, developing and investing in their business. During the holiday season, we all look for good deals on all those items that are integral to our business growth and development. If you're looking for a good deal this week, don't forget about Cyber Monday.

Hailed as the 12th biggest online shopping day of the year, it presents a one-stop shoppping center for small business owners looking for inventory, hardware and other items. Whether you are looking for a new computer or new office furniture, you will find what you are looking for by CLICKING RIGHT HERE!!!!!!

With stores ranging from Dell, Sony, Circuit City, Overstock.com, Target, AT&T and Office Depot, you're sure to find a great deal.

Read last week's tips for online shopping before you start your click shopping. Protecting your credit card information is important, especially when you're using your business credit card. Your credit information is vital to the long-time success, growth and development of your small business.

How to Boss Yourself Efficiently

Structure your day. The problem a lot of homebased business owners have is that they no longer have a boss standing over them making sure they get their work done, or a tangible start and end of each workday. It's easy to let time slip by as you head to the refrigerator, catch a few minutes of TV, or dive into a project first thing in the morning, neglecting the other tasks you need to perform to keep your business running smoothly.

Create a structure that mimics what you had in the workplace. Structure your day so you have a start and finish time, with certain hours set aside for specific activities. A general rule is to spend the first hour of the day prospecting for new clients. Send your emails, write your letters and make your phone calls first thing so you don't forget to do it later.

Use Outlook or some sort of contact management software to serve as a visual reminder of what you need to accomplish that day. Live and die by your to-do-list. Try to have everything crossed off by the end of the day. Even my own children know that if they want me to do something for them during working hours, they have to put it on my to-do-list or it will never get done.

Stay connected. Carry an organizer wherever you go. If you're still using a day planner or similar dinosaur, consider upgrading to a Blackberry or other high-tech gadget. You don't need to go crazy and spend a lot of money, but invest wisely in something that will hold everything you need and allow you to instantly access it on the go. Another good idea is to not keep all of your information in one location, such as the hard drive of your home computer. Keep your data hosted on a virtual exchange server so you can access it anywhere that has an Internet connection. A big misconception about homebased business owners is that they stay at home all day, everyday. And as you know, that's just not always true.

Organize your family time. Once your professional life is organized, you may need to consider organizing your personal life. Maybe you noticed right away, or maybe it's just becoming apparent, that you tend to work around the schedule of your family members. This is especially true if you have children. A lot of people, especially young moms, decide that they're going to quit their jobs in corporate America and work from home in order to care for their children and save on daycare expenses. But in reality, if you're serious about running a homebased business and earning a decent income, you're going to have to make arrangements for childcare in or outside the home. Otherwise it becomes too distracting. Consider hiring a babysitter so you're guaranteed five to six solid hours to get your work done.

Motivate yourself. Sit down and set some goals for yourself. You no longer have quarterly reviews or progress reports, so it's important to keep track of whether or not you're making progress in your business. It's one thing to set small goals like completing your to-do-list--you also have to set goals to motivate yourself to succeed. Hopefully by now you're making as much, if not more, money at your homebased business than you were at your former job. If you aren't, begin by setting a goal to bring in the same amount of income you were, and slowly raise the bar to increase your income by a couple of thousand a month. Once you've met a goal, make time to reward yourself by doing something fun, which brings us to the next tip.

Take time out for good behavior. It's not uncommon to find yourself working 60- to 70-hour weeks. But the good thing is, if you want to sneak out and see a movie at two in the afternoon, nobody's going to tell you not to do it. You have that freedom and flexibility as a home business owner. It can be tempting to work all the time when you start seeing how successful your business has become, but know when to relax. You've already established a smooth-running business. Take a break every now and then so you don't get burned out.

Be a Jack-of-all-trades. There are a lot of roles you play as a homebased business owner: You're the CEO, president, secretary, office manager and tech support. Learn the basic skills of running an office, including how to troubleshoot some rudimentary technical problems. You don't need to become an expert, but make sure you have a basic understanding of tech support issues, bookkeeping, etc. Otherwise it will become too expensive to have to pay someone to do everything for you.

Network. Network with other homebased business owners in either a formal or informal setting. This is a good way to find service providers, leads and potential clients. Surrounding yourself with people who also work from home will give you the support you need, and refer you to people who can help you grow your business.

Consider moving out of your home. For a lot of people, working from home is a launching pad. In the beginning, many business owners work from home in order to keep overhead low. If you have more than one person with different roles working from your home office, you should ideally be working in separate rooms. It can be difficult having two people work side by side, even if those two people are spouses and love each other very much. It's distracting for anyone to have someone three feet away from you talking on the phone. Be prepared for expansion. At the point when your business becomes so successful that you cannot efficiently work close together, start considering moving your office outside the home.

Excerpted from Entrepreneur.com.

8 Ways to Keep Your Homebased Business Running Smoothly - By Sarah Pierce

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