I started my jewellery-making journey after a good friend gifted me a day’s jewellery-making workshop with Jude Karnon in Leighton Buzzard. There I crafted a wide hammered ring and a silver wire necklace. I went home full of excitement and spent the next few evenings browsing online jewellery tool suppliers working out what I would need to be able to do some more silver-smithing at home.

Fast forward six years, when I made the decision to hand my notice in at work (I’d been in Higher Education for many, many years), to run my jewellery business full-time. I still have to pinch myself when I wake up in the morning to check that I really am doing this. Now, rather than sitting in long meetings, and worrying about my team, I spend my days either in the studio creating work to sell online or at artisan fairs, designing for commissions, or progressing the many, many other tasks required of a creative small business owner.  And I love all of them.

I still feel like I am learning every day, and am certain that this will always be the case. However, if you’re on the brink of making the decision to earn money from your jewellery, or handmade business, or have just decided to take the plunge, I hope that these reflections about my learning thus far, help you on your way!

1. Invest in yourself

This was piece of advice that I was given very early on in this adventure, and something that has really stuck with me. Of course, between that first day of jewellery-making and now, I have completed many, many classes in silversmithing. These have been courses which have taught a specific skill (many at Nottingham Jewellery School) and regular sessions which have supported work on my own projects.  I have also done lots of online courses – some free, some paid. There is SO much information out there.

But just as importantly, I have also completed many courses focussed not on making, but on running a business. I knew nothing about marketing, web design, pricing, social media and so on, so this learning has, and continues to be, invaluable. Shout out here to Alys Power at NJS again who runs one-to-one business support sessions, The Design Trust, and The Jewellers Academy; all of these have been hugely beneficial to me.

At the beginning of the year, I decide how much I am going to put aside for my own professional development; and what the focus for this will be in the months to come.  It’s important to do this – you don’t have a boss now to encourage you to use your staff development fund (!) – so you have to do it yourself!  This year, I’ve decided to invest in business coaching with Leona Baker (Joyful Selling) and I know that this is going to be one of the most useful activities I’ve engaged in.

2. Find your community

Moving from employed work to self-employed work means that you will lose your work-place community and regular day-to-day interactions outside the home. For me this felt particularly risky given that my personal circumstances suddenly changed when my partner left. So it’s important that you find a way to engage with fellow-minded folk outside your own small business. I have been able to do this in lots of ways – through developing relationships with local makers whom I’m meeting at markets and fairs, engaging with local businesses in the community, and through my online coaching community. I can’t emphasise how important this has been in my success so far, and how absolutely life-affirming these relationships are!

3. Make mistakes and embrace them

Never have I believed more in the value of making mistakes! If you can find a way of properly knowing that, without having mistakenly taken that step, you wouldn’t have known the right direction to take, this will serve you well. This goes for both your making (for example, picking up a recently soldered – and extremely hot! – piece of jewellery), but also for your business. I have found real joy in knowing that I no longer need to fret about making sure every decision I make is the right one; now I take a (educated) punt, and see what happens. Some of my best learning has come from decisions I have made that turned out quite clearly to be the wrong ones. And that no longer phases me.

4. Keep an open mind about where the income will come from

When I first set out to earn money from my jewellery-making, I had anticipated that this would happen via sales on first Etsy, and then later, my own website. However, I have since discovered, that contrary to my early thoughts, I absolutely love having a stand at art and craft markets; and that these also serve me well financially. Similarly, I hadn’t anticipated being in a position to teach jewellery-making, given that I work from a pretty small studio in my garden.  However, with some creative thinking, I’m now successfully running jewellery-making experiences rather like the one that first enticed me into the business, from home.  And this has opened a door to teaching at NJS too. Perfect, given my original profession as a teacher.

5. Tool addiction is a thing

It just is. Accept it. Decide the amount of income you are going to put aside to spend on new tools at the beginning of the year and stick to it. And yes, if you have a particularly good month, spend some more!

6. Consider how many hours you will work on your business

One of the most challenging aspects of being your own boss (and loving every second of it) is knowing when to stop. My stresses these days come much more from worrying about all the things I haven’t done at home, rather than at work. For the last few weeks, I’ve been much more rigorous in deciding at the beginning of the week, how many hours I am going to work on the jewellery business, making sure I properly leave time for cooking, exercise, socialising, sleep etc. My daughter has created a ‘NO ENTRY AFTER 8.30pm’ poster and has pasted it on the door to my office. I suspect that this will always be something I need to work on, but I figure it’s a rather nice ‘problem’ to have.

7. Find a way to manage your business finances so you don’t feel scared about them

When I made the decision to leave paid employment, I was taking quite a financial risk. Recently separated, I knew that I had to be really clear about how my finances would work. This is something that I worked very hard on to make sure that it didn’t become a serious stress. I was lucky in knowing that I had my teaching to fall back on if things didn’t work, and I was also prepared to take part-time temporary work if needed. Crucial to my planning though, was to make sure that I could give myself a minimum of 6 months before making a decision about whether this venture is actually financially viable. Any time less than this wouldn’t be a good test, as it wouldn’t give me the opportunity to try things out and see what effect they had.

In the early weeks of setting up full-time I read the book ‘Profit First’ by Mike Michalowicz. This has been hugely influential. I have developed a system of reviewing my finances twice a month. This means recording all the ins and outs connected to the business and involves moving percentages of money made into various different virtual money boxes in order to ensure I have money for future large expenses like tax (or tools!)

8. Set out your values

There are several reasons why it’s useful, and indeed important, to be really clear about your business values, and set them out explicitly so that you can come back to them whenever you need them. Not only does this help your customer identify you, but it also means that you have something to lean on when you make decisions about an aspect of your business. For me, ethical principles and eco-friendly practices guide much of my work. This aligns to my personal values, and also helps me to steer an appropriate course when I am considering purchases or services for my business. Kindness and collaboration also define my business. My years in Higher Education have taught me to see the very best in people, irrespective of their actions and I strongly believe that generosity of spirit makes all lives happier and more fulfilled. This is where I place my business, and this is what will drive the future of my success.