Southern Charm Jewelry: Maria Alaniz

I am a young Mexican woman, born in the State of Guerrero. I work with a rural village artisans cooperative in the village of Tecalpulco. We make beautiful handcrafted stone mosaic jewelry and world-class quality .925 silver jewelry. I am also involved with video production. I love the beauty of nature and I love to be with the humble people. I love art that makes me look up and I love people who can teach me and people who make me want to sing. For me it is important to face each day with a positive attitude and not accept unhappiness. Long live love that graces our lives.

Exhibiting Jewelry at Craft Shows

Business: Strategic Planning • Published: February 21, 2011

Beautiful jewelry should be out on display! The best way to do so, is to exhibit your products at a craft fair or a related arts fair or exhibition. There are good craft shows for you to select one of your choice, in close proximity of your own location. Jewelry is always the best selling category at any crafts show. The right kind of preparation with a little effort to avoid any hitches at the fair itself will go a long way to ensure that your jewelry achieves notable recognition and sells!

The Right Colors Can Make You Money

Womens Interests: Beauty Products • Published: February 8, 2011

All colors are made up of three primary ones - red, blue and yellow. Yellow is warm, blue is cool and red is "in-between". When you add yellow you get a warmer tone, when you add blue you get a cooler tone. Human beings can also be classified as have either "warm' or "cool" undertones, which never fade with age or even tanning. Skin, hair, and eyes react to the colors around them, absorbing colors that match the undertone and reflect colors that oppose it.

How To Reach Out To Prospects and Customers

Business: Marketing • Published: February 4, 2011

Your customers will love this. You are editing the world of fashion for them, doing the research, doing the work for them. What's not to like? Your customers will look forward to receiving your emails and again, they will come to you with their business, instead of to your competitor who is left behind with the heavy lifting of getting the attention of prospects in the ever changing jewelry markets.

Fashion Scrapbooking

Womens Interests: Beauty Products • Published: February 4, 2011

You will eventually become a source of information and style for your customers which cannot help but result in increased sales. They will look to you for fashion inspiration and authority - again building a stronger relationship with that customer going forward. Start to collect pictures from fashion magazines with the latest wearable looks. Keep a scrapbook for yourself and/or for your customers which shows what is hot on the runways. Then look at your jewelry and pair them with some of the outfits. Literally, take the magazine photographs and place one or two pieces of your jewelry on top of them to show a complete "look", as if you were actually accessorizing the models behind the scenes.

Passion for Fashion? Becoming a Qualified Modern Fashion Designer

Self Improvement • Published: February 4, 2011

The first thing then is to promote your own look, as if you were a qualified modern fashion designer. In today's world of the internet, all it takes to become a huge successful, is good information and confidence in yourself and in the jewelry you represent. You can immediately start working towards a future sale and build an on-going relationship with your customers.

Effective Jewelry Display - Frame and Backdrop

Business: Sales • Published: January 25, 2011

Effective jewelry display will spark the interest of a potential customer or it can cause people to keep right on walking by, entirely ignoring you and your jewelry. The goal of an effective display is to cause the display itself to be the background, while your pieces are positioned in such a way that entices contacts and prospects to come closer and pay attention.

Effective Jewelry Selling: Service Standards

Self Improvement: Achievement • Published: January 25, 2011

Salesmanship is not so hard; you primarily have to do what others are doing; i.e. educating the customer about the benefits of the products. If this process is mutually beneficial, you will win the sale. Remember, your service quality and behavior matter much more than the discounted prices and seasonal sales. In the end it is your character that will determine how successful you are.

Preventing Water Damage to Jewelry

Business: Productivity • Published: January 25, 2011

Water damage can go from just a little stain to an unsalable piece of jewelry. It is therefore important to avoid both of this by bringing with you: light plastic sheets, plastic bags, pliers, a little tent roof is often handy, also, of course, cleaning and polishing clothes. Also, a small blower hair-dryer can save you from suffering the devaluation of your inventory by exposure to sudden rain. You can not afford to just guess, and take chances with the weather.

The Psychology of Gifting Jewelry

Business: Sales Training • Published: January 21, 2011

Jewelry is often purchased as a gift; man to woman, as well as woman to woman. What is the psychology that goes into the choice of a piece of jewelry as a gift to another person? If you know the elementary principles of this buying psychology, you will have a great advantage in the sales person to person sales arena, an advantage that means extra income for you.

The Psychology of Buying Jewelry for Oneself

Business: Sales • Published: January 21, 2011

By observing one's own behavior, it is possible to gain insight into the way others behave. Most jewelry purchases are made by persons who are acquiring something personal for herself. A good understanding the motivation and psychology of the person purchasing an ornamental object for herself, is essential to your success in the jewelry business.

Calling on Retail Shops and Stores

Business: Sales • Published: January 21, 2011

Calling on shops and stores is only one technique in the bag of the jewelry seller. Wouldn't it be foolish to pass by a store that sells jewelry and never go in and meet the owner or the retail sales people? You are both in the jewelry business, it is perfectly appropriate for you to stop by to introduce yourself and compare notes. The article tells you a small difference in words that means thousands of dollars over a sales life time.

Jewelry Marketing Principles

Business: Strategic Planning • Published: January 21, 2011

Jewelry is like any other business in important ways. Still, the over-all market for jewelry is larger than the market for almost any other product. I am talking about the kind of product sales and distribution businesses that can be owned by the common person. My first advice to you is: the marketing department of your business should always be your shining star. If you are successful at promotion and marketing, everything else follows. As a successful sales-person, you would comprehend these marketing principles. In jewelry, you may have excellent designs, categories and quality items, but if you are not aware of these simple business rules, you may not be in a position to grow your business.

How To Do Great At Craft Shows

Business: Sales • Published: January 20, 2011

If you have great jewelry you can do well at crafts shows since invariably jewelry outsells any other type of product at fair and festival venues. This article lays out some of the elementary things you need to know if you have not had very much experience in craft shows as well as some things you need to watch out for.

How to Talk About Jewelry, Words to Use

Business: Sales Training • Published: January 20, 2011

The best way to sell jewelry is the old school way... by talking to your customers. You got that right, talking to customers is still by far and away, the best way to sell your jewelry. Talking to your customers, you personally take them through your selection, so they can feel more personal touch from your business. The problem is, that you may not know what to say, or how to talk about your jewelry, what words to use, what words to not use, when meeting with prospects.

How to Clean Your Jewelry

Shopping and Product Reviews: Jewelry Diamonds • Published: January 20, 2011

Jewelry is not only nice to look at, it is an investment as well so as to maintain the beauty, so that its value will not be diminished. Jewelry, unlike other products, increases in value over time, that is why much care should be put into it. More expensive jewelry needs the professional hands of the experts when it comes to cleaning. However, some pieces you can safely clean yourself. There are four steps in the cleaning process, just four steps so this should just be easy to memorize. By the time you finish reading this article, you will know how to take care of your jewelry with little expense.

How to Use Your Words Wisely When Speaking With Customers

Business: Customer Service • Published: January 19, 2011

It is a fact that the words you use are extremely important to your success. The words to use, the words to not use. If you have not been trained in the right use of language, then probably you don't know the basic information about speaking with your prospects and customers.

Do You Know How to Protect Yourself in the Market When Dealing in Silver Jewelry?

Shopping and Product Reviews: Jewelry Diamonds • Published: January 10, 2011

If you have knowledge and experience, it is not difficult to tell if a piece is real silver - WITHOUT putting it to a chemical test. First, turn the piece over in your hand, looking at the reverse side of its face. Do you see a little round mark punched into the metal surface? Usually, there will be some tiny letters or initials. If it is a piece of silver jewelry from Taxco...

What You Need to Know About Art Show Etiquette

Self Improvement: Success • Published: January 10, 2011

In order to make good money with jewelry, you need to know about art show etiquette. Make it a point to become familiar with the vendor rules, such as opening and closing times, as well as booth boundaries, displays, and merchandise restrictions, by carefully reading the printed material sent to you, at the time of your acceptance to the show. Whether we are talking about craft shows, festivals, or county fairs, each show will vary, yet there is certain generally accepted behaviours you should know about.

What is Jewelry? Really

Shopping and Product Reviews: Jewelry Diamonds • Published: August 5, 2010

To be successful, to make good money with handcrafted jewelry, you must know what jewelry is, really. To ignore the non-material content of jewelry, is to condemn oneself to a sentence of life-imprisonment of perpetual war-to-the-death against low-price competition and in the arena of the indifference of the average person. These the post-commercial modern era, people really only want jewelry that is authentic and meaningful.

Three Simple Tips For Remarkable Customer Service

Business: Customer Service • Published: April 16, 2010

So always there are two ways to solve the problems or situations: the easy way and the good way. It is expensive to be repairing the same mistake many times. Maybe you can pay some one to solve your problem no matter if it is expensive, but if you can find a definitive solution and exterminate the problem, Better Do it!

Fair Trade Fundraisers Work Wonders For Third World Communities

Business: Fundraising • Published: March 23, 2010

Fair trade fundraisers for one's team, school, club, or organization have become very popular. Today, many people prefer aesthetic items that do not come from the corporate commercial process.

Fair Trade Fundraisers

Business: Fundraising • Published: March 23, 2010

Fair trade fundraising is an ethical producer-merchant model that eliminates the middleman from the commercial equation. Fundraisers have become very popular because they are a way for communities to raise money: for examples, clubs, groups, teams, and schools.

Handcrafted Ethnic Jewelry Artisans in Fair Trade

Shopping and Product Reviews: Collectible Jewelry • Published: March 18, 2010

It is interesting to see the artisan communities with ethnic handcrafted jewelry in the villages of the Third World entering into the market offering services instead of commercial merchants. Many people today much prefer to get the products directly from the craftspeople themselves or from a distributor who is in a collaboration with the craftspeople so as to share the advantages.

Ethical Fair Trade to the Rescue

Shopping and Product Reviews • Published: March 18, 2010

The beauty of purchasing online is that you are getting it directly from the indigenous artisans making the jewelry you're purchasing-and this is a huge deal. Sure, in the United States you can find stores or flea markets that sell these fair trade items but you have an artisan certification, found in a cultural content and with cultural texture.

Handmade Artisan Owned Jewelry