Jima Jewellery
Make, Enjoy, Photograph, Share, Love
Leonora, the founder of Jima Jewellery, shares top tips on how to start and grow a successful jewellery business.
What got you into working for yourself? Â
I would say the enjoyment level of being able to be completely immersed in what I make and for me that was a distraction from the outside world. This is very good at the moment for mental health to have something you can focus on and be mindful in that moment. So making jewelry is very relaxing and therapeutic for me and it’s grown into becoming a business, so it’s very exciting. Â
What were the main challenges and what would you do differently?Â
For me the biggest challenge was to build the marketing side of the business. You can hear a lot of jewelers say similar stuff – that admin, marketing and promotions can be really difficult. However looking back I wouldn’t change anything. I’ve worked from nothing with this and I’ve learned along the way and that’s what a lot of us do. We learn how to target the right audience, how to take better pictures and how to promote ourselves. Everything is a learning curve so there’s nothing I would do differently, maybe except taking a course. There are so many courses out there in marketing that help speed up that process.
If you had to give a simple 5 Top Tips for starting a jewellery making business what would those tips be?  Â
Make – we love making and we always make stuff so always just keep going overÂ
Enjoy – always enjoy what you do. If you find yourself getting bugged out, go back to where you started.Â
Photograph – always take photos Â
Share – choose social media platforms and start sharing, start spreading the word, be brave, don’t hold back Â
Love – love what you do and let others love what you do and that love will help your business to grow
We are in a funny time, and there’s a lot of online shopping so marketing the brands is really important, there are a lot of virtual pop up shops and some crafters are picking here and there. I think the key thing is to be present online. For me one of the biggest successes so far is making sales on my website and bringing traffic to my website. So make sure you’re present and you are aware of what’s happening around you.Â
