by Demetria Irwin
Making a living from selling handmade items crafted at home conjures up images of early 20th century women sewing dresses, slacks, aprons and other goods for their fellow working class neighbors. In today’s world of dollar stores and outsourced labor that allows for rock bottom prices at nationwide retailers, there doesn’t seem to be a space for those who seek to earn a living making items that can be found anywhere and at lower prices.
However, the women behind these four handmade jewelry businesses show how to make a home-based business model work. They have a couple things in common. They all rely on the internet for free marketing and they all have three digit numbers for the amount of items sold per month. Beyond that, they each offer something unique and that is the key to having a successful home-based business. Sure, you can get earrings from anywhere, but do they look like this?
Business Name: Sarenzo Beads
Founder: Sarah Elliot
Day Job: Cosmetology Student
Wares: Earrings, Bracelets, Hair Accessories
Price Range: $10-$30
Business Fact: Sarenzo Beads sold 500 items at an arts and crafts show in Baltimore.
Advice to Aspiring Entrepreneurs:
“Start small. Have a $5 or $10 per paycheck habit. Put that money towards buying supplies every week and stick to your budget. You’ll start to build your business on those $10 trips. You’re not breaking the bank and it gives you the opportunity to see if it’s for you.”
The saying goes that necessity is the mother of invention. Sometimes, boredom can be that motherly figure too. While living in a semi-rural Virginia community nine years ago, Elliot and her husband would make frequent trips to the area’s only sign of life, a Walmart, to buy boredom busting products like puzzles and games. One day she picked up a beading kit and, not too long after that, Sarenzo Beads was born.
It started out small and simple. Elliot and her husband (the name Sarenzo is a mash-up of Sarah and Lorenzo) would make beaded earrings and their friends and co-workers would buy them. As demand grew and they started getting orders from people they didn’t know personally, they expanded the line, which now includes bracelets and most recently hair accessories. “Wood is my signature. I sell a lot of wood pieces. My hair ties are probably my most popular item. They are small, durable and easy to use,” said Elliot.
In 2009, Elliot was able to get a website designed for her in exchange for a few custom pieces. Since then, her website, along with her Twitter account and arts & crafts shows are her main channels for marketing and selling. “Shows have been great for us, but they do take a lot of preparation,” she said. “If I sell five of something online, I might sell a couple hundred of that same thing at a show. I have to do my research, know what kind of buyers will likely be there and make things they’ll like,” Elliot said of her recent decision to begin selling her work at special fairs and events.
Though Elliot is a cosmetology student and her husband is in culinary school and their son and daughter ages seven and six are both high-functioning autistic children, Sarenzo Beads still manages to produce between 150 to 200 pieces per month on average. Everything is done by hand out of the Elliots’ home in Virginia. Already a third Elliot is helping out. Their daughter designed the autism earrings on the site, which are silver circles with a puzzle piece in the middle. A portion of the proceeds from those sales as well as the sales from an upcoming line from her “Baby Girl” (as her mother affectionately calls her) are donated to the classroom that handles autistic children in her area to help them with supplies.
Elliot says she is able to offer her handmade work for such low prices because she buys in bulk whenever possible and she recycles. If an item doesn’t sell after a couple months, she takes it apart and uses the parts to make a new piece.
Jewelry is not the final stop for the now 31-year-old. Elliot–who was accepted to the prestigious Fashion Institute of Technology in New York years ago, but didn’t go because her parents forbade it—has been working on a line of pocketbooks and she just bought a sewing machine.
Business Name: Peace Images
Founder: Camille Peace
Former Day Job: Women’s Shelter Administrator
Wares: Earrings, Bracelets, Body Chains, Hair Accessories
Price Range: $10-$125
Business Fact: Approximately 40 percent of Peace Images sales come from Facebook.
Advice to Aspiring Entrepreneurs:
“Trust yourself. Whatever you make, trust that people will like it. Keep working no matter what. It’s about momentum.”
Like Sarah Elliot, Camille Peace’s entrepreneurial journey also began at Walmart of all places. In the spring of 2008, while still living in the Midwest, Peace bought a jewelry kit to repair some of her favorite pieces that had fallen apart over the years. She felt empowered by the idea of reclaiming the jewelry she loved and pretty soon she began making her own accessories.
Peace’s pieces are far from ordinary. She has body chains that sumptuously drape the shoulder just so, earrings that feature long colorful feathers and big chunky agate rings that sparkle in the sun. “I get inspiration from lots of places,” Peace explained. “Sometimes it’s a song. Sometimes it’s what I’m reading. I’ve been reading a lot of Malcolm x speeches lately so that’s influenced some of my pieces.” Many of the items offered by Peace Images contain symbols of the African Diaspora such as a ring shaped like Africa and earrings with dangling ankhs.
For about a year and a half, Peace kept a day job at a women’s shelter while selling jewelry in her free time. After relocating to Los Angeles with her fiancé at the end of 2009, Peace began working on her passion full time. “I wasn’t raised in an artistic family, so I’m really learning as I go. This is the first time in my life that I’m running my own business and setting my own hours,” said the 30-year-old, who typically wakes up at 8 a.m. and works for 16 to 17 hours per day.
Peace comes up with about 20 new designs every month and has her work available for sale at boutiques and galleries in Los Angeles and St. Louis in addition to her website. She plans on making something special for herself on her big day, but in the meantime, she enjoys making one of a kind items for other brides.
Business Name: Rachel Stewart
Founder: Rachel Stewart
Former Day Jobs: Welder, Blueprint Maker, Painter
Wares: Earrings, Bracelets, Brooches, Necklaces, Rings
Price Range: $15-$50
Business Fact: Stewart offers free shipping and a free pair of earrings with each purchase.
Advice to Aspiring Entrepreneurs:
“It’s easier than you think. Now is the best time in history for minority women to start a business. Everyone has a computer and a camera. The Web and blogs are free. Paypal is free. The time is now.”
Big and bold are the words to describe Rachel Stewart’s collection. Whether it’s a pair of dangle earrings that read “Young Gifted And Black” or a ring shaped like a turntable, Rachel Stewart designs are meant to be statement pieces.
Based in North Carolina and with a honey sweet southern drawl to prove it, Stewart believes her work reflects her personality and maturity. “I’m not as self-conscious as I was in my 20’s,” explained 37-year-old Stewart. “I like big earrings, the bigger the better. Plus, I saw a void in the market where black women were really not being addressed, so I started making my own pieces.”
Stewart has a built a studio in her bedroom where she makes all of her pieces by hand. She outsources some of the metal cutting, but other than that, every piece of jewelry comes from her own hands. Her previous job as a welder comes in handy when she solders some of her metal pieces.
Stewart stays busy by making about 80 new pieces per month on average. She keeps overhead low by only selling online. She doesn’t do jewelry shows and is adamantly opposed to paying rent anywhere to sell her work. “It would be nice to be in a department store, but they wouldn’t want my afro pick earrings in their stores,” said Stewart. “They think there are not enough black dollars to support it, but they are wrong.” Stewart does most of her advertising for free on social networks and websites, but she does occasionally purchase advertisements on blogs for what she says are reasonable prices.
Though completely devoted to her jewelry line now, Stewart is also an accomplished painter who used to create five-foot tall works in bold designs and colors. The recession significantly dented her sales and she doesn’t have the room to paint new pieces, so her masterpieces sit awaiting more space or more buyers. “I don’t use my painting skills on the jewelry line because it would take a lot of time to do that and so I would have to charge much more for my pieces. I want to keep my line affordable,” explained Stewart who says she has no desire to cater to celebrities or take over the jewelry world. “I’m not trying to become a millionaire. I like to keep it small and manageable. As long as I can make a good amount of money with this, I’m fine.”
Tiffany Stapleton, Tasha Dial and Shayla Jamerson
Business Name: Headbanger Accessories
Founders: Tiffany Stapleton, Tasha Dial, Shayla Jamerson
Day Jobs: Event Planner, Office Manager, Stylist/MAC Certified Make-Up Artist
Wares: Earrings
Price Range: $25-$180
Business Fact: Headbangers Accessories began with $50 and a trip to a craft store.
Advice to Aspiring Entrepreneurs:
“Use roadblocks to fuel your drive. Stick to your guns no matter what and stay positive. When opportunities present themselves take advantage of them. Work hard and be ready. Encourage your fellow sisters.”
Three friends are behind the Bay Area’s Headbangers Accessories. Thirty-three year-old Tiffany Stapleton is the Marketing Director. Shayla Jamerson, 29, is the Creative Director and 31-year-old Tasha Dial is the Sales Manager.
The ladies have been friends since 2004 when they were all working in club promotion. The line of earrings they have created is characterized by gigantic parts, bold colors and interesting material choices. One of their most popular earring collections is called Busit Babies (a nod to the popular song by rapper Plies). The circular earrings– which like all Headbanger earrings are available in small, medium and large–come in a variety of colors and textures.
The three ladies all work on the earrings from their respective homes. On top of holding down day jobs, they create 80 to 100 new pairs of earrings a month on average which is no small feat considering the level of detail and skill required for some of the pieces.
Several celebrities including Goapele, Solange, Kim Cole and La La Vasquez have all rocked pieces from Headbanger Accessories. “We try to make as many connections that we can with key stylists. We basically just try to have our names out there and be ready,” said Stapleton.
Beyond beautifying Hollywood starlets and around the way girls, the women behind Headbanger Accessories also give back to the community. This past spring, they sponsored a young lady’s prom night. With gifts and services valued at over $1500, the women used their own resources and the donations of others to provide the lucky teen with a custom-made dress, dinner, a manicure and pedicure, earrings (of course), hair, make-up, a limo and many other goodies. “That was a beautiful thing. Her mom couldn’t afford her dress, the ticket and all those things that go along with a prom night. We will be doing that every year,” said Jamerson.
Though the company is only two years old, they have already had their fair share of drama. They had some of their pieces in a local boutique, but according to the ladies, the owners of the boutique began stealing their designs and essentially selling knock-offs. The experience has made the three women more careful, but not jaded. They get the bulk of their business online, but they have begun new relationships with boutiques that don’t steal.
“I want us to be like a Louis Vuitton or Chanel. I want us to be a household name and it will be more than just accessories,” said Stapleton of the future of the business. “We want to give back, have a non-profit and really make a difference. Our goal is major.”
