East Tennessee bench jeweler friend needs job advice

Asking for a friend…this is literally true in this case. I have a friend who became a bench jeweler in East Tennessee about eight years ago. He’s worked for three or four different East Tennessee jewelry stores doing repairs and making new pieces and is good at setting to the level of pave. He’s also taken some courses at New Approach in engraving.

At present he feels like he isn’t really making enough to survive well and he does have some musical side gigs outside jewelry that do bring in a little money. Any big expense is a crisis, as he has no money cushion. Also no health insurance at any of these jobs, another worry. He feels something has to change…he likes his work, but can’t really make it on the money he’s making, so he’s considered changing careers. He knows he could probably make more as a bench person elsewhere but East Tennessee, but he has lots of friends here and also doesn’t have the money to relocate, he says.

All I can add to this story is that this guy has just turned 40, so aside from recently running out of money because of a big unexpected expense, that figures into his reassessing his life and career. Also, I’ve known this guy since his 20’s and before getting into bench work, he had a history of being underemployed and having jobs where he was definitely taken advantage of by sweatshop type employers. I thought getting into the jewelry bizz was going to be great for him and he really does enjoy the work, but he apparently hasn’t found the right niche.

I’m sure that some of you know people or have had students who have been in this position and some of you may have been in it yourselves…so I’m asking the collective mind here what advice you’d give my friend. My thanks in advance for your collective wisdom on this subject. I really want to see this very nice, bright person succeed in life, whether in or out of the jewelry world. -royjohn

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I wish there were some easy answers! This is a tough one.

One of the things that I often say is that a career is a curated list of professional experiences that tells the story of not just who you are, but where you want to go. For instance, I worked in restaurants a lot in my early years, but I never talk about that, because that’s not where I want to go in my career.

Artists of all kinds, have to have the mind set of an entrepreneur. For the most part that means having to have multiple gigs that all work together for their long term goals.

One of the things that is hard about being self-employed and I’m sure that you are one of these folks Roy John, is that when you’re in the middle of whatever you’re doing today for work, you have to be thinking and planning out tomorrow, next week, next month, six months, down the line. Not everyone is good at that, but those who last in our profession usually figure it out.

Where I’m going with this is that it sounds like your friend has a lot of varied experiences, but somehow focusing on one of those, whether it’s jewelry, music or something else and to create a thread to be able to sell himself more effectively will be very helpful.

Also, for most of my career, I’ve had multiple gigs that are all related to jewelry making at the same time. A main gig and one or two side gigs. Having multiple paying gigs is hard to manage, but it’s been instrumental in my longevity in this field.

Like I said, I don’t have any concrete advice for you friend, but it’s great that he has a mentor like you who believes in him! I often think, that having someone who believes in you goes a long way in helping folks move forward in their lives. Your friend is lucky to have you!

Jeff

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Hi Jeff,
Thanks so much for your reply. I dunno if I am great at juggling my responsibilities to get things done, but I’m at least figuring it out at long last. I hate planners, but at last I see the need for one and for repeated and refined lists made out and revised every day and sometimes twice a day. I’m retired, but committed to doing some jewelry and stone cutting, the latter of which is my main money-maker. I also do some fiber arts and play brass instruments as a hobby and I’m a student of Italian hoping to get fluent enough to converse with the locals freely on my trips over there to the villages my grandparents came from. Oh, and I have a three year commitment to my church’s Board of Directors. That means working my crafts around multiple meetings per week and juggling a lot of balls in the air at once. It is easy to get sidetracked. You hit the nail on the head speaking about synergy and time management.

Oddly enough, it turns out the friend I wrote about has trouble organizing, too. Maybe that’s why I wnat to help him so much. I’ve been there. What prompted the call for help and the musing about giving up his bench job was how little he’s making, how little he’s appreciated and how much time he’s spending rehearsing right now for upcoming music performances. Those who have done musical theater will know how much you rehearse just before a show…

I think being a bench jockey for someone else can provide some structure for you, but becoming an independent craftsperson instead of/in addition to a jewelry store gig requires a lot of different skills you have to develop.

So now I have two more questions…I’d like to know how folks who have made the transition from working a bench for someone else to doing independent work did that. It must be tricky to start doing independent work without pissing off the boss and having him think you are poaching clients. I guess that marketing yourself without getting in the way of the store is also an issue, as is marketing you in general…

Jeff, I’m curious about what other gigs besides bench jeweler one could have in the industry and compliment a bench jeweler/craftsperson gig. I wonder if you could share some ideas from your experience. I hope some other people will contribute ideas, too. -royjohn

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I am struck with the irony that we work with very expensive materials, often for the benefit of wealthy people, yet we can’t make a living ourselves while doing it. Working in metal and stone has always been a hobby for me. Since it has never been my living, and I only require that it support itself, I have been able to explore different materials, methods and tools without worrying about what it costs or if I can sell it. I know that this is not the case for many of us and I am sorry for that. Good luck to your friend…Rob

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First with your question about the jewelry store, it totally depends on the jewelry store. I’ve worked in three jewelry stores in my life. The first two, were like how you described. They discouraged custom work or making your own stuff because that was considered competition to the store.

The third jewelry store had an entirely different perspective. They supported their jewelers making their own work, but they took a percentage of sales, a 50/50 split. Every jeweler/employee could have their own display case in the store. That store also let employees come in when the store was closed or on their day off to use their shop for personal use. It was very different other two stores. So the answer to that question is that it depends on the store.

Where the third store drew the line was if an employee used existing store customers for sales outside of the store and took 100% of the sale. Like you said “poaching customers.” They really didn’t like that and would fire that person if it happened repeatedly.

The third store didn’t support, but also didn’t stop a person from doing a completely separate business venture, like doing a local craft fair on their days off.

That is my best advice for someone making the transition to self-employment, to do local craft fairs. Craft fairs give fantastic feedback and if you’re lucky, you’ll make some cash. I look at craft fairs like market surveys. You have to create a body of work for sale and you’ll quickly learn what’s a strong design and what’s a weak one. And it’s not just what sells. It’s also what people ask questions about. What they pick up and try on? You’ll get instant comments of what people think about your work. That is incredibly valuable as you move forward in creating a business.

But you said your friend isn’t good at organization. That may be the biggest problem of them all. Once you start making your own work, you’re starting a business. If you’re not at least mildly organized, you’ll probably fail. Plus, there is the whole taxes thing. Nobody wants the IRS or State Tax Board hounding them for bad record keeping and money owed. I don’t have any good advice for that issue.

As far as my side gigs go. There is huge list which is basically the story of my life, because there is always something and they change throughout the year. But a basic concept for me is to look for things that I think the world needs, but that not everyone else is doing.

For instance, for about 15 years, I did silver work for a high-end custom saddle company. My gig with them was about 25% of my annual income. Saddles with my work were in the $5000-$50,000 range. When I started doing that gig, I didn’t know anyone coming from the art jewelry world like myself doing that kind of work. The company liked working with me, because while they did a lot of cowboy/western designs, not all of their designs were western related. They needed someone who had an art metal background like myself. We’d usually start a saddle with me getting a small leather sample with some kind of pattern and I’d be asked to interpret the pattern in silver.

One of the first jobs that I remember was with an alligator skin saddle. I realized that I could take steel hardware cloth, distort the square screen pattern with needle nose pliers to emulate alligator skin. Then I could roller print the distorted hardware cloth onto silver sheet silver. It really looked like silver alligator skin.That blew the saddle company away because they couldn’t imagine that was possible.

Eventually I did go to engraving school at GRS and got to be a pretty good western scroll engraver. Then I could do it all and often combined art metal stuff and western scroll stuff. I don’t think I can count all of the saddles that we made together. At some point, I bought one of saddle company’s Arabian horses and got into endurance riding, but that’s a whole other non-jewelry related story!

Another side gig for a while was doing casting for local jewelers in my home studio. I charged $25 per flask with a maximum of 3-4 rings. That’s higher than what the big casting companies charge, but I was local and gave custom or last minute service.

I could go on and on. Like I said, there’s always something and it usually changes throughout they year.

Let’s see what advice others have?

Jeff

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