Hi All,
My wife and I have recently taken the time to reassess our business
and long-term financial goals. After several years of steady growth,
we seem to be bumping up against the ceiling of what we can do with
our retail sales without killing ourselves with more time on the
road and more time at the bench. We are also bumping up against
middle age and realizing we need to continue to grow our business in
order to have something that will provide adequate income for
retirement years.
Our conclusion is that we need to make some inroads to the wholesale
marketplace and transition some of our production/finishing to
outside sources. We are in the process of researching possible trade
shows to attend next year. We are not under any illusions that we are
“fine” or “high-end” jewelers so I’m not sure the JCK/JA type shows
would be suitable venues for our line. All of our designs are
original and we are currently doing all finish, fabrication and
assembly ourselves so we are somewhere in between the “art” category
and mass-produced, commercial end of things. Ideally, getting some
wholesale accounts and being less hands-on with the finishing would
free us up to do a little more creative work than we are currently
able to do.
We would really appreciate feedback/suggestions anyone might care to
share regarding their experiences with specific trade shows,
prospecting/managing wholesale accounts and production outsourcing. I
know that covers a lot of territory but those are the areas we need
to closely look into before we commit time/money to this endeavor.
Please feel free to browse our website if it helps to give a better
idea of where we fit on the jewelry spectrum.
Thanks in advance,
Mike Dibble
Black Horse Design
www.black-horse-design.com