Making it easier........

Personalised cuff links with a chain link back

Each one individually hand cut, stamped, filed, shaped and polished



Well Blogger have updated their site so that mobile devices can view the blog on mobile friendly settings....I have activated it but now I need to get a mobile device to see if it really works!!

On other news the search for a job to insert cash in to Silver by K8 continues (as does my fight to resist turning in to a profit orientated retail giant!). So with reality biting I am off to Hong Kong to pursue that job and the lifestyle that might make running a company in my spare time that little bit more realistic profitable without pinching the customer for more money(less tax out in Hong Kong).

Silver by K8 is still producing items (see the pictures above and below) however there will be a longer turnaround time now as I will not see my studio for 6 weeks after it is sent to Hong Kong.....and I need a job before I can send it over so keep your fingers crossed (or hold your thumbs!). I shall be on the trail of silver suppliers and stone suppliers from the minute I land and will keep you up to date of the differences I find and what is better or worse out there for the jewellery industry and international selling.

On a final note for this blog I have noticed that people are not inclined to polish their pieces as often as would be best for the silver.....the answer? Wear it!! Natural body sweat actually keeps the tarnish from building so fast so yes, rub it with your (clean) fingers now and again and when you want the shine back then use an appropriate polishing cloth.

Custom order 'traffic light' pendant of black onyx

New tools

Last week I tried out a new polishing system. It is a series of three different grades of rubber to polish up the silver just like using graded paper, Tripoli and Rouge.

I liked the idea of using these as they do not involve polishing compounds that get stuck in fine detail and in stamped words that make them look dirty (and which takes longer to have to soak and clean them afterwards).

I have to say the results so far are promising, the final polish has not come out as good as using rouge just yet but I am still practicing and it is not far off. The added bonus too is that they are supposed to be able to polish up semi precious stones too and there is no risk of getting the tips confused as they are colour co-ordinated....brilliant.

They are more expensive and by the looks of it they do not last that long either so time will tell if they are worth it but as every jewellery maker will tell you - it's all about saving time where you can without lowering the quality of the finish.

I also got my first batch of 'tarnish free' silver in the post this week after a delay and I am excited to get using it. It doesn't look like much but it was a good £100 worth......new pricing structure required here! The prices of silver are really only going one way but hey, it is a precious metal.

I plan on doing an order for cufflinks in this tarnish free silver as they will be perfect to see the difference on fire stain (i.e. if there is any reduction on this silver as promised) and thus time it takes to produce them.

Well I have donated to my wonderful charity of choice now so I think I might start one of those running total things where I can see how much I put in over the years....just to keep track and remind me to do good things for others. I just read on the Moving Mountains website that the founder (Gavin Bates) is doing his 6th Everest ascent this year and you can even follow his progress in a very high tech way here:http://www.myeverestchallenge.com/
Best of luck Gavin, come home safely.

Right, back to my studio now as I have quite a few orders stacking up again....exciting!! Oh and the rings I started last week are not done yet...in fact I am on my third version of one of them as it is proving technically harder than you would think to look at it....oh the fun in the studio!!!

Achievements

Wow, a few weeks and no update. Something big must have happened....afraid not but I did go away for a week’s holiday and the pain of getting back in to the swing of things again is real. But I'm back.

Whilst away I took part in Sweden's (and apparently the worlds however there is a longer one in Canada when I Google search but then again it also says the one I did was the longest - anyway I transgress) longest cross country ski race up in Dalarna, north Sweden. Its 90km's long and we had the best conditions they have had in 20 odd years. It was an utterly fantastic experience to be there with thousands of people all moving along like a pack and fighting the pain till the end. The last section was just magical, the light of the day was fading, the last stop (with 9km left to go) was lit up with soft street lighting and candles and they fed you up with warm sugary coffee and buns before you set off for the last time toward to the finish. As I set off the path was lit with candles for about 1km, it was twilight and I felt this overwhelming sense of satisfaction and pride that I was actually going to finish this course (before they close it off as they have cut-off times). It made the pain disappear for a few minutes and I just thought of getting to the finish line to see my husband and know he would look after me from there on. 12 and half hours after I started that morning in minus 15 degrees, I finished. It was minus 8 again!!

And the rest as they say is history! We then spend the next few days in a spa hotel which totally put me back together again (can't tell you how much a sauna does for you after being cold for soooo long)and then we got on a plain to Riga in Latvia for the hubby's birthday surprise. I think the surprise was that it was sooooo cold!!!

So back to jewellery....after all this is a jewellery blog. In actual fact the week before we went on holiday I was in London (quietly so apologies to all friends if you read this but it was not a social visit - it was a job hunting one) and whilst there I took advantage of delivering an order. Here are some pictures of that one:

Pear shaped name pendant

Free form moonstone and blue tourmaline pendant


Natural Turqouise set (window set dome pendant with dome stud earrings)




This week I am working on order for 2 rings. One of which I will be setting, a navette shaped Tanzanite stone that is stunning, as a family heirloom. Pictures to come.

So personal tax time is just around the corner but for companies here in Sweden we had that done and dusted in February. It is very hard to tell how well you are or are not doing when you don't have a full year of operation to reflect upon however with a little help from the accountant we could see that I made up a little of the debt the company used to start up which is a great sign. It is not a profit and that may not happen for a number of years but the figures are going the right way already and that is a great sign especially given that silver prices are going up. With that in mind I realize that my charity donations may be very long in the coming so instead I have decided to give a donation from the company every year anyway and not wait for the profit to come (that was rather too hopeful of me to think I would achieve profit within 6 months!!). So donate I will do. Having said that I have briefly researched this and found this article..
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703787304575075400171203026.html
..I will do a little more hunting around however I feel the donation may not be tax free. Well, it's not for my benefit but this is an interesting subject that I didn't realize about Sweden.....and if I am honest, it's not a deal breaker for me donating. One way or another if they get some cash and can do well with it then that is my goal. If in the process I get a tax break that is a bonus, if not...c'est la vie.

Until next time - when I hope to let you know about my experiences with some new Argentium silver and rubber polishing heads I have ordered. Just gadgets or are they time saving devices?

Don't forget to click on the title of this page to see my web shop ;o)

How to get known....... click here to see my webshop!

A pair of black Onyx hearts

Recently I have been wondering how to reach your target audience in today’s media frantic world where a Google search in itself can take ages to find a simple item and everyone has at least a Facebook page, a twitter account AND a multiple page website.

It is a full time job keeping those sites up to date and marketing them and the minute you take the eye off the ball the viewing numbers will drop. But is it all enough? Does it actually create sales or a name or a reputation for yourself in an industry?

Everyone has heard of Hatton Garden if they are looking for an engagement ring in London but even there you find shops that are full of counters with people selling jewellery wears and trying to make a name or a fast buck.....its ruthless these days.

Time to get smart. Without the time or the finances to go on a course for several years in the city and create contacts I need to get out there and been seen. It's the BEST advertisement anyone can have. I am in the fortunate position that my product is made to be displayed and portable so it will get the most amount of publicity just by being worn. I now need to ensure that my target audience is seeing this.....sitting in my garage or behind a computer screen all day just will not do it.

I have decided that the best way for me to do that is get back in amongst what I consider my target audience and wear my jewellery and wear it well! So the search for part time jobs back in the investment industry begins.

Everything in life is worth trying and if it doesn't work perfectly the first way then tweak it a little. I am in this company for the long run as I love making the pieces far too much to ever stop but I need that balance of exposure right now and whilst I am still young enough and can remember what to do in an office (just!) then now is the right time to mix and match.

Next week I will update on some pieces I have been working on, some tips I have learnt the hard way and how did that end of year result go?

Gothenburg Event

My next event has approached fast and I now only have one week left until the pre valentine’s day event in a shop in Gothenburg, Sweden's second largest city (it is actually nicknamed little London by the locals).
I know a lady there called Jane and she runs a shop called Jane's Place which sells all those things from the UK that you miss and just can't find in Sweden such as Walkers crisps, Monster Munch, Jaffa Cakes and real sausages. So every year I order my Christmas items from Jane including the crackers that you cannot bring over yourself (because of the explosive bit) and on Boxing Day we have our English Christmas with the Swedish side of the family.
On one occasion picking up sausages for a BBQ in the summer we were chatting to Jane and we talked about the possibility of doing something business wise together and it has ended up being one of her tasty Saturdays. This is where clients come along and taste selected items from Jane's pantry once a month to see wheat she has in stock and catch up. We thought it would be a good idea to take advantage of the clientele she already has and let them see something new in the store plus there is plenty of time left before Valentines so I can even take orders. Tomorrow I am off to hand out flyers in Gothenburg. I have 120 of them....I hope that is enough....and I hope they don't all end up on the floor making a mess or I will have to stop and pick them up again.
So mass marketing and spreading the word is this week’s target, oh along with making the mandatory pieces...which thankfully I started with last week. Hurrah. Here is a little peek at a new piece just for the Valentines do at Jane's Place.





So if you are in town or about or have an afternoon to spare come on over and see what we both have to offer.

Prioritising

Prioritising...it is so simple when given due thought however it can upset the whole logistical flow if you miss even one little (but important) thing.
I am not entirely sure how I thought I was prioritising my orders from my London party at first....maybe it was by who ordered first on the day or what I thought I was in the mood for but anyway what I had not done was look through my orders as a whole and see how much work each order was and how long it would take to do. When taking the orders I did a rough calculation but I did not sit down and work it through with all my material once I returned home. So inevitably I focus on one thing and forget all others for few days until.... I get an email asking how it's going with one piece (which is so very simple and quick to do that I really should have done it first), it is then I realise my error.
It's so funny, so friggin simple yet I don't do the things that I know I should....I guess I have no real discipline yet when I comes to orders and prioritising them as I have not done it before but I am very much a girl who only has to be told once (unless it's my parents!!). I promptly sat down and wrote a time each ticket would take to complete, measured all the materials I would need and then set about putting the work in to my diary which gave me a much better idea of realistic due dates for items. I then emailed those customers left who would be expecting a short turnaround time to let them know when to expect their items....and now I feel like I actually have a grip on things again.
Lesson for me here: When I get back from a big ordering event allow time to plan all the orders in to the diary (prioritise with small, easy ones first as those people will expect a shorter turnaround time) and then mail out the due dates to the customers. It is great for keeping the communication channels open too and that is very important when dealing with long distance customers.
So once the smaller orders are complete I will re-assess my time line and if I am still on target I will mail out the expected due dates to the people with slightly bigger pieces ordered and start the communication up with them again.

An update on the time management thing too, it works!!! It is not easy getting up every day at 6am but it really works and I am treating my silver more like a job now, with my daily schedule, and it seems to be going much smoother.

Items slowely getting up on the new website:

Marketing Ideas and a really good 'make your own calendar' tip

I am thinking a lot lately about marketing, target audiences and how to reach them. In Sweden it is a mixed bag, there are technology savvy people and there are the older generation who are not quite so and are just getting to grips with searching the internet.

Google sent me an ad the other day with money off for Ad words. It seems I would get a small advert on the right hand side of the page on a Google search result page but only pay if someone clicked on my website. I am skeptical. As a routine searcher myself I regularly click on those links to see what I get and where, rarely does that ever lead to a purchase which leaves me feeling that I may just end up paying for people to surf the net. There is strong argument that it may just get traffic to my site and that alone is good enough but I am not sooo sure and it's quite a risk.......but one I may have to take to drive new audiences to the site.

It is time to target some publications too. I have seen that magazines for mums are very popular when advertising jewellery here in Sweden and I have even approached my local orienteering club who advertise on the back of their quarterly pamphlet. There is a local newspaper that goes out once a week too and that does reach a LOT of local people as it is free but the adverts don’t come cheap.....time to design a good (but tiny) advert!

So that covers the internet and publications for now but I feel like I need to reach more people so I think I may get some small A5 leaflets printed and hit the streets of Alingsås and Gothenburg. I will also leave some at the tourist information in town and make sure I am registered on the company website for Alingsås.....every little bit helps.

I did see a really good way to promote a site too this week. A fellow Etsy shop owner, (check out his blog I am following on the left), is doing a giveaway competition but in order to be entered you have to follow his blog, add his blog to yours etc etc. It's all designed to get the word out there......I think I may have to follow in this wise mans footsteps soon....maybe a February give away.........WATCH THIS SPACE ;o)


One little tip I found this month too....a website where you can make your own Swedish or Finnish or Norwegian calendar:
http://kjell.haxx.se/kalender/
You can upload pictures for each month and insert dates for birthdays throughout the year which update the age of the person automatically every year if you put in the original date of birth and of course it has all the flag days, red days and name days in there, perfect!

New SEK based shop NOW OPEN

Finally I have a site where I can post items for sale, customers can see what I have previously sold and read up on Silver by K8 all in one place. There are even links to the right of the page to go to my blog and my Facebook page where I can advertise offers and events, huraaahhhh.

What about my current website then? Well I have decided to streamline and really I don't need all those pages so I will have my wonderful IT man (Henrik the husband) make the SEK based shop appear when anyone types www.silverbyk8.se or www.silverbyk8.com in to the address bar or searches from Google....at least that is the plan! For now it is a link that I have embedded here, on my FB page and on my current website.

So why did I do it?
The Etsy page was very American, whilst providing as much protection for both consumer and purchaser it also made a lot of admin for anyone just trying to buy an item (signing in to Etsy first then buying the item on Etsy and THEN buying it for real). It was actually confusing for a lot of people who don't use Etsy.....and that is most people in Sweden! So to simplify for customers and for my accounts, (no more USD conversions,)I found a much simpler alternative here in Sweden. Now customers can find the item they like, click on the buy now button and pay with a credit or debit card. No additional steps required (but if you find any let me know!!).

My new flower ring with a pop of colour from last week in the studio:



Some Christmas orders (completed and since christmas is over I can now publish them!)