Jewelry as a full time job

[vlada]

Hi, experts sorry English is not my native language, but I will try my best.
Well I don’t know if this is the right thread for my question (aka discussion), maybe it was discussed on this forum but did not find similar questions. This is even not jewelry making question, but more about jewelry as a business.
The question is for jewelry makers who work it as a full time job - how long it took you to make this hobby / passion your full time job? How long it took to make it profitable so you could pay for all the basic stuff like rent, gas, food etc?

I don’t know if there are people willing to share their experience, but it would be nice to hear from you.
I am at the moment when I don’t know what to do, I like to work in this sphere, I like to connect with customers, I like to see and feel how they appreciate my work, but my profit stats says to consider about stop playing a “full time jeweler” role and search for “normal” job (It is about 1,5 year since I work and advertise myself as a jeweler). Maybe it was my mistake to quit job and dive into it for 200% but somewhere deep inside I feel that I can make it (or maybe it’s inner optimist talking here). Or maybe I just need to vent, really tired with all that thoughts.

So, what was your experience?

[floareatravis]

It's great that you're passionate about jewelry making. Transitioning to full-time can take time, but it's possible. Many factors affect profitability. Have you considered seeking advice from experienced jewelers or business advisors?

[josef1]

I found that to be a self employed jeweller, the jewellery part is actually the last thing you think about, It took me a long time to realise this. In my experience you need to build up a 'business' before you start making things. for example work out where you are going to sell your jewellery. Do you have a shop ? if not Speak to as many outlets as you can shops, galleries, funeral homes if you make ashes jewellery, pet shops if you make animal jewellery, bridal shops if you make wedding jewellery .whatever it takes put the leg work in arrange appointments, the more people you get to know the more opportunities you get. Take samples with you to show people have prices ready. If you want to sell online sort out a budget for social media but this can be very expensive I found to do properly. Do you want to do repairs (this can be a minefield with the public)? I think You need to have bread and butter work coming in on a regular basis otherwise I found it very hard to make a living. Pre covid I had a good little business then it all went feet up, I tried for 12 month after covid but it never really came back for me the high street had changed. Also I got old and had lost my mojo a bit lol. I just do CAD and scanning now also a bit of casting but I have other income now. If you can find something that's a bit different from all the cheap imported tat and sell people the value of that your onto a good thing. I really hope you get yourself into a position where you can make a go of it, Its a dying skill and it needs people like yourself to keep it alive.