Sell More Jewelry! A Little Known Market For Handmade Jewelry Designs

Are you a budding jewelry designer looking for ways to promote your jewelry? Here's an idea that may work for you, particularly if you live in a larger city. In various cities you can find people who work as fashion and image consultants. They help their clients by showing them how to coordinate items in their wardrobe to achieve a more professional look. They also show them what fashion items they need to add to their wardrobes to achieve their desired image. In addition, they help their clients accessorize their wardrobes with jewelry and accessories.

Why not team up with a fashion consultant who can promote your jewelry to her clients? As she coordinates the client's wardrobe, she could show her client how your jewelry can expand her wardrobe options. In turn, she would receive a commission on every piece of your jewelry she sells to her customers. You would be responsible for producing the jewelry and she would effectively be your commissioned salesperson.

This could be quite lucrative for you since clients who work with a fashion or image consultant are usually in high paying fields and can afford to pay top dollar for quality jewelry.

This is also an opportunity for you to receive some free publicity for your jewelry if your fashion consultant happens to work with prominent, well known women or celebrities.

Start by checking in your local phone book to see if any image or fashion consultants are listed in your area. You may also want to look under the heading of "personal shopper". Many consultants won't be listed in the phone book so you may want to do a local internet search for consultants who work out of their home.

Once you locate a fashion consultant in your area, you can set up a meeting and show them how your jewelry can result in add on profits for them without an upfront investment on their part.

Here's another similar comarketing venture that has been demonstrated to work in our particular area.

One of our customers is a very talented and ambitious jewelry designer. She is also a full-time pharmaceutical rep which leaves her little time for marketing her jewelry. How did she solve this problem? She was smart enough to team up with a local custom clothing maker in our area who makes clothing for special occasions and also designs costumes for all of our local theater and ballet productions. It was a natural extension for this custom clothing maker to supply her clients with coordinating jewelry which our jewelry designer was happy to provide. This custom clothing maker also has a retail store front where she allows the jewelry designer to display her latest designs for inspiration. The last I heard, this jewelry designer had more orders than she could handle! This is another example of thinking out of the box as far as marketing jewelry goes.

As you can see, there are lots of low cost ways to market your jewelry designs, give this one a try in your area and watch your jewelry sales come alive!

Kristie Leong M.D. specializes in helping handmade jewelry designers find new markets for their jewelry. She publishes a blog and has website full of information on jewelry marketing at http://www.jewelry-marketing.com

Once I File An Eviction - Shouldn't I Just Dismiss It If The Tenant Moves Out Or Offers To Pay?

This is a common question ... most landlords are intimidated by the thought of going to court, and often look for ways to avoid it. Many landlords considering hiring me to assist them with a non-paying tenant want to know if we can save time and money by cancelling the whole eviction when the tenant either 1) voluntarily moves, or 2) voluntarily pays the past due rent. My advice? NO!

THE TENANT MOVES OUT

When filing an eviction because the tenant has failed to pay rent you're seeking a number of things, first you're asking the court to terminate the lease and return possession of the property back to you. Second, you ask the court to grant a judgment for all of the past due rent, as well as any rent accruing during the time the court case is pending. If you dismiss the case after the tenant voluntarily moves you take away the court's ability to grant you a judgment for the past due rent! While a judgment is not a guarantee that you will ever receive the money, not receiving a judgment virtually guarantees that you will never receive the money! The courts in metro-Atlanta, in my experience, will generally grant you all of the past due rent, late fees up to 10% of the monthly rent, and court costs without hesitation. While no one can guarantee you'll ever receive any or all of that money, getting the judgment is a necessary first step.

Another problem is claims of unlawful, or illegal eviction. Should the tenant move out, taking most (but not all) of his belongings you might be tempted to assume he is gone for good. You're likely to enter the property, remove the few things left behind, change the locks and put up a for rent sign. Unfortunately, should the tenant later return, you would be guilty of an unlawful eviction, liable for the cost of any items you discarded, and potentially liable to the tenant for punitive damages. Unless the tenant has removed ALL of his personal property and returned the keys, you CANNOT assume he doesn't intend to return!

THE TENANT OFFERS TO PAY

The second issue is what to do if the tenant offers to pay? First, you should know that Georgia law requires that you accept the rent if the tenant offers to pay all of the past due rent AND court costs within 7 days of the sheriff serving him the eviction papers. The landlord is only required, however, to do this once in any 12 month period from any one tenant. If the tenant offers to pay AFTER the answer is due or filed, you are not required to accept it, but you can if you choose to.

If you choose to accept that rent I advise that you do so under the terms of a CONSENT JUDGMENT, which puts in writing that you're accepting the rent, and that the tenant agrees to pay all future rent on or before the first of each month and that any violation of this agreement entitles the landlord to seek an immediate writ without need for further court action. This will allow you to skip the lengthy eviction process, and the cost of another filing fee, should the tenant fail to pay the rent on time during the remaining term of his tenancy.

Each case will be different and you should always consult with a qualified attorney in each case! Feel free to post questions here, or email me at trey@treyphillipslaw.com You can also call toll-free at 1-888-500-EVICT.

Trey Phillips is an experienced eviction attorney having represented clients, investors, and realtors in eviction dispossessory proceedings in most of the metro-Atlanta counties, including Gwinnett, Dekalb, Fulton, Forsyth, Hall, Rockdale, Clayton, and others. Trey establised the website http://www.GeorgiaEvictionAttorney.com to assist the public in understanding the legal issues surrounding evictions and dispossessories in Georgia. If you're interested in hiring an attorney to assist you with your landlord/tenant legal issues you can call Trey's office for a free consult at 888-500-EVICT (3842).