Mary Lou

Of Mary Lou Harris Designs

Mastermind – September 20, 2006


Began Joyful Jewelry about in January of 1999.

  • Why? I took a course in Wardrobe and Image given by a Image Consultant named Nicole. Part of that course was having my colors done by Nicole (an extensive process). When I was through with the course, I wanted jewelry that was in my best colors. Thus, I began for myself.

  • My granddaughter, Kenzie, told me a number of times (the prior summer) about a bead shop in Bellevue that she was sure I would like. She urged me to go to check it out a number of times. When I did visit the store, of course, I did like it and have been a very good customer of the shop, Beads and Beyond, ever since.

Began selling on eBay in July of 2005 after returning from eBay Live 2005 in San Jose. I had considered various ways of marketing my jewelry designs and decided that person to person selling as well as eBay was the way I wanted to go.

  • I have listed lots of jewelry on eBay with very disappointing results.

  • I think now I may have better results with more feedback and better listings.

  • I am frustrated about the downward pressure on prices for jewelry on eBay.

  • I am aware of taking good photos and have worked hard on this. I have been a professional photographer in the past. However, jewelry does provide a special challenge photographically.

I have sold jewelry now at 3 shows.

  • The first one in the Fall of 2004 was zip. Wrong venue for my jewelry I was told (after the fact).

  • The second, (in Sept. 2006) I had 3 sales for $170.00 total.

  • The third (in late Sept 2006) I had 6 people purchase from me and 2 purchased two items for a total of $380.00.

  • I paid a helper $10 an hour and she took 3.5 hours of pay in jewelry.

I really have two business:

ONE: Handcrafted jewelry design – design, make, and market

  • Jewelry design and sales which includes: person to person sales, custom jobs, re-designs, and markets, fairs, and festivals

RECENT: Previous customer asked me to redesign a long African necklace into short necklace, bracelet and earrings.
RECENT: Friend from dance community called to ask me to design a gift for her Mother’s 80th birthday later this week
RECENT: Scheduled a lunch appointment with previous customer (dancing friend) for later this month so she can select two or three more jewelry sets/pieces.
RECENT: Previous customer said she’d like me to hold the multi- strand necklace she remembers from sale in 2004 (the first one with 0 sales) for her. She helped with that sale. I’ll give her a chance to try it on and will ask for a down payment to hold.

  • Renting jewelry for Grand Ball on October 22, 2006

I came up with idea, asked woman in charge of event about the possibility. She liked the idea. I asked Marcus to do addition to my web page (marylouharrisdesigns/jewelryrentals) and it is in place. Link was, I think, included in e-mail about Ball late last week.

  • Possible class for Kirkland Parks and Recreation

I was approached by woman at Kirkland Community Center re teaching a jewelry class in January.

 

TWO: eBay Sales:

  • Jewelry: very poor results so far on eBay

Question: Sell from my own web site?
Specialty products?

Eyeglass holders
Key chains
Utility necklaces such as ID badge holders
eBay Live jewelry in eBay colors
Men’s jewelry: wood, bone, shell, silver, cross on chain
Children’s jewelry
Pet jewelry

  • Kunert women’s tights: good sales, lots of interest

Need to find distributor, wholesaler

Nordstrom Rack is hit and miss
Woman in Nordstrom Administration did national search of Nordstrom Racks for KUNERT tights – data base not correct (Factoria Rack inventory number way off, only one available)
  
I purchased the one pair today and it was sold before I got home! (Ran into my former bookkeeper at Starbucks. Was telling her about the high interest in these tights.)

  • Adapter plugs, transformers

Have wholesaler
Outstanding service

  • Dry Cleaners Secret (dry clean at home in dryer)

Have wholesaler
Free shipping

  • Jewelry I purchased from man from Bali

Ebony rings
Wood pendants
Wood/silver earrings
Shell pendants

  • Collectibles

Purchased at antique shop in Rainier, OR

Fenton, old dish, light blue, "Water Lillies"
Probable Fenton, white bird
Poker chips – Roosevelt’s Dog
Sam Weller, Philla
Sterling spoons, salt (quarter gram)

Used for cocaine in 1920’s

Silk scarf, Hermes, perfume bottles w/original box

  • Family items

China, Limoges, white – partial set
Very old books
Old tools
Old silver

  • Plus size women's clothing

Sold some tops
Have more tops and some other plus size items to sell (e.g. nightgown)

  • Have dog-related items to sell

Toy, small dog
Treats (some have expired)

  • Have new books to sell

Cookbooks
Other books

  • Have assorted women’s clothing and accessories to sell

Coach purses
Scarves
Assorted size 6 and 8 clothing

  • Have Christmas items to sell

Books
Mugs
Wrapping paper

  • NIKKEN items

Left over from my Nikken days

 

Trading Assistant Work:

  • Listed in eBay’s TA directory

Turned down possible job on Sep 15 – woman had stacks of boxes of 80% 
NWT clothing she wanted sold – turned it down

  • Folk art, work of established Kirkland artists (husband and wife)

High fees and & nothing sold 
Agreement based on Lisa Suttora’s TA agreement

 

Need to change agreement to include up-front fee in case nothing sells (refundable if items sell to cover fees)

Possibly raise % from 40% to 50%

  • Book: Good Timing Guide

Astrological Business Guide details good times for taking a time out, pressing ahead, starting new ventures, doing marketing, etc Listed for author. None sold.

  • For granddaughter, 10

Lizzie McGuire books to sell (40%)

I will charge her because I think she needs to learn how business works. There are costs associated with selling things!

  • Volunteer Selling

Have sold Frankie Manning Lindy Hop Instructional DVD’s for Northwest Dance Network. Set NDN up with Mission Fish (People can, through Mission Fish, give a % to a non-profit when listing an item.) I donate fees paid and all proceeds to NDN.


Power U Course:

  • I am taking the course presently. I am in the middle of the course.

  • I anticipate teaching classes and helping people get started with eBay.

  • A man in the dance community has already told me he wants to be in my first class. I have already referred him to Lisa’s What Do I Sell.com site. He was very appreciative. I am registered as an affiliate.

In addition:

I serve on the Board of the Northwest Dance Network. NDN teaches dance classes at the Swedish Club, Sonny Newman’s Dance Hall and the Mt. Baker Community Club. We also offer workshops (frequently on Saturday). We hold live-music dances about twice a month at the Leif Erickson Dance Hall in Ballard (no alcohol, no smoking). All are welcome. Singles and couples. nwdance.net

I will be a volunteer “dresser” for the Dress for Success clothing sale in 

Thanks for your assistance and support.

Mary Lou

 

eBay user ID: marylouharrisdesigns

Web page: marylouharrisdesigns.com

Office: 425 889 5022

Cell: 206 954 9559

Kirkland, WA 98033

September 19, 2006

After writing this, I realize that:

 

  1. I have a lot of balls in the air, a lot of things happening.

  2. I have a HIGH need to get listings up. I recently downloaded Turbo Lister 2, but haven’t used it yet. I’m “backed up” with listings to do and need to get up to speed with Turbo Lister 2 quickly.

  3. I am creative and have lots of ideas. I need focus and structure to get the follow-through (listings) done. 

  4. I have been focused on getting my space organized and have made good progress, but have considerably more to do. Will now have to limit the time I allocate to this activity each day.

  5. I’d like suggestions about how to manage Pay Pal account debits and credits for tax records. I know how to download into Excel Spreadsheet. What from there?

  6. I’d like suggestions on how to streamline the process of doing research, taking photos, and listing. (Janelle has mentioned several things along this line such as taking photos one day and listing the next and leaving the camera on the tripod and taking only the camera card to the computer to upload photos.) I’m looking for more suggestions of this type.

  7. I have Selling Manager Pro and would like suggestions on how to learn to use it effectively. (Automated 1st re-list, automated end of auction/BIN e-mail)

  8. Want to write several more Reviews and Guides. Suggestions? I am starting a City of Kirkland CERT course about Emergency Preparedness on Wednesday night and have asked if I can share some of this material in an eBay Blog. I am thinking about selling some things suggested in the course such as rope ladders. Research not done yet. May be important things to have in an emergency situation, but is there a market for them on eBay?

  9. I want to know how to find a distributor in US for KUNERT or how to find out about importing KUNERT tights into U.S. Is a profit possible? When I buy these tights from Nordstrom/Nordstrom Rack I pay just under $9.00 each (original price $39.00). I sell them for $24.00. Most of the action recently has been in regard to these wool/cotton blend tights.