Jewelry Business Plan, With a 12-Month Projection

A jewelry business plan sets out what you'll make and who buys it, what each piece costs and sells for, the bench and the tools, the rules for what you call your metal, and the first year month by month. Handmade silver jewelry has a cost that moves on its own: the price of silver changes week to week, so a plan costs each piece at what the metal cost this month and checks again when it moves. The bench time is the bigger cost, though, and the plan is a mix of quick pieces made in batches for boutiques and slower pieces sold direct. In the example below, a silversmith in Eureka Springs sells stacking rings, gemstone pendants and hoops direct and stacking rings to boutiques, makes a profit from month 3, and ends the year about $15,700 ahead on $55,100 of sales, after paying $20 an hour at the bench. Below is a description example, each part of the plan, metal and the rules, the projection, the startup budget, and a free template.

The short version

• Describe the business in a paragraph: the pieces, the metal, where you sell, the goals.
• Cost each piece at this month's metal price, plus stones, findings, box and your bench time.
• Sell direct for the margin; batch-make the pieces you sell to boutiques.
• Reprice when silver moves; a fixed price list loses money when metal climbs.
• Call it sterling only if it's at least 92.5% silver, and stamp it honestly.
• Jewelry made for children is a children's product, with testing rules.
• TaroStack keeps metal, stones and findings counted and every design costed. More below.

Part 1: the business description

Ozark Silverworks, a made-up silversmith in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, I use in these examples, writes:

Ozark Silverworks makes sterling silver rings, pendants and earrings by hand, with stones bought from known suppliers, sold at art shows and markets, online, and wholesale to boutiques and galleries. Every piece is stamped 925 and with our mark. In our first year we plan to supply 8 boutiques.

Part 2: what a piece costs

The silver line is at what the shop paid this month for sheet and wire, plus a share for the scrap that goes back to the refiner. Boutique rings are made in batches of 20, sized and soldered in a run, which takes them from 25 minutes to 20. How to put metal, stones and time into a price is in how to price handmade jewelry.

Part 3: customers and prices

A boutique ring leaves $6.38, less than a third of a direct one, but a boutique buys rings by the dozen and reorders. If silver rises enough to add $2 to the ring's metal, the boutique ring loses a third of its contribution, which is why the wholesale price list says prices follow the metal. How to keep a jewelry studio's stock counted is in how to inventory jewelry.

Part 4: metal, marks and the rules

The FTC's jewelry guides say it's unfair or deceptive to call a product "sterling," "sterling silver" or "solid silver" unless it's at least 925/1,000ths pure silver (16 CFR 23.5), so the plan buys sterling from a refiner that states it, uses silver solder, and stamps each piece 925 with the maker's mark. Plated or filled pieces are described as plated or filled. Jewelry designed or intended mainly for children 12 and under is a children's product, which needs third-party testing and a Children's Product Certificate (CPSC), so the plan's designs, displays and listings are aimed at adults. This is general information, not legal advice.

Part 5: the first year, month by month

Fixed costs are $955 a month: a studio share ($250), torch gas, pickle and polishing supplies ($60), insurance that covers the stock ($70), market and show fees ($250), marketing and photos ($250), the website and online shop ($40), and software and card fees ($35). Sales start at 15% of full speed and reach it by month 11:

The year's sales are $55,125 and the profit $15,684, on top of $20 an hour at the bench. At full speed that's about 100 hours of bench work a month. Silver is the cost to watch: reprice the direct pieces when the metal moves enough to matter, and give boutiques notice with a price increase letter.

Part 6: the startup budget

Get the template

Download the jewelry business plan workbook. Four sheets: your pieces with price, variable cost and monthly volume at full speed; the year, month by month, with sales, profit and cash; your fixed costs; and your startup budget with working cash. Change a piece's variable cost when silver moves and see the year change. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.

Where this stops working

Sterling sheet and wire in four gauges, stones in twenty kinds, findings by the hundred, thirty designs, eight boutiques reordering, and a show every month. A sheet can't say how much 18-gauge wire is left, what a pendant costs at this month's silver, or which designs earn their bench time.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack keeps metal, stones and findings counted and every design costed.

Metal and stones in stock. Each gauge of sheet and wire, each stone and finding is an item, counted on a phone and kept at what you paid, so this month's silver price is in the cost; units convert: wire bought by the troy ounce, used by the inch.

Designs as recipes. Each design is a recipe of its metal, stone, findings and box, with scrap allowed for, so recording a batch takes them off stock at what you paid and gives the cost of each piece. Boutique orders are sales orders that show whether the pieces are in stock while you're still typing.

And what each design earns. A price-creep report per supplier shows when metal and stone prices rise, and margins are reported by product and by customer.

Recipes, batches, sales orders and margins by product and customer are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.

Questions people also ask

Is a jewelry business profitable?

It can be. In the example, a silversmith selling rings, pendants and hoops direct and rings to boutiques ends the first year about $15,700 ahead on $55,100 of sales, with $20 an hour paid at the bench.

How much does it cost to start a jewelry business?

In the example, $8,150: a bench and torch, a rolling mill, hand tools, a tumbler, first silver, stones and findings, boxes and display, a maker's mark stamp, a website and $2,500 of working cash.

Can I call my jewelry sterling silver?

Only if it's at least 925/1,000ths pure silver, under the FTC's jewelry guides. Plated or filled pieces have to be described as plated or filled.

How do I price handmade jewelry when silver prices change?

Cost each piece at what the metal cost this month, and reprice when it moves enough to matter, with notice to boutiques. A fixed price list loses money when metal climbs.