See Our New Handmade Bead Bracelets

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TLC Silver Jewelry has several new handmade bead bracelets just in time for your holiday shopping. See all our newest jewelry designs.

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Our Christmas Photo Card from Little Ladybug Designs

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I recently won a blog hop giveaway from Kim on Little Ladybug Designs blog. After finally getting around to taking the family portrait I started searching Kim's holiday photo cards for the perfect design for our picture. I wanted our portraits to show full figure because I want all our family and friends that we haven't seen in a while to see how tall my son is now. This black and white snowflake design works perfectly with my photo.

Thanks to Kim for all her help in making the photo card perfect for us.

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Latest Vaseline Glass Earrings

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Leave me a comment about TLC Silver Jewelry's newest vaseline glass earrings. It's hard for me to pick my favorite pair. Let me know which is your fav!

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Vaseline Glass Pics on The Beadin Path

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Hey Y'all,

I'm so excited!! My vaseline glass beads earring pictures have been used by The Beadin' Path in one of their Weekly Beadattitudes articles posted 8-5-08. It was really nice of Dara to use my vaseline glass beads pictures in her Vaseline Glass Beads article.

Read the article, see my pictures and learn more about vaseline glass.

http://www.beadinpath.com/content/view/595/4/

If this link doesn't get you there just go to their Weekly Beadattitudes articles and look for the 8-5-08 article.

Interview With Alana's Vintage Media

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Looking for unique holiday or birthday gifts? Then you'll want to check out Alana's Vintage Media. Read up on Alana's Vintage Media in my latest Internet Business Interview and then go check out the goodies at her website.

• What is the name of your business and url?
  Alana's Vintage Media http://alanasvintagemedia.com/


• What do you sell?
  I sell vintage paper collectibles that include used, rare out of print books, back issue magazines, ephemera, vintage photographs, postcards, old ads, and records.


• How did you come to offer these items?
  I am an avid collector of vintage collectibles, pieces of memories left behind from days of yesteryear. What I collect comes from people who have passed on or left behind these valuable treasures of a lifestyle, historical and cultural events of our times. It is a treasure and a preservation of our American heritage. Being able to offer these pieces to the many collectors or others who have specific sentimental value in them is very rewarding to me. Finding something of interest of value to someone out there rather it be an article their father wrote, a picture of their brother or simply a special date, I enjoy offering those treasures to the people who seek them.


• What has been your best selling product so far?
  I have a very large inventory of back issue magazines and postcards. Those are my top two most sold items.



• Is there a busy sale time of the year for vintage media?
  I do have a time during the beginning of the school year where I get a large number of sales from educators and historians and library's. I get a lot of sales from city halls and court houses who want a piece of history in old postcards, photos of their towns and cities. My sales are pretty consistent through out the year, school time being a slight bit heavier and holidays. People seem to enjoy giving those one of a kinds to their loved ones for special gifts.


• Why did you decide to start your own business?
  I love what I collect, enjoy finding things others are looking for and enjoy working on my own with my own hours, times and pretty much being my own boss.


• How do you store all of your product inventory?
  I store all my inventory in my home.


• Considering all that you do in running your business what satisfies you the most?
  I have mentioned that being able to collect and find something for someone looking for a specific item is very satisfying. Second is being my own boss, and third would be the enjoyment I actually get with seeking and finding my products. I love history!


• What frustrates you the most?
  Oh the long hours sometimes wear me down. I do put a lot of hours into managing my online business. Marketing, SEOs, listings, website maintenance, photo taking, the list seems endless for me. The most frustration I find in what I do is the many callers and emails I get from others seeking values, appraisals and research on specific items. A lot of people contact me hoping to sell me their many treasures. I really do not like turning down these callers and emails. I do not purchase from others, I do all my purchases with hands on experience. I wish I could support these inquiries more than I can, however, value is determined by so many factors and it is much better done with an appraiser or a great deal of time and research which I just don't have. When you get into this business and start buying product you know that it is going to take that right buyer to come along and find that one item and it can sit for quite some time before it ever sells. So the gamble is too high for me to purchase things like this without a physical hands on experience with it. I really don't like turning these people down, but it is something I did spend a lot of time writing about on my website so that they could start looking at other options and places to seek out that information and possibly find a buyer. They still call me and I still say no thank-you and that would have to be the most difficult part of my job.




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• Name the best thing you have ever done to promote your business?
  The best thing that I have done for my business is learn how to manage my shopping cart, learn online marketing, SEOs, Dreamweaver, PhotoShop, Html, CSS, and learn to stay on top of the website maintenance and the Ecommerce news out there. I also found it very valuable to start my forum for website owners to share and support and connect with other online sellers. The biggest surprise for me that came early in my business, was a reporter from the Detroit News who wanted to do an interview on my site and what I sell. At the time, I didn't think a whole lot about this, didn't put much effort into it and really didn't give this person much of my time for their interview. Yet that paper was printed with my site link and then distributed across the states in other news paper columns. As soon as it went to press, I got real busy real fast. I could not figure out where and what I did that was producing sales so fast. I barely could keep up with everything. It was crazy for a couple of weeks. One customer called me and told me she found me in a news paper article in Denver and wow, she offered to send me the layout that this reporter did about my little shop. I was amazed how fast and furious my sales were coming in. So if you ever get an offer from a news reporter or any magazine company this might be worthwhile to you to really spend some time doing that interview. It surprised me and really promoted my business all over the country.
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• What have you done that has been the biggest waste of time regarding your business?
  When I first started my business two things were more important to me than anything. Having a very nice looking website and getting my site linked to every place I could link it too. Well you can have a very pretty site and the visitors don't necessarily come. I spent too much time on the look and not enough time on the back end and optimization. I also spent far too much time submitting my links to every place I could find no matter what it was. I could spend hours weeks doing directory submissions, search engine submissions, traffic exchanges, etc. Took me awhile to figure out what "targeted" traffic meant and how to write good content to draw interest to my target market that would be worth having them visit my site. All the time spent submitting a poorly optimized "pretty site" to everywhere and anywhere could have been spent on learning SEO and marketing and content management and researching my target market and finding ways to meet their needs. I also used up a lot of bandwidth with all those submissions and traffic that was never going to really make much for me in terms of conversions before I figure this out.


• If you could offer only one tip or piece of advice to a new internet business owner what would it be?
  If your going to get into this, learning business 101 just like your running a real brick and mortar store is a plus. Write a business plan, study the market know what you want to sell. Study the market on that item very carefully. Research the many shopping platforms out there. Rather you go with a stand alone or a hosted cart or an auction site, know how to run that platform and make it work for your business. Have the time available to spend a lot of hours researching this stuff, don't take someone's word for it. What cart, what you sell, and where you sell, is about your business and sometimes it really needs to be a personal experience. We can share and support others in this business get ideas and look at options and possibilities out there with each other. Yet never choose something because someone else said it was a good thing. Know your time restraints, learning abilities with some of this stuff. It is a lifestyle and it can change your life in so many ways. You have to really do a self evaluation of you as a business person and what you want to sell, and how much you want to learn and spend time on it. I love working on my own, being my own boss, selling what I sell, using the shopping cart I use, the host I choose, the list goes on and on. Most of all this is a lot of research and time and jumping in with both feet without a plan can be less gratifying for someone new if they do not take the time to really research their options. Understanding when your your own boss your in charge of EVERYTHING, there are a lot of long hours in this business. Just most of all know what you want and know what it will take. Write this stuff down, research it and take your time finding what will work best for your business choice. Your going on a personal journey when you take on doing your own business and sometimes not being ready for that and willing to accept the path and its many winding roads, can be overwhelming to a newbie starting out.


• If you were able to do anything with your business what one thing would you do that you haven't done yet because of lack of time, money, etc?
  If I could take about a week off not think about this business, just walk away take off on a vacation. I wonder if I could do that some day. My goal is to be able to spend a day or more not doing anything business related. It is hard to get away from it. I have not yet been able to figure out how to do that yet. It would be priceless to me.

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Newest Silver Bead Earrings

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Finnnally adding some new items. Starting with gemstone earrings. More vaseline glass jewelry, glass earrings, and handmade bead bracelets to follow later this week.

http://www.tlcsilverjewelry.com/category_33/Latest-Products--New-Designs-Etc..htm

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Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights - What's the difference?

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Copyright was a topic recently on a forum I'm a member of. While reading the different member posts I realized that some people may be confused about the differences between copyrights, patents, and trademarks.

What can be copyrighted per the US Patent and Trademark Office website:

protect works of authorship, such as writings, music, and works of art that have been tangibly expressed.

In our web world this might include our own photographs, articles and other text on our websites and blogs. For site designers it would include coding to make specific graphics/designs, etc. on your website templates, etc.(html coding in general cannot be copyrighted, but the coding in a specific order to make graphics/designs in your templates can be copyrighted)

The definition of "patent" from the US Patent and Trademark Office website:

a property right granted by the Government of the United States of America to an inventor “to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the United States or importing the invention into the United States” for a limited time in exchange for public disclosure of the invention when the patent is granted.

So if you created any original items to sell on your website you would need to have it patented to keep others from copying your original item and selling it on their website, etc. Or you might have created a mechanical item to manufacture your product and you could have apply for a patent on that mechanical item.

The US Patent and Trademark Office website defines a "trademark" as:

protect words, names, symbols, sounds, or colors that distinguish goods and services from those manufactured or sold by others and to indicate the source of the goods. Trademarks, unlike patents, can be renewed forever as long as they are being used in commerce.

In your biz world you could apply for a trademark for your biz name, the "name" of the brilliant product you have created to sell in your web world whether it is a physical item or a service, etc.

For more info on copyrights, trademarks, or getting a patent visit the US Patent and Trademark Office website. http://www.uspto.gov/index.jsp

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Labradorite Pendant Giveaway Winner Is.......

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The winner of our SEO Gal's Blog Hop giveaway prize is "Trina from Polka Dot Moon"

She is the recipient of the unique sterling silver labradorite pendant.

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Interview With The Lollipop Book Club

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I've always been an avid reader; mostly fiction. I would have been thrilled to get a surprise book in the mail every month. That's exactly what Karen, owner of The Lollipop Book Club, supplies. A surprise every month for the young book reader in your life. Read Karen's Internet Business Interview to learn more about her book club business.

• What is the name of your business and url?
  The Lollipop Book Club
  http://www.lollipopbookclub.com

• What do you sell?
  My company specializes in the gift of books for children. Each package includes a book of choice, an adorable gourmet lollipop, and a note from the gift-giver printed on a sticker for inside of the book. Customers can order a single book, 3-month, 6-month, or 12-month packages. You can select one of our themed packages (i.e. Just for Girls, Just for Boys, Happy Holidays, Caldecott Winners, etc.) or build your own package by selecting books from anywhere on the site.


• How did you come to offer these items?
  I always give books as gifts to children, but found that they were not greeted with the same enthusiasm as new toys. So I wanted to find a way to deliver them in an exciting, eventful manner. Kids love getting packages in the mail. The lollipop on top of each book is just a sweet bonus in addition to the real treat- a new book.


• What has been your best selling product so far?
  My seasonal Halloween and Christmas books always do well. Also, the Just for Girls and Just for Boys packages are top picks for my customers.




• Why did you decide to start your own business?
  I started my business for the same reasons many people do- flexibility, being my own boss, etc. But deep down, I really wanted to see if I could do it...start something from scratch and turn it into a viable, profitable entity.


• Considering all that you do in running your business what satisfies you the most?
  When I receive unsolicited, positive feedback from my customers, and then when they follow up with a reorder. When this happens, I feel like I have created something with potential to grow and evolve into something bigger.


• What frustrates you the most?
  Trying to find the best way to drive the most potential customers to my website on a consistent basis. As a small business owner, I need to keep my overhead at a minimum and do not have a large advertising budget. It is really time-consuming to draw traffic to my website without spending money. I am doing better and better each month, but it is not something that happens overnight, and that is frustrating sometimes.


• Name the best thing you have ever done to promote your business?
  I had my local newspaper feature my business. This was an incredible free way to advertise locally. In addition to the exposure in my area, I was able to share the article on Facebook and Twitter. The piece was not too sales-oriented. Really, it was a personal profile with a lot of information about my business woven throughout. For this reason, it was well-received and should serve my business well.



• What have you done that has been the biggest waste of time regarding your business?
  For me, sponsoring tables at community events and fundraisers is a huge waste of time. Sure, I picked up customers and had a lot of fun talking up the business. But when I factor in the amount of time involved (packing the car, travel time, set-up, the event itself, clean-up, etc.) it is not really worth it. From start to finish, I have invested 6-8 hours. That same amount of time could be better spent strategizing and reaching larger audiences.


• If you could offer only one tip or piece of advice to a new internet business owner what would it be?
  Do not overspend! Keep your finances in check, otherwise you will end up closing your doors before you have given yourself a chance to succeed. There is no silver bullet to success, and while having money to spend getting things started is nice, it certainly is not the solution. I have known business owners who spend all this time raising capital, and then throw it away on advertising that generated no sales. Rather, find free or inexpensive ways to get word out and preserve every dollar you can. As you begin to make money, reinvest it in the business, but continue to be careful about how you spend it. Eventually you will have some play money, but in the beginning, you must be frugal.


• If you were able to do anything with your business what one thing would you do that you haven't done yet because of lack of time, money, etc?
  I would like to eventually partner with an established gift company with a large client base. I need to grow my own business further before I can offer an attractive proposition, but it's in the works.

Winner of My MckLinky Giveaway Blog Hop and More Contests to Enter

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Here's the winner of my prize in the 9-25-09 MckLinky Giveaway Blog Hop.

The lucky winner of these pretty vaseline glass earrings is Belinda (mom2boys) of Sebring, FL.

Here's a list of current giveaways that I'm sponsoring prizes for with the end date:

http://bethouaknight.blogspot.com/2009/10/tlc-jewelry-giveaway.html

Vaseline Glass Earrings ends 10-15-09

http://tlcsilverjewelry.blogspot.com/2009/10/win-gem-stone-pendant.html

Sterling Silver Labradorite Pendant ends 10-21-09

http://poshmomdiary.com/?p=215

Sterling Silver Peridot Ring ends 10/21/09

TLC Silver Jewelry's website giveaway

http://www.tlcsilverjewelry.com/pages/jewelrygiveawaycontest.htm

Sterling Silver Amethyst Necklace 11-30-09

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