I have a jewelry supply business that is growing well. My youngest daughter (11) has her own beads and supplies and makes mostly bracelets that she sells at school by word of mouth.

She seems to make things that other teens/preteens like and will buy, and she has good business sense – she has her own pricing strategy and she doesn’t apologize for her pricing. If someone thinks she charges too much, than as far as she is concerned they are welcome to make their own or buy elsewhere. She takes “no” in stride and moves on.

I’ve told her that as long as she tracks the supplies she takes from me (to make my inventory tracking easier), that she can use my supplies. She wants her own Etsy and I’ve explained the costs involved, talked about how she’d have to consider those costs so that she may have to charge more for the same item online than offline. She’s never had to buy her own supplies, because when she gets gifts, they are always jewelry supplies! (And not from me!)

I’ve showed her around my site and let her know that while I’m willing to teach her how to list and set up her site, take good pictures, fulfill her orders, etc… that she has to be willing to learn and take on those responsibilities plus packing orders daily after school.

We also talked about who her online customers would be. There may be some teens browsing Etsy, but customers need a way to pay online, ie credit card, debit card, or PayPal. So she’ll have to focus her marketing towards adults who are buying for teens, which is different than what she is doing now.

My other daughter is 15. She also likes to make jewelry and wants to be part of it, but truthfully, she’s not the stick-to-it type like my younger daughter. I think that Emily being the backbone and Ashley helping when she takes an interest will be okay. Since neither are going to “invest” anything except time, they will profit from the items they make – if Emily makes it, its her money, if Ashley makes it, its hers as far as the sales go. If Ashley does end up committing more, that may change.

Emily’s initials are EKA and we’ve though EKA Designs. Etsy’s tough because so many are already taken.

If you have any thoughts, the girls would appreciate it! Something they can grow with and would still work if they “split” would be best.

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Jay’s Answer:

• emilysteens
• 4teensbyteens
• dontapologize
• noapologies