B'sue is my name... ... actually, Brenda Sue to be exact. When I started selling a lot of jewelry, and needed to not only sign *it* but a lot of paperwork as well, I got lazy. Sometime around 1988 I became... B'sue. |
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I guess when people see something and think it's been wildly successful, they want
to do it, too. I'd preface it all by first saying, while I have been successful in that I got
to stay at home and raise my son while working for a living, there was nothing easy
or wildly profitable about anything I've done.
I did it for the love of it, the uniqueness. I've been at this business in one way or another since the mid-eighties, and no part of my journey has been easy. Gratifying, fascinating, enlightening....yes, all that. But NOT easy.
I've
always been very creative. My idea of a fun evening is not sitting
around
playing
cards. I need to be productive. I need to see something happen for the use
of my time.
I'm driven to produce, and I love pretty things. I also love old things. I
wish old jewelry
could talk and tell me all of its stories. Oh, if only....but then, had
that been the case,
I would have never expanded into the jewelry field. I'd be a novelist,
instead!
When my son was a baby, I needed to find a new way to buy diapers and baby
food.
I had been a housekeeper and a cleaning lady for years. AH
YES...a productive way to make a living, it's true. But for me, not a bit
satisfying, intellectually or emotionally. I
began to feel as though I
were an extension of a Hoover vacuum cleaner, maybe one
of the
attachments. When you start feeling that way, it's time to get out, do something
else. So I went to the auction and bought boxlots. We had a really good auction in the
fire hall here in East Palestine every
Friday night. That guy would lug so much stuff in
there, and he had to clear it, all in
one evening. If you could manage to keep your eyes
open and hang in there till past
midnight, you could scarf up some deals.
My Schroeder's price guide practically became committed to memory, I read it every day. There was a little place nearby where you could rent a shelf for $3.00 a week and sell your stuff. I figured I could afford that, so I did it. The first week I think I got a check back for $25.00. Okay, I thought. Now you're talking!
Soon
I rented space in a well-known flea market and did my tenure for a year at
my
inside booth on Sunday afternoons. From there, I took summer rental on a
spot at the big Rogers Flea Market in Rogers, Ohio. That was the year I
first purchased my business license. Every Friday I would load my rusty
old van with my junk and hike it out there to Rogers and sell it for
whatever I could get.
It
wasn't long before I realized, however, that there was a better way. You
could get the ANTIQUE TRADER WEEKLY and advertise your stuff in it,
finding a whole different audience. You could also answer ads and pick for
fancy shops in San Francisco and
New York. This appealed to me greatly. I
remember the first ad I wrote got me $800.00
in sales. This was an
unbelievable amount of money to me in those days (hey, I'd be
happy for it
now, too!) But it just proved my point....there was a better way, I just
had to
get in there and work at it.
Soon
I met a lady named Ann Marie, who had a very fancy vintage clothing store
in Connecticut. She was a tough task master....she wanted excellent
condition, style, and
she wanted it cheap. I had to really scramble, and
sometimes the woman positively infuriated me. Honestly, though, I'd have
to thank her, and do, till this day. She just added
a lot of tinder to the
fire already burning in me. I remember Ann Marie telling me that she just
KNEW I'd make it in this business, but that I needed to specialize. I
couldn't keep selling EVERYTHING, there was too much to know. Well, sez
I....jewelry is easy to ship. There seems to be plenty of old jewelry
around here. I'll sell old jewelry!
All my money that year (I think it was 1989) went to jewelry books and jewelry. I don't think I made anything but gas money. I devoured all the books of the day and bought every new one that came out. I picked and scoured and scoured and picked every auction, every antiques shop, every flea market. I found a lot of great, great stuff. I SOLD a lot of great stuff. Pretty soon, I wasn't selling any of it to Ann Marie. I had expanded into a very nice, growing customer base.
Back then we sold everything on approval. You'd call in, give me your credit info, and
I'd send you a boxlot full of maybe $400 - $500.00 worth of jewelry to pick through.
You'd pick out what you wanted, stick a check in the box for what you kept plus the
postage, and return the rest. Actually this worked pretty well at the time.
One day I received a gift from a customer in Florida. It was a box of broken jewelry, Victorian buttons, bits and parts and all manner of tchoch. She sent pictures along with
it and told me that people took these mementoes and made jewelry from them, and
pieces sold for $100.00 and up. Somehow she felt that not only could *I* do that, but that
*I* should do that. To this day I am unsure why she felt I should, but I gave it a go. In fact, I still have that brooch around here someplace...one day will get you a photo and show you.
It was bits of old lace and fabric that I sewed onto a cardboard base and then sewed on pearls, dripping chain, old Victorian gold-filled items.
Another
customer did mall shows with her antique goods. I told her that I had
begun to fool around with making things from old stuff and she became very
excited. "Send me some of that!" she said..."I can sell
it!" And she did!! And now you're talking again! TO THINK....I
could do something I knew I would LOVE...something that involved OLD STUFF
and my creativity!!!....and buy the groceries that week....well, it just
seemed like a dream.
Believe me, dear hearts, it was no dream, it was blood, sweat and tears. I read, read,
read. My brain went non-stop, trying to think of the next door to open. If I couldn't get
through a door, I'd try to find the next window, at least. I did hundreds and hundreds of
small table top crafts shows and home parties. All I did was make jewelry, day and night, and when I wasn't making it, I was schlepping it. Every day was a new learning experience.
By
1993, I had a wholesale company with seven employees and we created a 300
piece line, which we sold to over 500 store accounts. We did this for five
long years, and we stayed in the black. We'd still be doing it, but I did
not find it especially profitable, or
fulfilling, and I got tired of
having all those people in and out of my house day and night, along with
sometimes, their children. We just had no life.
Along
came the internet. AT LAST, I
found the right niche for me. When we did shows, people asked me all day
long how they could have a little fun and make jewelry, too. It used to
annoy me, frankly. I mean, I'm the artist here...this is my product. I'd
like you to buy my product; I don't really want to tell you how to do it
yourself! But really I DID want to
help.
I love to share, to nurture, and to talk about the things I love.
The internet would be a good way. I could share some of the things I made, and
somebody could buy them; I could also share the parts, bits and pieces that I had
stashed here and somebody could buy THEM! By the end of 1997 my first website
opened and it's grown from there. We have a big EBay store, www.stores.ebay.com/bsueboutiquesjewelrysupplies
and now this new site, finally, under our own name, www.bsueboutiques.com
There are three of us here, now, my friend Shelley, our helper Rachel who helps to
ship your orders and keep inventory, and me...sometimes my son Jordan is also on
board, and once in awhile he may answer your emails (he’s has his degree in business
and loves working with people). Can’t forget my cat Evie (short for Little Evil) who loves
to come and get in the way. We love the brisk pace of life, but we take two days a week
off now to tend to our sons, my husband, and our huge extended family. We do Christian work on our days off, which keeps us grounded, and I work with the Spanish community here in our part of Ohio, which is a tremendous joy for me (if your first language is Spanish and you need help with your order, write me in Spanish if it's easier for you).
The
best thing I can tell you is this: This can be a lovely business, and the
camaraderie among designers is non-plussed. If you are looking to learn to
make jewelry because you wish to become rich or famous, well, I will tell
you, some do. Most do not. This can be a viable business if you are
willing to give it 250% percent and pay your dues.
Better
to do it for the love. ANYONE can make jewelry....and there is no right or
wrong,
as far as jewelry making is concerned. Don't ever let anyone tell you that
there is.
Don't ever let anyone tell you that you cannot do it. Do not delude
yourself into thinking
that you have no talent.
EVERYONE
HAS TALENT.
Everything
that surrounds us is art. I can become inspired in a hardware store, or
make jewelry from junk found alongside the road. When you look at a
component,
think not of what it is, but what it might BECOME in your hands. It can
become
whatever you wish it to be.
Ann Marie Lago, Philomena Jones, Sharon Raab, Debbie Dory, LuAnn in
Pennsylvania, Lucille Tempesta, Isabelle Bryman, Wendy Gell, Deb Schneider,
Ani Bottorf, Lee Wetzel, John and Jordan Lansdowne, Shelley Owens, and Jenny Stephens. Everyone named has been pivotal to what I do here, today; things
wouldn't have been the same without their help and inspiration.
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Brenda
Sue Lansdowne
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Cora
Glotfelty
Naylor F.
Glotfelty
Mary Jane
Courtney
Robert L.
Lansdowne
All had much to do with who I am today.