Should I start a Side Hustle?

Nora Jane Jewellery is a side hustle and I want it to stay that way. As much as I love the buzz of making a sale or getting good customer feedback I don’t think I’d ever want it to be my primary source of income.

My favourite part of the business is making the earrings, which has helped to pass the time over the past few months. It has meant I’ve been able to take more custom orders, revitalising my creativity. It is such an amazing feeling to see someone wearing a piece of art which until recently existed only inside their head. I’ve made some NHS Rainbow earrings, some autumnal bead earrings and even some psychedelic flower earrings. Each order gives me an amazing insight into the personality of the customer. It makes me feel especially satisfied when I see photos of them with their earrings in and massive smiles on their faces.

The process of making the earrings involves planning designs, ordering the correct materials and a lot of clay sanding. I usually start with the idea for a pattern, which I then draw in a note book and finally create using oven hardening clay. I’ve recently started sharing time-lapse videos of this process on my Instagram. I then cut the shapes, bake them and assemble. After that’s all done I photograph and make a record of all new stock. As you can tell this process is extremely time-consuming, but I love it so much that it doesn’t feel that way.

The extra time lockdown has given me for making means I now have a lot of stock. My main focus at the moment is growing my social media following and increasing sales. There are a million different pieces of advice about how to do this. The main takeaway from all of them is that you have to stay active. This means planning ahead and taking photos or making videos ahead of time, posting them at the best times of day with the most relevant hashtags. I mainly use Instagram, but have recently started Facebook and Reddit accounts to reach out to a wider audience.

I am constantly learning new techniques both for crafting my earrings and promoting them. The more I learn the more I realise how little I actually know! This can be daunting at times, particularly in an increasingly uncertain world. What keeps me going is the fact that this business isn’t my primary source of income, nor do I want it to be, it’s much easier to take risks and try new things this way.

My biggest mistake was thinking this would be an easy. That being good at making earrings in real life would translate into an online following effortlessly. It has taken months to build up a small following and even longer to make my first online sale. It finally feels like I’m making progress, but the learning curve has been steep.

For anyone thinking of starting an online business over the next few months I would tell you to go for it. It’s a fun tangible thing to do in a weird time, but it would be naïve to expect your business to be an instant hit. People are spending more time online at the moment, but a lot of people have less money to spend. With no craft fairs happening at the moment all your sales will have to come from your online audience. This is a great time to start building brand awareness and to practice your craft, but maybe not the best time to quit the day job.

You can find me on Instagram and Depop @norajanejewellery