Small Business Tips to recession proof your business

By Star Sosa of Spectrum Art & Jewelry

I’ve been self employed for over 22 years. I made it this long because I was always open to change. While what I’m doing is very similar to where I started, it has evolved over the years into a much different and more comprehensive business.

How does a small business manage in these trying times?
Is it possible we have a better chance than the big box businesses to make it through?

Why? Because like the small mammals that survived the environmental changes that did in the dinosaurs, small businesses can more easily evolve, adapting to the changing surroundings. Keep an open mind, look for the need, find solutions and make the changes as needed.

Here are some ideas for ways to recession proof your small business:

Remain optimistic - know enough about the current circumstances to make informed decisions, but don’t dwell on bad news. Times like this require an open mind and a creative outlook. Think of the whole “make lemonade” thing – what twist can you put on the situation to attract people to your product or service.

Take a close look at your expenses and overhead and make an effort to streamline, refine and minimize them. Just like hunkering down for a pending storm, you’ll need to be sensible about your exposure. Your vendors are experiencing much of the same issues as you are. Talk to them and see if you can’t negotiate more favorable terms or arrangements that will help both of your do more business in the long run.

Set yourself apart by providing your customers with an optimal experience. Win their loyalty and continued support, not by lowering your prices but by providing the best relationship, support, products, services and experience out there! You’ll never be able to compete with the big guys on price and buying abilities.

Here at Spectrum Art & Jewelry we have created a unique environment and community experience that people a drawn to, over and over. Many of my best customers have been regulars for ten years. They keep coming back because we treat them well and provide an ever changing selection of fabulous and unique artworks and services.

One of the main ways we promote our business is through events, such as wine tastings. I’m always looking for interesting things to host at the gallery to give my customers another reason to drop by. Every time I can get them here I have increased the odds that they will find something they can’t live without.

Support the other small businesses in your community. Keep it local. Give your loyalty to your neighbors and they will give it to you.

We buy the wine for our wine tastings at a locally owned shop.
When we can’t provide something specific a customer requests we make every effort to refer them to someone who can. Those businesses return the favor as well.

Form strategic alliances with other business owners to get your messages out to each other’s client base. There is strength in numbers, this is especially important for small business owners. Find non-competing businesses to partner with to give your customers even more reason to do business with you.

For instance, I produce a small magazine called ViViD on a quarterly basis. It is intended to promote the gallery, our artists and community and to foster art collecting. In it we partner with select businesses that share our demographic. They provide value with offers and coupon and they assist in the distribution by sharing ViViD with their customers.

My neighboring stores share the same type of clientele. In the coming year, we will be partnering on various promotions to create the critical mass necessary to draw more people to our center and our shops.

Review your product and services. Are they really meeting your customer’s needs? Are they priced right? Can they bear even a small price increase (to increase your margin)? Survey your customers and find out what they really want and if you have been successful in providing it. You may be surprised by what you learn. This responsiveness is a critical tool to adapting to the changing economic environment.

Review your message. Are you putting out the right message to the right people? Evaluate what works best and what you can let go of. It is crucial in the coming year to keep promoting your business however you have to ensure that you are investing your marketing dollars wisely.

Become a public relations expert. There are a myriad of ways you can take advantage of free publicity. Create newsworthy press releases and sent them to the local media.

Refine and expand your Internet presence. Keep your website current and interesting. The more frequently you update the information, the better you’ll look in the search engines. Optimize your site to improve your rankings in searches.

We found that with some simple changes we were able to greatly improve our search rankings in just a few days. There are classes and webinars out there to help you learn this. It’s not difficult and you don’t have to pay someone a lot of money to do it for you.

Make use of the Web 2.0 tools available to you to keep you top-of-mind with your customers: e-mail newsletters, blogs, myspace, twitter, the list goes on. Use all the different facets to drive business to your website and ultimately to your business.

This can be really grass roots. Find the tool that works for you and run with it. Give value with your blog. Provide education or information that people need or enjoy. For instance, this information will be posted on the Spectrum Art & Jewelry blog so you can reference it there. Link everything together and add links to your e-mail signatures. Watch how it all grows organically.

Recognize that every business is a community. It is intended to support you, your employees, your vendors and your customers. Show your appreciation to every aspect of this dynamic. Maintain an attitude of gratitude. Involve your team in the process to instill ownership. After all, your success should mean their success. Give them a reason to help you pull through and to flourish, because they will be rewarded as well!

Don’t miss the opportunity to partner with local charities. This year they are facing bigger challenges than ever to meet their budgets. Pick something you are passionate about and get creative about ways to share your message and raise money. Giving back to the community will boost your karma as well as your customer’s perception of your business.

There you have my ten points on surviving the economic challenges facing us. Many of the pundits are saying that this is a time of opportunity as much as anything. The forward thinking, creative, flexible and savvy business people will come out even better in the long run. Business as usual will send you the way of the dinosaurs. Wake up and get to work.

You Can Do It!

What's In Your Jewelry Box?

Do you have hidden treasures in your home?

So many options exist when considering what to do with your old jewelry. If you are like me, you have those odd pieces sitting around, the half pair of earrings, the jewelry from old relationships, a chain with a knot in it you've never been able to wear, things you've inherited or gifts you were given that just aren't your style. It seems such a waste to let it pile up, but some things just have too much emotion involved to just get rid of them.


If you aren't sentimental, you can take it somewhere and sell it for scrap. We can certainly take care of that for you too. Our prices are very competitive. But another option is having it restyled into something new that fits you and your personality.

With some things we can actually melt them down to make the new design. There are certain exceptions like when your old jewelry is yellow gold and you'd prefer white gold or platinum. Also jewelry of mixed karat (10k, 14k & 18k) or items like chains or cocktail rings that have lots of assembled parts. These won't result in a satisfactory end result, so it's best to calculate the scrap value and apply it toward the finished piece. Mainly you need to just collect everything you might want to recycle and let us evaluate it.

When looking over your collection, decide which gemstones or diamonds are important to you to incorporate into the new design. It's always possible to add something new, but it's nice to know what you already have that might work.

Start looking at the fashion magazines and cut out pictures of your favorite designs. This is not so we can copy them, but rather to assist us in determining your favorite styles and design elements. Because the new jewelry is made from scratch, it is possible to utilize various elements of several different designs to create something totally fresh and new.

So what are you waiting for, call today and ask to set up a Jewelry Box Review appointment with Star. With over twenty years experience working with jewelry design customers, she's an old hand at creating the perfect style for you. Then our master goldsmith, Michael Chapman, takes over, putting his 40+ years of experience to work in crafting something exceptional.

It's fun and you end up with something very special. It's so great to wear something that has been personally tailored to your needs and desires. Don't worry about the process, we will explain every step of the way and you'll gain a jewelry education you never expected. You'll enjoy sharing the story with your friends when they ask where you got it!

Adventures in Glass ~ A Visit with Stan Harmon

This past weekend my boyfriend, Robert and I enjoyed a great visit with glass artist, Stan Harmon, at his home and studio on the Neuse River in New Bern, NC. What started out as an invitation to go fishing turned into an artistic retreat when the weather turned rainy and cold.

Just touring Stan's eclectic studio is a real treat. This custom built garage/art studio/ apartment is crammed with all kinds of fascinating art, tools, equipment and cool stuff he's collected over the years. He's set up to create a variety of glass art, from the stained glass panels builders commission for their custom homes to the fused glass artworks we currently feature in the gallery as well as anything else he can come up with. Wife, Marti, also loves to play in the studio and her creations are scattered through the space.

Stan uses the light table, shown in the right side of the photo above, to lay out his glass panels. These designs are really like paintings in glass. He uses fine powdered glass "frit" to make up the colors of the lifelike fish he favors.

Note the tuba horn crafted into a ventilation hood. More evidence than Stan never throws any ting away, finding utility in all kinds of stuff. The jars along the right side show different sizes and colors of frit. In the rear you can see the clamshell kiln he uses to fire his larger pieces. He has two other kilns as well.

Here is the wood/metal shop where Stan creates his hand forged sculptural copper hangers. He has everything he need to noodle around and make just about whatever he wants. That is, if he can find a square inch of counter space to work. This shop is a tinkerer's dream.

Here are our art camp creations. Above is my abstract platter. It's been through the first firing and now will be slumped into a form to make a square platter with raised edges. What you can't see is the sparkle from the adventurine glass and the irridized glass. One thing about a freeform pattern of color, you really can't make a mistake, it is all good!

These two adorable designs are what Robert created to give to his young granddaughters. You see them placed in the kiln about to be fired to fuse all the parts together. What you see is powder and fragmented bits of glass arranged on top of two sheets of glass, one clear and one white. The glass seeks to be 1/4" thick and everything will melt together and end up as a flat piece. In a subsequent firing these disks will be slumped into a form to make cereal bowls.

It was great to have the opportunity to just play for an afternoon with all the supplies and tools available and ample coaching from both Stan and Marti. We learned a lot and I have a whole new appreciation for Stan's gorgeous fish panels. They really are paintings captured in glass.

To see more of Stan's work, click here. Remember, that it's very difficult to really capture the sparkle and 3-D effect of these panels. Stop by the gallery to see them in person. Hope to see you soon!

Star Sosa

Spectrum Supports The Pink Ribbon Campaign

by Nicole Wilkinson

As many of you may already know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Wilmington hosts the annual Pink Ribbon Event each year and is on its 11th year of successful giving. Gallery owner, Star Sosa, made a conscious decision to support the campaign as a Retailer for the Ribbon.

A portion of all proceeds earned from the one-of-a-kind Akeso necklaces, designed at Spectrum, will be donated to the cause. Star, Nancy, Jane, Joyce, and Nicole, all welcomed the kickoff of the monthly event at a special breakfast that took place at the Holiday Inn Sunspree. We learned that since its inception in 1998, the Pink Ribbon event has raised more than $850,000 and provided over 4,000 "Comfort Bags" to area women as they undergo treatment for cancer. Distributed by the Zimmer Cancer Center, these bags are to bring comfort to women as they go throughout their cancer journey, from diagnosis through treatment.

In addition to the Pink Ribbon Comfort Bags, the proceeds from Pink Ribbon events also provide funding for uninsured women receiving mammography through the Coastal Care Van- the region's only mobile cancer screening van. Last year, the Pink Ribbon funds provided over 400 women with mammography screenings and fourteen women with biopsies after a suspect screening mammography.

To support your local Pink Ribbon efforts, stop into Spectrum and purchase an Akeso necklace or bracelet. Named for Akeso, the Greek goddess of healing & curing, this gemstone talisman incorporated Rose Quartz for healing and self-love, Moonstone for understanding and pearls for wisdom. The dragonfly and butterfly charms remind us to take joy in the dance of life and the ever-constant process of change. Every Akeso is one-of-a-kind. Share the essence of healing.

Click HERE to see an example of our Akeso jewelry designs.

Pearls & Politics

By Nicole Wilkinson

Why is it when I think of pearls and first ladies I immediately think of Barbara Bush? Political stylists have had a way of dressing political figure heads and spouses with dignity, grace, elegance and conservatism. This style is easily executed with a beautiful strand of pearls, or in Barbara's case, three strands. According to Peter Bazar of Imperial, Rhode Island, "If a woman is going to be taken seriously, she needs a strand of pearls...The more successful she is, the bigger the pearls."
Pearls are always in style and never out of season. Serving as a classic staple for the woman's wardrobe no matter what decade, pearls make a striking impact. Sarah Palin wore South Sea pearls for her convention night speech, "Michelle Obama's Jackie O-style strand, Cindy McCain's four-strand akoya, or Nancy Pelosi's multicolor South Seas, and all are the foundation of a well-dressed woman's jewelry wardrobe" according to Modern Jeweler. "That's the great thing about pearls, say Avi Raz of A&Z Pearls, Los Angeles. They cross party lines."

As we gear up for election day, Spectrum Art & Jewelry is excited to offer a wide variety of pearl selections to meet all of your jewelry wardrobe needs. We can accommodate all budgets and styles. Stop in today to look at our collection or have a custom designed piece! And don't forget to VOTE!

Purity Rings Popular in Teen Culture

by Nicole Wilkinson

This past week, I had a customer come into the store and ask if we sold "Purity Rings". With fascination behind the concept, I began to do some research. According to Modern Jeweler Magazine, "one of the hottest trends in the teen market today is rings that promise 'I don't' instead of 'I do'. Worn mostly by young people, the rings represent a vow to practice chastity and remain celibate until marriage."

Popular musicians, such as Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers, sport such rings during concerts and public events. After being mocked by Russell Brand, a British comedian, former 2007 American Idol winner, Jordin Sparks, jumped to the defense of the Jonas Brothers which caused a surge in purity ring purchases.

There is not one particular style of ring that all are wearing. Different companies and designers offer different styles, some with closed bud roses, or inscribed, Love is Patient and True Love Waits.

If you know a teen and would like to create a special gift for them for the holidays, graduation or a birthday, feel free to stop into Spectrum and meet with Star. She can design a ring for you, specific with your wants and needs which will fit your particular budget. All rings are made in-house by our master goldsmith, Michael Chapman.