Final Reflection

The goals of my senior project were as follows, obtain a tax ID and create a business checking and savings account to further legitimize the business, find vendors in Atlanta or online, intern and learn more about retail with Laura Pearce, have a trunk show, and launch a website. The accomplishments of my senior project are as follows, got a tax id and created business checking accounts, found multiple vendors for materials, interned with Laura Pearce and met with her jewelry designer to learn more about making fine jewelry, hosted two trunk shows, and launched a website. Overall, I am satisfied with all that I achieved during my Senior Project. There were definitely some bumps in the road but I am happy with the final product.

Although I only planned to have one trunk show originally the opportunity for another one presented itself and I couldn't turn it down. The first trunk show in Tuscaloosa while not necessarily a huge economic success was good advertising and experience. The final show on April 25th went well and again having a show is always good experience, advertisement, and a way for me to learn from any mistake made. In order to get materials for these shows I had to get the tax ID and business account set up. I actually applied for the tax ID in September because I had needed it earlier for other shows but it is a long process and ended up taking about 4 months to come through. I set up the bank accounts with the money I made in a Christmas trunk show. I created a business checking and business savings account because previously all the money had been in my personal account and was hard to keep track of. These bank accounts were great for overseeing all purchases. With my newly received tax ID I was able to get wholesale prices at the local bead stores I go to. I also approached an online shop about wholesale prices but have yet to hear back. I have a good relationship with the storeowner at the bead store I tend to most often; this relationship has come in handy. The store owner not only helps me with making jewelry if I have questions it, but she also will text me pictures every time a new item comes in allowing me to get a first look at it. Making jewelry and selling jewelry locally were obviously a big part of my project, but I was ready to take it to the next level; hence the eCommerce website. The website itself wasn’t that difficult because I used a program I was familiar with and good for beginners, it was mainly the pictures that were troubling. I had to take lots and lots of pictures of people wearing and styling the jewelry because that is a big part of my website. The LookBook, what all the pictures were for, turned out to be my favorite part of the website and I am very pleased with the way it turned out.

The final aspect of my senior project was my internship. My school schedule made it hard for me to really get anything out of the internship relating to retail as I could only go in for certain times of the day for short time periods. Although I didn’t learn as much about retail as I imagined I sat down with her jewelry designer and got a good grasp on all that he does. It was amazing to me how similar his process was to mine, despite the types of jewelry. All in all, doing a senior project allowed me time to get more involved in a topic I enjoyed all while learning about aspects of jewelry design and business.