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Written by: Howard Tillerman
Howard Tillerman is the Chief Marketing Officer for Step By Step Business and an award-winning marketing professional.
Edited by: David Lepeska
David has been writing and learning about business, finance and globalization for a quarter-century, starting with a small New York consulting firm in the 1990s.
Published on September 27, 2021
Investment range
$7,000 - 20,000
Revenue potential
$90,000 - $288,000 p.a.
Time to build
0-3 months
Profit potential
$63,000 - $200,000 p.a.
Industry trend
Growing
Commitment
Flexible
These are the critical aspects you should evaluate when launching your pearl party business:
When starting a pearl business, passion alone isn’t enough. So, take stock of the basics first. Ask yourself, what are the ins and outs of this industry? Do I have the skills required? Why do I want to start this business?
Some important things to know at this stage include the below.
The future of the pearl business looks promising, and smaller startups have the opportunity to capture a share of the market as more customers opt to buy their jewelry online.
Trends shaping the pearl party industry include:
Challenges in the pearl party industry include:
Starting a pearl party business will cost anywhere from $7,000 on the lower end to $20,000 on the higher end. Your biggest costs will be procuring oysters and marketing.
| Start-up Costs | Min | Max | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Licenses and permits | $300 | $1,000 | $650 |
| Insurance | $200 | $500 | $350 |
| Marketing and advertising | $1,500 | $5,000 | $3,250 |
| Website | $1000 | $3,000 | $2,000 |
| Software | $200 | $500 | $350 |
| Equipment | $1,200 | $2,500 | $1,850 |
| Raw Material | $2,000 | $7,000 | $4,500 |
| Miscellaneous | $600 | $500 | $550 |
| Total | $7,000 | $20,000 | $13,500 |
The amount of money you can generate from hosting an online pearl party depends on how many parties you’re able to host in a month, the number of attendees, and your overhead. Average revenue from a pearl party is about $1,500, and you should be able to achieve a profit margin of about 70%.
In your first year or two, you might host 5 parties each month, giving you annual revenue of $90,000 and a profit of $63,000. After you establish a reputation, you might host 12 parties each month and bring in $2,000 in revenue from each. This would give you annual revenue of $288,000, and a tidy profit of around $200,000.
There really is no limit to the income potential. Before the pandemic, established company Vantel Pearls made around $500 per party. Now their live-streamed parties often bring in $6,000 to $7,000, and have reached as high as $17,000.((https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/leticiamiranda/pearl-parties-are-taking-over-facebook-live-but-buyer-beware))
There are relatively few barriers to entry for the pearl party business. Some of the potential hiccups you’re likely to encounter as a new entrant include:
You now have a general overview of what operating a pearl party business involves. It’s time to develop and validate your idea further. You’ll want to address the following aspects:
Market research will give you the upper hand, even if you’re already positive that you have a perfect product or service. Conducting market research is important, because it can help you understand your customers better, who your competitors are, and your business landscape.
The pearl party market is still in its infant stage. Like any emerging industry, the ability to pinpoint opportunities can be the secret sauce to raking in mega-profits. The first step is to build a social media following, particularly on Facebook.
Research pearl party businesses on Facebook and Instagram to examine their products and services, price points, and customer reviews.
You’re looking for a market gap to fill, or a niche market, such as specializing in brightly colored pearls.
This could jumpstart your word-of-mouth marketing and attract clients right away.
You can target market segments your competitors are ignoring by expanding your reach, and even possibly going global, since this is mainly an online business. You could also choose to start by hosting parties online and expand to in-person pearl parties as your business grows.
When you know precisely how a pearl party business operates, you can seize opportunities that can help you stand out and, most importantly, attract the right audience. At a pearl party, people gather in person or tune into live streams where hosts open oysters to reveal colorful pearls inside.
Here’s how a pearl party works:
While in-person gatherings consist of a handful of attendees, online streams are accessible to a wider audience, which means they often make more money. In-person gatherings, however, tend to build stronger bonds and repeat business.
The dynamics of operating a pearl party business are complex. Some of the things you need to figure out before hosting a party include:
You’ll need a steady, reliable supply of oysters to keep your business up and running. Most pearl parties use imported oysters. To import oysters, you must comply with the following regulations:
You can source your oysters from France, Ireland, Canada, or the Netherlands, with France being the largest exporter of oysters.
While importing oysters can be expensive, you can partner with a multi-level marketing company to help you get affordable oysters for your business. The partnership allows you to buy pearls from the company and, at the same time, become a distributor. Some popular pearl companies include Gifts From Under the Sea, Aww Shucks, Pearls Gone Wild, Vantel Pearls, and It’s Pearl Time.
Be sure to do a background check before buying pearls from an MLM pearl company. You want to make sure you’re dealing with a credible and transparent company.
One of the advantages of getting your pearls from an MLM company is that they can appraise the pearls for you. But if you’ve imported your pearls, you may need to work with a jeweler to help you evaluate and appraise the unveiled pearls. Or, you can learn how to appraise the pearls by enrolling in an online course.
Here are some appraisal course options:
Many pearl party attendees will want to embed the unveiled pearl in a piece of jewelry. Therefore, you must provide this service – which you can do by working with a reputable jeweler.
In most cases, the jeweler can convert the pearls into jewelry or embed the pearls in another item bought by the participant.
The primary source of income for a pearl party business is selling pearl-bearing oysters. Wild or saltwater pearls fetch more money than freshwater or cultured pearls because they’re rare. A strand of cultured pearls sells for $50 to $2,000, whereas wild pearls can fetch between $300 and $25,000.
The average cost of an oyster is $20. Embedding the pearl in items ranges from $29 to $200. Depending on the number of people who show up at your party, you can rake in as much as $3,000, even in the early months.
The target market for a pearl party business is women aged 18 to 45, and you can find them on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
At the early stages of a pearl party business, you can broadcast live parties online from home. But as your business grows, you’ll likely need to hire workers for various roles and may need to rent out an office. Find commercial space to rent in your area on sites such as Craigslist, Crexi, and Instant Offices.
When choosing a commercial space, you may want to follow these rules of thumb:
Here are some ideas for brainstorming your business name:
Once you’ve got a list of potential names, visit the website of the US Patent and Trademark Office to make sure they are available for registration and check the availability of related domain names using our Domain Name Search tool below. Using “.com” or “.org” sharply increases credibility, so it’s best to focus on these.
Finally, make your choice among the names that pass this screening and go ahead with domain registration and social media account creation. Your business name is one of the key differentiators that set your business apart. Once you pick your company name, and start with the branding, it is hard to change the business name. Therefore, it’s important to carefully consider your choice before you start a business entity.
Here are the key components of a business plan:
If you’ve never created a business plan, it can be an intimidating task. You might consider hiring a business plan specialist to create a top-notch business plan for you.
Registering your business is an absolutely crucial step — it’s the prerequisite to paying taxes, raising capital, opening a bank account, and other guideposts on the road to getting a business up and running.
Plus, registration is exciting because it makes the entire process official. Once it’s complete, you’ll have your own business!
Your business location is important because it can affect taxes, legal requirements, and revenue. Most people will register their business in the state where they live, but if you are planning to expand, you might consider looking elsewhere, as some states could offer real advantages when it comes to pearl parties.
If you’re willing to move, you could really maximize your business! Keep in mind, it’s relatively easy to transfer your business to another state.
Business entities come in several varieties, each with its pros and cons. The legal structure you choose for your pearl party business will shape your taxes, personal liability, and business registration requirements, so choose wisely.
Here are the main options:
We recommend that new business owners choose LLC as it offers liability protection and pass-through taxation while being simpler to form than a corporation. You can form an LLC in as little as five minutes using an online LLC formation service. They will check that your business name is available before filing, submit your articles of organization, and answer any questions you might have.
Choose Your State
The final step before you’re able to pay taxes is getting an Employer Identification Number, or EIN. You can file for your EIN online or by mail or fax: visit the IRS website to learn more. Keep in mind, if you’ve chosen to be a sole proprietorship, you can simply use your social security number as your EIN.
Once you have your EIN, you’ll need to choose your tax year. Financially speaking, your business will operate in a calendar year (January–December) or a fiscal year, a 12-month period that can start in any month. This will determine your tax cycle, while your business structure will determine which taxes you’ll pay.
The IRS website also offers a tax-payers checklist, and taxes can be filed online.
It is important to consult an accountant or other professional to help you with your taxes to ensure you are completing them correctly.
Securing financing is your next step and there are plenty of ways to raise capital:
Bank and SBA loans are probably the best options, other than friends and family, for funding a pearl party business.
Starting a pearl party business requires obtaining a number of licenses and permits from local, state, and federal governments.
Federal regulations, licenses, and permits associated with starting your business include doing business as (DBA), health licenses and permits from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), trademarks, copyrights, patents, and other intellectual properties, as well as industry-specific licenses and permits.
You may also need state-level and local county or city-based licenses and permits. The license requirements and how to obtain them vary, so check the websites of your state, city, and county governments or contact the appropriate person to learn more.
You could also check this SBA guide for your state’s requirements, but we recommend using MyCorporation’s Business License Compliance Package. They will research the exact forms you need for your business and state and provide them to ensure you’re fully compliant.
This is not a step to be taken lightly, as failing to comply with legal requirements can result in hefty penalties.
If you feel overwhelmed by this step or don’t know how to begin, it might be a good idea to hire a professional to help you check all the legal boxes.
Before you start making money, you’ll need a place to keep it, and that requires opening a bank account.
Keeping your business finances separate from your personal account makes it easy to file taxes and track your company’s income, so it’s worth doing even if you’re running your pearl party business as a sole proprietorship. Opening a business bank account is quite simple, and similar to opening a personal one. Most major banks offer accounts tailored for businesses — just inquire at your preferred bank to learn about their rates and features.
Banks vary in terms of offerings, so it’s a good idea to examine your options and select the best plan for you. Once you choose your bank, bring in your EIN (or Social Security Number if you decide on a sole proprietorship), articles of incorporation, and other legal documents and open your new account.
Business insurance is an area that often gets overlooked yet it can be vital to your success as an entrepreneur. Insurance protects you from unexpected events that can have a devastating impact on your business.
Here are some types of insurance to consider:
As opening day nears, prepare for launch by reviewing and improving some key elements of your business.
Being an entrepreneur often means wearing many hats, from marketing to sales to accounting, which can be overwhelming. Fortunately, many websites and digital tools are available to help simplify many business tasks.
You may also want to consider event planning tools such as cvent, Caterease, and Pro Party Planner to manage your pearl parties from start to finish, track and manage guests, process payments, and more.
Website development is crucial because your site is your online presence and needs to convince prospective clients of your expertise and professionalism.
You can create your own website using services like WordPress, Wix, or Squarespace. This route is very affordable, but figuring out how to build a website can be time-consuming. If you lack tech-savvy, you can hire a web designer or developer to create a custom website for your business.
They are unlikely to find your website, however, unless you follow Search Engine Optimization (SEO) practices. These are steps that help pages rank higher in the results of top search engines like Google.
Here are some powerful marketing strategies for your future business:
Unique selling propositions, or USPs, are the characteristics of a product or service that sets it apart from the competition. Customers today are inundated with buying options, so you’ll have a real advantage if they are able to quickly grasp how your pearls meet their needs or wishes. It’s wise to do all you can to ensure your USPs stand out on your website and in your marketing and promotional materials, stimulating buyer desire.
Global pizza chain Domino’s is renowned for its USP: “Hot pizza in 30 minutes or less, guaranteed.” Signature USPs for your pearl party business could be:
You may not like to network or use personal connections for business gain. But your personal and professional networks likely offer considerable untapped business potential. Maybe that Facebook friend you met in college is now running a pearl party business, or a LinkedIn contact of yours is connected to dozens of potential clients. Maybe your cousin or neighbor has been working in pearls for years and can offer invaluable insight and industry connections.
The possibilities are endless, so it’s a good idea to review your personal and professional networks and reach out to those with possible links to or interest in pearl parties. You’ll probably generate new customers or find companies with which you could establish a partnership. Online businesses might also consider affiliate marketing as a way to build relationships with potential partners and boost business.
If you’re starting out small from a home office, you may not need any employees. But as your business grows, you will likely need workers to fill various roles. Potential positions for a pearl party business include:
At some point, you may need to hire all of these positions or simply a few, depending on the size and needs of your business. You might also hire multiple workers for a single role or a single worker for multiple roles, again depending on need.
Free-of-charge methods to recruit employees include posting ads on popular platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, or Jobs.com. You might also consider a premium recruitment option, such as advertising on Indeed, Glassdoor, or ZipRecruiter. Further, if you have the resources, you could consider hiring a recruitment agency to help you find talent.
If you’ve made it this far, then you know just about everything there is to know about starting a successful pearl party business. You can begin by hosting pearl parties online, either through Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube.
The beauty of using any of these platforms is that your followers can share the broadcast with their audience in real time, bringing in new followers and potential customers in the process. You can even reach a global audience. Now it’s time to put your money where your mouth is and begin your entrepreneurial journey as a pearl party host! Good luck!
Revenue varies depending on the type and quality of your pearls. For example, you can rake in up to $25,000 for a strand of white pearls. Freshwater pearls, on the other hand, can generate $50 to $2,000 per strand.
Yes, they are. However, there’s no specific standard to measure the value of these pearls. Even so, be sure to procure high-quality pearls. The higher the quality of your party pearls, the more revenue you can generate.
Pearl consultants earn a commission of up to 25% per sale. They also make an extra 2% if a new salesperson recruited under their name meets the set sales targets.
The host displays oysters for sale at a pearl opening party before popping open the sold oysters to reveal the pearls tucked inside. Attendees can choose to buy the pearls as they are or as jewelry in a necklace or earring.
Sourcing high-quality pearls for your business requires research and establishing relationships with reputable suppliers. Attend jewelry trade shows to connect with suppliers and personally inspect the quality of their pearls. Seek recommendations from experts in the industry and perform quality checks on the pearls you receive.
To differentiate your pearl party business from competitors, focus on unique pearl offerings, personalized customer experiences, educational content about pearls, exclusive designs or customization options, and ethical and sustainable practices.
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