Cody

I finally went jewelry shopping yesterday, more of a price comparison you might say.  I was at the mall w/ my mom and sister because we had just ate out and obviously I wasn’t going to go all the way home so they could shop.  While I was there I started browsing the jewelry stores, something I’ve not done in quite some time (several years in fact).  As most of you know I’ve kept the prices on my jewelry the same throughout the years just because I’ve had no reason to increase price.  No new equipment to speak of, no new employees, no change in sales, no major price increases in supplies, etc.  The way that I’ve been raising prices is introducing new, more complex bracelets and necklaces that naturally start at higher prices.  My silver bracelets used to be competitive with most silver charm bracelets without any charms, as they are the most similar to what I sell.  This time while looking around I figured charm bracelets have probably lost some of their momentum as they are not nearly as popular as they used to be when I first got this business going.  Amazingly enough I was wrong… dead wrong… My once competitive price of $75 for silver bracelets is now obsolete.  These jewelry stores in the malls were selling blank charm bracelets for $200 and up.  In other words they were selling bracelets for more than I am selling most necklaces for!

The problem comes in the question “should I follow the trends?”  The thing is it cost me no more than $15 per bracelet (when silver is high) to make… then of course comes 3-4 hours of work, blades, pliers, and other supplies.  Most of these are a drop in the bucket especially with things such as pliers since they last for several hundred bracelets/necklaces so the $30 a pair really doesn’t mean that much.   Anyways, my point is with the prices I’m selling at I feel everyone is getting a fair deal, and it still allows me to give my friends a little price break since several of them like my stuff a lot.  If I raised the prices enough to be competitive again sales may increase, as people have something to grasp onto that shows them there is something of value about the pieces.  Price changes come at a great risk though… such price changes would put my very popular japanese pieces over the $300 mark for bracelets… so I may have to concieve of a new approach to this problem.

Those of you who have kept up in the life and business of myself know that I’ve not made a single sale since I left my “real” job. Obviously I’ve been somewhat discouraged from this and thanks to car insurance, and a small amount of credit card debt I’ve accumulated in the efforts of getting this business going (purchasing the site script, paying for advertisements, paying for a copywriter, etc.) if I don’t make $250 a month (also partially thanks to going to school now I’ve gotta have gas to get there every week) to merely survive. This amount of money also provides for a few small commodities, but I’ve only got enough money in the bank to “survive” for 2 months. So in order to keep alive I’ve been thinking about getting another “real” job and using it to pay everything off while I wait for my business to grow… well God has said to me “naw, not yet you don’t.” With the gift of a couple small boys I’ve been allowed to stay jobless for a little longer. My mom’s supervisor Angie Henry has a couple of small boys, one of which I used to babysit all the time before he went to Kaliphornia to life with his papa. Him and his brother are here for the next 2 weeks though for vacation. Last night I went to visit them, and there mom asked me to babysit for a while later that night so she could go to the casino… alright that’s cool I like the little punks anyways. She also asked me to babysit them for the next 2 weeks while she goes to work… even better this way I accumulate a little survival money!

This leads me to part 2 of my story… The night of babysitting. I went and picked up both Zach, and Chance to bring them over here for a little while since Zach always loved playing computer games I let them play online for a while. They’re deprived little children and only have console games usually so if they want to visit the world of HL2 and online play they’ve gotta come visit me since I’m the only person they know who’s got a good computer and what not. Later on the night we’re back at their place and after swimming for several hours they’re kind of hungry… expected kuz so am I. So after doing a quick scan of the house for food we decide it’d be best to pay the good old double arches a visit…. uh… except for some reason the McDonalds off of North Oak in Gladstone is closed… and I don’t really want to drive all the way over to my house just for McDonalds so Plan B comes into affect (there was never a plan B but it came to me in the vision of a red sign bearing the QT symbol). Heading into Quick Trip for some taquitos and drinks some old woman is staring at me as we hop out of my car… kind of strange but whatever… I’m grabbing the taquitos and they’re getting their drinks… well this woman comes inside and asks me if I have ID “yes” I say with a very indignant tone “how old are you?” she asks before I even have the chance to fully respond “20, thanks.” I’m getting rather annoyed at this point pulling out my wallet to please this psychotic woman “You’re 20?” as if it was something completely unbelievable. Right about now I’ve handed her my ID and I’m looking around utterly annoyed and wishing this woman would just leave when I look past her to Zach who’s frozen at the counter with the lids looking rather frightened… Now if you had been there you would of been able to see a fire well up in my eyes that could sear the armour from a mounted knight… Zach’s fear passes to me as I realize that this woman is between my boys and me, I begin thinking all kinds of crazy thoughts since I’d just watched Running Scared a few days ago. I turn my body sideways and instantly start a body type analysis of this woman to see the fastest most effective way to drop her, half of me is saying “dude, she’s a woman in her mid 40’s if she does anything how hard is it going to be for you to stop her” and the other side of me is saying “those are your friends, boys that you love dearly, if she tries in some vigilant attempt to save them by taking them from you, you’ve gotta be ready to lay down your life for them but not before laying down hers.” Had she actually touched either one of those boys I would have killed her without any remorse. It amazes me how far instinct goes… I’ve always been a protective person if I love you I would do anything for you… and if you’re in trouble or there is the potential of danger you can always count on me to be in defense mode ready to destroy all who oppose you. Luckily she just hands back my ID and say’s very indignantly “It’s a school night you know” to which I respond still in my attack stance “yeah, they live in Kaliphornia, and I don’t think you have to worry about them going to school tomorrow.” Afterwards she walks off in a huff. I tried to hide my emotions as much as possible and not let the boys know that I was still scared, worried, and ready to kill… but it didn’t come naturally as I was the most afraid that I have been in a long time at that moment. Those young boys became my kin, my blood at that moment and I would of done anything to of kept them safe.