19 Pros and Cons of Being a Jeweler

If you have always dreamed of creating jewelry that others will be able to wear, becoming a jeweler may be a desirable career path.

Whether you work for yourself or for someone else, there are both pros and cons to working in this industry.

Taking the time to explore everything about the job will make it easier for you to decide if you truly want to become a jeweler.

Pros of Being a Jeweler

There are a variety of advantages to being a jeweler, especially when you have the ability to be your own boss.

Understanding the various pros can help you to learn why people will choose this career path.

1. Be Creative

You have the opportunity to be creative each and every day on the job.

Whether you have an art background or not, as long as you have an eye for detail, you can get creative in order to produce pieces that people have never seen before – and that will help you to build an incredible reputation for your art.

2. No Degree is Required

Being a jeweler is more about having the necessary skills rather than obtaining a degree.

While you can always get a degree in business management, it is more about knowing what it takes to create various pieces of jewelry.

Without a degree, you can get started in your field right away.

3. Avoid Student Loan Debt

Since you don’t need a degree, you can avoid student loan debt.

The average bachelor’s degree will place most people into at least $40,000 worth of debt.

This can make it difficult to pay off your loans and begin seeing a profit from your jewelry business.

4. Become Your Own Boss

You have the ability to be your own boss.

While you can choose to work for a jewelry company, you can also branch out and open your own shop.

This allows you to put your name on everything and start to build a reputation for creating a certain type of jewelry.

It also allows you to set the prices and hold onto more of the profit.

5. Learn About the Latest Trends

By working as a jeweler, you will want to stay up on all of the latest fashion trends.

You may attend conferences, conventions, and more in order to find out what people are wearing so that you can create trendy jewelry.

During the conferences and conventions, you can also network with other jewelers.

6. Work Indoors

Working as a jeweler, you will work primarily indoors.

While you may work in a variety of workshops if you are melting gold and silver, most of your work is spent indoors.

It allows you to have a comfortable work environment that also isn’t very strenuous.

7. Enjoy Luxurious Items

Jewelry is known to be luxurious, and you will be working around it all of the time.

Whether you work with diamonds, emeralds, other gems, or simply metal, you are in a field of luxury.

This also means that when you tell people you work as a jeweler, they will think highly of you because you are constantly surrounded by luxurious items.

8. Work Normal Hours

In comparison to other jobs, you will work relatively normal hours.

If you have your own jewelry store, you may work longer hours and weekends.

Otherwise, if you are simply the jeweler, you will work hours that work best for you and your social life.

You may even find that you aren’t working a full 40 hours, freeing up time to do the things that you love.

9. Enjoy Various Perks

There are a lot of perks when you work as a jeweler.

You will have the ability to always wear whatever it is that you design, ensuring that you have a luxurious look for any social outing.

You may even find that you are able to partner with various fashion designers so that you can get some of the latest fashions in exchange for producing jewelry exclusively for them.

Cons of Being a Jeweler

Being a jeweler sounds fun, but it’s important to know about the various cons before you choose to get started in this career field.

1. Money Isn’t Always as Good as You Think

Unless you have already built a reputation for yourself, money may not be that great.

It can take a significant amount of time to build a brand so that people know your name and know the quality of your work.

Until then, you may be barely scraping by as a jeweler.

2. Job Security is Low

Job security is considered relatively low because there aren’t a lot of opportunities for jewelers.

Many of the large jewelry companies have jewelers that they work with – and the same designs get repeated with significant frequency.

If you aren’t able to develop your brand, you may find that you need to give up your dream in favor of a job that is more secure.

3. You Might Need a Second Job

Since you may not be earning as much as you originally thought as a jeweler or you aren’t working a full 40 hours, it may be necessary for you to get a second job.

Many jewelers will work in department stores, and jewelry companies, and participate in various other artisan crafts while building their brands.

4. You Might Not Have Health Insurance

If you are working for yourself as a jeweler, you probably won’t have health insurance until you become large enough that you have multiple employees working for you.

This means that you will have to buy private health insurance, which can be extremely expensive.

Additionally, depending on the materials that you work with, you may be considered high risk because of the potential for injuring yourself on the job.

5. It Takes a While to Build a Reputation

No one starts out with a reputation like Cartier or Harry Winston.

Instead, it can take years to build a reputation that will allow you to be financially comfortable and sell the kind of jewelry that you want to sell – at high prices.

It often becomes about networking and who you know in order to build your reputation to the desired level.

Even then, there is no guarantee that you will reach celebrity status.

6. You Don’t Gain Experience in Other Industries

The work that you do as a jeweler doesn’t translate to other industries, which means that it can be difficult if you decide you want to change career paths.

You may have experience with metalworking and such, and there aren’t other industries that require those skills.

It may be necessary for you to develop other skills so that you have a fallback plan.

7. Promotions are Difficult to Obtain

Once you start as a jeweler, there aren’t really opportunities for promotion.

If you work for a company, you are a jeweler – and there is nowhere for you to move up the corporate ladder unless you have a degree in business management or something else.

The only way to “promote” yourself is if you decide to work for yourself and open one or more locations.

8. Theft is Common

You will be working with a variety of high-end items including gold, silver, and gems.

This means that there is a higher risk of being targeted by criminals.

Theft is relatively common within enjoy stores, so someone could break into your store.

If you don’t have a store and people know where your workshop is, that could be at risk as well.

Being insured is a necessity.

9. Special Skills are Required

You will need a number of special skills in order to make it as a jeweler.

It may take time for you to develop these skills, and you may even find that you have to collaborate with other jewelers so that you can learn some of the various techniques about cutting gems, mounting gems, and more.

Finding people who will allow you to learn from them will be difficult.

10. Clients Can Be Demanding

You may take a number of customer orders from clients.

Some people will with local jewelers in order to have a unique engagement or anniversary ring crafted.

Others will work with jewelers in order to have another piece of jewelry created for a special occasion.

The more someone is willing to pay, the more expectations they will have, and a demanding client can be extremely stressful to work with.

Failure to produce what they want can also be a hit to your reputation.

Pros and Cons of Being a Jeweler – Summary Table

Pros of Being a Jeweler	Cons of Being a Jeweler
1. Be Creative	1. Money Isn’t Always as Good as You Think
2. No Degree is Required	2. Job Security is Low
3. Avoid Student Loan Debt	3. You Might Need a Second Job
4. Become Your Own Boss	4. You Might Not Have Health Insurance
5. Learn About the Latest Trends	5. It Takes a While to Build a Reputation
6. Work Indoors	6. You Don’t Gain Experience in Other Industries
7. Enjoy Luxurious Items	7. Promotions are Difficult to Obtain
8. Work Normal Hours	8. Theft is Common
9. Enjoy Various Perks	9. Special Skills are Required
	10. Clients Can Be Demanding

Should You Become a Jeweler?

When you become a jeweler, you have the ability to show others how creative you can be.

It can be extremely rewarding when you find others wearing your designs.

You need to make sure that you are a self-starter and have a unique, creative voice to share through jewelry in order to be successful.

Do some research so that you know what kind of competition you will have as a jeweler in your area.