Jewellery party businesses are a dime a dozen. Every woman knows someone who runs parties; every woman has been to one at a friends house; every stay at home mom has thought of running her own parties to make some quick and easy money. It's one of the easiest businesses to launch, and one of the most likely businesses to fail.

Running jewellery parties is the offline equivalent of an eBay business. Anyone can get involved, and they can do so at little or no cost, with little or no business experience, and without anything resembling a business plan. There's no job interview, no skills requirements, and no large capital outlay. Just like eBay businesses, there is a small percentage of party organisers who make a reasonable income, an ever smaller percentage who do very well indeed, and a huge majority who cease trading after about six months, with little to show for it but a sense of failure and dissatisfaction.

Those who fail do so for a number of reasons, but the failure almost always follows the same pattern. The first party is dubbed a success, if not a great one. Turnout may have been good, sales solid, and a modest profit made. The second party is less of a success. Only half the number of women turn up (many of whom were at the first party), they purchase less, and the party organiser is lucky to break even. The third (and usually final) party is a complete failure. Turnout is in the single digits and no one stays long. They drink some wine, look at the jewellery on display, maybe buy one of the cheapest items because they feel they have to, and then leave.

At this point, the party organiser usually decides to throw in the towel. They lay the blame on the business model itself, the weak economy, or the difficulty in attracting crowds. They never place the blame where it truly belongs: at their own doorstep. Jewellery party businesses are businesses, not hobbies - just like an eBay business is a business, and an eCommerce store is a business. The fact that it's possible to start your business on a whim from your own home does not mean it can succeed on a whim. The same skills required to run successful bricks and mortar businesses are required to run successful party businesses.

So why do jewellery parties fail?

There are four main reasons for the lack of success of so many party businesses. They are: over pricing, selling to the same people at each party, sourcing only the cheapest of stock, and not changing or updating stock often enough. A fifth reason could be added, and it could be called the source of the other four. It would be: Not treating the business as a business.

Before getting involved in jewellery parties, you should ask yourself one question: Do you have, or are you prepared to learn, the skills needed to run a retail business? If the answer is no, your business will fail.