Find a niche and let the game plan begin
Learning to sell takes patience and creativity. Reassessment
and relationships are key.
By Daniel Costello, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 23, 2007

Arianne Zucker has just started riding the sales wave. This year, the actress left a longtime role
on the soap
"Days of Our Lives" to work full time on a jewelry line called LowdSuga' that she started with a
friend two years ago.
The pair understand how crowded the jewelry business is and are trying to learn day by day
how to make that big
sale.
In the beginning, Zucker and business partner Heidi Mages held jewelry parties around Los
Angeles and invited
dozens of women to look at the handmade jewelry, most of which sells for less than $500 each.
After early success, they began approaching retail stores and are now in several across
California. They hope
eventually to get into larger chain stores. They started a website and last month hired a
publicist to try to drive online
sales.
Zucker said reaching out to other small businesses for advice had been essential. She recently
attended a workshop
by Ladies Who Launch, a national organization that offers women advice about starting
businesses, where they
gave strategies for women who may not be initially comfortable as salespeople.
"The way women approach business is different and it's important to realize the pluses and
minuses of that,
" Zucker said.
Foster, of UCLA, says once a small business has some initial success, it often makes a crucial
mistake: wanting to
grow too fast. Although there are occasional exceptions, slow and steady often wins the race.
"A good small business can often grow for five or 10 years at the same pace without having to
alter its business
model too much if they do just a few of these things right," Foster said.
Dave, of Millennium Products, says he continually hears from people who have ideas about
products he should
create or new markets to explore. For the time being, he's sticking with his focus on organic
drinks and foods that he
can sell in health food stores and supermarkets.
"I didn't start this because I wanted to be a millionaire or had my eyes on conquering the
world," Dave said.
"I like building and growing this business more than anything I have ever done."    
daniel.costello@latimes.com