Art Fish – Prairie Jewelers

When it comes to value, the name of the game is trust.  This is especially true with a jewelry business.  Knowing that the proprietor of the jewelry store knows what is available, what the different items are worth and how to choose just the right piece of jewelry to accomplish your goals all comes down to trust.
This was an interesting interview since my knowledge of jewelry is limited.  Luckily, Art Fish, the new-ish owner of Prairie Jewelers was able to answer all of my questions, and then some.
Listen as Art explains his journey in the jewelry business, from employee on the bottom rung to owner, after purchasing a long standing jewelry store in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.
Art has an incredible wealth of knowledge and an incredible entrepreneurial journey to share with you.
Enjoy!

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You have found the Authentic Business
Adventures,

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the business program that brings you
the struggle stories and triumphant

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successes of business
owners across the land.

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We’re locally underwritten
by the Bank of Sun Prairie.

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My name is James Kademan, entrepreneur,
author, speaker, and helpful coach

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to small business owners
across the country.

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And today we’re welcoming/preparing

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to learn from Art,
the new owner of Prairie Jewelers.

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So, Art, how are you doing today?
Good.

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Doing good.
I’m excited to be here.

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Well, I should say more importantly,
my wife is excited that I’m

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here I guess. So tell us, you bought
Prairie Jewelers recently.

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Yeah.
How recently are we talking?

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Two years ago.
I bought it.

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Two years ago.
Okay, so you’ve been around a little bit.

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Yeah.
So did you own a jewelry store before?

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No, I’ve never owned a jewelry store.

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I’ve been in the jewelry business,
though, for 33 years.

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All right, well, that’s a while.
That’s a while.

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So you know your fancy rocks.
Yeah.

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So what made you buy this?

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Did it just come across your plate?
Did somebody reach out to you?

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Did you knock on the door and say,
Hey, I got a bag of money?

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Pretty much all three of those things.
Oh, really?

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Okay.

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All right.

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Yeah.

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So take you back into the March, right
at the beginning of the pandemic.

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So 2020.
2020.

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Oh, perfect time.
Yeah, everybody loved it.

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Everybody loved it.

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Yeah, see it in two weeks
and we’ll save the world.

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Yeah, right.

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I was on my two week hiatus and I thought,
I wonder what Mike’s doing.

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Mike Durant, the previous
owner of the store.

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And I came down and saw Mike
and asked him, so how’s it going?

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And he goes, you want
to buy a jewelry store?

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So what are we talking about here?

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And so
I knew he was serious because he had been

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talking about retiring
for the last four years or so.

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And so we got down on the nitty
gritty of it all and it felt right.

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My wife was positive.

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She said, you’re never going
to get a shot like this.

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Go for it.

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And with the pandemic and COVID, it was
a crazy time, but it just felt right.

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So you knew Mike for a while before?

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Well, a little bit.

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A little bit.
Yeah.

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All right.

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And were you looking to purchase
a business necessarily?

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No.
No?

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Okay.
I wasn’t.

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But I think

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all people have that dream to be their
own business owner and to take that leap.

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But there’s a lot of fear
that goes along with it of course, too.

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Huge. Yeah.

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Yeah.
It depends which one wins, right?

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Right.

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You’re just going to stay
hidden or you’re going

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to go for it. Right.

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We talked a little bit more throughout

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the summer, and then I decided,
yeah, I’m going to do it.

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All right.

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Took about five months or so
to pull the trigger on that.

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You know, that’s pretty short.

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I guess I’ve sold

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one of my businesses and I’ve helped
a few people sell their businesses.

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I always, in the back of my head,
I’m just like, a week.

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We’ll get a couple of attorneys,
accountants go through the books.

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We could just bang this out, no problem.

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But there’s emotion, and I suppose anytime

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you involve attorneys, it takes longer
just because $250 an hour they want it.

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So.
It’s interesting just the process.

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I guess it’s not like going to pick up
a cup of coffee or something like that.

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It’s more there’s more to it, a lot of
moving parts.

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Yeah, it had a structure of business.

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I believe Mike was sole
proprietor and I have an LLC.

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So how do you do it and what’s the right
way to do it and what do you name it?

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Change the name.
Do you do that or do you do business ads?

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Have a name and do business ads.

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That was all the thought process.

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So a lot of times when people sell a
business, the new owner wants them to stay

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on a little bit to show them how
stuff was run and all that jazz.

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So how did you guys figure that out?

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I’m blessed in that way.

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Mike is my Goldsmith still.
Oh, really?

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Okay.
Yeah.

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So he sold me the store,

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but with the intention of me keeping
him on as being the Goldsmith.

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So basically, Mike can come in and do his

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Goldsmith work, but he doesn’t
have to stay till five or six.

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He can dip in here in the morning,
get his work done, and leave.

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So he can write his
own schedule.

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Got you.
So he’s not chained to the store.

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You get to be chained to the store.

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I have to be chained to the store.

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But it’s nice because his older customers

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that have come in and have gotten to know
him over the last 40 years, they see

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a friendly face in Mike and they know that
they’re in good hands with me.

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All right.

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You touched on a good
point because I imagine…

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Well, first, I don’t know much about
jewelry stores,

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but I imagine trust is a huge factor
because you’re essentially trusting

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the proprietor the salesperson to tell
you this is worth a lot of money

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to a person like me who’s like,
I have no idea what that

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is worth.
Yeah, it’s all about trust.

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If you don’t have trust in this business,
you don’t have a business.

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All right.
Got it.

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So are there any other
employees besides yourself.

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And Mike?
No, just me.

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Just you?
All right.

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So you’re here all the time.
Yeah.

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I do have a note.

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Be back in five minutes if
I have to run to the bank or something.

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Like that.
Sure.

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Yeah.
All right.

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So since you bought the business

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and pandemic has subsided,
has business gone up?

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Plateaued? Is it down? How
has the jewelry been?

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Interesting question.

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Our store did very flat numbers during,

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I guess, the last two years,
except for some peaks and valleys.

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This year, it’s supposed to be down,

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but I have gotten so much
traffic in the last three weeks.

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All right.

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So I think it’s on the up
swing for me, at least.

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Sure.
Well, now I don’t know why, but it has.

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Over the country, many jewelry stores have

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exceeded expectations
in the last two years because of all

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the influx of money
and people weren’t able to travel.

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And so they did a little retail
therapy on the higher end.

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Oh, sure.
Okay.

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So a lot of ladies, I think,

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were able to trade up on their engagement
rings and such in those last two years.

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Got it.
All right.

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Well, those guys are complaining now
because those numbers aren’t there.

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Oh, okay.
They felt that they could maintain it.

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They thought they could maintain it.
Yeah.

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All right.
Yeah.

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Interesting.
Yeah.

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So you in the store, I see a lot of stuff.

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I see necklaces, I see watches, rings.

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I mean, we got a whole plethora
of stuff going on here.

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When you purchase the business,
I imagine you purchase inventory.

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Yes.

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And, I mean, Mike had
the business for how long before?

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Mike owned the business
since ’82, so 38 years.

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That’s a while.
Yeah.

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All right.
So

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when you buy a business or you buy jewelry
store, you have all the inventory.

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I imagine you have to figure
out how to buy that, right?

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Well, I’m in a lucky spot where

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Mike’s inventory and my inventory
are combined in the store.

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When I sell something, Mike gets
paid and I get paid a little bit.

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We’re just running it.

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That way.

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Okay, so it’s almost consignment?
Yeah.

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Okay, so you didn’t have to come up

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with some huge bag of money to buy
all the jewelry in the store.

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Right.
Okay.

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This is just me not knowing
about jewelry stores.

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How do normal jewelry
stores do it typically?

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Do they have a car lot where they have
a loan on jewelry, or they just…

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You mean selling it or just in business?

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Just to have the inventory because
I imagine there’s a lot of volume.

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You got to have a lot of choices and all

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this stuff because nobody
knows what they want.

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I believe most of them start very small

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and put all of their resources
into buying inventory.

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Oh, and just build up gradually.

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And build up gradually.

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I’ve heard of others that get
small business loans.

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Recently, some have gotten.
Grants.

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Small grants to do that, depending
on what segment of ownership you are.

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But generally, it’s just
very slow in building.

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And if I don’t have something,

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me personally, I can always
memo something in.

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All right.
So this is so fascinating because I guess

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I never really thought
about jewelry stores.

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How many suppliers for jewelry are there?

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Is there just a few or is there millions?

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Oh, my gosh.

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Well, I’ve worked at several
different jewelry stores.

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And some of the stores that I worked at,
we’ve had, I think, 300 different vendors.

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300?
300.

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Well, that’s a lot to keep track of.

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Of course, you don’t do a lot of business

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with it, but there’s specific
vendors that do just one thing really

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well, and that’s who you go to if
that’s something you need done.

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So for the clocks, the watches,
are you buying directly

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from the manufacturer or do
they have distributors that.

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You’re going through?
From the manufacturer.

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You are?
Okay.

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Oh, that is so interesting.

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It’s fascinating how some industries work
certain ways and others.

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I came from the printer and computer side

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and you couldn’t buy something from
HP or IBM or Xerox.

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You had to go through one of three
distributors that you had to pay

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to be able to buy something from them,
like pay a membership fee.

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To get in the door.
To get in there.

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Amazon came along and you could buy stuff

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from Amazon cheaper than you
could from your wholesale.

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Lesson learned.

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That’s what drew me to sell that business.
Okay, I can’t win.

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Got it.
I’m out.

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So it’s interesting that you can buy
stuff directly from the manufacturer.

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I imagine that’s a good thing.

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Yeah, that’s a good thing.

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And of course, they vet you.
Sure.

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Make sure you’re in that business,
in the business.

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And some vendors are better
than others, of course.

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Some vendors hold you hostage to what
you can sell their merchandise for.

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You can’t sell it lower than what they
tell you to, or you’ll lose that account.

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Sure.
All right.

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Now, when it comes to jewelry,
I see looking at rings here.

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Do people don’t know?

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The run of the mill

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customer, are they as ignorant as me,
or they’re just like, oh, that’s a ring.

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Or do they know exactly what they’re
looking for as far as brand or.

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Any of that?

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So that’s a real open ended question.

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Okay, well, it’s more curiosity.

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So if I bring it back to the most obvious
question of if somebody’s looking

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for an engagement ring, they come in here,
they usually do a little bit of research.

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What’s a diamond?

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What am I supposed to look for?

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How much am I supposed to pay?

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What’s the reasonable amount
that I’m going to get myself into?

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And they do a lot of research.

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Then I have guys that just stumble in and

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wide eyed, not sure what
they’re looking for.

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My
thing is going back to being trustworthy

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and honest and information that I give
you is always going to be upfront.

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I want to educate you as much
as you want to be educated.

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But it goes back to if you’re happy
with a purchase and happy with a piece

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and what it looks like,
that’s all that really matters.

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All right.

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Are there fancier brands than
others when it comes to jewelry?

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Because I guess to my eye,
all jewelry looks fancy.

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So I don’t know if there’s like the pinto

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of jewelry versus the Bugatti
of jewelry or.

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Something like that.

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Well, going back to the vendors,
I’ll just throw out Rolex.

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Not everybody can get Rolex.

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And then there’s under
that same cloud, I guess.

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You can’t get certain bridal vendors to…

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You can’t sell certain vendors unless
you give them a $300,000 open ended buy.

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You buy into them for 300 grand and then
you can order from them.

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Interesting.

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So some of them bar you out,

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but some of them, the ones I
deal with, they don’t do that.

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They don’t do that.

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When you say some are better than others,
some are better than others, but

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anything you buy is going to be as good
as you can afford or want to purchase.

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Does that.
Make sense?

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It does, yeah.
I guess to a point, to me…

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A ring.
Let’s say as an example,

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because we’re sitting right here,
there’s nothing mechanical about it.

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It seems like from a technology point of
view, it’s a rock in a chunk of metal.

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I guess from my point of view, right?

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But I imagine there must be
something different about them.

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Sure.
I don’t know.

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Okay.

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With gold, there’s varying
different carats of gold.

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Okay.
I don’t even know what that means.

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I’ve heard carats.
Before, but.

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Is.
It purity?

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So purity.
Okay.

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24 carat gold is 100 % gold.
All right.

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So it’s going to be yellow

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all the time because it’s gold
out of the earth, 24 carat.

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All right.
You’ve heard of 18 carat gold?

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18, 14.
Yeah.

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18 carat gold is 18 parts gold

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and 6 parts something else,
the other alloids that they mix.

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Into it.

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So somebody, some time long ago said
we’re splitting gold into 24 parts.

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That’s our measurement.
Yeah.

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Got it.
Okay.

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So 14 carat gold is 14 parts
gold and 10 parts alloids.

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And with those alloids, you can make
white gold or yellow gold or rose gold.

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All right.
Interesting.

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So what makes one better than the other?

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Nothing’s better, but it’s more
expensive if it has more gold content.

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Most people buy 14 carat gold nowadays.

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And in America, it is 14 carat white gold.

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And is the reason being because they like

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the color of the white or the durability,
I imagine, because gold is pretty soft?

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Not so much durability.
Nobody buys it.

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Oh, that’s durable.
Oh, really?

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Okay.

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It’s optics, what they like,
marketing, their friends.

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It’s what they grew up to accustomed to.
Got it.

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All right.
Yeah.

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And so 14 carat gold

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with a round diamond is usually generally
what engagement customers look for. All.

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Right, so we got to talk about diamonds

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because I guess you got a lot
of them here in varying sizes.

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So
do people choose a cut and then a ring is

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custom made, or are they
buying it off the shelf?

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Right.
It could be either way.

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It could be either way.

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If we’re lucky enough that I have the ring
ready to go and I like it, I’ll take it.

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That’s a blessing, right?

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Nice.

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That doesn’t happen very often.

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It does not.
It does not.

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It’s usually that a customer comes
in and they have an idea of what they

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like, oftentimes built from a Pinterest
page that their girlfriend has built up.

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Honey, this is what I want.

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They say, Do you have something like this?

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I may or may not.

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If I don’t, I can build it.

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I can find it.

[00:16:12.480]
If I can’t find it already made,
I can custom make it.

[00:16:16.510]
And do you.
Do that here?

[00:16:19.880]
No.

[00:16:20.650]
Well, some things I do here,
but some things I have a custom computer

[00:16:26.450]
generated guy, Jeweler,
that makes the rings.

[00:16:31.160]
You’re.
Fancy.

[00:16:32.040]
Yeah.
He builds the waxes.

[00:16:34.830]
I get the wax approved,

[00:16:36.970]
and then we go forth and have it
cast and have the diamonds set.

[00:16:41.430]
The whole center fusion all I can.

[00:16:43.280]
All right.

[00:16:44.330]
Interesting.

[00:16:45.570]
So tell me, the diamonds,
I guess when you’re getting diamonds,

[00:16:50.080]
are you getting the rings as we see
them here in the box and everything?

[00:16:54.070]
So these are actually…

[00:16:59.710]
This is this is one of my major
vendors that I use is in the lady.

[00:17:03.650]
And these are all samples.

[00:17:06.080]
All right.

[00:17:08.360]
I sell off a sample idea.

[00:17:11.600]
So

[00:17:13.000]
when a customer
likes a certain ring or a sample,

[00:17:16.410]
we talk about how much the ring
is without the center stone.

[00:17:22.670]
We call that a semi mount.

[00:17:24.480]
And

[00:17:26.360]
then we talk about what diamond you want
set into the ring to the semi diamond.

[00:17:30.970]
To make the engagement ring.

[00:17:34.520]
A center stone can be anywhere from $400,
$500 up to $8,000, $20,000, $50,000.

[00:17:41.970]
Hope Diamond, whatever.
Yeah, whatever.

[00:17:43.880]
You want.

[00:17:44.560]
And then also with a ring system like
this, I always call it Frankenstein.

[00:17:52.250]
If it isn’t exact, then we can use two or

[00:17:55.790]
three rings and combine those
things and make a ring.

[00:17:59.500]
All right.
So if somebody likes, for example…

[00:18:03.000]
Now we’re getting technical.

[00:18:04.310]
But there’s.

[00:18:06.560]
A thing called with diamonds around
the center stone, it’s called a halo.

[00:18:10.200]
So.

[00:18:11.520]
You could put a halo
on a different ring shank.

[00:18:15.210]
There’s different kinds of ring shanks.

[00:18:17.450]
You can have a split shank that opens up.

[00:18:20.590]
You’re going to have a thin band shank.

[00:18:25.120]
And you can have a
cushion halo or a round halo.

[00:18:29.320]
So there’s many things
to think about when you’re.

[00:18:31.590]
Making a ring.
It can get pretty elaborate.

[00:18:33.880]
Yeah.
Interesting.

[00:18:34.560]
Besides all that,
you could set a sapphire.

[00:18:37.250]
All right.

[00:18:38.280]
Rather than a diamond in the tomorrow.
That’s popular also.

[00:18:40.720]
Stone.
Choices.

[00:18:42.070]
Stone choices.
Yeah.

[00:18:43.640]
All right.

[00:18:44.800]
So I imagine there’s a skill set that you

[00:18:46.430]
have for knowing
how to talk to a customer and steer them

[00:18:50.890]
towards figuring out what they want, as
well as knowing what you can even offer.

[00:18:55.600]
How do you gain that knowledge?
How do you.

[00:18:57.310]
Get there?
Yeah.

[00:18:58.320]
Right.
Because I’m imagining you can’t just pull

[00:19:00.040]
somebody off the street and be like,
You’re not my new employee.

[00:19:03.800]
Sell.
Stuff.

[00:19:04.930]
I
tend to try and read people pretty

[00:19:09.360]
quickly and be gentle because it’s a very
intimidating thing coming into a store.

[00:19:17.400]
The last thing that you really want

[00:19:19.230]
to talk about is money because it’s
the least romantic thing, is money.

[00:19:22.830]
But
sometimes that’s the first thing

[00:19:25.480]
that comes out of a guy’s mouth because he
wants me to know exactly how much he’s…

[00:19:29.120]
Give me the number.
This.

[00:19:30.240]
Is it.
This is it.

[00:19:32.250]
But also, I want
to be thoughtful for them.

[00:19:37.730]
Money doesn’t equate happiness.
Sure.

[00:19:41.080]
And a lot of times…
Not directly.

[00:19:42.560]
Not directly.

[00:19:43.150]
But oftentimes, he’ll say,
I was thinking up to $5,000.

[00:19:49.360]
But by the time we figure it all out,

[00:19:51.910]
he’s happy with a ring
combination and diamonds that’s 4200.

[00:19:56.690]
I’m not going to tap somebody
out just because I can.

[00:19:59.630]
Got it.
All right.

[00:20:01.040]
Put an $800 inscription in there.
Yeah.

[00:20:04.560]
Right.
That’s awesome.

[00:20:05.270]
All right.
So you’ve done this.

[00:20:07.960]
You’ve been in the jewelry
business for a long time.

[00:20:09.670]
Yeah, since 33 years.
That’s a while.

[00:20:13.590]
So when did you first get
in the jewelry business?

[00:20:18.760]
Right out of college.

[00:20:20.320]
But was it one of those, like,

[00:20:21.430]
I want to be a jeweler, or is it one of
those, like, hey, this guy’s got a job.

[00:20:26.250]
I need a job.
Here we are.

[00:20:27.670]
Yeah, I needed a job.

[00:20:29.030]
So it’s a funny story because my wife was
working in a forest inside of a mall.

[00:20:37.350]
Oh, okay.

[00:20:37.870]
And she was going to college,
and I had just graduated.

[00:20:41.410]
And she was working in a forest
right next to a jewelry store.

[00:20:45.110]
And the manager comes next door and she
says, Penny, do you need a full time job?

[00:20:51.910]
I need somebody at my jewelry store.

[00:20:54.730]
And she says, No, but
I know someone who does.

[00:20:58.010]
And the next day, I interviewed.
All right.

[00:21:02.930]
Well, two days later I interviewed and
thus started my journey.

[00:21:08.320]
In jewelry.
Nice.

[00:21:09.560]
All right.
Yeah.

[00:21:11.530]
So I was a credit clerk
and then I became a salesman.

[00:21:15.770]
And then after being in sales, your
motivation, you want to become a manager.

[00:21:22.000]
Sure.
Climbing the ladder.

[00:21:23.080]
I was climbing the ladder.

[00:21:24.710]
So I was climbing the ladder.

[00:21:26.320]
And so I was in corporate jewelry and then
made my way into Madison.

[00:21:33.320]
What is corporate jewelry?

[00:21:35.560]
Well, I worked for Fred Meyer Jewelers.
Oh, got you.

[00:21:39.200]
Okay.
So a.

[00:21:40.560]
Big chain stores.
Okay.

[00:21:43.280]
Got it.
Okay.

[00:21:44.310]
I was just trying to picture
a bunch of CEOs buying rings.

[00:21:48.200]
Yeah.
Got it.

[00:21:49.560]
Okay.

[00:21:50.120]
So what was your training like
when you got that first job?

[00:21:52.830]
Oh, it just threw you right into it.

[00:21:55.630]
Oh, just have at it.

[00:21:56.730]
Yeah, have at it and smile and talk.

[00:22:00.910]
The first jewelry store I worked
for was a credit jeweler.

[00:22:07.840]
Okay.
And so basically

[00:22:10.250]
that was completely opposite of what I’m
doing now, mostly

[00:22:14.650]
because f rom that experience,
I was basically

[00:22:18.290]
trying to open accounts for some people
to get them as much credit as they could

[00:22:23.320]
so that they were able
to purchase as much jewelry as.

[00:22:26.320]
They could.

[00:22:27.050]
Okay, so they’re essentially
taking out loans on jewelry.

[00:22:30.040]
Security.
Agreements.

[00:22:31.680]
Interesting.

[00:22:33.010]
And you guys were running the financing
right there?

[00:22:35.840]
Did you run it through a bank.
Or something?

[00:22:37.390]
Yeah, we would run the financing

[00:22:39.530]
and we would sell the accounts
eventually to Wells Fargo.

[00:22:42.840]
Oh, wow.

[00:22:43.450]
Yeah, back in the 90s,
out of the Bay Area.

[00:22:46.190]
What could go wrong?
Yeah, things can go wrong.

[00:22:49.390]
All right.

[00:22:51.240]
Interesting.

[00:22:52.650]
So somebody comes in off the street

[00:22:57.050]
and they’re like, Hey, I want
credit to buy some jewelry.

[00:23:00.930]
Are they expecting
the jewelry to appreciate?

[00:23:03.880]
T hey’re treating.
It like an investment?

[00:23:05.480]
No, they just don’t have the funds.
To buy it.

[00:23:07.600]
Got you.
Okay, they want something,

[00:23:08.830]
they can’t afford it, so they’re going
to get credit so that they can afford it.

[00:23:13.200]
Got it.

[00:23:13.430]
But I moved on from that jewelry store
four years after I worked there.

[00:23:18.030]
But it was good, solid experience.

[00:23:20.390]
How to deal with people, how to deal
with emotion, how to deal with stress.

[00:23:26.480]
For sure.
But I imagine four years at a job.

[00:23:28.830]
Now it’s forever. I guess compared
to some of the resumes that I’ve seen.

[00:23:33.280]
So it’s interesting.
I imagine you said in the.

[00:23:36.630]
80s or what?
It was in the.

[00:23:38.360]
90s.90s, okay.
So internet was not much of a thing.

[00:23:42.310]
Non existent.
All right.

[00:23:43.960]
I imagine just doing credit checks

[00:23:45.450]
and stuff like that where you make
a phone call or how do you call Experian?

[00:23:50.010]
No, we type it in and then we get the.
Oh, nice.

[00:23:53.870]
The dot matrix thing.
Yeah.

[00:23:56.360]
All right.

[00:23:56.830]
Rip it off and check it out, see how many
ones people had, see if they had any.

[00:24:00.770]
Oh, funny.
Yeah.

[00:24:02.200]
Bankruptcy.
Let’s talk about this bankruptcy.

[00:24:05.080]
All right.
Yeah.

[00:24:07.040]
Interesting.
Yeah.

[00:24:08.470]
All right.

[00:24:09.960]
So let’s go back to you
buying this jewelry store.

[00:24:12.120]
Okay.
I mean, you’re going to bounce around.

[00:24:14.680]
That’s what we do.
It’s all good.

[00:24:17.280]
So you’re in a strip mall in Sun Prairie.

[00:24:19.120]
I imagine this got to be a different
feel from the corporate.

[00:24:23.720]
Jewelry stores.
Yeah.

[00:24:25.720]
Okay, so taking us back,
so Fred Meyer brought me out to Madison.

[00:24:31.390]
T hen I worked in the malls
for several years.

[00:24:36.070]
And then I became manager
of Chalmers Jewelers.

[00:24:39.320]
Oh, wow.
Sure.

[00:24:40.650]
I didn’t even think of that.

[00:24:43.040]
Yeah.

[00:24:44.440]
And so going from from the mall
to Chalmers,

[00:24:48.600]
I was thrust right into a huge
independent jewelry store.

[00:24:53.280]
Yeah, it’s a big one.
Yeah, very big.

[00:24:54.990]
Biggest in the county for sure.

[00:24:57.150]
And managing all those sorts of jobs.

[00:25:05.290]
We had the salespeople,
the jewelers, the office people.

[00:25:09.890]
And that’s where I learned a lot and

[00:25:12.450]
how to do business
in an independent environment.

[00:25:15.290]
For sure.
I learned a lot.

[00:25:16.890]
After years with Chalmers Jewelers,

[00:25:19.950]
I moved to Goodman’s Jewelers
downtown on State Street.

[00:25:24.110]
I was a sales manager at
Goodman’s Jewelers.

[00:25:27.310]
T hat’s where I had my foothold of an

[00:25:30.690]
independent jewelry store
and learning that.

[00:25:34.320]
Then I bought the store.

[00:25:36.320]
It’s very different.

[00:25:38.210]
Everywhere I’ve been is very different
from the mall setting to Chalmers to

[00:25:43.050]
downtown Goodman’s Goodman’s,
very old established people.

[00:25:48.750]
Everybody loves Goodman’s Jewelers

[00:25:50.970]
and the Brothers
and what they’ve done for the county.

[00:25:56.480]
And that’s where you learn

[00:25:57.570]
also how to be a good steward is when I
worked at Goodman’s is seeing John Hayes,

[00:26:02.350]
the owner of Goodman’s, how he treats
the community and his customers.

[00:26:07.510]
So here I am in a small, taking it back to
Prairie Jewelers, in a small strip mall.

[00:26:14.600]
I am I’m at a different level, a smaller

[00:26:18.050]
level, but I’m still
very community minded.

[00:26:20.690]
I love some Prairie community.

[00:26:24.690]
But not just that, I

[00:26:26.530]
have the surrounding community customers
that come and see me all the time.

[00:26:30.910]
Oh, wow.
Yeah.

[00:26:31.970]
My De Forest customers, I love those guys.

[00:26:35.320]
One day I had three customers from Rio.
Oh, really?

[00:26:39.830]
From Rio come and…
Oh, interesting.

[00:26:43.810]
Yeah.
They probably all knew each other, right?

[00:26:45.640]
It was a pretty.
Small town.

[00:26:46.360]
No, none of them knew each other.

[00:26:47.590]
It was very odd.

[00:26:48.750]
But yeah, very different.

[00:26:51.420]
Everywhere I’ve worked.
Interesting.

[00:26:53.360]
All right.

[00:26:54.050]
I imagine just the places that you named,
just the walk in traffic is going

[00:26:59.640]
to be different because State Street, you
got people coming and going all the time.

[00:27:03.640]
Where I would think Chalmers is probably

[00:27:05.070]
more of a destination
where it’s located, memory serves.

[00:27:10.170]
But I’m in the mall,
it’s going to be a different game.

[00:27:12.930]
Oh, very much so.

[00:27:15.360]
I am a destination for sure.

[00:27:17.970]
So if somebody walks through my door,
I know that they’re here with a purpose.

[00:27:22.800]
Sure.
Not just killing time.

[00:27:24.740]
Not just killing time.

[00:27:25.840]
Their wife is at the store or whatever.

[00:27:27.360]
But it’s nice.

[00:27:29.210]
It’s a gain, my story is just me.

[00:27:33.050]
So everything
goes through me, relies on me,

[00:27:36.250]
and I have just enough traffic to keep
everyone happy.

[00:27:41.670]
I have to say my customers are very,
very they’re

[00:27:47.400]
great because they understand
that if I’m with one person and somebody

[00:27:51.770]
comes in, they understand that and they
allow me to help them both.

[00:27:56.270]
Sometimes I struggle customers,
sometimes I can…

[00:27:59.930]
They’ll just wait patiently.

[00:28:01.390]
All right.

[00:28:02.600]
Patience.

[00:28:03.720]
I know.

[00:28:05.160]
Is that a thing?

[00:28:06.320]
That’s interesting.

[00:28:08.320]
You’ve owned the business
for a couple of years now.

[00:28:10.360]
Are there any regrets?

[00:28:12.960]
No.
No?

[00:28:13.880]
Okay, well, that’s good.

[00:28:14.590]
Is there anything that you’re like,
Oh, my gosh.

[00:28:17.160]
I wish I would have known that.

[00:28:18.350]
Wish I would have.

[00:28:19.520]
Yeah.

[00:28:21.560]
There’s a lot of regret, not regrets,

[00:28:24.990]
but sometimes when you buy certain
inventory, that’s my only regret.

[00:28:28.950]
And that’s a pathetic little regret.

[00:28:31.770]
You don’t know until you.

[00:28:33.080]
Do it.

[00:28:35.320]
Certain pieces of inventory that I bought

[00:28:37.320]
that are still here after 18 months,
I’m like, God, why did I do that?

[00:28:41.450]
That’s liquidity that could
have went somewhere else.

[00:28:44.080]
Got it.
All right.

[00:28:45.590]
That’s a small regret, and that’s a very
easy learning curve.

[00:28:49.890]
But I imagine with any retail store,

[00:28:52.430]
you have inventory and you probably don’t
order it and it shows up the next day.

[00:28:56.830]
You’re probably guessing

[00:28:58.960]
or estimating what people are going
to want a few weeks or months down

[00:29:01.840]
the road based on trends
and fads and all that stuff.

[00:29:05.040]
Right.
Yeah.

[00:29:05.970]
So the people that I know that own retail

[00:29:08.490]
stores, some of them,
they’re looking out six, nine months ahead

[00:29:11.960]
because when they place their order
for Christmas, they’re placing it in March

[00:29:15.170]
or April for the following,
trying to figure out what’s going to be

[00:29:18.910]
the tickle me elbow in nine months
or whatever it is.

[00:29:22.520]
You know what I mean?

[00:29:23.110]
They’re trying to figure out what the
trend is going to be when you don’t know.

[00:29:28.600]
My store is not a trendy store.

[00:29:30.670]
My store is a classic, solid

[00:29:37.080]
gift giving store and not the small,
tiny little purchase that comes and goes.

[00:29:44.760]
Got it.
My

[00:29:47.400]
solid customers are the ones that buy
engagement rings, anniversary bands, and

[00:29:54.440]
maintain those relationships through their
specific gift giving throughout the year.

[00:30:02.080]
All right, fair.
Maintain the relationship.

[00:30:04.480]
It’s more timeless.
Yeah, more timeless.

[00:30:06.600]
Okay.
Yeah.

[00:30:08.150]
All right.

[00:30:09.240]
From working at all these other places
before you got to this place,

[00:30:12.310]
I imagine you learned some things
not to do with Jory Store.

[00:30:15.880]
You saw like, Oh, those are mistakes,

[00:30:17.280]
or those are things that I can
see they’re operating that way.

[00:30:20.150]
I don’t want to.

[00:30:21.200]
What are some of the things that you

[00:30:22.800]
picked up on that you
learned that you did not.

[00:30:24.560]
Want to do?
Right.

[00:30:26.050]
Well, I don’t want to get myself into

[00:30:31.560]
an agreement with a vendor that forces me
to purchase inventory that I don’t want.

[00:30:38.760]
Okay.

[00:30:39.360]
So there are those vendors that say, Well,
yeah, I can ship you this bead,

[00:30:46.320]
but you have to buy three of these
other beads that nobody else wants.

[00:30:50.210]
So that’s a situation
that I’ve seen happen.

[00:30:53.600]
And unfortunately,
the situations that that happened under,

[00:31:00.080]
nobody knew that that was coming
until it happened.

[00:31:03.750]
And then you’re just in.

[00:31:05.530]
Trouble with it.

[00:31:07.170]
Got it.

[00:31:09.230]
So what else?

[00:31:11.730]
I think it’s mostly inventory.

[00:31:13.310]
It’s like
getting yourself stuck with a bunch

[00:31:16.710]
of inventory that you don’t
want because what is that?

[00:31:19.430]
That’s an anchor.

[00:31:20.650]
It’s really a.
Bad thing.

[00:31:22.240]
Yeah, it’s just capital sitting there

[00:31:23.480]
that’s not necessarily appreciating
or earning you anything.

[00:31:26.030]
I imagine just like any retail store,
you bank on turnover.

[00:31:31.960]
Yeah.
It’s taking up space, not moving.

[00:31:34.160]
Yeah.

[00:31:34.270]
And most things, not most things, but some
things I can get in less than three days.

[00:31:40.320]
Oh, wow.
Yeah.

[00:31:41.400]
Okay.
I mean, I can get loose diamonds tomorrow.

[00:31:44.360]
All right.

[00:31:45.170]
So that’s the beautiful
thing about diamonds.

[00:31:48.250]
It’s the ring itself
that needs to be manufactured.

[00:31:51.890]
Got it.

[00:31:53.040]
All right.

[00:31:54.960]
So tell me, the diamond thing is
always just so interesting to me.

[00:31:58.760]
I know.
Me, too.

[00:32:00.840]
Like, right?

[00:32:02.200]
So I just imagine,
is there some warehouse, or I meant to be,

[00:32:04.800]
it’s just like a room because
diamonds aren’t that big.

[00:32:07.080]
Where diamonds, all the diamonds are,

[00:32:10.360]
and they just get distributed
to all the jewelry stores.

[00:32:12.390]
Or how does that distribution work?

[00:32:18.280]
Yeah.
So generally speaking, there’s diamond

[00:32:20.600]
vendors that are out of large
cities, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles.

[00:32:28.310]
These large companies, they’ll focus

[00:32:35.960]
usually on three different
kinds of diamonds.

[00:32:40.600]
Some are more expensive,
well cut diamonds that cost more.

[00:32:48.600]
Some are the bulk of everything.

[00:32:50.930]
Yeah, we have a little bit of everything.

[00:32:53.210]
And then some are more specialty cuts or

[00:32:57.840]
high value color diamonds,
say like a canary yellow diamond.

[00:33:02.230]
Some are very specific that way.

[00:33:04.410]
Okay.

[00:33:07.200]
So you’re right.

[00:33:07.800]
I mean, it doesn’t take a whole lot of
room to have a whole bunch of diamonds.

[00:33:10.830]
But their business model is to

[00:33:16.040]
take the call, give you the price,
ask you if you want it,

[00:33:20.730]
and get it in a FedEx box as soon as
possible, out the door and to you.

[00:33:26.600]
All right.

[00:33:28.960]
And again, that’s trust.

[00:33:31.120]
Have I gone through diamond vendors that,

[00:33:33.720]
yeah, this is what I have and this is what
I send you, and it’s a disappointment?

[00:33:37.190]
A piece of glass or something?

[00:33:39.530]
Not glass, but it’s just not graded.

[00:33:42.010]
It’s not as nice a diamond as
was explained to me or such.

[00:33:50.360]
Those ones you tend to not
order from anymore.

[00:33:53.270]
You stick with the ones that you trust,

[00:33:56.010]
that deliver and give you what is
expected All right.

[00:34:00.710]
How do you learn
what to look for in a diamond?

[00:34:04.770]
Because you see the little glasses
and those things are so small.

[00:34:08.680]
Just experience.

[00:34:09.490]
But diamonds are graded off of
a few different things.

[00:34:15.230]
The four Cs.
You got it.

[00:34:18.200]
Clarity.

[00:34:20.120]
Oh, my goodness gracious.

[00:34:21.200]
I should know this.

[00:34:22.970]
My wife is like, Oh, my God.
Damn.

[00:34:24.960]
Sorry.

[00:34:26.330]
Cut, clarity, color, and carat weight.
Oh, okay.

[00:34:32.360]
And how heavy.
It is.

[00:34:33.280]
Got you.
Okay.

[00:34:34.840]
Yeah.

[00:34:35.490]
So it’s all graded on these
four different things.

[00:34:38.750]
And that’s a whole other story.

[00:34:41.890]
But basically, the Gemological Institute
of America came up with these guidelines.

[00:34:48.090]
And as jewelers, we
try and stick by those grading systems.

[00:34:56.070]
And you said, how do you know?

[00:34:57.950]
It’s just from experience.

[00:34:59.560]
It’s under a microscope,
you’re looking at it.

[00:35:01.750]
How many inclusions give you clarity

[00:35:04.570]
and location and the size and the color
and all these different things.

[00:35:09.230]
And it’s no way to really
explain to a person until you just dive.

[00:35:14.090]
Into it.
Sure.

[00:35:15.030]
A lot of those, I think of something

[00:35:17.610]
like color, that seems to be
almost a subjective judgment.

[00:35:22.280]
Or is there some laser that they shoot

[00:35:24.090]
at it and they’re like,
This is whatever color science says.

[00:35:27.850]
It’s this.
Yeah.

[00:35:28.870]
Color is actually lack of color.
Oh, okay.

[00:35:31.890]
So diamonds are graded
upside down against master stones.

[00:35:39.200]
Okay.

[00:35:40.090]
So there’s stones that gemologists
have set up with…

[00:35:46.650]
Okay, so color starts at D,
and then it goes down the alphabet.

[00:35:52.200]
Def is colorless.

[00:35:54.400]
Okay.

[00:35:56.160]
Ghij is near colorless.
Okay.

[00:35:59.330]
And then LM on down is just warmer
and warmer and warmer as it goes.

[00:36:04.680]
Got it.

[00:36:05.720]
So if you compare a diamond that you don’t

[00:36:07.610]
know the color on to a master
set of color stones, you can match it up.

[00:36:15.670]
You can go, Okay, it’s a G, H, it’s I.

[00:36:19.030]
It matches up to the I in the color.

[00:36:21.110]
And so that’s the way they can grade it.

[00:36:23.470]
Because your I, there’s no way

[00:36:26.570]
your I can distinguish
an E to a G if I went, Okay, what’s that?

[00:36:32.960]
And you’re looking at it.

[00:36:34.240]
There’s no way you’re going
to go, Oh, that’s a G.

[00:36:37.680]
But if you held them together,
you’d go, That E looks whiter than.

[00:36:42.030]
The G.
I imagine even just different light.

[00:36:44.930]
You’re outside, 100 %.

[00:36:46.240]
Light.100 %.

[00:36:47.850]
That’s what makes diamonds so…

[00:36:52.680]
Well, you said subjective,
but they’re graded objectively.

[00:36:57.360]
All right.
That’s okay.

[00:36:59.530]
But people’s tastes and their eyes,

[00:37:05.760]
they like one thing or
the other oftentimes.

[00:37:08.930]
So the market may say,
I like the look of an H.

[00:37:12.120]
Yeah.

[00:37:14.000]
So you mentioned lab diamonds.
Yeah.

[00:37:17.600]
Is that what they’re called?
Lab created diamonds.

[00:37:19.680]
Lap created diamonds.
Lap grown diamonds.

[00:37:21.910]
Lap grown.
So can you tell us about those?

[00:37:24.920]
Sure.

[00:37:25.680]
So this is an example
of my small lab grown collection.

[00:37:32.800]
I see that I’ve sold quite
a few here that need to be replaced.

[00:37:36.810]
That’s good.
Yeah.

[00:37:38.790]
So lab grown diamonds are…

[00:37:40.450]
I’ll just show you.

[00:37:43.680]
They are diamond diamonds
that are grown in a lab,

[00:37:49.720]
basically, instead
of being mined out of the ground,

[00:37:54.890]
delivered to the surface of the earth
by a volcano like natural diamonds are.

[00:38:00.330]
They’re delivered in

[00:38:06.800]
a basically not an oven or anything like
that, but they’re grown, lab grown.

[00:38:11.000]
With

[00:38:13.560]
a lab grown diamond, you can get a whole
lot of diamond for a lot less money.

[00:38:18.800]
Okay.
Yeah.

[00:38:20.370]
It’s a very affordable way to have

[00:38:22.630]
a diamond and a good diamond,
but not pay the natural diamond prices.

[00:38:29.680]
Is there any downside?

[00:38:32.570]
The downside is most likely…

[00:38:38.490]
The only downside is the
reason you buy jewelry at all.

[00:38:44.810]
The tradition, the folklore,
the romance of having a diamond.

[00:38:55.090]
Some might argue that’s the reason
you should buy a lab drone.

[00:38:59.240]
So there’s a lot of emotions

[00:39:01.130]
involved in terms of buying
a natural diamond or a lab diamond.

[00:39:04.550]
Okay, sure.
So I have folks who buy natural diamonds

[00:39:09.130]
for their engagement ring, but
they’re very happy

[00:39:15.160]
with a pair of lab grown diamond stud
earrings that are going to sparkle

[00:39:20.010]
and give off all sorts
of brilliance and scintillation for

[00:39:25.120]
more than half or less than
half the price of natural.

[00:39:28.840]
So it’s pretty.
Substantial difference.

[00:39:29.960]
Very substantial.
All right.

[00:39:32.290]
And to me, that looks cool.
Yeah.

[00:39:34.680]
Can people tell, oh,
that’s a lab grown diamond?

[00:39:38.030]
No, you have to be very trained to even

[00:39:42.010]
have an idea that they’re
lab grown or over natural.

[00:39:45.680]
All right.
Yeah.

[00:39:47.230]
There’s a danger in that, too, because.

[00:39:51.120]
You buy something
that you’re told is real.

[00:39:53.600]
Right.
Is it lab grown?

[00:39:55.680]
Well, the beauty of all of my lab grown
diamonds, they all have

[00:40:00.850]
a lab grown cert number engraved on their
girdle on the side of the diamond.

[00:40:06.400]
You can’t see it with your eye,
but I can see it under a microscope.

[00:40:09.510]
So that keeps everybody
aware of what’s lab grown and what’s not.

[00:40:16.560]
With

[00:40:17.960]
the idea being that you couldn’t then sell
it as a real one and somebody says, Hey.

[00:40:22.480]
Exactly.
Got it.

[00:40:23.920]
Exactly.
Yeah.

[00:40:25.370]
So some people would…

[00:40:30.280]
They want lab grown diamonds
throughout their engagement ring also.

[00:40:34.400]
All right.
So it’s all up to the customer.

[00:40:36.970]
So these rings are actually all very small

[00:40:39.770]
lab grown diamonds that I can have
a lab grown loose diamond set into it.

[00:40:48.040]
All right.

[00:40:50.320]
So the nice thing is I

[00:40:54.080]
can give you what you want at the price
you want at the value that you want.

[00:41:05.040]
In jewelry, there’s so much communication
because

[00:41:09.360]
we were talking about the guy who walks
in and doesn’t know what’s going on.

[00:41:13.090]
I have to make sure that I give him

[00:41:16.370]
enough information
that he can make an informed decision.

[00:41:20.990]
But of course, I

[00:41:23.530]
can’t have a five hour lecture over
this is the history of everything.

[00:41:30.160]
We rally and talk about different
things and get to the end.

[00:41:36.870]
And I make sure people
are happy along the way.

[00:41:40.290]
Stop, take a breath, enjoy the process.
Fair.

[00:41:44.490]
It should be fun. L ab Drone Diamond,
how long have these been around?

[00:41:51.450]
Well, they’ve been around since the ’70s.
Has they really?

[00:41:54.560]
Yeah.
Oh, wow.

[00:41:55.570]
General Electric, well, probably the ’60s,

[00:41:57.790]
but the ’70s, General Electric
started making them.

[00:42:02.450]
The thing was they weren’t gem quality,

[00:42:06.150]
except for a few of them,
because they were very yellow.

[00:42:09.630]
Nitrogen makes diamonds yellow,

[00:42:11.590]
and they couldn’t keep the nitrogen
out of the process.

[00:42:15.970]
But in all essential purposes,

[00:42:19.450]
lab drone diamonds have been around
for about six or seven years,

[00:42:24.330]
but most recently in the last two or
three years have been very available.

[00:42:30.010]
It’s been that recent.
Yeah, very recent.

[00:42:32.630]
So it’s a shock to the system,
to the jewelry industry.

[00:42:37.720]
Right.
So has that come around because

[00:42:41.720]
where natural diamonds come from is
not necessarily the greatest?

[00:42:45.490]
I think it’s opportunity.

[00:42:47.240]
And also

[00:42:50.560]
the availability of the machines to grow
the diamonds have been mass produced,

[00:42:58.970]
thus producing more app diamonds,
giving them more availability.

[00:43:04.130]
Got you.
So supply has gone up.

[00:43:06.090]
Supply has gone up because of supply.

[00:43:10.810]
Demand has gone up because of supply.
Sure.

[00:43:13.080]
Interesting.
All right.

[00:43:14.810]
So I guess prediction wise,

[00:43:19.600]
do you speculate that that’ll
become more the norm and the natural

[00:43:24.160]
diamonds will become more of a fancier
thing and their value will go up?

[00:43:29.200]
I’m only speculating.
Sure.

[00:43:33.160]
I mean, I won’t hold you to it because I.

[00:43:34.410]
Don’t know either way.

[00:43:35.770]
I do imagine that they will be very
popular because they’re more accepted.

[00:43:41.390]
All right.

[00:43:42.850]
Yeah, that’s okay.

[00:43:44.270]
You got what you wanted.

[00:43:46.170]
But to a certain group of people,
they will definitely never be considered.

[00:43:54.050]
Overall, in our industry, I think
we will sell a lot of lab grown diamonds.

[00:43:59.610]
All right.

[00:44:00.930]
Interesting.

[00:44:02.450]
That’s fascinating.

[00:44:04.560]
It’ll be interesting to see,
I guess, what happens.

[00:44:06.610]
That’s a conundrum.

[00:44:08.530]
There’s a whole lot of jewelry stores,
though, that will never sell lab diamonds.

[00:44:14.360]
Oh, really?
Yeah.

[00:44:15.390]
That’s not for us.
All right.

[00:44:18.410]
I don’t have that luxury.

[00:44:19.850]
I sell what people want.
Fair.

[00:44:22.690]
I’m not that way.

[00:44:24.170]
All right.

[00:44:25.850]
We talked a lot about diamonds,
rings, gold.

[00:44:29.120]
Tell us about just some of the other

[00:44:30.720]
things that you have here
because it looks like you have

[00:44:32.930]
a medley.

[00:44:35.520]
Well, at my store at Prairie Jewelers, we
do watch batteries.

[00:44:40.070]
Simple things like watch
batteries and jewelry repair.

[00:44:44.010]
I have a jeweler on site.

[00:44:45.690]
Mike, the old owner, he’s still here,
does jewelry repairs on site.

[00:44:51.650]
Also, I have some silver jewelry
for gifts, lower price point.

[00:44:57.890]
I’ve got gold jewelry,
earrings, color stones, pendants.

[00:45:04.730]
I’ve got little crosses.

[00:45:08.270]
I’ve got a selection of a
lot of different things.

[00:45:11.830]
Gotcha.

[00:45:12.600]
I imagine if you don’t see it here,
you can probably

[00:45:14.510]
figure out how to get it. Yeah.

[00:45:16.370]
Many, going back to the vendor,
I have many resources

[00:45:19.090]
that sometimes I can get things
in the store in less than a week.

[00:45:22.680]
All right.
Oh, wow.

[00:45:23.670]
That’s super cool.

[00:45:24.970]
So is there anything, I guess,

[00:45:26.680]
that you would think if someone was
considering opening up a jewelry store?

[00:45:29.760]
Not in Sun Prairie.
Yeah.

[00:45:31.160]
But considering

[00:45:32.640]
opening up a jewelry store that you think,
hey, you should know this,

[00:45:36.240]
or maybe this is something the
best kept secret of the industry that

[00:45:41.120]
a potential entrepreneur
of a jewelry store should know?

[00:45:44.480]
I would say customer service.

[00:45:49.850]
It sounds so cliche.

[00:45:52.730]
Well,
you could argue pretty strongly customer

[00:45:55.890]
service has gone down
over the past few years.

[00:45:58.490]
I guess from my experience,

[00:46:00.170]
not necessarily everywhere,
but in a lot of places.

[00:46:03.480]
Mine too.

[00:46:05.010]
If you see a kiosk instead of a person,
it probably wasn’t like, oh, that sucks.

[00:46:09.590]
I mean customer service and

[00:46:12.450]
communication
in the jewelry business is so important.

[00:46:18.850]
Don’t thrust your opinions on someone.

[00:46:22.850]
Let them expose what they want
and why they want it.

[00:46:29.310]
And if it’s an absolute ridiculous
situation, then tell them why.

[00:46:34.430]
That’s not a good idea.

[00:46:35.790]
But
I don’t think there’s any secrets except

[00:46:39.650]
being honest and trustworthy
and follow through.

[00:46:42.330]
Well, that’s huge for any business, right?
Yeah.

[00:46:46.950]
Name of the game.

[00:46:48.040]
I love it.

[00:46:49.680]
Under promise,

[00:46:51.170]
over deliver.
Fair.

[00:46:53.730]
That’s the game.

[00:46:56.360]
So you’ve had this business
for a couple of years.

[00:46:57.830]
Where do you see it going
in the next et’s say 3 to 5?

[00:47:01.800]
Yeah.

[00:47:03.240]
I see myself as the go to in this regional

[00:47:07.370]
area of the place you want
to buy your engagement ring.

[00:47:11.280]
All right.

[00:47:11.750]
That’s all I ask is that if you’re looking
for an engagement ring or an anniversary

[00:47:16.890]
band, you make an appearance,
walk through my door, give me a shot.

[00:47:20.720]
All right.
That’s all.

[00:47:21.650]
I ask.
That seems simple enough.

[00:47:23.490]
Yeah.
People seem to be getting married all

[00:47:25.480]
the time.
Right.

[00:47:25.950]
Engaged all the time.

[00:47:27.330]
They’re always love in the air.

[00:47:30.530]
Yeah. Valentine’s Day
is just around the corner.

[00:47:33.240]
That’s funny.

[00:47:34.360]
Where can people find you?

[00:47:35.670]
Just for address and website.

[00:47:38.880]
Sure.

[00:47:40.240]
SunPrairieJewelers.com.

[00:47:42.000]
All right.
Easy enough?

[00:47:43.360]
Yes.
SunPrairieJewelers.com.

[00:47:45.587]
And we’re located at 976
West Main Street here in Sun Prairie.

[00:47:52.680]
I often say
right near Chang Jiang Restaurant,

[00:47:56.650]
or if you don’t know where Chang Jiang
Restaurant is, right by Saint Vinnies.

[00:48:02.840]
And we’ve been here for 40 years
and we have plenty of parking.

[00:48:07.800]
40 years doing anything is a long time.
That’s right.

[00:48:11.110]
That’s super cool.

[00:48:12.160]
I appreciate you being on the show, Art.

[00:48:13.750]
Thank you.

[00:48:14.880]
This has been
Authentic Business Adventures.

[00:48:16.120]
The business program that brings you
the struggle

[00:48:18.550]
stories and triumphant successes
of business owners across the land.

[00:48:22.480]
We are locally underwritten
by the Bank of Sun Prairie.

[00:48:24.640]
Authentic Business Adventures is brought

[00:48:25.590]
to you by Calls on Call,
offering call answering services

[00:48:29.010]
for service businesses across
the country on the web at callsoncall.com.

[00:48:33.330]
As well as The Bold Business Book,

[00:48:35.680]
a book for the entrepreneur in all of us
available wherever fine books are sold.

[00:48:39.560]
We’d like to thank you,
our wonderful listeners,

[00:48:41.070]
as well as our guests, Art Fish,
the owner, newish, of Prairie Jewelers.

[00:48:45.570]
And Art, can you tell us
that website one more time?

[00:48:49.330]
SunPrairieJewelers.com

[00:48:51.850]
SunPrairieJewelers.com.

[00:48:54.190]
Also on Facebook.

[00:48:55.750]
Oh, thank you.

[00:48:56.880]
Instagram, all that good stuff.
Sure.

[00:48:58.350]
All right.
Well, it’s endless.

[00:49:00.880]
Endless.

[00:49:00.920]
Speaking of which,
if you could do us a huge favor when you

[00:49:03.400]
watch and listen to this,
if you could give us a big old thumbs up,

[00:49:06.610]
subscribe, and of course,
share it with your entrepreneurial friends

[00:49:10.010]
as well as the people that like
jewelry because it can’t hurt.

[00:49:13.790]
It can’t hurt.
Thank you for watching.

[00:49:16.440]
We will see you next week.
I want you to stay awesome.

[00:49:18.360]
And if you do nothing else,
enjoy your business.

 

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