Know-How Exchange : Student Questions

Dear priyaagarwal26,

What aspect of freelancing are you referring to? And what do
you mean when you talk about launching your brand?

As a grader, you ought to know that with diamonds, the biggest issues you'll come up against are those of sourcing and quality.

What grades will you be looking to buy or limited to buying because of cash reserves? Who will supply your stones and are they reputable? Will you opt for rough that you'll then cut? And if so, who will do your cutting and how much will that add to your overheads and bite into your profit margin?

Or will you opt for cut which you'll then mount and profit from the mark up on the wholesale of the mounts? Which again raises the question of who will do your mounting and what will that cost you?

If you opt for rough, where will you buy, from whom, and at what cost and profit margin?

Remember, if your supplier is linked to (or is) the major cartel from South Africa, you'll probably be given one choice when it comes to buying rough: this place, this time and date, this quantity, this price, this quality, this sale—take it or leave it.

If you buy from non South African sources, where will those
sellers get their stones from?

Before you go about setting up brands you need to also figure out who you will sell to, what they are buying, and how you might go about attracting repeat customers.

I hope this helps. Good luck to you.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA

HI,
I would recommend, to start of business by doing freelancing jobs. Create a word of mouth in your family & friends and then build on the references.

Building a brand is good idea, but first gather experience on the business.

Swap

Your goal should be to find a pain point in the jewelery business. You want to find an area where you can improve on the process done, giving a reason for people to want to pay you money to do this. That is the broad goal of what you are after.

Finds like these don't always come easy or quickly. Working in the industry and going for your MBA should help you in this - you are putting 2 important parts together (industry knowledge and education). You need to listen for what people are complaining about while they work, shop for jewels, etc. Then find a way to fix this problem.

Good luck!