Career In Gemology - Opportunities? Where to Start? Right Frame of Mind? Work Ethic and Stable Livin

[Colored Gemstone Nut]

Hello Everyone:

I am posting my thoughts publically because I am looking for constructive feedback and criticism from others in the community who may have at one time felt the same way I do or have had similiar feelings and pursued their dreams and would like to share their experiences.

Well I am not new to the forum and have become quite enamored with gemstones. Not just diamonds, but wit colored gemstones too. The last 9 months I have been involved in the forum I have learned soo much. A lot of basic and a lot of comprehensoive information which I value in making my own informed decisions and sharing future discussions on threads with forum members and giving learned advice myself. Advice which comes from me self-educating myself and making purchases too. My curiosity goes much further than the inquisitive buyer, but have found myself checking out book after book from the library on colored gemstones and stone cutting and jewelry making. I am most interested in colored gems and diamonds and all the factual information that make up the complexities of for example how a stone is formed, where they come from and what region they are most dominantly found in and what qualities and how to tell them apart and inclusions and what types and treatments and practices on classification of stones like how to tell them apart. It is all very interesting to me. I like to be hands on but feel my hands are tied because I can read and read and read as many informational volumes I want, but do not want to limit my knowledge. My passion seems ever burning to the extent that I am considering becoming a gemologist, but have some Initial questions about where to start.

I know these things will not be easy and a lot of effort and time and money has to be put into educating myself first, but my passion is what drives me and I wonder if some day I could make a career out of doing something I love so much and have a passion for. I am very independent but at the same time would like to experience what it might take to become successful at making a career out of what I enjoy and love, Not just a hobby but something I am really really passionate about. I could spend hours explaining how much I love learning about gems and diamonds and never want to shut any doors.

My main objective on writing this to everyone is what suggestions do some already established members of the trade have that they could share that would help me open some doors and head me in the right direction. I know the market is there and in a community which bases a large majority of its summer income over serving 7000 tourist a day there are 4 jewelry stores in a town that has 7500 year round residents. I am willing to travel and make some sacrifices, but am also weary about making a stable income for my family.

My intent is to not make a gross amount of money but the same amount of money I am making now, but doing something I am passionate about. I am ready to take risks and have a beautiful woman to stand by my side and will always back me up in whatever path I decide to take in life, but am at the same time worried that I don't want to become a slave on the retail end selling people junk which I know is junk unless they request it. I would love seeing myself in a reputable company that sells to the public and leaves all doors open including factual information about what their purchasing and fairly being compensated for my passion for gems and my efforts too.

I know life is full of risks, but also wonder if any vendor has input on how they started out and if they're doing what they expected to financially. I love people and am very articulate in the way that I carry myself and form relationships with others and have a genuine sense of who I am and what direction I am heading in.

My main objective is to make a living doing what I am passionate about and at the same time sharing my wealth of learned knowledge over time with people I encounter along the way.

Please give me your feedback...

-Josh
Sitka, Alaska

 

[Richard Sherwood]

Sure Josh, go for it!

I love this business. It's clean, you meet beautiful people, you see the world, you deal in beautiful things.

It's (usually) a positive business. Usually the people you're dealing with are getting married, giving each other gifts, treating themselves, etc. Dealers and jewelry professionals also happen to be one of the coolest groups of people to rub shoulders with. They are passionate aficionados and cosmopolitan citizens of the world.

A couple questions to direct my input. Do you want to get into the business fast, jumping in feet first, or tiptoe into it?

Do you want to work for someone else, or yourself?

Do you have a working capital?

Do you like to travel?

Do you think you want to sell jewelry, design jewelry, make jewelry, appraise jewelry, cut stones or a combination of some of the above?

What kind of salary range would you be comfortable at over the next five years while you gather experience? What kind of salary range do you realistically want to attain?

$20,000 - $30,000
$30,000 - $45,000
$45,000 - $65,000
$65,000 - $90,000
$90,000 - $125,000
$125,000+

I ask this question because your answer will determine which area of the business will satisfy your salary requirements the best, either up front or down the road. You can answer me about this by email if you prefer.

Also, one last question. In many areas of the gem and jewelry business there are substantial risks, both to life and property. Are you willing to risk being ripped off by deadbeat customers you've trusted, ripped off by unsavory dealers, shoplifted, conned, robbed, pistol whipped, kidnapped, shot & wounded or shot and killed?

I throw that last paragraph in just to splash some cold water on you. It's not all a bowl of cherries. There's some serious downsides to this business as well. I either have personally experienced many of the things I've listed above, or know someone close to me in the business who has.

Other than that, it's a great business!

 

[oldminer]

You sound READY. You will very likely have to move a long way to get highly involved in the active portions of the jewelry trade unless you are very lucky to find a job locally.

I don't think you will get a lot of highly positive advice or replies because the jewelry business is and has been in the doldrums for an extended period of time. The news about decent employment opportunities is not truly dismal, but it is not a piece of cake, either. In order to succeed in the field you need gemological education, a job that pays a living and someone on the staff where you work capable and willing to mentor you. It will take years, not months, to get a reasonable degree of competance.

If you have unique talent, a special sort of niche, you may become one of the unusual and fast risers in the business. Most people do not have this ability, but you might be one of the rapid ones. If you have special talent and super desire, you may be much more successful than the average retail jewelry salesperson.....

What sort of goals have you set? Where would you like to move to? What part of the biz, colored gems, diamonds, manufacturing, selling, buying, merchandising, marketing? What makes you excited?

 

[Colored Gemstone Nut]

First off..Richard & Garry & Leonid...Thank you for your invites...I look forward to talking with all of you....

What sort of goals have you set?Where would you like to move to?What part of the biz, colored gems, diamonds, manufacturing, selling, buying, merchandising, marketing?What makes you excited?
Dave:

I will answer your questions in the order you posted....

First:

What sort of goals have you set?/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]
The long-term goals I have set are that I would like to form strong business relationships with people in the industry. I would like to form strong relationships particularly with cutters and individuals who broker stones and are established in custom design. I am very interested in diamonds and fine colored gems, but am also creative and have ideas and designs of my own that I would like to implement into custom pieces. I see myself someday in the future having my own website and catering to clients who would like me to source a fine gemstone whether it be diamonds or colored gems. I would also like to facilitate clients in the capacity that I would help them fabricate or network through a series of custom jewelers who would put together pieces for them based on their own initial ideas of a piece which they have conceived or use some of my own inspirations for ideas they can implement in building a piece they would be interested in. The possibilities as I see them are endless and I can add my own ideas of how I want to market certain items or appeal to certain customers needs.....My answer might seem a little jumbled but I am writing as the ideas are coming to me....

I would successfully like to educate myself on gems and gem identification and am passionate about the complexities involved in studying the large range of information including formation, classification, regions throughout the world gems are sourced from, mining practices, jewelry design & fabrication, diamond cutting and the very extensive research going on concerning cut and the tools available to assess a diamonds performance. Studying but not limiting myself to one particular venue will help me be more rounded and versatile in serving my own passions and down the road the potential needs of prospective clients.

The sort term goals I have setwithin the immediate future are:I would like to get educated by attending an institute which teaches the above outlined practices and become established with recognizable trade credentials. I think this will help me build a good foundation for what I am pursuing and give me the well rounded technical experience and knowledge I need to work in the industry. I love to study especially when it’s something that I am passionate about, but would also like to work in the capacity of someone who is as passionate as I am and has already established a working relationship with the public who can as you posted earlier “mentor me” as I am learning.. This person ideally would be someone with similar ideas I have and are honest and maintain an honest approach about informing and advising me during my initial stages of learning on the retail side of the business…In short I do not want to be chewed up and spit out. I want to find someone who is willing to make my efforts worthwhile and pass on a strong businesses sense in helping me build some initial principles for my main objective. I see myself taking a couple months off in the summer and going somewhere to get experience with anyone in the trade who is interested in helping me gain knowledge, whether its in retail or as an apprentice gemologist…. I am really open to any ideas and am versatile and honest and passionate and am eager to learn…. but need a couple people to jumpstart me in the right direction…

Where would you like to move to?/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]
Dave I am established in Alaska and will ultimately end up staying here. I am open to traveling and staying elsewhere if I can gain knowledge from any individual who also wants to share their talents or efforts with me to help me ultimately pursue my main objective…

What part of the biz, colored gems, diamonds, manufacturing, selling, buying, merchandising, marketing?/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]
I already answered some of these questions in my initial paragraph but mainly…buying, selling…and new ways of marketing my own ideas and designs and networking through other people in creating and selling some of my own designs and design conceptions of clients.

What makes you excited?/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]
Well Dave besides being passionate about gems and educating myself … my real fulfillment comes from serving others and making other people happy…If I can do this by helping them create custom pieces and sourcing fine gems I would just be thrilled. I would be fulfilling my dreams of sharing my knowledge and creating and catering to a customers needs, in turn making myself very happy about what I am passionate about and making money too. I am very versatile and have an honest approach to everything in life and my personality appeals to all types f people, not just those potentially putting money in my pocket, but the experience of it all and sharing knowledge of some of life’s finer things…Sharing life’s experiences and forming relationships with new people is always fun in opening up endless avenues to learning about life and the many things it has to offer…./www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]

I appreciate your time Dave and everyone…Thank You.../www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]

-Josh Rioux
/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]Sitka, Alaska

 

[Richard Sherwood]

One way to learn fast would be to take GIA courses along with attending and eventually exhibiting at the regional weekend gem and jewelry shows.

There are show circuits which travel around in different sections of the country, doing a different city every weekend. Setup is usually on Thursdays, with the show taking place Friday, Saturday and Sunday. You breakdown Sunday around 5pm, and head on home. I did them for years, and know plenty of people who do them as their main means of support.

You meet a lot of dealers and see a lot of merchandise. Information flows around like on a super highway, and after a couple months of doing a circuit you become "one of the guys". You also get used to the routine of dealing with the public, and get comfortable with selling.

Selling is probably the fastest way to break into the business. Selling is 90% personality and 10% knowledge. The ability to get along with people, making them feel comfortable and getting them to trust you is probably the most important aspect of selling.

It doesn't take as much knowledge to sell a piece as it does to cut the stones, for example, or fabricate it, or appraise it. All you have to know is that you're paying a fair price for it, and how much markup is appropriate to put on it. Stay competitive and give people a reason to buy from you rather than the other guy, which usually breaks down to the simple fact that they like you better.

As you're selling and rubbing shoulders with other dealers, you'll pick up things fast. The GIA courses will accelerate this process. The Graduate Gemologist diploma will give you credibility and firmly entrench you in the business.

The salary requirements you mentioned in your email are not a problem once you move into the business fulltime. You'll find yourself making that much without having to work as hard as you are now (7 days a week). After you get five years under your belt you'll move beyond that salary range into a more lucrative area.

The big money doesn't come unless you're working for a very established company, selling jewelry on the road, or working for yourself.

You might consider a road salesman's job. Although riskier than a store job, the money is good. A road salesman who is not that sharp can pull in 40 grand a year fairly easy, with the sharp ones making 60 to 80 grand a year, and the top producers making 80 grand plus.

You have to be very vigilant though. If you don't have street smarts you'll become easy prey for some of the many predators out there.

With all the tourists you've got coming through your home turf, you might be able to set something up there. Perhaps you could combine local sales along with internet sales and shows on the weekends.

The main thing is getting started. Enrolling in the GIA courses would get the boulder rolling, and things would begin to take up a momentum of their own. GIA has "career days" in which students and prospective employers get together in a nice environment to "check each other out".

I used to know a pharmacist who got interested in stones, gold and such. He would come by my store a lot and I would give him tips on how to recognize gold, diamonds, colored stones and such. Every weekend he would cruise the flea markets, garage sales and estate sales, picking up merchandise which he felt was undervalued.

Every Monday he would bring his "finds" to my estate store and sell them to me. In exchange for educating him, I made him promise to tell me what he'd paid for a piece after I bought it from him. Many, many times I would buy something from him for $50, $100, $200 dollars, and then he would tell me he paid 50 cents, $3, $5, $20 for the items. He had an uncanny knack for spotting gold and estimating the gram weight by just hefting it in his hand. I showed him the scrap prices I would pay, and he would just make sure he purchased everything less than that. Plenty of times I would end up paying him more than scrap because the piece was desireable.

There's all kinds of ways to make money buying and selling gems and jewelry. Once you get into it, it will come. Like the baseball field. "Build it, and they will come".

 

[Richard Sherwood]

One other note. It's always good to have some kind of "niche" in the business. It seems that you're firm about Alaksa being your home base, so perhaps there's a way to use that unique location to your advantage.

Alaska has an allure to the rest of us contiguous state dwellers. There's a mystique about it. It has a fascinating history of gold strikes and adventurous outdoors experiences. Home of the Eskimos too.

I've seen some awesome Alaskan natural gold nugget jewelry which tourists have purchased on their vacations up there. Some of it was really high quality stuff, expertly made. The raw naturalness of the gold nuggets has some kind of earthy draw to it that people like. Kind of like wearing mother nature on your body, like a gem.

Perhaps that's a specialized area you could develop. Also, scrimshaw jewelry has some appeal. There's got to be other things indigineous to Alaska which would "wow" non-Alaskans.

You could set up a website full of gorgeous Alaskan landscape pictures, with you flying out into the remote wilderness with your Cessna and panning the rivers for gold to put in your jewelry. Or haggling with Eskimos for their scrimshaw.

You get the idea. Something unique. People would love it.