Post by Trade facilitator on Apr 20, 2023 23:38:53 GMT 1
Gemstone Business Strategy: Critical Issues You Need To Know In Order To Succeed At Cutting And Selling Gemstones
As you must have known, every business needs hard work and investment to succeed. Here are some important things you'll need if you're going to cut and sell gemstones for a living in Nigeria and any other place in the world.
Time:
It takes years, sometimes decades, to make connections, secure rough, and just plain learn how the gem business works. Nobody can magically acquire all of these things in a few months or years. All businesses take time to build. If you want to make money selling gemstones, you better plan on spending some time learning about the business as well as faceting. We discussed faceting in our last article on this.
Experience:
There's no easy way to get it and no replacement for it. You have to know what you're doing, and gaining experience is always expensive. Sometimes it can be very expensive. You can only get business experience by being in business, and that will cost you time, money, labor, and all kinds of other things you'll have no idea about until you're actually in business.
Talent:
Some people have talent, some don't. If you don't have at least some basic talent for gem cutting, you're wasting your time and money. If you have talent, you'll still need time and hard work to realize your potential. Talent alone doesn't mean you'll make money.
Sales:
This is an often overlooked dimension of the gem business. Even if you have time, experience, and talent, you won't make any money if you have no way to sell the gems you cut. In fact, learning to sell itself requires time, experience, talent, and investment. Early on, you need to have a plan and work on selling what you cut.
Inventory:
The more stones you cut, the more you sell. This is simple math but it's amazing how many people don't understand this basic principle. For example, if you show a customer two stones, you may or may not sell a stone. However, if you show that same customer 50 stones, your odds of selling at least one stone go up exponentially. You must have quantity. Of course, I don't mean you need to cut a ridiculous amount of stones at an unreasonable pace. I mean you need to be working hard on creating quality-cut stones and seriously building your inventory. To paraphrase a famous line, cut it and they will come. So keep cutting.
Investing in Quality Gemstone Rough:
Of course, you'll have to invest in tools and a workspace as well as a place to sell your cut gems — whether that's online or in a brick-and-mortar shop. However, there's one critical investment many new faceters may not consider carefully and try to skimp on: gemstone rough.
Can You Make Money Cutting Synthetic Gem Rough?
I can't tell you how many times people have said to me: "Well, I cut lab-made stones because it's cheaper and I can't sell natural stones."
If you're buying cubic zirconia (CZ), or other cheap synthetic material for pennies, that's what you'll make; simply pennies.
Although there are markets for quality-cut synthetic gems, making money by faceting synthetics is very difficult, and I don't recommend trying to make a living from it.
Of course, if you're cutting just for fun, you can facet whatever you want. However, if you're cutting for practice, I still recommend starting with natural instead of synthetic rough.
You have to invest in something worth money before you facet it and make it worth more money.
Choosing Quality, Natural Gem Rough:
You need to build your inventory by cutting quality natural gem rough. Don't make the mistake of buying and cutting low-quality natural rough. If you do, you'll be competing against huge cutting houses that can sell their products cheaply and still make money. You won't win.
For independent cutters, the money is in faceting quality and high-end stones. You need to cut at least good quality rough to make money. The better the quality of the rough, the more money you could make.
Of course, the better the quality of the rough, the more it will cost. You won't get any "deals" on high-quality gem rough. Those who sell rough know what it's worth and will charge accordingly.
And when you sell the gems you facet from high-quality rough, you'll also charge accordingly. That's just how business works. If you don't invest in your business, you won't make any money.
Offer Your Customers a Wide Selection::
You need to offer your customers more than a few choices of finished natural gemstones. Selection is important. That means having gems of various species and varieties as well as different colors and styles.
Colors:
To some extent, color choices are more important than gem type. After all, we're talking about faceting and selling colored gemstones. Customers may ask for a particular type of gem, but you may discover that what they really want is a particular color. They just think that color comes only from a specific gem.
For example, customers often ask for emeralds because they want a green color. They may have no idea there are other, much better faceted green gemstone options.
As far as I'm concerned, emeralds are mostly of poor quality. On the other hand, chrome tourmaline and tsavorite garnet both make good jewelry stones. Unfortunately, many customers don't even know these gems exist, much less that they're almost always cleaner, harder, higher performing, and untreated.
Rarity and Uniqueness:
Quality plus uniqueness make a cut gem easier to sell. Rarity can play a major role in both the value and salability or marketability of a natural cut stone. However, "rarity" applies not only to the gem material but also to the cut or style. It could even be the case when a well-known cut is used on a little-known gem — or when a well-known gem is cut in a novel style.
Making a success of your gemstone business depends to a large extent on your ability to master these few gems of knowledge.
Addendum:
Our company is the foremost company in Gemstone and Solid Mineral Business in Nigeria today. We train individuals and corporate organizations on how to do Gemstone and Solid Mineral Business the right way; if you are interested, please contact the admin of this forum now for further details.
As you must have known, every business needs hard work and investment to succeed. Here are some important things you'll need if you're going to cut and sell gemstones for a living in Nigeria and any other place in the world.
Time:
It takes years, sometimes decades, to make connections, secure rough, and just plain learn how the gem business works. Nobody can magically acquire all of these things in a few months or years. All businesses take time to build. If you want to make money selling gemstones, you better plan on spending some time learning about the business as well as faceting. We discussed faceting in our last article on this.
Experience:
There's no easy way to get it and no replacement for it. You have to know what you're doing, and gaining experience is always expensive. Sometimes it can be very expensive. You can only get business experience by being in business, and that will cost you time, money, labor, and all kinds of other things you'll have no idea about until you're actually in business.
Talent:
Some people have talent, some don't. If you don't have at least some basic talent for gem cutting, you're wasting your time and money. If you have talent, you'll still need time and hard work to realize your potential. Talent alone doesn't mean you'll make money.
Sales:
This is an often overlooked dimension of the gem business. Even if you have time, experience, and talent, you won't make any money if you have no way to sell the gems you cut. In fact, learning to sell itself requires time, experience, talent, and investment. Early on, you need to have a plan and work on selling what you cut.
Inventory:
The more stones you cut, the more you sell. This is simple math but it's amazing how many people don't understand this basic principle. For example, if you show a customer two stones, you may or may not sell a stone. However, if you show that same customer 50 stones, your odds of selling at least one stone go up exponentially. You must have quantity. Of course, I don't mean you need to cut a ridiculous amount of stones at an unreasonable pace. I mean you need to be working hard on creating quality-cut stones and seriously building your inventory. To paraphrase a famous line, cut it and they will come. So keep cutting.
Investing in Quality Gemstone Rough:
Of course, you'll have to invest in tools and a workspace as well as a place to sell your cut gems — whether that's online or in a brick-and-mortar shop. However, there's one critical investment many new faceters may not consider carefully and try to skimp on: gemstone rough.
Can You Make Money Cutting Synthetic Gem Rough?
I can't tell you how many times people have said to me: "Well, I cut lab-made stones because it's cheaper and I can't sell natural stones."
If you're buying cubic zirconia (CZ), or other cheap synthetic material for pennies, that's what you'll make; simply pennies.
Although there are markets for quality-cut synthetic gems, making money by faceting synthetics is very difficult, and I don't recommend trying to make a living from it.
Of course, if you're cutting just for fun, you can facet whatever you want. However, if you're cutting for practice, I still recommend starting with natural instead of synthetic rough.
You have to invest in something worth money before you facet it and make it worth more money.
Choosing Quality, Natural Gem Rough:
You need to build your inventory by cutting quality natural gem rough. Don't make the mistake of buying and cutting low-quality natural rough. If you do, you'll be competing against huge cutting houses that can sell their products cheaply and still make money. You won't win.
For independent cutters, the money is in faceting quality and high-end stones. You need to cut at least good quality rough to make money. The better the quality of the rough, the more money you could make.
Of course, the better the quality of the rough, the more it will cost. You won't get any "deals" on high-quality gem rough. Those who sell rough know what it's worth and will charge accordingly.
And when you sell the gems you facet from high-quality rough, you'll also charge accordingly. That's just how business works. If you don't invest in your business, you won't make any money.
Offer Your Customers a Wide Selection::
You need to offer your customers more than a few choices of finished natural gemstones. Selection is important. That means having gems of various species and varieties as well as different colors and styles.
Colors:
To some extent, color choices are more important than gem type. After all, we're talking about faceting and selling colored gemstones. Customers may ask for a particular type of gem, but you may discover that what they really want is a particular color. They just think that color comes only from a specific gem.
For example, customers often ask for emeralds because they want a green color. They may have no idea there are other, much better faceted green gemstone options.
As far as I'm concerned, emeralds are mostly of poor quality. On the other hand, chrome tourmaline and tsavorite garnet both make good jewelry stones. Unfortunately, many customers don't even know these gems exist, much less that they're almost always cleaner, harder, higher performing, and untreated.
Rarity and Uniqueness:
Quality plus uniqueness make a cut gem easier to sell. Rarity can play a major role in both the value and salability or marketability of a natural cut stone. However, "rarity" applies not only to the gem material but also to the cut or style. It could even be the case when a well-known cut is used on a little-known gem — or when a well-known gem is cut in a novel style.
Making a success of your gemstone business depends to a large extent on your ability to master these few gems of knowledge.
Addendum:
Our company is the foremost company in Gemstone and Solid Mineral Business in Nigeria today. We train individuals and corporate organizations on how to do Gemstone and Solid Mineral Business the right way; if you are interested, please contact the admin of this forum now for further details.
