11 Mistakes These Jewelers Made So You Don't Have To

This month, we’re featuring your stories of memorable business mistakes. Find even more “worst mistake” stories under INSTORE True Tales in the coming days.

I Hired a Commission-Hungry Salesperson Who Made Everyone Miserable

“I definitely hired the wrong person when I thought a professionally trained, high performing, commission-hungry salesperson would inspire my sales team. All she did was make everyone angry, cause customers to send me text and email complaints, inspire loud arguments on the sales floor, and send my blood pressure through the roof. Our team still refers to her when we experience a tough client or situation and they say ‘it would have been much worse if … was still here.’ Needless to say I fired her!” — Dianna H., Lafayette, LA

We Got Hooked on Cheap Gold — Then Found Out Where It Came From

“It’s kind of like ‘crack’ … (of course, not that I would know, just what I’ve been told) they start you out with a little and then give you a little more until you’re addicted and you can’t stop. We had a customer come in and sell us some plain gold wedding bands. But then it just kept coming. Week after week, then day after day. We would use it for casting grain at a significant savings. Then it turned into other jewelry that he would leave with us on memo. That’s when the challenges came. It sold, and sold well and back then we were not the best managers of our money. Needless to say, we rang up quite the bill with him. It turns out that he was not the best one to owe money to. The reason he had so much gold jewelry is that is how he got paid from the mob for his computer programming abilities — services and he needed to turn it into cash. Sadly, it got ugly. We did get him paid off and out of our lives. At which time I was finally able to get a good night’s sleep.” — Doug M., Marietta, GA

I Hired a ‘Friend’ Who Turned Out to Be a Thief

“I hired a senior citizen who I thought was my friend. Well, he stole jewelry from me. A coworker would watch him steal jewelry and was too afraid to tell me until one day he went to blow his nose, grabbed his handkerchief from his pocket and all the jewelry fell out. True story.” — Barry F., Bardonia, NY

I Got Conned Into a Downtown Lease and Lost $400,000 in Legal Fees

“I have two! The worst was getting conned into a new downtown location by a leasing agent that lied about the sales and that induced me to sign a lease. Fast forward and after taking them to court and spending close to $400,000 (yes!) on legal costs the judge summarized that though I had excellent documents proving my main points, he chose to believe the leasing agent. Slap in the face and pocket.” — David B., Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Karen Beasley was not amused. IMAGE: GENERATED BY ENVATO AI

I Hired a Dyslexic Engraver. It Didn’t Go Well.

“Hands down it was unknowingly hiring a dyslexic individual as our engraver. When he engraved ‘Karen Beastly’ instead of ‘Karen Beasley’ I had to fire him.” — Bill E., Terre Haute, IN

We Partnered With Pandora — And Quit in Less Than a Year

“We partnered with Pandora … huge mistake and ended up cutting ties in less than a year. We just had the wrong market and it really didn’t fit the vibe of our company. We took a loss but focus now on what we do best — custom!” — Becky B., Peabody, MA

We Stayed in a Mall Location When We Should Have Bought a Building

“Stayed in a mall location when we should have bought a building. One was available. Twenty years later we now are in a building. Wasted rent $$$$$.” — Jan C., Muscle Shoals, AL

I Thought We Needed Every Major Brand. (We Didn’t.)

“The worst decision was believing that we needed every major brand. We should have cherry-picked and spent the effort on branding ourselves.” — Jon W., Virginia Beach, VA

I Kept a Toxic Manager For Years Because They Were the Top Salesperson

“I came into the family business and there was a manager in our primary store that had been there a decade before me. I immediately saw counterproductive behaviors, but I was new to the business and they were our top-performing salesperson (a red flag in itself) with strong loyalty among customers. It took me years after I knew he was an impediment to growth to act.” — Jeff M., Knoxville, TN

I Bought $6,000 in Equipment for a Party That Got Canceled

“A couple of years ago I bought an Orion Arc Welder to make permanent bracelets for my daughter’s birthday party. Last minute she changed her mind about what she wanted to do for her party, and it did not include permanent bracelets. I’m stuck with this machine now and have only done a handful of jobs to maybe even make up for the shipping. Also, I recently bought a Laser Pecker engraving machine to learn it takes a lot of time and practice to get efficient enough to start charging people for jobs. Total waste of about $6,000 with those two purchases.” — Marc M., Midland, TX

We Waited Way Too Long to Get a Point-of-Sale System

“Not integrating our point-of-sale system early enough. Thought process was we don’t ‘need’ one, and handwriting the job envelopes makes for a better client experience rather than staring at a computer screen opposed to interacting with the customer. So, we waited and waited, until finally it only made sense that we implement a system to help make our daily jobs much easier as business grew! So it was wrongheaded to think we did not need one, until clearly we did! And that was over 20 years ago. Now we use The Edge!” — Brenda N., El Segundo, CA