Editor’s Note: Baldness is Inevitable

Published

10 years ago

October 11, 2015

Editor’s Note: Baldness is Inevitable

And other lessons learned from this year’s Big Survey

BY DAVID SQUIRES

This article originally appeared in the October 2015 edition of INSTORE.

We’ve now done nine of these Big Survey issues, and it’s long been one of INSTORE readers’ favorite issues of the year.

One reason for the love is that, while INSTORE has always been a collaborative effort between us and you, our October edition is by far our most collaborative issue of the year, packed with your data, your insights and, maybe surprisingly, your feelings.

In these pages, you’ll find lots of useful comparative data on staff salaries, hot-selling products and successful marketing vehicles. And we hope you’ll find a way to put this information to use in a way that helps your store differentiate itself, rather than simply trying to keep up with the Joneses (or, perhaps, with this month’s Cool Store, Jones Bros. Jewelers — see page 126).

But you’ll also find loads of softer-edged inspiration — philosophical approaches to the business that can’t help but inspire.

One of my favorite questions each year is when we ask jewelers, in one form or another, to share the most important lessons that they’ve learned.

This year, we asked survey respondents what lesson they would have most wished to have been able to share with their younger self. A few favorites:

➤ “Other people will try and tell you how to run your business. Follow your gut and ignore their objections.”

➤ “Don’t compare your insides to other people’s outsides.”

➤ And: “Baldness is inevitable.” (I am happy to report that I have a full head of hair. But I like to read this as a motto of acceptance — “Gracefully accept who you are. And build from there.”)

Enjoy the issue!

Wishing you the very best business,

David Squires

Honoring a Legacy: How Smith & Son Jewelers Exceeded Every Goal With Wilkerson

When Andrew Smith decided to close the Springfield, Massachusetts location of Smith & Son Jewelers, the decision came down to family. His father was retiring after 72 years in the business, and Andrew wanted to spend more time with his children and soon-to-arrive grandchildren. For this fourth-generation jeweler whose great-grandfather founded the company in 1918, closing the 107-year-old Springfield location required the right partner. Smith chose Wilkerson, and the experience exceeded expectations from start to finish. "Everything they told me was 100% true," Smith says. "The ease and use of all their tools was wonderful." The consultants' knowledge and expertise proved invaluable. Smith and his father set their own financial goal, but Wilkerson proposed three more ambitious targets. "We thought we would never make it," Smith explains. "We were dead wrong. We hit our first goal, second goal and third goal. It was amazing." Smith's recommendation is emphatic: "I would never be able to do what they did by myself."