One of Greatest’s favorite creativity-building mental workouts is James Altucher’s “10 Ideas a Day” exercise. Simple concept: pick a subject and crank out 10 related ideas.

No, you don’t have to brainstorm only on business-related subjects. One day you might brainstorm new slogans for your Mother’s Day ads. The next day you’re suggesting names and personality quirks for new characters on Season 4 of White Lotus.

The only rule? Ten ideas. Daily.

Do they have to be “good”? Nope. Quantity trumps quality here — though try not to phone it in completely.

Once you hit 10, you're done. Stuck? Weirdly enough, trying for 20 might free your mental logjam.

Curious? Altucher’s blog has the details.

Try this exercise for 30 days. Or you can start … and just keep going. Altucher promises that after six months of 10 ideas a day, you become an “idea machine”.

Greatest will attest to this. We’ve never done six months straight, but we’ve done a couple months several times, and the process makes your brain feel TURBO-CHARGED.

Anyway, on a recent morning walk, we did some “Altucher 10” brainstorming on how jewelers could market Administrative Professionals Day.

The holiday is April 23 – about four weeks away – and seems like an opportunity for an ambitious jeweler to 1.) make some additional sales; and 2.) establish some highly-connected new contacts.

It might be too late to put anything together for this year. It might not. But let’s brainstorm together, shall we?

10 Ideas for Administrative Professional’s Day (While Walking)

1. What kind of jewelry should we sell? Symbolic jewelry — a star, sun, or compass — recognizing admin pros as guides navigating through office chaos.
2. Create gift bundles: jewelry with flowers, wine, foil balloons, or even giant Toblerone bars. (Fitness fanatics get a sporty drink six-pack!) Delivery? Sure. Costumed delivery? Nah, too much.
3. Marketing channels: Email, website, in-store clienteling, and social-media marketing on LinkedIn — the platform on which people most proudly share their job titles. (What about a contest where admin professionals submit their information to win a diamond necklace? Research.)
4. Set up a display at store's entrance: symbolic jewelry, flowers, and a sign: “Administrative Professionals Day: They’re the gatekeepers of your office’s chaos. Celebrate YOURS April 23!” (Generate alternate slogans with ChatGPT.)
5. Run package in weekly email to clients. Include language like “April 23 is Administrative Professionals Day and the perfect time to say thanks to the people who make your business RUN.” (Test options with ChatGPT.)
6. LinkedIn outreach to local admin pros. Look for titles “Administrative Professional”, “Executive Assistant”, “Executive Secretary”, “Senior Administrator”, etc in area. DM 100 contacts with something playful: “Make sure this message gets into the right hands so you – and your fellow admin pros – get spoiled on April 23.”
7. Second LinkedIn campaign targeting local executives. Look for titles “CEO”, “President”, “Founder/Co-Founder”, “Owner”, “Managing Director”, etc in area. DM 100 contacts: “Make sure you remember April 23 – it’s a great way to show an important member of your team how much you appreciate them.”
8. In all marketing, hint at future occasions: "“Keep us bookmarked for your next jewelry- or giftware-worthy moment!”" Offer incentives like $50-$100 gift cards to build relationships.
9. Extra outreach: Local online news (Patch, Nextdoor), supermarket boards, corporate parks (or even coffee shops near corporate parks).
10. Define success clearly: Is it a 1% or 2% response? Or maybe just a couple new clients? Feel free to engage in a little crazy napkin math — if one new customer has a lifetime value is around $30,000 (estimating one purchase per year with a couple major upgrades), then what is the lifetime value of an entire office or entire corporation?

After an hour walking, Greatest had 10 pretty solid ideas and more bubbling up — social media posts, promos, and follow-ups to nurture our store’s new corporate connections. But we’d fulfilled our quota so ended the exercise for the day.

You might say, “You're just making stuff up!”

Exactly. Reminds Greatest of jeweler consultant Andrea Hill’s story of a client who, while filling out an annual marketing calendar, exclaimed, "But we’re just making stuff up here!" Hill replied, “Well … YEAH. And, in retail, he who makes up the best, most interesting, most consistent stuff wins.”

So go ahead. Make stuff up. Consistently. Fearlessly. Because retail belongs to those whose ideas NEVER run dry.

Questions? Write [email protected].

METALS REPORT

Gold surge spurs revised Bank of America forecast.

At midnight New York time, gold prices were up 0.44% to $3,033.90; platinum was down 0.21% to $971.00; and palladium was down 0.21% to $950.00. (See latest prices on Kitco.)

AROUND THE INDUSTRY

Report: Anglo American exploring De Beers IPO with banks.

"It's been a love affair": Norwich, NY store to close after 79 years. / O.C. Tanner introduces ethical/sustainable diamond-shopping "experience" with Kwiat. / More employees confronted by rude customers.

Today’s Dates

• “Days” of the Day: Major League Baseball opening day (a “baseball diamonds” promo), World Theater Day (celebrate your community’s actors), and, if you’re feeling like you want to be a little naughty in your customer communications, National Viagra Day.
• UPCOMING DAYS: Teachers' Day (March 28), National Mom and Pop Business Owners Day (March 29), National Doctor’s Day (March 30), National Prom Day (March 31)
• TODAY'S Birthdays: Jewelry designer Kendra Scott (b. 1974), Mariah Carey (b. 1969), director Quentin Tarantino (1963) (speaking of confidence, check out this clip of young Tarantino discussing his finished screenplays.)
• UPCOMING: Lady Gaga (March 28), singers Celine Dion and Norah Jones (March 30)
• Trade Show: Starting tomorrow, the Stuller Bench Jeweler Workshop, featuring classes, product demonstrations and Stuller’s “Battle of the Benches”.

10 Things To Do In Your Store Today

• EVENTS: NCAA Sweet 16 games tonight and tomorrow. (And Elite 8 games Saturday and Sunday.) As we mentioned in Monday’s bulletin, if you’re set up to entertain, why not invite a few favorite customers to watch at your store bar?
• SHOWROOM: Now’s the time to order carpet cleanings for April. You don’t want your customers being reminded of stuffy musty winter days as the warm months roll around.
• MARKETING: Create and print a “bounce back” flyer with a special offer that’s available only in May. Place this in the bag with all purchases in April.
• BIRTHSTONE: Keep practicing your diamond facts for April birthstone sales. Use down moments to quiz your team on a few fun diamond facts.
• STAFF: Continue employee reviews. Have a team member who is resisting much-needed change in your business? Here’s how your fellow store-owners would handle it.
• TECH: Consider a phishing audit. These audits test your staff with realistic phishing emails and landing pages, showing who’s most likely to take the bait. Afterwards, you’ll get tips to help everyone stay sharp. Top providers include KnowBe4, Hoxhunt, and Keepnet Labs. Hook one before the phishers hook you.
• MARKETING Target those expected tax refunds. Advertise a "Tax Day Layaway" sale on April 16. Any layaway gets 10 percent off the ticket price.
• STORE MARKETING: Work on cross-promotions for prom season with local dress-makers and tuxedo-renters. Start brainstorming on advertising for graduation season. Brand name watches like Omega or Rolex are good choices to lead the attack.
• EGG EFFORT: April 20 is Easter. Search for community activities such as a school egg hunt you could be involved in.
• STAFF: Remind employees to leave their phones on silent (or at their workstations) when on the sales floor.

Things to Stop Doing Right Now

STOP SAYING “YES” TO EVERYTHING

Implement a new heuristic for accepting or turning down offers. One such guideline: rate each opportunity on a scale of 1 to 10. There’s only one rule, you’re not allowed to select the number “7”. So basically everything is either a 1 to 6, or an 8 to 10. Accept the 8 to 10s, turn down the 1 to 6s.

Greatest’s Inbox

Greatest is always inspired by the way Roy Williams talks about advertising. Here’s a segment from a recent “Wizard of Ads” morning newsletter describing a new radio ad for a jewelry store Williams was working on:

If people aren’t paying attention to your ads, it is because (A.) you chose the wrong thing to talk about, or (B.) you are talking about it in a predictable way.

I wrote an ad this morning for a jewelry store. This is how the ad begins:

RICK: Sicily is the island at the toe of the boot of Italy,

SARAH: And the town of Catania is situated on the seashore, staring at the toe of that boot.

MONICA: That’s where Jay, one of our owners, traveled to meet Italy’s most exciting new jewelry designer.

RICK: Tell us about it, Jay.

JAY: When I met Francesco and saw what he was working on, I almost hyperventilated.

Those 5 lines do not sound like the typical jewelry store ad.

But I’ll bet you’d like to hear the rest of it.

He’s absolutely right.

Content of a Graphic Nature

We’re sharing visual ideas from SmartWork Media’s signage and graphics publications, Signs of the Times and Big Picture. Subjects covered in these publications include store signage (interior and exterior), billboards, directional (wayfinding) signage, as well as vehicle wraps.

This Corvette wrap was created by Metrowrapz in Hollywood, FL and instantly got Greatest thinking how eye-catching AND brand-building it would be for a jeweler with a low-slung sports car (Corvette, Porsche Cayman, Lamborghini, BMW M4) to wrap their vehicle in a faceted jewel pattern (ruby red, sapphire blue, or diamond white), perhaps with some metallic accents (gold, platinum).

Vehicle wraps can be tricky for jewelers. Depending on where you live and drive, anything that overtly announces your identity as a jeweler could be a security risk. But if you’re in a safe community, and carefully choose when to drive, THAT car in that wrap would definitely get attention when you roll up to the Chamber of Commerce annual golf event.

Read more here.

Send your questions to [email protected]