Shine Bright Like a Diamond (and Sell Them)

Notes from Chris

Episode 2040

At age 28, Lauren Priori was working as a manager for an antique jewelry company in Philadelphia. While she loved her job, she also yearned for something more. Luckily, her bosses—she had four of them—were cool with her having an entrepreneurial spirit and making some extra cash on the side. But the quartet of bosses had no idea she’d be leaving her day job so soon.

You see, Lauren had a lot of good ideas. Her execution, however, wasn’t so great at first.

She started out buying antique jewelry and selling it on Etsy, the online craft marketplace…but her photography skills weren’t up to par, and the business never took off. She also started a line of silver jewelry but didn’t know how to price it properly and sell it to retailers.

But in 2015, Lauren’s friend Megan was ready to get engaged and asked Lauren if she’d help her with the engagement ring. Lauren had never sold an engagement ring before…even though she was a gemologist and knew plenty about diamonds and jewelry manufacturing from her day job. So Lauren asked her favorite diamond dealers to loan her some diamonds to show Megan.

Here’s where Lauren’s day job and her connections came in handy…those dealers would never have loaned out $50,000 worth of diamonds to a stranger. Lauren brought the diamonds home and walked Megan through the diamond selection process, and they settled on a ring design. After paying a deposit, Megan mentioned how much better this was than going to a jewelry store and picking an “off the rack” ring from a glass case. And she told Lauren that she should do this as a business.

Lauren was pretty sure it wasn’t a business—but she was happily wrong. After posting the ring on her personal Instagram, Lauren soon got another order from a friend, and then more friends of friends. A year later, she rented office space and quit her day job to pursue L. Priori Jewelry full-time.

Lauren now has twelve employees in three locations and did more than $1M in sales in 2019. She still trains her sales team to recreate that same personal one-on-one design experience she had with her friend Megan.

Going forward, Lauren plans to keep growing the company with a goal of hitting $50M in revenue. She is also an investor, providing capital and guidance to small businesses that can benefit from her knowledge and experience.

 

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MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Learn more about Lauren and checkout her beautiful jewelry collection at her website, Lpriorijewelry.com.

SEE ALSO:

• Finance Worker Strikes Gold with Custom Jewelry: When the daughter of a jewelry maker discovers how profitable the industry can be, she uses her skills from corporate finance to build her own brand.
• College Friends Design Millennial-Focused Jewelry: Two friends branch out from a family business, putting a unique shine on jewelry for a younger generation.
• German Family Makes Money from Memorable Mementos: A German couple create a personalized jewelry shop taking the fleeting memories of childhood and turning them into gorgeous memories that last forever.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,