Leaders in Business: Making Millions Selling Jewelery Online with Rachel Winston

Wow.

Okay.

We're going to have a lot of fun.

I mean, commodity trading is something that fascinates both of us and just the manufacturing process and understanding supply chain tariffs and everything like that.

A lot of complexity here because when we were first talking, it felt like a modern version of the home shopping network where which it sounds like there's components of that, of course.

But I guess tell me a little bit, let's start, I guess, further back in your business kind of like through line of the manufacturing side.

What made that decision besides like lack of inventory and stuff on the estate side to say, hey, rather than we're going to partner and just buy wholesale jewelry, we're going to start manufacturing ourselves?

So I definitely, I definitely have, I know all the wholesalers.

So I started going to trade shows, but again, I've been going to jewelry trade shows for 25 years.

Okay.

So I'm familiar with that process from before.

And when I was doing estate liquidation, my specialty was jewelry.

So it's not like it was new for me.

But I found that we would buy a lot of what's called closeouts.

So when wholesalers had overstock of something and they just can't get rid of like older styles, for example, things that were produced in the 90s or early 2000s, and it just kind of Well, I'll back up a little bit.

When wholesalers supply to a large manufacturer like a Macy's or even a QVC, what happens is they sell to one of those big retailers and they get about 30% of their inventory back in returns.

Okay.

Yeah.

And they also, it takes them 90 to 120 days or longer to get paid.

So from the wholesaler's perspective, that's what they're dealing with.

So they'll get 30% of their inventory back in returns.

And sometimes that can happen months later or years later.

So now that style is old and they can't do anything with that style.

So it kind of sits in a basement somewhere.

And so that's where I come in and I'll come in and I would buy all of it.

Wow.

Okay.

We're going to have a lot of fun.

I mean, commodity trading is something that fascinates both of us and just the manufacturing process and understanding supply chain tariffs and everything like that.

A lot of complexity here because when we were first talking, it felt like a modern version of the home shopping network where which it sounds like there's components of that, of course.

But I guess tell me a little bit, let's start, I guess, further back in your business kind of like through line of the manufacturing side.

What made that decision besides like lack of inventory and stuff on the estate side to say, hey, rather than we're going to partner and just buy wholesale jewelry, we're going to start manufacturing ourselves?

So I definitely, I definitely have, I know all the wholesalers.

So I started going to trade shows, but again, I've been going to jewelry trade shows for 25 years.

Okay.

So I'm familiar with that process from before.

And when I was doing estate liquidation, my specialty was jewelry.

So it's not like it was new for me.

But I found that we would buy a lot of what's called closeouts.

So when wholesalers had overstock of something and they just can't get rid of like older styles, for example, things that were produced in the 90s or early 2000s, and it just kind of Well, I'll back up a little bit.

When wholesalers supply to a large manufacturer like a Macy's or even a QVC, what happens is they sell to one of those big retailers and they get about 30% of their inventory back in returns.

Okay.

Yeah.

And they also, it takes them 90 to 120 days or longer to get paid.

So from the wholesaler's perspective, that's what they're dealing with.

So they'll get 30% of their inventory back in returns.

And sometimes that can happen months later or years later.

So now that style is old and they can't do anything with that style.

So it kind of sits in a basement somewhere.

And so that's where I come in and I'll come in and I would buy all of it.