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Hi everyone.
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David Saad here from Skyjems.ca.
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Thank you all for joining me.
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This is my message to you
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and everybody else in the
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jewellery and gemstone industry
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about COVID.
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I want you–
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I know a lot of you are
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freaking out.
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Any of you who have retail stores
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are definitely having a hard time.
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I know a lot of you
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rely on gem shows and trade shows
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to make your living.
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Whether, you know,
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big dealers who are
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travelling all over the world
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doing a different city
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every week or two.
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Bangkok, Hong Kong, Basel.
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These have– You know, Bangkok
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kept on going but it
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might as well have been cancelled.
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Basel's cancelled, which is, I mean,
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almost unbelievable.
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Hong Kong show was cancelled.
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Everybody's having a bit of a hard time
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and the world's kind of had
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the pause button hit.
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Every major market has been
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more or less closed.
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The physical markets.
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Bangkok, Sri Lanka
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they've all been closed.
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So we're now at a–
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We're now in a place where
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we all have to look at
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our businesses and
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plan for the future.
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Don't worry about the future;
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you need to plan.
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Worrying does nothing.
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Planning is how you
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get to where you want to be.
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And I think most of us have
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road maps, you know,
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where we want to go.
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If you don't,
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it's definitely time to
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make that roadmap.
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COVID almost certainly–
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You know, if we're going to
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talk about it being a roadmap,
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gave you a flat tire
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at the very least.
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But if you've ever–
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If you drive it's–
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Like I said, it's a flat tire.
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It's a temporary thing.
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It's something that
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is going to be fixed,
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but it's not going to be fixed by you
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and it's not going to be fixed by me.
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So instead of worrying about COVID itself,
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I want you to think and plan
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and strategize
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what you're going to do.
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Think about your business
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and how you're going to move forward.
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If you have a store,
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you are now an online retailer.
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You have no choice but to go out
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and get online payment options set up.
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You know, PayPal, Square,
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whatever else it is
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in your local areas.
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These are not an option.
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This is a must.
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So, for some people who
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may have been kind of
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holding off on that,
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you know, hadn't committed a lot
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to their retail presence–
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You know, for their online retail presence,
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this is the time to go ahead with that.
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If you don't know how,
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there are tons and tons
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of resources online.
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Google will find you
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the way to move forward.
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And a lot of thinking–
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I can't tell anybody
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how to best move forward
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with their business because
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you're the expert on your business,
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not me.
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But like I said:
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you are an online retailer now.
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There are some interesting advantages
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that many of us,
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and pretty much anybody who's
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going to be watching this have.
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Anybody who is a smaller retailer
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or an online-only retailer,
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or even if you're somebody who
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goes and just does weekend shows, right?
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You do 15, 20 weekend shows a year.
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You are now on the same footing
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as Tiffany, and Van Cleef,
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and Cartier, and Graff.
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Because they no longer have their stores.
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And I mean these are stores–
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If you haven't been to
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some of these stores,
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I mean these are stores where
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they have 2, 3, 5 million dollars
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in renovations and decor.
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They have staff who are
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very, very well-trained
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to be in-person staff.
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They're constantly giving these people–
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Spending a lot, a lot of money
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on these people for training.
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Sales training and whatnot,
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which is something you
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really need to be doing yourself.
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Right, and again,
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you can go find something else
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on YouTube, besides me,
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to help you with your sales.
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And this is something that,
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again, like I said.
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This is an opportunity for you
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to re-balance yourself,
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reset yourself in some ways,
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and grow in new directions.
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Just because one direction
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has been closed,
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it does not mean that
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all roads are closed.
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So there are some
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very good opportunities out there.
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You might want to look at
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some of the auction houses that are
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going to be doing more online auctions.
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Right.
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Sotheby's and Christie's have already
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said they're going to be doing
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more online auctions.
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Skinner, Phillips as well.
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So those are some that
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you can look at and say,
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"Oh, well I have this and this and this.
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"Maybe I can send it to auction and
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"see how it works out with that."
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There are marketplaces
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that you can find to sell on,
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and now is the time to do that.
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Right, again, online is now absolutely key.
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I'm primarily in the online business
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and it's working out–
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You know, so far it's not working out great
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because people aren't just–
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Just aren't spending money.
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Although I'm starting to see wallets open up
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just a little bit more again.
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People are realizing that this is not
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the way it's going to be forever.
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People are realizing that
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crazy things happen in life.
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Warren Buffet put it really well
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when they asked him about COVID.
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And he said, "Well, you know,
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"I always say that if you're
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"in the markets for long enough
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"you'll see everything,
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"and it took me to 89 years of age
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"to see this."
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So that's how unprecedented this is.
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And that's how creative
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we're going to have to be.
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These are–
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Events like this breed creativity.
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And as much as
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I don't like to put it this way,
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there's going to be winners and losers
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on the other side of this.
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Whether it's 3 months or 6 months
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or however long it takes,
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there's going to be winners and losers
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on the other side of this,
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and you need to figure out
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how you're going to make yourself
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and your business on the–
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Be on the winning side.
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Like I said: small operators like me
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and like most of my clients
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actually have a big advantage here.
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Now, you know, like I said:
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Tiffany and Cartier are now on the
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same footing as you and I.
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So because Tiffany and Cartier
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are now on the same footing
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as you and I,
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it means we have the ability
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to kind of catch up, right?
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We have the ability to say,
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"All right, Tiffany and Cartier's clients.
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"This is what Tiffany and Cartier has.
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"This is what I have."
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We're also looking at
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moving into a time where
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people are going to be
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a little bit more money-conscious.
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So it might be a great time
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for you to look at
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some of your older stock
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and say, "Okay well,
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"I've been sitting on this for 2 years
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"or 3 years or 4 years.
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"I don't mind just blowing it out
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"at my cost."
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Some stuff, maybe even,
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you say, "Okay well,
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"I've had it for 4 years,
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"I already sold half of it.
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"I'll blow the rest out at
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"10 percent, 20 percent
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"below my cost."
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Right? This is the time to do that.
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People are going to be
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price-conscious for sure.
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As far as–
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And getting, talking about people
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who are price-conscious,
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people that are my clients that are
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selling coloured gemstones, again.
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We have a major advantage.
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What you get.
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You know, a $5,000 sapphire
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versus a $5,000 diamond.
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$5,000 sapphire blows a $5,000 diamond
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out of the water
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pretty much every single day.
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9.99 times out of 10, right?
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So.
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The coloured gemstone business
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actually has a bright future ahead of it,
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in my opinon.
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People are still going to be getting married.
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There was already a shift
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towards using coloured gemstones
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in engagement rings.
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I mean, I'm making–
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I've been making 2 or 3
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engagement rings a week
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for the past couple of years
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with sapphire, emerald, ruby.
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So, because of this there is, like I said,
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a lot of opportunity for us to
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go out and acquire clients
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who may have gone elsewhere.
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Acquire clients who–
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You know, if you had,
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just as an example, if somebody had
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50 million dollars going into COVID,
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and I'm not talking about–
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I'm talking about people who had money.
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You know, have and had money.
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If you had 50 million dollars
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going into COVID
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and now that 50 million dollars
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is worth 20 million dollars,
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you are not so keen on spending
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250 thousand dollars on a ruby ring at Tiffany.
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But you may be very interested in
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coming to me, David Saad or Skyjems,
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and getting something...
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I mean,
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a 250 thousand dollar ruby ring at Tiffany
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is something that we know
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we can make and sell to our clients
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for 40 to 75 thousand, and give them
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at least as good of a product.
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And people are going to be
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looking for that today.
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And going forward.
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And this is going to be–
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Thrift and frugality are going to be
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the way of the future.
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But that doesn't mean that
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people are going to stop wearing jewellery.
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People have been wearing jewellery
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for 100,000 years.
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All right?
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I'm actually–
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I wear my jewellery.
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So this is another thing, actually.
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Put on–
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And you see I'm wearing my,
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a decent shirt, I shaved and all that.
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If you're stuck at home,
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shave every day.
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Shower every day.
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You know, do all your–
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You know, get dressed.
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Put on your jewellery.
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Do yourself up.
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And, like I said: strategize.
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Don't think, don't worry.
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Plan.
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All right?
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When you're thinking,
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don't let it go towards the worrying.
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Plan.
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Plan what you're going to do.
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All right?
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We have a bright future ahead of us.
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This is a bump in the road,
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but the trip is definitely not over.
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And the ride is not–
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The ride only ends
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when we die.
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And, as I say,
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and I've said so many times
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around being a gem dealer.
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You know, people ask me,
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"When are you going to retire?"
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I say, "When I die."
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That's still,
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that's still my intent.
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That I will retire when I die.
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So until then,
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I'm going to keep on strategizing.
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I'm going to keep on planning.
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And I'm going to keep on pushing forward.
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If you have questions, comments,
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email me at david@skyjems.ca.
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You can even call me on my mobile:
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416-587-2112.
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I'm not even trying to sell you anything.
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You can, like I said,
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tell me to go fuck myself
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because you think I'm full of shit.
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If you're angry, I understand.
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Right?
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That's kind of part of this process.
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So, reach out to me
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and tell me your thoughts.
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I'd love to hear
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your plans.
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I want to hear your big plans, for sure.
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That's the thing I really want to hear.
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I want to know how it is
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that you are going to get through this
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and come out
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not just okay on the other side,
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but stronger and in a position
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to move yourself and your business forward.
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Thank you all so much for watching.
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Stay healthy.
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Stay positive.
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Bye for now.