Skyjems.ca: David Saad's message to the Gem & Jewellery Industry Regarding COVID-19

Hi everyone.

David Saad here from Skyjems.ca.

Thank you all for joining me.

This is my message to you

and everybody else in the

jewellery and gemstone industry

about COVID.

I want you–

I know a lot of you are

freaking out.

Any of you who have retail stores

are definitely having a hard time.

I know a lot of you

rely on gem shows and trade shows

to make your living.

Whether, you know,

big dealers who are

travelling all over the world

doing a different city

every week or two.

Bangkok, Hong Kong, Basel.

These have– You know, Bangkok

kept on going but it

might as well have been cancelled.

Basel's cancelled, which is, I mean,

almost unbelievable.

Hong Kong show was cancelled.

Everybody's having a bit of a hard time

and the world's kind of had

the pause button hit.

Every major market has been

more or less closed.

The physical markets.

Bangkok, Sri Lanka

they've all been closed.

So we're now at a–

We're now in a place where

we all have to look at

our businesses and

plan for the future.

Don't worry about the future;

you need to plan.

Worrying does nothing.

Planning is how you

get to where you want to be.

And I think most of us have

road maps, you know,

where we want to go.

If you don't,

it's definitely time to

make that roadmap.

COVID almost certainly–

You know, if we're going to

talk about it being a roadmap,

gave you a flat tire

at the very least.

But if you've ever–

If you drive it's–

Like I said, it's a flat tire.

It's a temporary thing.

It's something that

is going to be fixed,

but it's not going to be fixed by you

and it's not going to be fixed by me.

So instead of worrying about COVID itself,

I want you to think and plan

and strategize

what you're going to do.

Think about your business

and how you're going to move forward.

If you have a store,

you are now an online retailer.

You have no choice but to go out

and get online payment options set up.

You know, PayPal, Square,

whatever else it is

in your local areas.

These are not an option.

This is a must.

So, for some people who

may have been kind of

holding off on that,

you know, hadn't committed a lot

to their retail presence–

You know, for their online retail presence,

this is the time to go ahead with that.

If you don't know how,

there are tons and tons

of resources online.

Google will find you

the way to move forward.

And a lot of thinking–

I can't tell anybody

how to best move forward

with their business because

you're the expert on your business,

not me.

But like I said:

you are an online retailer now.

There are some interesting advantages

that many of us,

and pretty much anybody who's

going to be watching this have.

Anybody who is a smaller retailer

or an online-only retailer,

or even if you're somebody who

goes and just does weekend shows, right?

You do 15, 20 weekend shows a year.

You are now on the same footing

as Tiffany, and Van Cleef,

and Cartier, and Graff.

Because they no longer have their stores.

And I mean these are stores–

If you haven't been to

some of these stores,

I mean these are stores where

they have 2, 3, 5 million dollars

in renovations and decor.

They have staff who are

very, very well-trained

to be in-person staff.

They're constantly giving these people–

Spending a lot, a lot of money

on these people for training.

Sales training and whatnot,

which is something you

really need to be doing yourself.

Right, and again,

you can go find something else

on YouTube, besides me,

to help you with your sales.

And this is something that,

again, like I said.

This is an opportunity for you

to re-balance yourself,

reset yourself in some ways,

and grow in new directions.

Just because one direction

has been closed,

it does not mean that

all roads are closed.

So there are some

very good opportunities out there.

You might want to look at

some of the auction houses that are

going to be doing more online auctions.

Right.

Sotheby's and Christie's have already

said they're going to be doing

more online auctions.

Skinner, Phillips as well.

So those are some that

you can look at and say,

"Oh, well I have this and this and this.

"Maybe I can send it to auction and

"see how it works out with that."

There are marketplaces

that you can find to sell on,

and now is the time to do that.

Right, again, online is now absolutely key.

I'm primarily in the online business

and it's working out–

You know, so far it's not working out great

because people aren't just–

Just aren't spending money.

Although I'm starting to see wallets open up

just a little bit more again.

People are realizing that this is not

the way it's going to be forever.

People are realizing that

crazy things happen in life.

Warren Buffet put it really well

when they asked him about COVID.

And he said, "Well, you know,

"I always say that if you're

"in the markets for long enough

"you'll see everything,

"and it took me to 89 years of age

"to see this."

So that's how unprecedented this is.

And that's how creative

we're going to have to be.

These are–

Events like this breed creativity.

And as much as

I don't like to put it this way,

there's going to be winners and losers

on the other side of this.

Whether it's 3 months or 6 months

or however long it takes,

there's going to be winners and losers

on the other side of this,

and you need to figure out

how you're going to make yourself

and your business on the–

Be on the winning side.

Like I said: small operators like me

and like most of my clients

actually have a big advantage here.

Now, you know, like I said:

Tiffany and Cartier are now on the

same footing as you and I.

So because Tiffany and Cartier

are now on the same footing

as you and I,

it means we have the ability

to kind of catch up, right?

We have the ability to say,

"All right, Tiffany and Cartier's clients.

"This is what Tiffany and Cartier has.

"This is what I have."

We're also looking at

moving into a time where

people are going to be

a little bit more money-conscious.

So it might be a great time

for you to look at

some of your older stock

and say, "Okay well,

"I've been sitting on this for 2 years

"or 3 years or 4 years.

"I don't mind just blowing it out

"at my cost."

Some stuff, maybe even,

you say, "Okay well,

"I've had it for 4 years,

"I already sold half of it.

"I'll blow the rest out at

"10 percent, 20 percent

"below my cost."

Right? This is the time to do that.

People are going to be

price-conscious for sure.

As far as–

And getting, talking about people

who are price-conscious,

people that are my clients that are

selling coloured gemstones, again.

We have a major advantage.

What you get.

You know, a $5,000 sapphire

versus a $5,000 diamond.

$5,000 sapphire blows a $5,000 diamond

out of the water

pretty much every single day.

9.99 times out of 10, right?

So.

The coloured gemstone business

actually has a bright future ahead of it,

in my opinon.

People are still going to be getting married.

There was already a shift

towards using coloured gemstones

in engagement rings.

I mean, I'm making–

I've been making 2 or 3

engagement rings a week

for the past couple of years

with sapphire, emerald, ruby.

So, because of this there is, like I said,

a lot of opportunity for us to

go out and acquire clients

who may have gone elsewhere.

Acquire clients who–

You know, if you had,

just as an example, if somebody had

50 million dollars going into COVID,

and I'm not talking about–

I'm talking about people who had money.

You know, have and had money.

If you had 50 million dollars

going into COVID

and now that 50 million dollars

is worth 20 million dollars,

you are not so keen on spending

250 thousand dollars on a ruby ring at Tiffany.

But you may be very interested in

coming to me, David Saad or Skyjems,

and getting something...

I mean,

a 250 thousand dollar ruby ring at Tiffany

is something that we know

we can make and sell to our clients

for 40 to 75 thousand, and give them

at least as good of a product.

And people are going to be

looking for that today.

And going forward.

And this is going to be–

Thrift and frugality are going to be

the way of the future.

But that doesn't mean that

people are going to stop wearing jewellery.

People have been wearing jewellery

for 100,000 years.

All right?

I'm actually–

I wear my jewellery.

So this is another thing, actually.

Put on–

And you see I'm wearing my,

a decent shirt, I shaved and all that.

If you're stuck at home,

shave every day.

Shower every day.

You know, do all your–

You know, get dressed.

Put on your jewellery.

Do yourself up.

And, like I said: strategize.

Don't think, don't worry.

Plan.

All right?

When you're thinking,

don't let it go towards the worrying.

Plan.

Plan what you're going to do.

All right?

We have a bright future ahead of us.

This is a bump in the road,

but the trip is definitely not over.

And the ride is not–

The ride only ends

when we die.

And, as I say,

and I've said so many times

around being a gem dealer.

You know, people ask me,

"When are you going to retire?"

I say, "When I die."

That's still,

that's still my intent.

That I will retire when I die.

So until then,

I'm going to keep on strategizing.

I'm going to keep on planning.

And I'm going to keep on pushing forward.

If you have questions, comments,

email me at [e-mail].

You can even call me on my mobile:

416-587-2112.

I'm not even trying to sell you anything.

You can, like I said,

tell me to go fuck myself

because you think I'm full of shit.

If you're angry, I understand.

Right?

That's kind of part of this process.

So, reach out to me

and tell me your thoughts.

I'd love to hear

your plans.

I want to hear your big plans, for sure.

That's the thing I really want to hear.

I want to know how it is

that you are going to get through this

and come out

not just okay on the other side,

but stronger and in a position

to move yourself and your business forward.

Thank you all so much for watching.

Stay healthy.

Stay positive.

Bye for now.