Monday, August 30, 2010

A Diamond in the Rough

While lying awake in bed last night (I am a severe insomniac) I was thinking of all the things I really love.  Other than the obvious being my friends and family, I was thinking of things that make me happy and what I want to do when I finally grow up!   I was trying to figure out if selling Willow House was a good fit for me.  I have never really been good in sales.  I am a more behind-the-scenes kind of gal.  For instance,  I love diamonds (what girl doesn't??), but I really love diamonds under a microscope, looking at the essence of the diamond, the color of it, the inclusions (imperfections), the qualities that make that diamond what it is.  I also love colored stones--there are so many interesting stones out there besides the run of the mill rubies, sapphires and emeralds.  Stones in all colors of the rainbow interest me. The deep navy blue of a London Blue topaz, the many shades of purple of a tanzanite, the uniqueness of a tri-colored tourmaline... And I love estate jewelry, old pieces created for someone long ago, those that surely have a wonderful, romantic or sentimental story behind them.  The mass marketed jewelry in the mall stores don't really interest me, even though some of it is beautiful.  It doesn't evoke any feelings in me, or make my heart go pitty-pat.   When I lived in Hawaii just out of college I worked in an upscale jewelry store.  Little did I know how much that little store would change the way I looked at jewelry and the enormous amounts of knowledge I would take away with me from working there.  I could have cared less about my commission, or if I sold anything, but boy did I care about the new parcel of loose stones we got in that day!   I couldn't wait to get my hands on them, or my tweezers on them, and check them out, magnify them, look at them under different kinds of light, and see how much fire they had!  That was what took my breath away!  Needless to say I never earned much money working there, but I earned-big time!-an education on diamonds that would rivial the Gemological Institute of America!   You see, the owner, Michael, had such passion for what he did, for what his product was, for a making sure he only sold the top quality stones, and for educating his employees (actually mentoring his employees to LOVE gemstones) so we knew all the ins and outs of what we were selling to the public.  He wanted his customers to buy something they would be proud of for generations to come.   After leaving Hawaii and my job at that store, I never found anyone or any place jewelry-wise that could compare to Michael and his gems.  I tried to work at a store when I moved to FL and to me the passion wasn't there.  It was boring, run of the mill stuff that wasn't special, and that job never held the same interest for me.   I worked in the inventory dept to get away from the sales part of it, thinking I would get back to that same excitement I used to feel when new items would come in, but it wasn't the same.  I think it was because my boss didn't really care if a beautiful piece came in.  If I tried to show him the beauty of something, he would brush me away and ask if I priced it high enough.  He only cared about the money that went into his pocket.  He didn't care about the happiness of his employees or his customers, all he cared about was his profit margins.  I must say it was night and day for me.   I realized that if you don't care about what you are selling and you don't care about your customers, there is no way it can fill you up with any kind of satisfaction or excitement!   Then I thought about Willow House, and how much I love their products and I thought, it would be the right fit for me if I can draw up that passion I have for the other things that I love (decorating and home decor)  and pass that along to my customers then it would be the right job for me.  I need to stop thinking of it as just being a sales job, and more of what I am bringing to the customers homes and to their lives.  To help them surround themselves with things they love and a home that can bring them joy and peace when they are in their home.   Ok, so that is now my focus and my goal!   Lets see if I can do well at it!

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