I'm starting to blog over at arizonajewelers.org and thought I'd cross-post it here for awhile.

I agonized over what to write for this first blog.  It's not that I'm a newbie to blogging.  I've been keeping a Livejournal for at least five years.  When I write over there I write about my life or personal things I've discovered that interest me.  Those blog entries are easy, since I am just writing about what I know.  Yes, I get it.  My subconscious doesn’t have to hit me over the head with a clue-by-four to realize that I need to do the same over here.  My will is bent towards writing about our industry and what I know, but I won’t make any promises.  I have been known to ramble on about the deep connections between haiku and successful marketing.

Let's get this out of the way.  The views expressed in this blog are the personal and often obscured views, half-finished thoughts, and incoherent ramblings of Ben Woerner, and do not necessarily represent the clear views, completed thoughts, or profound statements of the Arizona Jewelers Association.  Anyone implying otherwise is itching for a fight and should just simmer down.

So what is a 31 year old kid (in this industry I’m just a whippersnapper) doing writing a blog about the jewelry industry, what qualifies me to be so presumptuous?

I’m not that presumptuous.  There are plenty of smarter, more knowledgeable, and erudite members of the Arizona industry.  They are all more qualified to write this column.  They’re just too busy riding out to do combat with the dragons arrayed against us while I’m left back at camp polishing their armor.

To squash your analogy, isn’t the jewelry industry more like one of the modern dragons of today, and less like a knight in shinning armor?  How is a young forward looking idealist like you okay with this?

In some real ways I’m not okay with this, but also the analogy isn’t a perfect one.  The jewelry industry isn’t a monolithic mythic monster.  There are thousands upon thousands of different businesses involved in the jewelry industry.  We have everyone from original hippies to The Man working in jewelry.  You just have to go to one major show and see just how many different people play major roles in jewelry.  Rather than be a protestor outside, I prefer being an agitator from within, bringing positive change to the third oldest industry in the world.

So what do you know about the industry?  What is your experience?

I’m in a sort of unique position, in one sense I’m an outsider on the inside.  I never intended to be in the industry.  Writing, the Internet, and game-theory hold a greater sway over my interests than jewelry.  When my father opened his own jewelry business, almost five years ago, he gave me an offer I couldn’t refuse.  I know work almost exclusively on the marketing and advertising for our business.  My experience with the Internet and computers was one of the reasons I got tapped to be on the board of the AJA.

I’m also and insider on the outside.  .  I grew up in the industry, my father, grandfather, and great-great-grandfather all work(ed) with jewelry, clocks, and watches.  I took the GIA AJP courses last year because everyone was doing it, and as the marketing guy, I should know what I’m talking about.  I was surprised when I was able to breeze all of the courses.  Besides some obscure knowledge about silver marking I knew everything already presented in the classes, despite never having taken any classes on jewelry before.  I had learned all of the material through the osmosis of growing up in the industry.

I still feel on the outside.  Not in a cold-shoulder sense, just about everyone I’ve met in the industry is friendly – they should be, they’re generally trying to sell me something.  I just feel like a writer that is a part time marketer, and a marketer in a part of the jewelry industry not generally known for marketing.  I know all the big names, Hearts on Fire, Rappaport, InStore, Mikimoto, etc., but I know very few people in the actual industry.

For an employee of a brick and mortar I’ve been to a lot of industry shows.  From JCK Vegas and the Tucson Gem Show down to the West Coast Jewelry Show, I’ve met a lot of people.  I just don’t know them, and most of them don’t know me.  The only major industry players I can say I’ve had person conversations with are David Geller of Geller’s Blue Book fame, and Roy Williams of the Wizard of Ads Marketing.  Roy wouldn’t even call himself a jewelry industry player, but that’s because Roy is more a force of nature and less a part of any one group.  Every one else I work with in the industry seems to know about a thousand more people than I do.  I’m that kid in Sandlot who has never heard of the sultan of swat, the king of crash, the colossus of clout, Babe Ruth, the Great Bambino!  I wouldn’t be able to tell David Yurman from Scott Kay.

Now that you’ve prattled on about yourself for 800 words can you at least use the last 200 words to tell us about something current that interests you and the jewelry industry?

If you didn’t know, I’m a politics junkie, and I have that special blessing of having almost the opposite of political views from my immediate family.  Which means I’m always looking for common ground so don’t worry I won’t rail against McCain’s hypocrisy or Obama’s attempts to steal your 401K. 

What I want to say is that if there has been one thing I learned growing up in this industry, it’s that despite all of our differences we all want the same thing.  We want the actuality of Jefferson’s immortal words regarding Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.  It doesn’t matter if you’re a German-American kid from Arizona, a diamond dealer from New York, a gem-cutter from Mumbai, or a model at the May Japanese Jewelry booth, when we work together we bring ourselves much closer to that dream than when we spend our time fighting each other.

Ben Woerner

Words I need to learn to spell: necessarily, colossus

P.S.  My next blog will be about the economy and what I think we as members of the jewelry industry can do to weather the storm and even get our share of the $700 billion bailout.  I’m going to spend almost the entire time talking about that.  I’m thinking this is going to be a weekly blog and so I want to leave you with this little promise: 

You know the rules and so do I,

A full commitment to blogging is what I’m thinking of,

You won’t get this from any other guy.

I gotta make you understand

I’m never gonna give you up

Never gonna let you down

Never gonna run away from this blog

And desert you.