Once I THOUGHT I finally had the design that I wanted for Jeweler in the Dishwasher, I knew I needed to find a way to reach several buyers all at once. I did some research to determine what the best way of going about this was, and found that trade shows are a fantastic resource. In January of 2008, I found the International Housewares Show, but when I checked the dates that this event took place, I realized that I didn't have enough time to jump through all the hoops that were necessary in order to attend that show. All I had at the time was a prototype, and as it turned out, it was a design that would be changed several times. I decided to make attending the 2009 show one of my goals.

In March of 2009 I attended the International Housewares + Home Show. I was a newbie in the trade show arena. Sure, I've attended trade shows, but I never paid attention to the exhibitor side of things. I quickly found that attending and exhiting are at opposite ends of the spectrum. To say the least, I was overwhelmed when I stepped into the McCormick Convention Center in Chicago, IL.

I guess I thought that a couple of people would be interested in my product, maybe ask a few questions, maybe give me a little feedback on my idea. I was not prepared for what took place. My niece, Diane (she is the one standing in the above photo) did a lot of my graphics for my booth, and has been a great help to me since this whole concept started. She attended the Housewares Show with me, and although we can now laugh about how hectic things were while we were there, it was no laughing matter at the time.

The first day of the show, we had neatly set up my product, Jeweler in the Dishwasher, and the displays for the product, as well as the brochures, samples....everything I thought we would need. We sat quietly, waiting for the first visitor to show up. I was prepared for a visitor....and then another visitor...one at a time.....I wasn't prepared for GROUPS of visitors! One buyer wanted to know the price, and when I told him what the MSRP was, he said the price was too high. The next buyer wanted to know the price, so I cut my price, but it was still too high. Then the next buyer came along, and asked my price, so I lowered it again, and then I was told that it was TOO LOW!! When the next buyer came by and asked the price, I responded with a question: "What do you want me to say? What price should I charge?" I found that if I expressed to the company representatives visiting my booth, that this was my big debut with my product, they were willing to give me a little mini-lesson in whatever issue was baffling me. My confidence was shaken a time or two, but thankfully I met some people that told me to stick with what I felt was right and don't let anyone push me around. Once I did this, I enjoyed all that went on, sadly, it took place on the last day I was there. Norman, from As Seen on TV & More was especially helpful, and I learned a lot from him. I took all that he said to heart, and I realized that if someone wasn't happy with my price, or if they questioned the sensibility of my product (without even trying it) then that was okay. There will always be people that LOVE my product, and people that don't want to try my product. I'm looking for the people that LOVE my product!

I was quite thrilled when the Director for Home Appliances and Cleaning Products at the Good Housekeeping Research Institute came by my booth. Even though I was too busy to speak with her, my niece was able to give her all the information about me and my product. Carolyn was kind enough to place Jeweler in the Dishwasher on her blog.

My History...

This is my first post on this blog, and hopefully you will find this and all other future posts interesting and informative. I would like to tell you a little bit about myself, and my product, and how I came up with the idea for Jeweler in the Dishwasher.

I am a second generation bench jeweler and have been in the jewelry industry for over 35 years. I began my apprenticeship at the age of 16 (now you have an idea how old I am) under the guidance of my father, John (Jack) Beasley, a well-respected and exceptionally skilled jeweler in the Kansas City area. I worked alongside my dad, two brothers, and family friends at my dad’s trade shop for several years, doing repair work and setting up inventory for several of the chain stores.

My father decided to broaden our horizons, and opened a retail jewelry store. The store, Beasley Trade Shop, appreciated a very rapid growth. However, about a year and a half after we celebrated our Grand Opening, our courier was robbed. In the robbery one of the larger companies that we serviced, had several thousand dollars of inventory stolen. And no, they never caught the individual that robbed us. Within a month of our courier being robbed, our store was held up. All of our inventory was stolen along with all the repair work that we had done for other stores. This time, we could not recover from this loss. The stores that we serviced no longer felt safe sending their work to our shop, and since we designed and manufactured our own inventory, it would take a very long time to replenish our stock.

The morning of the armed robbery I tried to call my dad to tell him what had happened (he had just retired). I felt awful, because he had worked for so many years to open his own store, and now his dreams had been taken away. And, once again, the police never found who robbed our store. This episode changed my life forever.

At the time of the robbery, I was in charge of our store, I handled the more difficult repairs, and it was up to me to make sure that all the work was done correctly, and that everything went out on time. Each day that I went to work I was terrified that I would have a gun pointed at my head again. After a month of trying to get over my fear, I decided I couldn’t take it anymore, and I told my dad that I had to quit. Without me, the shop couldn’t operate, so my dad had to close. I felt awful doing this to him, but I didn’t really have a choice. I helped my dad clean out his store, and I could see the heartbreak in his eyes. For several years I was too afraid to work in other jewelry stores, so I worked out of my house. Then I decided that I would venture out of my house. I was the in-store jeweler for several area jewelry stores, and I learned a lot from that experience. But, at the same time, I felt that I wanted to be more in control of what I was doing, and decided it was time for me to take another step in my profession. I opened my own retail jewelry store January 2, 1998. For the past 10+ years, I have owned and operated my store, waiting on customers, doing custom design and manufacturing, and any repair work that needs to be done.

Over the years I have repaired thousands of rings, designed and manufactured hundreds of rings. The thing I hear over and over again from my customers is their desire to get their fine jewelry as clean as I do. They spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on an item, but within a few weeks of wear, the stones become dull, due to the oil and dirt that has built up under and around the stones. Unlike all other jewelers, I use dishwasher detergent in my ultrasonic at work. As you know, the detergents have a degreaser along with the other cleaning agents. Therefore, I decided that this should work well when cleaning jewelry prior to and after repairing jewelry that needed repair. I found that using a dishwasher detergent works really well, and I knew that there had to be a way that I could design a product that would allow my customers to get the same kind of results. And, that is how I came up with Jeweler in the Dishwasher. It took several attempts to come up with a design that would facilitate enough water and detergent to enter the unit, and would be easy for consumers to use. I think I accomplished everything I set out to do, and I am now in the process of getting this product to the mass market.