Sharon Evans and Collections Fine Jewelry Moving Forward

1
Southern Jewelry News
MAY 2004
Southern Jewelry News
“A Newspaper Dedicated to the Southern Jewelry Industry”
VOL 17 NO. 5
MAY 2004
www.southernjewelrynews.com
Sharon Evans and Collections Fine Jewelry
Moving forward all the way to the White House
by Amy Minnick
Staff Writer
Necessity knows no law
except to conquer.
~ Publilius Syrus
(FORT WORTH, Tex.) Sharon Evans sold her first piece
of jewelry 21 years ago while sitting on the floor of her new, but
empty, store-front. She faced an uncertain future as a single mom with
three children. Owning a business
hadn’t been her lifetime aspiration,
but on June 3rd, 1983 it became her
source of survival. When faced with
the impossible, Sharon made the
choice to persevere. It was a choice
that would change the rest of her
life.
“I found him very real. He had a true genuine spirit about him,” said Sharon Evans
of her meeting with President Bush
Gems One … ‘Growing Together’
With Their Customers
by Amy Minnick
Staff Writer
Once a new immigrant from
India, Prem Jain now heads up a
rapidly growing diamond and finished jewelry manufacturing company in the US. With offices in New
York, Dayton, OH and Minneapolis, MN, it has 23 employees in the
U.S. alone. Their affiliate Dia-Excel, a state of the art diamond cutting factory in India employs over
125 cutters and Nikita Jewelry,
their high-tech jewelry manufactur-
(L to R) Anuj Jain, father, Prem and Kalpehora Jain of Gems One run a relationship
oriented business
Featured Writers:
The Friedman Group
by Harry J. Friedman...page 10
David Rodgers
by David Rodgers...page 31
Marketing Concepts
by Denise Rodgers...page 35
Retailer’s Perspective
by Chuck Koehler...page 12
The Gem Corner
by Pam Welborn...page 4
Sales Growth Expert
by Bob Janet...page 8
The Best Policy
by Bob Carroll...page 14
Business Views
by Howard Ross...page 34
INSIDE
2... ‘Work Perk Program’
by James Porte
9... JCOC rates rings #1
20... ‘A Promise to Keep’
by Tara J. McKenna
23... ‘Do business ethics really matter?’
by Teresa Shannon
24... On the Move
28... Industry Events
33... Crime Report
38... What’s New
ing company, has over 75 employees in India’s Seepz export zone.
Gems One Corporation
thrives in this highly competitive
market by adhering to a few basic
business philosophies: the customer is always right, maintain
steady growth and always, always,
grow your business together with
your customers’. These are, according to Jain, the cornerstone of a
successful business.
As a young immigrant to the
US in 1967, Jain did not come to
the US to open a jewelry manufacturing company. He came to
America to earn his Masters degree
in Industrial Engineering from the
University of California at Berkeley and joined NCR Corporation
after graduation. He moved to their
headquarters in Dayton, Ohio and
continued his education, earning
his MBA from the University of
Dayton.
It wasn’t until August 1974
that Jain’s family convinced him to
venture into the wholesale gemstone business. Jain worked at NCR
Please see Gems on page 32
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Collections Fine Jewelry got
its start like many other small businesses. Starting with a few catalogs
and an empty showroom, Sharon
Evans worked hard to obtain each
new customer and even harder to
keep them. With very few female
retailers to look for guidance from,
her road to success was uphill. Establishing credibility as the female
owner of a small business was no
easy task, especially in the maledominated jewelry industry of the
mid-80’s.
Failure was not a possibility.
If her business “didn’t succeed
[her] children didn’t eat.” With a
highly concentrated focus on moving forward, Evans did not allow
herself to see the pitfalls of starting a business. She recalls, “Igno-
rance was bliss. I could never allow myself to let fear take over. I
looked to my faith and took it one
day at a time. I always made sure I
was moving forward every day.”
Quickly finding her stride in
the retail jewelry business, she established a significant customer
base while honing her customer
service skills; skills that, to this day,
help sustain her business. As her
business grew so did her self-confidence. When requests from customers included items that were not
part of her normal inventory she
took whatever steps necessary to
meet the need. This dedication led
her into branded and logo merchandise; first in the form of service
award jewelry and, eventually, into
Please see Collections on page 18
Spring 2004 Atlanta Jewelry Show
experiences record attendance
Innovative ‘You Buy, You Fly’ buyer loyalty program
attracts new attendees, awards more than 2.3 million
Delta SkyMiles
(ATLANTA) - The Atlanta Jewelry Show, held February 28March 1, 2004 at the Cobb Galleria Centre, experienced a record eleven
percent increase, resulting in the highest attendance numbers in over a
decade.
Contributing to the increase was the launch of the Southern Jewelry Travelers Association’s (SJTA) innovative buyer loyalty program,
‘You Buy, You Fly’, which attracted many first-time buyers as well as
Please see Show on page 22
Julie & Gregory Cook, Cooks Jewelry Co., Carrollton, GA spend some time at Stuller
& SJTA’s “Ideal Bench’ display.
Southern Jewelry News
18
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MAY 2004
Collections
continued from page 1
logo merchandise that today includes shirts, hats, pins, and even
chocolate. Always willing to learn,
Evans incorporated a variety of different products to meet customer
needs which resulted in enormous
success in this new market.
In 1994 Evans opened CFJ
Manufacturing Incorporated to
handle new product demands. Today CFJ is a $20 million dollar
company handling some of the
countries top corporations including: PepsiCo, JCPenney, United Air
Lines, Quaker, Boy Scouts of
America and Frito Lay.
To further cement her credibility Evans joined The Women’s
Business Enterprise National
Council (WBENC). Founded in
1997, WBENC is the nation’s leading advocate of women-owned
businesses as suppliers to
America’s corporations. Dedicated
to enhancing opportunities for
women’s business enterprises,
Tax Cut Facts:
Under the new tax cut laws, last year:
• A family of four earning $40,000 saw tax relief of $1,933
• 25 million small business owners saved an average of $2,853;
• 26 million investors saved an average of $798 from lower rates on dividends and capital
gains, including 7 million seniors who will save an average of $1,088.
Did you know...
• Women are responsible for 81% of all purchases of goods and services in the US
• Women control 51% of the New York Stock Exchange
• Women will inherit 85%-95% of the nation’s wealth due to longevity of life
• 95% of all small businesses fail within the first five years due to underfunding
• The US government is required to spend $250 billion dollars strictly with small businesses
• The Bush administration recognizes the death tax penalizes small business and they are
working to repeal it.
Stats from SBA headquarters in Washington, D.C.
by Melanie Stablehouse, deputy administrator
WBENC works in partnership with
women’s business organizations
located throughout the country to
provide a national standard of certification. As the nation’s leading
source of information on trends in
supplier diversity programs for
women’s business enterprises, the
federal government uses the orga-
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For more information or to have a sales representative contact you please call 1-800-536-4033
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nization as a resource for connecting to women-owned businesses.
Consequently, when the
White House wanted to meet with
a small group of women-owned
companies, Susan Bari, WBENC
president and member of the National Women’s Business Council,
recommended Sharon Evans. The
White House contacted Evans at
her Ft. Worth, Texas headquarters
and she recalls, “Twice I sent their
call to voice mail thinking they
wanted a financial donation. I finally took the call when my secretary said ‘Sharon, the White House
is on the phone again and I think
you should take it this time.’ They
wanted me to comment on the tax
relief credits and how I used that
money to the advantage of my employees. Over the course of the next
couple of weeks I informed them
of the new jobs the money helped
to create as well as the employee
bonus program and approximately
$170,000 in capital improvements.”
After providing the White
House with the information and
assuming the project complete,
Sharon found herself on the phone
with the White House again; this
time to receive an invitation to meet
with President Bush.
Although interested, Sharon
believed the meeting would resemble a political presentation
more than an open discussion and
would include several hundred
business women. Realizing her
family vacation was scheduled for
the same date she quickly considered the invitation, but politely declined. The White House aide, who
went silent at her response, simply
said “Sharon, I don’t think you understand. President Bush wants to
meet with you and three other
women.”
Shocked by the intimacy of
the meeting, but still in turmoil over
her commitment to her family,
Sharon simply said, “I’ll have to get
back with you tomorrow. I have to
think about this” and hung up the
phone.
Evans, indeed, needed time
to think. This remarkable woman
who started her business 21 years
earlier with an empty store-front
and several catalogs was now receiving an invitation to meet with
the President of the United States.
Her hard work at establishing credibility within her own industry now
extended to the highest office in the
U.S. Her journey had been long and
Continued on page 19
arduous, but well worth the effort.
After discussing it with family she accepted the Presidential
invitation and three days later was
sitting in front of President Bush.
For thirty minutes she met with
Bush discussing tax relief credits
as well as several shared Texan interests. She recalls, “I found him
very real. He had a true, genuine
spirit about him. I believe he is one
of those rare people who is doing
everything he can to do what is best
for our nation, not what is best for
George Bush. And, being a Texan
myself, he enjoyed ribbing me
about how my ‘Texas tenacity’
must be what has brought me to
such a successful place in my career. If every American had the
same opportunity I did to sit down
with him they would see the same
genuineness in him as well.”
After their meeting the President commented on Evans and the
four other business women at the
meeting. President Bush attributed
Evans success to “vision and hard
work and the Texas spirit. The tax
relief helped, but none of these
women should discount their courage and their vision and their willingness to take risks and to make
wise decisions.”
Describing these business
women as ‘five really smart, capable women who are running their
own businesses,” he went on to say
that they are “strong, strong women
{who} have taken the lead in their
businesses … are providing a great
service to our country. They’re not
only providing a wonderful example for people who are wondering whether or not I can own my
own company, … but {are} providing the service of hiring people and
keeping them at work and caring
about their employees.” (Remarks
by the President in a Conversation
on the Economy with Women
Small Business Owners, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C., January 9th, 2004)
President Bush has, over the
past three years, proposed and
signed into law three bills reducing the tax burden on American
families and small businesses to
spur savings, investment, and job
creation. His intent was to spur economic growth with tax cuts, not increases, and he focused on the small
business owner. According to the
Small Business Association (SBA)
women own 40 percent of all small
businesses, and with over ten million small business owners, tax
credits have put $3.6 trillion dollars back into their pockets.
Bush described his strategy
during an address at Southwest
Missouri State University on October 18, 2002: “You see, here’s the
page of the textbook which we’ve
read. It says that when a person has
more money, he or she is likely to
demand a good or a service. And
when you demand a good or service in our economy, somebody is
likely to produce that good or a
service. And when somebody produces the good or a service, somebody is more likely to find work.
Small businesses are responsible
for producing 75% of all those new
jobs.”
With the fine jewelry industry sustaining one of the largest
19
Southern Jewelry News
MAY 2004
percentages of privately-held,
small- and medium-sized businesses, tax relief credits like these
can make a substantial difference
to the bottom line. Sharon Evans,
like most entrepreneurs, reinvested
her money back into her company,
helping grow her local economy.
Bush was seeing the evidence of his
economic plan becoming a reality
in Sharon Evans.
Evans, too, saw overwhelming evidence of her plans succeeding. Long before she was summoned to the White House she
started to see the fruits of her success. With a $5 million dollar retail
business and a $20 million dollar
manufacturing company, she no
longer worries as much about providing for her family. In fact, her
two daughters, Shawn and Kim, are
at her side both holding key positions in the company.
Instead of worrying she continues to push forward, venturing
into uncharted territory. She never
looks back but can always tell you
where she is headed. She states
“Still today, I focus on moving forward. I can’t tell you what I did last
year but I can tell you what I will
do next year.”
Being a female business
owner in the 1980s may have been
an ‘obstacle’ for Sharon in the beginning. Simply establishing credibility was an enormous battle. Today, however, Sharon Evans has not
only established her credibility
within the business sector, but, also
with the President of the United
States. It doesn’t get much more
credible than that.
The SBA provides assistance
for anyone who currently owns or
is opening a small business. Visit
their web site at www.SBA.gov.
For more information about
the Women’s Business Enterprise
National Council or for certification applications go to their web
site at www.WEBENC.org
To contact Sharon Evans at
Collections Fine Jewelry or CFJ
Manufacturing call 800-964-6308.
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