I sold diamonds worth over $500,000 for a living.

The ups and downs taught me lessons you can implement in literally any business.

No.6 particularly took me longer to learn:

1/ Learning to take Risk

The Diamond sector is a high risk - high reward one.

Losses can be equally high too.

You have to back your instinct.

Identify the difference between gambling and taking a calculative risk.

2/ Reading People

You will come across people who want to take you for a ride.

Those that don't have your best interests at heart.

They're only concerned with profit.

Identify people you can trust and build relationships with.

You will be more successful in the long run.

3/ Negotiating

I would realise when a client fell in love with a stone.

That's when I backed my prices most.

Other times I had stones that I rarely got an offer on.

Figure out who is in the position of power.

Negotiate accordingly.

4/ Patience

There are times when you will be stuck with stock.

High value stones would not move.

Don't panic sell.

Demands for products fluctuate.

Ride the wave.

5/ Create Bundles

Sometimes my costing for a stone was high.

Offers received wouldn't justify the cost.

Rather than selling at a loss, I proposed other stones with better costing at more attractive prices as a deal.

Offer complimentary services that support your hero product.

6/ Take a Hit

If a diamond doesn't sell quickly, it's value can decrease over time.

It's important to realise that sometimes you need to take a hit.

Minimise your loss. Take an exit.

Reinvest that into something else.

Master opportunity cost.

7/ FOMO

Don't act desperate. Even if you are.

When a client is not buying, don't oversell.

Imply you have other options who will profit instead.

It should seem that there are many waiting to pounce on your product.

Usually, they will reconsider and come back.

Thank you for reading.

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