We were lucky to catch up with Ryan Allen recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ryan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

How did you come up with the idea?

Being an independent jeweler, I learned the struggle of trying to survive and grow a business in the jewelry industry. The majority of jewelers buy and make inventory, hoping to find someone interested in what they are selling. I was one of those jewelers. I had been in business for a few years, and quickly learned that starting from scratch is rough! You have to take every dollar you make and reinvest it back into the company to get more inventory to increase the likeliness of finding someone who likes something that you have to offer. After a few years of doing this, I had a bit of inventory but no liquid cash.

I had a newborn during this time and near my daughter’s first birthday we started planning her birthday party. I saw the expenses of the party and didn’t have the funds readily available to purchase what was needed to celebrate her day. My funds were all sitting in the safe as inventory and a lot of the pieces I had were already a couple of years old. With the feeling of frustration, I knew there had to be a better way to partake in the jewelry industry. After daydreaming trying to come up with an idea, I had a friend ask me if I can get them a diamond eternity ring and he showed me an image of the design he liked. I said yeah, I can get that made for you. So then I got a quote to have it made, I told him the amount and he said “okay let’s proceed”. Then it hit me… This is a much better way of selling jewelry! I could have a website made where people can come to the site, share pictures and details of what they want and I could give them a quote to make it for them. I began researching the online jewelry industry and saw that it had grown by 8% per year, for several years in a row, meanwhile, brick and mortar jewelry stores were closing down rapidly. That year alone Jewelers Board of Trade reported that 8% of US independent jewelry stores had closed down. I reached out to other jewelers, and jewelry shoppers and studied research that was available online, and learned that many people could benefit from this business model. Then I decided that up to 5 jewelers could send a quote per request and made it so they couldn’t see each other’s offers. This method gives the jewelers a fair opportunity to earn the consumer’s business and the consumer doesn’t have to spend a lot of time shopping around. Additionally, this allows consumers to support small businesses, and get great offers for the jewelry they want to purchase. When the consumer goes to a retail giant, these companies have a ton of overhead to support, and they need to be able to offer big discounts as promotional tools to get consumers to purchase from them. The budget the giant retail jewelers spend on marketing drowns out the family-owned, Independent businesses and makes it very difficult for them to grow their businesses.

I began looking for a developer to help me bring this idea to life. After searching for a developer and finding the right one, we realized this was a much bigger project than either of us initially anticipated. We now have grown our team and it’s taken us 5 years to bring to the market what we have today. We have a community of trusted, skilled, independent, family-owned, small businesses that are eager to serve consumers. It’s a fantastic feeling knowing we are giving shoppers a great experience, helping them get what they want, fast, at great prices meanwhile, we are helping other people live their dreams and support their families as small businesses.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

My name is Ryan Allen, I’m the founder of Jewelers Connect. I got into the jewelry industry while I was applying to cities to work as a Paramedic Firefighter. Once I finished the fire academy and began filling out applications, I received an offer from a friend to work with him at a jewelry store. I never dreamed of working in the jewelry industry. For as long as I can remember I wanted to be a Firefighter. In a very short time, my passion for the jewelry industry grew. I went from, who in the world would spend 100K on this rock too, wow!!! That’s an incredible diamond!!! After a short time, I felt I could have my own jewelry business and I set out to make that a reality. I’ve always been entrepreneurial. I started working around 8 years old and built car washing routes and grass service routes that I continued to work and grow for years. I then reached my goal as a firefighter, now my goal is to revolutionize the jewelry industry. Consumers can now have an amazing shopping experience and jewelers have the opportunity to work together as a community and grow their businesses. I’m greatful to present this to the jewelry industry.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Jewelers Connect was originally made to connect Jewelers with jewelry shoppers. I went to a tech conference and met a guy who buys 3-5 companies per month in his niche, compiles them together, restructures them, and then sells the businesses as a large organization at a later date. I asked him “what is the fastest way for growth other than buying companies?” His response was “find the biggest companies in your industry and build a partnership agreement to serve their customers in a way they are not able to. After pondering a while it hit me, Insurance companies! Insurance companies provide a horrible experience in my perspective. When a claimant loses or breaks their jewelry, they are told to go out and find a jeweler to replace/repair it. It’s an inconvenience to go out and find a jeweler especially when you are already distraught that you lost or broke your jewelry in the first place. My team and I got together and figured out how we can leverage our technology to offer Insurtech solutions to them. Now we partner with insurance companies and help provide a much better experience for their claimants. This pivot allows us to grow faster, provide a better experience for jewelry insurance company customers and help small, independent businesses grow. This pivot is a great win for everyone!

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I have been taught that debt is bad and to avoid it at all costs! I was taught to pay off debt as soon as possible, to not buy or do things I couldn’t afford, and not risk the house.

My journey of entrepreneurship taught me a whole new lesson! There is good debt, and there is bad debt. Bad debt is buying things that don’t make a difference to anything you are working towards. Good debt is when you make purchases that will help you make more money and grow your business. However, good debt can turn into bad debt quickly if you mismanage your capital.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jewelersconnect.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jewelers_connect/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jewelersconnect/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-allen-2630a5148/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jeweler_Connect
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw8NQttIZUFqZpJJDqsOTLQ
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/jewelers_connect/