JimmyCast

This month, the Train Retail Podcast (formerly JimmyCast) covers a topic with timeless importance: how to have passion in your business. In this episode, host Jimmy DeGroot and co-host Doug Meadows of David Douglas Diamonds in Marietta, GA discuss how crucial passion is to success and why it’s also necessary to instill that passion in one’s employees.Jimmy remarks that everyone

This month, JimmyCast dives into a timely topic: trade shows. In this episode, host Jimmy DeGroot and co-host Doug Meadows of David Douglas Diamonds in Marietta, GA share a fun and lively conversation about why shows are important, what retailers can get out of them and how to make the most of your time there.As Doug says, it’s not about just going to buy. It’s about going to l

This month, Jeffrey Samuels, owner of William Jeffrey’s Jewelers near Richmond, Virginia, joins host Jimmy DeGroot and co-host Doug Meadows of David Douglas Diamonds in Marietta, GA to talk about how a jewelry store owner can build a business that supports their lifestyle.Samuels started in the industry as a loose diamond sales rep covering nine states. He decided to open a retai

This month, JimmyCast brings you a story of hope — of a business person who fell so hard for metals and gemstones that he felt he needed to open his own jewelry business, even in the face of a historic health crisis.In the episode, host Jimmy DeGroot and co-host Doug Meadows chat with Wilson Lin, a 33-year-old whose family immigrated from China to Nebraska when he was in his teen

This month, JimmyCast welcomes Larry Rickert, owner of Jim Kryshak Jewelers in Wausau, WI.The two know each other well, as Jimmy was the general manager at Rickert's business from 1996-2007, before leaving to begin his jewelry consultancy business.Amongst other useful business advice, Larry offers timely guidance to jewelry business owners on how to adjust to working from home. In

This month, Jimmy DeGroot welcomes a guest he knows quite well. In fact, they know each other so well that they can complete each other’s …“… sandwiches?” suggests Jason Druxman, co-owner of Avenue Jewelers in Appleton, WI.Druxman has been in the jewelry business for over 30 years — “which is impossible,” he jokes, “because I’m only 36.” Before taking over Ave

This week, JimmyCast welcomes Aleah Arundale, founder of the popular private Facebook group, Jewelers Helping Jewelers, and a fifth-generation jeweler who works for diamond wholesaler Olympian Diamonds.Chatting with co-hosts Jimmy DeGroot and Doug Meadows, Aleah shares why she created Jewelers Helping Jewelers (4:05), which now has 18,500 members. A few years back, Aleah felt there

In this month's episode of JimmyCast, host Jimmy DeGroot talks customer data with Dave and Spencer Mink of TraxSales. One of the earliest customer tracking companies, launched in 1996, TraxSales uses an infrared camera system to track door traffic (eliminating visits from your staff and other non-customers like the mailman). The statistics generated can then be integrated with reta

Kim Gordon is living the dream — it's the dream of owning her own store, the aptly named Dream Jewelers in Oshkosh, WI. Gordon has spent most of her career in jewelry sales, having spent more than a decade as an assistant manager at a Kay Jewelers and, after that, another decade as sales manager at Jim Kryshak Jewelers in Wausau, WI. Then, in 2014, she finally made the leap into

If making mistakes is the best way to learn, then the latest episode of JimmyCast promises to be a tremendous learning experience. In the episode, Jimmy DeGroot and co-host Doug Meadows each share five dumb things they've seen jewelers do in their jewelry stores. "This includes us," notes Jimmy. "Actually, my list is mostly mine," says Doug. Tales shared include a pyrotechnic prank