Speaker B's first business, Plum Tree Jewelry, flopped at a college showcase because he picked it only for the margins, not because he cared about jewelry or knew his customers. He learned the hard way: margins alone don't make a business.
Do you remember what your first business was that you started?
I'll tell you the embarrassing one that I was laughing about. My sister lived in China and she was selling jewelry. It was great margin. She had a line, she had different distributors. And so I being a budding entrepreneur was like, I'm going to sell jewelry because look at the margin on this stuff. And I laugh because it's legit embarrassing because I bought the jewelry. It was called Plum Tree Jewelry. Held a show, we'll call it, at my college. Had the jewelry set up and no one showed. I don't think I ever sold one piece of jewelry. And it's what I try to tell young entrepreneurs. I'm like, look, I did it because I thought the margins were good. And that's like the worst thing ever to enter a business. And I just, I learned a lot. I had no passion for it. I knew nothing about it. I didn't know who I was selling to. I just thought I was going to make good money. And I was wrong.
Tip number 1, do not follow only the margins.
And our target buyer was women. I don't know who to talk to. Anyways, it was a great learning lesson of what not to do.
