Chapter 14-Serendipity

I ASKED FRANCES AND JUDE if I could write the last chapter of their on-going success story because I knew they would never toot their own horns as much as they deserved.
The summer of 2005 has just passed and this book is almost written. So far, Jude and Frances have nearly doubled their sales each of their three short years in business. My prediction is they will continue to grow and succeed at an even brisker rate.
As you’ve heard, they are both terrific goal setters. As part of those goals, they have committed themselves to enter the next phase of JudeFrances Jewelry, which will involve developing their “brand.”
I don’t use the word “committed” lightly, because that is really what these two women are all about. Frances often uses the word “goal” for commitment. What that really means is she and Jude are committed to a specific outcome in everything they undertake. If Frances says, “I’m committed to a sales figure of $6.5 million,” that is more than a goal—it is what she and Jude will achieve. They will turn that goal into a reality by creating that which is not yet evident.
The funny thing about their success is that these two women didn’t go to college; they didn’t know much about the jewelry busi¬ness when they started; and as they’ve said several times, they still don’t have a business plan.
When I was an executive with St. John’s Knits, our corporate culture—like so many other successful businesses—was designed around setting and measuring goals. Essentially, by so doing, you create something out of nothing but a vision.
All of this has been written about in business schools since there were business schools, but the key, that is sometimes over¬looked, is after you are committed, you must get all of your people on board, sharing the same vision.
That is why I went to work for JudeFrances: I shared their vision, as do all their employees, friends, and family. That is because the one talent these ladies possess is their ability to “line up the universe behind them.”
In other words, they have a gift for energizing others around them with their vision and their dreams. Once others see it, under¬stand it, and embrace it, their energy comes back to them tenfold. Good people who share your vision want nothing but the best for you.
What is the key, then, to lining up the universe behind your dream? A specific commitment on your part. That is what Frances and Jude do every day. They set a goal or goals stated so specifically and believed in so strongly (before there is evidence), that no one, most importantly themselves, can misunderstand their intentions.
When you commit, or set a goal, it is not sufficient to say, “I want to be successful, or I want to be rich, or I want to be famous, or I want to be the best.” Give me specifics: How rich? How much money do you want in your bank account this time next year— exactly? A million, ten million, how much? And by what date, and what will you do “specifically” to reach that goal? It isn’t sufficient to say, “I will work hard.” How hard? In what ways? How often? Where and when?
When you see that goal clearly, as clearly as if it were already a reality, then it already is. When you share that with others, you begin to enlist a force field of good energy, which will help carry you to your outcome.
I also asked these two entrepreneurs if I could write this last chapter because it involves the next logical step in their growth— the branding of the JudeFrances name, something with which I’m very familiar.
In the marketing world, branding is everything. In order to compete effectively, your company’s name and image must be at the forefront of your potential customers minds at all times and, of course, you want that image to communicate quickly and clearly what you stand for: quality, honesty, fun, reliability, whatever.
What do you think of when you hear the words Coca Cola: tasty, fun, youth, energy? Once that image is established, then your company can branch out and create new products, not just jewelry, or at least not just 18 carat gold jewelry, but silver jewelry, maybe a line of fun women’s watches. In short, extend the reach of your brand, increasing sales and continuing on the path to steady growth. Maybe one day, you even go public, but you can’t reach any of those goals without a solid identity or brand recognition.
Enter “Shebonics.”
What in the world is Shebonics, you might be asking yourself? Shebonics is a word that was coined by a woman that Frances, Jude, and I met just a few months ago, and she is actually the reason they wrote this book.
When it became apparent to everyone earlier this year that JudeFrances had to begin to develop a brand identity, we began tossing ideas around, but in the end, as is Frances and Jude’s smart way of doing things, we decided to bring in an expert—a person who did nothing but branding.
Also, as is always their way, they wanted to talk to someone who was referred by a happy client or another successful business. When we let it be known that we were looking for a person with these kinds of credentials, we were given the name Maude Glazer (not her real name). She had literally created some of the countries best known and most loved brands ranging from retail chains to some of the Fortune 500s. In other words, she’d taken a business entity that was showing promise, had good products and/or serv¬ices, and grown them into legends—not an easy feat.
The entire experience of interviewing her turned into a scene out of an old Greta Garbo movie. I was responsible for setting up the entire thing. When I contacted her and told her what we wanted to do, she said, “Of course. Of course, that is what I do.” And then she insisted on meeting at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills.
So far, so good. Though the Peninsula is very expensive, I fig¬ured some drinks and hors d’oeuvres would suffice; we would pick her brain for an hour and a half and that would be all we needed to perhaps take the next step. However, when she insisted that we pay her expenses, we figured, okay, yes, we can certainly pick up her air¬fare and lunch. No big deal, so I set a meeting at the Peninsula.
I was the first to arrive because the girls were in L.A. at a show. Maude wanted to meet in the bar and so I went into the Club Bar, the darkest room I’ve ever been in during daylight hours.
Feeling my way around the room on the backs of the chairs, waiting for my eyes to adjust, I finally found an empty seat and took it. Within minutes, in walks our branding expert. Scratch that. She wasn’t walking; she was making a grand entrance. Her bright orange/red hair was piled on her head in a bouffant nearly 10-inches high, which when coupled with her five-inch patent leather shoes, made her look like an Amazon. The fact that she had a full-length leopard skin coat draped over her didn’t help any, either, but the piece de resistance were her Gucci sunglasses—so dark, it would be difficult to see through them standing on La Cienega Boulevard at high noon, let alone in this cave.
With each elongated stride, her spotted coat would sway left and right, and I thought, The only thing missing is the black onyx cigarette holder complete with a six-inch long Benson & Hedges.
I stood up and said, “Hello. Are you Maude?” She said yes and before she could sit down, Jude and Frances came through the entry, spotted me, and came over.
I made the introductions and as we were about to be seated, Maude says, “Oh, dahlings, I can’t do it in here. We must go out¬side. Let’s go upstairs to the pool and the cabanas.”
Can’t do it? What is she going to do, conduct a séance?
Before we could agree, off she went, that coat swaying back and forth. Once upstairs, we saw that there were about 10 of these small tent-cabanas, all of them closed. She immediately started to open one, then another, not knowing if anyone was in them or not, until she found one to her liking.
“Here, dahlings. This one is perfect,” she directed.
Inside were four chairs, a small table, and a long chaise lounge chair, which she immediately took up a pose in, stretching herself out with one arm languishing over one arm of the chair, the other coming to her mouth with the cigarette, still with the dark glasses on.
We dutifully took up our places in the straight-back chairs, pulled out our steno pads and pens, and readied ourselves, like stu¬dents in first grade.
“Dahlings. I see this as a feminine product,” she said.
Humh, good start. It is jewelry for women.
“I think we really need to play up the feminine angle,” she continued.
Hummmh?
“You know, it’s really all about “Shebonics,” she said with a grand sweeping gesture of the cigarette.
The three of us looked at each other without saying a word, yet saying, “Huh? What in the hell is Shebonics?”
“Yes, that’s it, Shebonics. You know, when I meet new clients, what I like to do is get my head around the product, massage the thing a bit mentally, and then retreat to my cave in Phoenix. That’s what I call my penthouse. I just stay in my cave until I ‘birth’ the idea.”
Frances and I couldn’t stand it any longer, we just started cracking up. Then I looked over at Jude who was dead serious. She was scribbling down notes as if Moses had just descended from the Mount with the tablets. When we saw that, we really started laughing. Then Maude, who clearly was not finding the humor, used her long index finger and her two-inch long fire engine red nail to tug ever so slightly at her sunglasses, revealing just a hint of her eyes and a mild look of disdain.
All the way home we howled, but we hadn’t entirely given up on her. I decided we should at least call some of her references to check up on her. Maybe she was just one of those eccentric geniuses—after all, she had supposedly “made” one of the country’s most famous restaurants, among other notable achievements.
I started calling the next day. The first reference I called was the restaurant chain, speaking to one of the people in Human Resources; I asked what they thought of her.
“Well, she’s a very uh, interesting individual, isn’t she?” he said. “Has she birthed any ideas yet?” he continued, and I could have sworn I heard a small chuckle.
A few more calls with pretty much identical results convinced me to drop the Shebonics idea.
About 10 days later, we got a bill from Maude. It was for $2,500—for expenses. Little did we know that she not only wanted to meet at the Peninsula—she had stayed there—for two nights. One for us, and one for another client of hers. In addition, she’d flown first class. And then there were the honor bar charges.
The one thing we did gain from that interview was the idea to write a book. Maude had said, “You simply must write a book. That is what everyone is doing.” And so, here it is. The girls have birthed their book.
As it turned out, Frances and Jude already had the beginnings of a branding effort—the whole green apples thing. It’s small, but it’s a start. Eventually, they will add new lines of merchandise and they will grow their reputation. They will continue to go to Europe to find the fresh ideas that haven’t made it here yet and, eventually, they will go international.
Today, their line of jewelry consists of more than 350 pieces, always new, always fresh, always collectible. And from their first sale to a single Tassels store, up through being available in 29 Manheim’s stores, to today—just three years after they began in the attic above the garage—they are in more than 140 retail outlets in the U.S.
It’s hard to imagine all the changes and all the success that these two have gone through in such a short time. It just goes to show you what you can do when you just go for it.
Finally, two quick notes: Remember Brian, the manufacturer who told Frances to stick with interior design? Today, he is one of their biggest fans and, of course, is still happily producing their jewelry. In fact, they are now his biggest clients.
In addition, Jude and Frances were nominated for the Entrepreneur of The Year Award by the Orange County Business Journal, and they are asked to speak every year at the USC Marshall School of Business—not bad for two girls who never even went to college.
Update: In the spring of 2006, Frances and Jude’s business con¬tinues to boom. The girls, as imaginative as ever, came out with a whole new line of jewelry. The Silver Line launched to great suc¬cess and acceptance, and now Neiman Marcus and other upscale retailers are offering it.
Will their creativity wane? I don’t think so; I’ve seen sketches flying around the office for jewelry designed especially for men. “Hey,” Jude said, “they deserve something nice in spite of them¬selves.”
With this Ring I thee wed, with my body I thee worship, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow.
The Romans had a name for it, Vena Amoris, literally “vein of love.” The ancients believed that a vein ran directly from the heart to the third finger of the left hand. Today, because of that belief, we traditionally place the wedding band, our ring of love, on the middle finger, the ring finger, of the bride.
Oh! how many torments lie in the small circle of a wedding ring!
In times gone by, wedding rings made of bone, hemp, or wood symbolized the endless circle and eternal nature of love and mar¬riage. Gold and silver wedding jewelry was rarely given, and then only by the wealthy. A man of riches would give his bride a ring made of these precious metals to prove that he trusted her with his treasure.
And finally, the American humorist, George Ade, once said, “If it weren’t for the presents, an elopement would be preferable.”
You know where this is leading: Jude and Frances are at it again. They’re making a move into the bridal jewelry business!
“Why not?” Jude asked Frances, after sketching a few designs.
“Why not indeed,” Frances replied, knowing that 80 percent of the jewelry business is bridal related. “We’ve been successful tapping into only 20 percent of the market. Imagine what we can do when we have a line in the 80 percent segment.”
Jude smiled. “In other words, just go for it. Right?”
“Isn’t that what I said?”