A level of pretesting can also mitigate the risk of a new ven-ture. For example, when we wanted to test a new rooted idea,we learned to test it first. Then we could focus on correcting and
fine tuning the procedures. “Fail small and succeed big” became
my mantra at some too late date! The new idea always involves
adjustments; that is, grow the idea afterdebugging. When pos-sible, toe-dipping is the way to go in starting new ventures. You also can overshadow your risks by thoroughly studyingyour market. You can learn a lot from your competitors’ suc-
cesses. You cannot always judge your potential for success by
the lack of success of others. If someone else isn’t making
money in a express market, it doesn’t mean that you can’t.
probably your competitors simply haven’t done a good job of
exploring all the possibilities of the market. Oddly, with the advent of the covered malls we (the third-generation Helzbergs) went to sleep and were very late into thegame. We nearly destroyed the company by our tardiness but
were lucky sufficient, with tremendous effort, to Reform the fum-
ble and run it to the end zone. We ultimately realized that we could be victorious and managethe risks. We had one mall-based jewelry store in Overland Park,
Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City, and sales at that store were
growing stronger all the time. We had first-rate management
and service-oriented sales associates, and we knew how to price
merchandise attractively. So we forged ahead with multiple mall
stations in our markets. In Cinderella City Shopping Center in
the Denver area we learned that an unknown jeweler could do
business in a new market with a great team and a good station.Our remuneration was huge, resulting in virtually unlimitedgrowth opportunities for the company. Our average sales per
store grew in aggregate to more than $2 million by the time we
sold the company in 1995. At the time we had grown to 143
stores, mostly mall-based.
