Exploring Life & Business with jin park of MCI JEWELRY INC

Today we’d like to introduce you to jin park

Hi jin, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started working in wholesale at the Downtown Jewelry District in 2003 as a sales associate for two years.

Since then, I have always dreamed of starting my own business, but at the age of 22, I didn’t have much money and the inventory costs for a jewelry business were too high, so it was very difficult to start my own business.

But I always had passion and the confidence that I could be succeed in this industry and I believe myself that I have good sense with jewelries.
Around that time, I was given an opportunity to open my own business. The owner of the jewelry store where I worked desired to retire from this industry because another business, he had owned made way enough revenue.
My husband and I were able to take over the store in 2005 and started running my own business.

The store was not large enough, but since it was an existing business, I was able to start the business with a certain number of customers, so there was no obstacle to securing customers in the beginning.

In the early 2000s, products made with gold and cubic zirconia set were popular, so we started selling products focusing on those products.

Rather than just selling existing products, I thought about customer’s perspectives. I focused on the design of jewelries from the customer’s perspectives, and of course, considering the trend. From changing my view to customers, I created unique jewelries rather than products that wholesalers would buy anywhere.

To expand my business, I worked as a sales associate at the downtown store on weekdays, and on the weekends, my husband and I visited the retail shops in person to introduce our products and to sell. We go over the yellow page book to find the contact information of these shops.

Most jewelers were in their 60s or older, so I visited stores on weekends and helped them sell product to build solid relationship. Hearing about their obstacles, and meeting customers who visit retail stores in person helped me tremendously in product development.
The friendships we built like that helped us steadily increase our wholesale customers.

Afterwards, we started making unique new products that others did not have, and from then on, famous athletes, famous singers, and actors who were looking for special products instead of ordinary products began to visit the store.
Word of mouth began to spread that people could find special designed jewelries from our store.

As many celebrities began to visit us, we gradually began making customized products rather than mass-produced products to suit the tastes of celebrities.
Most desired products were unique and could catch people’s eyes for various purposes such as stage awards ceremonies, music video shooting, magazine shooting, and world tours.
As such portfolios accumulated, we were able to conduct the current MCI JEWELRY business.

As K POP became famous and established in the United States, many K POP stars began to move forward to the United States with the dream of becoming the world star, and I ended up working with many K POP stars. As a Korean, I took advantage of this golden opportunity, and this is also the reason I live with gratitude.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It wasn’t always smooth sailing. In the early days of the business, we lack fund to buy products, so we have limits to expand our sales. If we had more products, we could have increased our profits.

At that point I met a very nice Jewish partner who owed the factory. He helped me receive products first and make payment 30 days later.

Even though it is difficult, I have built up my credit for almost 20 years by always following the 30-day payment schedule by any means possible. I have done business with the idea that credit is the best asset, and I still maintain a very good relationship with my partners.

Another crisis is that the early days of the business, cubic zirconia products were popular, so those helped establish our business foundation, but as cubic products became less popular, sales began to decline.

However, changing the direction of our business from the products with Cubic and Zirconia to new diamond products was truly a big challenge for us, and every day we asked ourselves every day, “Are we doing a good job?” “Is the decision we made the right decision?”
When time passes and looking back, it should not be so hard, but still now, it is always difficult to decide in any situations.

In business, there are always a lot of decision moments, and I think business = Decision.
I consider many factors before deciding, but once I make a decision, I believe in my decision and push forward without regret.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We make and sell fine jewelry. We design and customize jewelries for many artists, athletes, and celebrities.

In the case of customization, the product is often designed together with the buyer, for example the piece will be created with the customer’s name or brand he or she owns. In the case of artists, jewelry is created that can highlight the artist’s individual character, such as his or her work or album logo.

Especially in the case of famous Kpop idols, as they have many fans those who desire to imitate their idols, many artists are making jewelries with their own names, album jackets, team names, etc. We also make them in silver or accessories in large quantities to sell goods.

We usually produce fine jewelry based on gold and diamonds, and we handle everything from design to casting and setting. With the customer’s idea or sketch, we do everything from A-Z to the final completion of the jewelry.

Typically, companies that produce products in this way do not have a showroom, or if they do have a showroom, they often entrust product manufacturing to other companies.
MCI Jewelry owns a showroom and manufactures products directly. You can get ideas and create by looking at other products in person.
And since it is located in downtown LA, it is easy to visit nearby.

How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
Collaborations with many celebrities and influencers are always important to us. It is one of the biggest promotional tools to advertise your product.

As celebrities always stand in front of a large public, they are always fast on fashion trend and want to own jewelry pieces that can show off who they are. We can produce uncommon, trendy jewelry at an affordable price in a quick time.

If celebrities and influencers want to make and sell their own goods, please contact us at any time. We can design, create, and sell products together. If you are looking for the best jewelry piece for an important photo shoot, stage, or event, please come by anytime.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mcijewelry.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mci_jewelry