Vashi Dominguez, Chairman and CEO of international online diamond retailer vashi.com - @VashiDominguez
From a humble upbringing in the Canary Islands, Vashi is now one of the world’s most well known diamond experts and traders. He was once so inspired by a business book, he now gives a copy to every new employee!
Highlights
From a very early age I knew that I wanted to do something really big.
I made a deal with my boss: remove my salary completely and just pay me commission on the earnings that I bring to the business. He said to me, "are you out of your head?
People look at you and unless you are of a certain age, they are not willing to take you seriously. At the end of the day, I was bringing products into the market, I was bringing them a better price than the competition and money talks.
I went to over two hundred offices about diamonds and nobody would sell to me.
We are cutting out the middle men and this translates into fantastic savings for the consumer whilst also being able to retain a healthy margin on the business.
Every industry should be transparent and a consumer these days, thanks to the internet, you are able to find out what stands behind the scenes.
My mother was a huge influence – she was a journalist and an insurance broker working sixteen hours a day. She ended up being the highest ranked insurance broker in the seven Canary Islands for five years in a row.
We are focusing on two things: growing revenue and building brand value.
Make sure that you are getting the deal that is your vision from the beginning.
Business is business and you have got to separate professional and personal. A lot of people still don’t do it and it makes a huge difference in whatever you do.