My New Year’s resolutions

As has been well documented, most New Year’s resolutions scarcely see the light of February because they’re illogical. Just because the calendar flipped from one year to another does not transform us into a fundamentally different person. The changing of the date from Dec. 31 to Jan. 1 won’t make you any different than going from July 31 to Aug. 1, or Sept. 30 to Oct. 1, did.

Change is difficult. It is a long-term proposition that requires dedication and desire that may not necessarily coincide with Jan. 1 on the Gregorian calendar.

That being said, there’s nothing wrong with using Jan. 1 to set reasonable goals for the year ahead and change things that didn’t work in 2013 or simply are in need of an update.

Here are two of my plans for National Jeweler in 2014.

1) Expanding our metals coverage. The price of gold keeps going down and is expected to drop even more in 2014 while yellow gold rises in popularity. In recent years, NJ has done a newsletter dedicated to silver 12 months out of the year as well as a quarterly one dedicated to platinum. This year, we are changing gears and introducing the Metals Market newsletter.

This newsletter will go out the third Tuesday of every month and will focus on a different metal each month, beginning with gold on Jan. 21. February will be platinum-focused, March will center on silver and April will cover a yet-to-be-determined alternative metal (suggestions welcome).

The metals will repeat in the same cycle twice more throughout the year.

2) Adding antiques. As many might already know our parent company, Emerald Expositions, is in the process of acquiring George Little Management LLC (GLM). GLM produces a number of antique jewelry shows, including the Antique Jewelry & Watch shows in New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Miami Beach.

To this end, National Jeweler plans to add twice-yearly antique and estate jewelry focused newsletters, scheduled for publication in April, before the trade-only Las Vegas Antique Jewelry & Watch Show, and again in September, before the holiday selling season.

The newsletters will focus on what’s happening in the antique jewelry market--what’s hot (avoiding use of the word “new” here) and what jewelers can expect at the shows along with profiles of some interesting players in antique jewelry. Again, any suggestions for content are welcome.

Readers: If