Guess I'd better introduce myself although I'm not a natural performer so bear with me...

My name is Kate and I am an addict. I've loved jewellery for as long as I can remember and have bought and sold since childhood. I have so much jewellery that it could be considered a problem!

How did I get here?

Well, way back I used to help out on my parents antiques stall in The Assembly Rooms in Lancaster (our stall is long gone but the Assembly Rooms are well worth a visit if they're still open) and I loved to play with the jewellery on our stall as well as the other dealers jewels. Anyone who'd bought a box lot of tangled jewellery used to give it to me to wrestle with. Probably just to keep me quiet and stop me larking around but as a result I cannot leave a knot alone to this day - I have to actively stop myself at auction viewings so as not to 'add value' to a lot I want to buy:)

I also used to buy pieces at carboot sales to sell on when I was pretty young, maybe 7 or 8 years old, particularly Art Deco Czech open back crystal paste necklaces and odd bits of gold and silver. It never occured to me that it was a bit strange for a little girl to be reading hallmarks, I just loved the thrill of finding something precious and knowing I could turn a profit on it. I used to get amazing discounts too from some very kind sellers who probably hadn't a clue that the little girl before them intended to sell it on.

So, I knew I wanted an antique jewellery shop when I was a teenager and dreamed of something along the lines of the fabulous Mary Milnethorpe's of Settle (now sadly closed). But I got some terrible careers advice, ending up with a wasted degree in psychology and fairly unhappily in retail management. 

I don't know if you've read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho but it turned my life around in November 2007. I decided to follow my dream (like the shepherd boy) and find literally any job in either jewellery or antiques figuring I'd be able to specialise once I had a bit of experience. The whole premise of The Alchemist is that when you follow your destiny, the whole universe will conspire to help you and it is so true.

Within a month of making my decision (and preparing to take a big pay cut back down to sales assistant), I was offered the managers role at Aberdeen Antique Centre and I started in Spring 2008. I loved being there and made a huge difference - annual turnover was less than £90,000 and occupancy less than half when I arrived and I left in early 2011 with annual turnover at over a quarter of a million and full occupancy, not an empty booth in the place.

I also set up Quinneys Antiques in 2008 selling a bit of everything vintage and antique before streamlining my business and specialising in jewellery from 2011. 

I tell you what's happened since then in my next post...