Dinero and Goldie are our security team, they live in hopes of confronting a prowler bigger than a squirrel!

During my recent illness (a stroke), I have had plenty of time to reflect on the purpose and direction of our company's future. Oddly enough, making more money was not paramount in my thoughts. By treating our clients like family, we all enjoy a wonderful lifestyle. Although my wife wouldn't admit it, there is not enough room for another pair of shoes in her very large walk-in closet. I have had to buy and train two attack dogs just to keep watch over all of our possessions!

I am one of the few people in this world who can admit that they have enough money. Unlike most businesses that are controlled by bean-counters, my grand plan involves making just enough money to keep the status quo. Therefore, I have the luxury of continuing to grow the relationships we have become heir to by treating all of our clients like they are important family members. That is the legacy I hope to leave to my family and employees. Thousands of people trust us and understand what we can and can't do for them. We just want enough to pay the bills and to continue to build the kind of relationships we have enjoyed over the last three decades. 

As far as I can deduce, here is why everybody does not buy from Capetown. I formed this company based on what I felt would be easily understood by the worldly type of people who buy expensive jewelry. It isn't just coincidence that our client list reads like a "who's who" of America's best and brightest. So, in the hospital I thought of how I could revise my business so that this large chunk of American audience would be sure to give us a real hard look. The largest problem we have is converting people under the age of 30. I don't know if it is the fault of schools or parents, but we have an army of mindless, soulless people roaming America that are scary. Because they are unfamiliar with the high-end jewelry business, they convert everything to numbers. They are completely devoid of perspective. They can't understand the difference between a traditional merchant who does not have a real commitment to treat his customers fairly, properly, and quickly and Capetown Diamond's Mission Statement.  Then it occurred to me that maybe I could be of some help to these vacuous souls. Because of my environment, I feel uniquely qualified to help a willing person design a blueprint for his life. And because for many years I was a vacuous, soulless misfit myself, floating through the ether, I know what it's like for most of them. Lucky for me, I ran into a mentor. A Texan in his mid 60's who was a citadel of common sense. His name was Dr. N.J. Rogers who had a controlling interest in Caesar's Palace. Without his good advice, who knows where I would be today.

Hopefully, now that I am in my mid 60's, I can provide the same type of mentoring to some of you reading this website. I have been experimenting on my son, and he has prospered greatly.

After a close brush with death, I have had a tsunami of well-wishing from vendors and clients including US Senators. This humongous outpouring of support was totally out of proportion compared to what one would expect when running a commercial venture. Capetown is not a church or a temple, and I hadn't reinvented the wheel. I was merely the youngest of seven, born on a kitchen table in the South Bronx - a neighborhood so mean and vicious that it took an hour to pass the scene of a crime. Most people in my " 'hood " knew the day they were going to die, the judge told them!

U.S. Senator Max Cleland and Chairman Carl Ken Marcus

A total shock was a phone call that I received at the hospital from my wife telling me that one of my Hasidic suppliers flew in to visit me from Switzerland in order to pray for my recovery in person. When I awoke from my coma in the ICU, I was greeted by one of my close friends and clients, a high-ranking federal jurist named Joel Feldman. He presented me with a box of four giant Napoleons. After 21 days of being fed through my nose I was ravenous. Lordy, did those Napoleons hit the spot!! God bless you Joel. Because of this reception from such clients and friends, it was clear to me that we must be doing something right!

I normally do not pay much attention to politics, but my relationship with senator Max Cleland spans the last four or five years. He is a true American and a tremendous inspiration to anyone who is handicapped. He lost an arm and a leg in Vietnam, shook that off, and became President Jimmy Carter's head of the Veteran's Administration. Besides being a charming, positive thinker, he shares many of my beliefs - equality for women in the workplace, adequate health care for aging indigent Americans, and above all, he is a staunch advocate for free enterprise and small business. God bless you Max!

The following is a letter I received from Senator Cleland while in the hospital. His thoughts and prayers, along with all of the support I received from everyone else, sustained me through my paralysis where no amount of money would have helped.

Now, back to the point. Why doesn't everyone buy from Capetown? In today's market, faced with legions of competitors, all selling and promising the same thing, how can I demonstrate the significant difference between ourselves and our competitors to an astute buyer?  Looking into myself, I wondered what I would need to feel about a firm before sending a significant amount of money to a stranger in cyberspace.  I thought that the first thing a company would have to demonstrate would be an extreme amount of credibility. Next, I thought, in my empathizing with an astute buyer, that I would not like to do business with an unseasoned company.  Longevity and experience insure recourse in the event of an error.  In regards to longevity, Capetown has its roots solidly planted in historic Roswell, Georgia - we have even bought a new building there.  If an error pops up in the future, we will make it right, you have my promise.  The astute buyer realizes that without being a gemologist or horologist, issues of title, poor workmanship, malfunction, or authenticity could arise in the future.

Our newly finished sunroom insures that we are not going anywhere. We are here when you need us.

In short, I would want to spend money with someone who has been in business for awhile, at least a decade or two. The sophisticated buyer knows that when playing another man's game, they are at a disadvantage when not presented with valid and additional alternatives. For instance, it is known to very few that Rolex is changing its time-honored look on their Gold President. We are honor-bound to inform our clients that this fundamental change will take place in the near future. We pity the nouveau riche who has spent his entire life waiting to purchase a Rolex President, and now learns that the new watch he has just bought has been rendered obsolete. Whether it be interior landscape design, architecture, or web design, there is no substitute for dealing with a seasoned professional who has a passion and commitment for what he does, with checkable references to back it up! When I finished my thoughts, I realized that we are overwhelmingly superior to any competitor when it comes to credibility, longevity, passion,

Building the conservatory taught me that there is no substitute for dealing with seasoned professionals

commitment, and expertise, not to mention selection. Because we were the first in the industry (quite frankly we invented it), our company is well capitalized. Therefore, unlike the neighborhood jeweler or small discounter, we have sufficient funds to carry most important watches, diamonds, and jewelry in inventory.  In addition, we have an enviable vendor base. A company with the following attributes leaves a buyer with the feeling that there is recourse should something go awry and that he is being presented with a full panorama of options. When I finished sorting out these thoughts, I was so excited I called and woke my wife up after midnight to tell her that I finally found the secret ingredients of our company, and all I now needed was a quick way to let everyone know. She reminded me that she did not have the luxury of lying around in the hospital bed all day, and that I should call my webmaster to get the word out as soon as possible.

Building the conservatory led me to three law suits with contractors, so believe me when I say, there is NO SUBSTITUTE FOR SEASONED PROFESSIONALS. Likewise with the database for my website. Each of the 10 people that I asked said "Piece of Cake" and wanted to take on the job. "Where is that piece of cake?" is what I'm wondering now.