A DIAMOND PERSONALITY

Ask Oscar Rodriguez about the dot-com burst and he may grin at you as if to say, "What burst?"

Rodriguez, a 38-year old entrepreneur, owns an Internet business that sells loose diamonds to various

buyers. Business is booming for Rodriguez. In 2004, he had sales of $2.06 milliona 140 percent

increase from 2003. Rodriguez's database of almost 60,000 diamonds is one of the largest and is valued,

according to Rodriguez, at over $350 million. Needless to say, Oscar Rodriguez is optimistic about his

business venture.

The future wasn't always so bright for Rodriguez, however. In 1985, Rodriguez moved from his

native country, Puerto Rico, to Gainesville, Florida, with little ability to speak English. There, he attended

community college and worked at the local mall to support himself. After graduation, his roommate's

girlfriend suggested that he work at a local jeweler. "I thought she was crazy. I didn't know anything about

jewelry," says Rodriguez, who took her advice. Though he worked hard and received his Diamonds and

Diamonds Grading certification from the Gemological Institute of America, he wasn't satisfied with his

progress. "I quickly realized that working there, I was just going to get a salary with a raise here and

there. I would never become anything. That drove me to explore other business ventures. I also came to

really know diamondstheir pricing and their quality."

In 1997, tired of working for someone else, Rodriguez decided to open his own jewelry store.

However, business didn't boom. "Some of my customers were telling me they could find diamonds for

less on the Internet. It blew my mind." Rodriguez recognized an opportunity and began contacting well-

known diamond dealers to see if they would be interested in selling their gems online. Rodriguez recalls

one conversation with a prominent dealer who told him, "You can not sell diamonds on the Internet. You

will not survive." Discouraged, Rodriguez then says that he made a mistake. "I stopped working on it. If

you have a dream, you have to keep working harder at it." A year later, Rodriguez did work harder at his

dream and found a dealer who agreed to provide him with some diamonds. Says Rodriguez, "Once I had

one, I could approach others. Business started to build. The first three months I sold $200,000 worth of

diamonds right off the bat. And that was just me. I started to add employees and eventually closed the

jewelry store and got out of retail."

Although Rodriquez does have some diamonds in inventory, he primarily acts as a connection

point between buyers and suppliers, giving his customers an extraordinary selection from which to

choose. Rodriguez is now a savvy entrepreneur, and his company, Abazias.com, went public in October

2003. Why is Rodriguez successful? Just ask two people who have known Rodriquez over the years.

Gary Schneider, a realtor who helped build Rodriguez's building, says, "Oscar is a very ambitious young

man. I am not surprised at all how successful he is. He is an entrepreneur in the truest sense of the

word." One of Rodriguez's former real-estate instructors, Howard Freeman, concurs. "I am not surprised

at all at his success," says Freeman. "Oscar has always been an extremely motivated individual with a lot

of resources. He has a wonderful personality and pays close attention to detail. He also has an ability to

stick to things. You could tell from the beginning that he was going to persevere, and I am proud of him."

Rodriguez is keeping his success in perspective, but he also realizes his business' potential: "I

take a very small salary, and our overhead is $250,000 a year. I am not in debt, and the business is

breaking even. I care about the company. I want to keep everything even until we take off, and then it

may be another ball game."

Questions

1. What factors do you think attributed to Rodriguez's success? Was he merely "in the right place at

the right time," or are there characteristics about him that contribute to his success?