How many of you have been on a business trip that ended up being a waste of time, despite promises to the contrary?  Well, our trip to Stuller, Inc. in Lafayette, LA was NOT THAT TRIP!!!!  We were greeted with Southern hospitality at its finest, combined with presentations and instruction on ways to bring technology into our business.  Stuller has developed a CAD program that will enable us to design custom work with our customers, right at the counter!  The hardware and software will be arriving shortly, so be on the lookout for its debut!  They also showed us some tools on their website that will allow us to quote accurate pricing in real time, even with the volatile metals market.  In addition to the computer work we were introduced to, we also did a little studying on the topic of change in general.  The jewelry industry has long been viewed as an industry steeped in tradition and slow to change.  We’ll keep the tradition, but after that few days in Louisiana we are ready to change and improve our service and offerings to best serve our clients.  We returned home and to our store energized and ready to tackle change , though we gained a few pounds due to the shrimp, crab and crawfish, all the knowledge we gained was well worth it!