The Email That Mattered More Than the Sale

Running a tiny eco-jewelry stall at the Düsseldorf flohmarkt, I expected the highlight would be selling a necklace or two. What I didn’t expect was an email.

Weeks after the market, one of my customers wrote to tell me she had started buying recycled silver pieces. She said the chart I had made comparing the carbon footprint of mined vs. recycled silver had convinced her.

That short message mattered more to me than the money I earned that day. A sale ends when the cash box closes. An email like that proves the idea lives on. It showed me that research—numbers on a page, turned into a chart—can actually shift how someone chooses what to buy.

It also reminded me that my best ideas don’t come in quiet libraries or perfect conditions. They come with dirt under my nails at the flea market, when I’m scrambling to explain a sourcing problem to someone holding a ring. They come with numbers scribbled on scrap paper, drawn into messy bars that somehow make sense to another person.

That email sits pinned above my desk. It’s proof that the effort to measure, compare, and explain is worth it. Sometimes the real reward isn’t the sale—it’s seeing that information can move choices, even one person at a time.