I’ve been a member of IGA for the past couple of years now and have found it to be invaluable! The staff is always helpful and readily available to answer questions and, in my situation, lead me in the right direction to find my own answers… (I enjoy the process, it’s all part of the journey in my humble opinion). One can find answers to pretty much anything especially if you ask the other members in the community section. My HUGE PROBLEM with this is that I ALWAYS forget that I posted a question. I am a person operation and find myself constantly running from one job to another and it’s a blessing to have a moment to myself and visit the IGA. Then I see that so many kind folks have taken time out of their busy life to answer my question and I had not even given them the courtesy of a response and a thank you! Unfortunately, they were not aware of my circumstances so they just think I’m this terribly rude person here to take what I want and not bother to give back. So, to set things straight… a GREAT BIG HUGE THANK YOU FOR ALL OF YOU WHO TOOK THE TIME TO RESPOND TO MY QUESTIONS! Your help was well received and I took it to heart. I write down all of the new “lessons” I’ve learned as I work as well as where (who) I learned it. I cannot tell you how grateful I am. I promise that I will work on being more present and a great deal quicker with my response back to you. I’ve honestly learned so much from you all. You are the backbone of IGA!
IGA offers a plethora of educational programs. In fact, I will be signing up for the Gemology course within the next few days. I’m super excited about this opportunity to learn more about gemstones. After reading the information posted on their website, I found that it offered basically everything that GIA offered only IGA is so much more affordable. IGA’s classes are taken online and can be done at your own pace which is fabulous for me because I own my own business and when I’m not working I’m at the love the beach or on my boat… of course, this doesn’t mean that I won’t be working and studying! Absolutely not! Who said you can’t put 39 hours into 24? Well, I’d surly like to meet that person because, I beg to differ!
Honestly though, I really do feel that being a member of IGA is more of a privilege than an educational resource or, perhaps you say tool(?) than anything else. Because, I find that I visit here more often just to read up on the latest developments in different areas of interest than when I have to actually look up information for my business. Of course this may change should I decide to do something with my gemologist certification (that’s if they pass me… Yikes…they will, won’t they…huh, ya think..🤔… hummm)!
The IGA offers those who want to know… knowledge! Not any knowledge, proven knowledge! I just don’t think I can put it any better than that. It’s all here, all you need to do is have the want, the wish, the wonder and your world will open up for you.
