How to Stay Valuable in a Changing World

The Playbook With David Meltzer

David Meltzer, Entrepreneur.com

Entrepreneurship, Business, Careers

4.6 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 4 June 2025

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In today’s episode, I sit down with Chris Callery, a former top Vegas DJ who walked away from nightlife, toured the world on cruise ships, studied risk management, and eventually bought a 75-year-old family-owned jewelry business with his wife. We talk about what it really means to be an “overnight success,” how to pivot when life demands it, and why emotion, not just utility, drives value—whether you’re selling tacos or timepieces. Chris shares how storytelling, consistency, and connection have helped Huntington Jewelers thrive in a digital age, and how the right watch can say more about someone’s values than any smart device ever could.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to office hours. I'm David Meltzer, and we're here in Las Vegas at the win in the lobby at the
0:06.5	Sirius XM Studios. And Las Vegas is known for a few things. One, bling. And two music or DJs. And our next
0:16.5	guest, you wouldn't believe it, was one of the top DJs here in Las Vegas. And now he's celebrating
0:23.1	with his business, the 75th anniversary of the Huntington Jewelers. And he's an experienced,
0:31.4	needless to say, executive and entrepreneur. Welcome to office hours, Chris Kaleri.
0:37.2	Thank you so much for having me.
0:38.8	So Chris, you know, a lot of people talk about where you're at.
0:42.3	And the first thing I'll hear is, oh, yeah, you know, Chris.
0:45.0	He was a DJ.
0:46.2	Now he's an overnight success.
0:48.7	And I was hoping you could share with me what it takes from, I think, around 2005 when you were a house DJ
0:56.0	to be an overnight success here in almost 2025.
1:01.7	Yeah, overnight over 20-some years is, yeah, that's what we'd like to say.
1:05.1	That's what it takes.
1:06.7	So, yeah, it's been a fun ride.
1:09.2	It's been an interesting ride from what brought me to Las Vegas was obviously the entertainment industry.
1:13.0	Wanted to go pro, so to speak, to DJ.
1:16.8	And got here, broke into the scene, got voted, like I said, number one DJ, house DJ in Las Vegas in 2005.
1:27.6	And it had had some success in that and played around the strip.
1:31.6	But, you know, as you start growing up, I was in my early 30s.
1:35.2	You know, you want to start a family.
1:36.8	You want to start settling down.
	...

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