Correction - And Not Made In China

First a correction - in my last post I encouraged folks (anyone?) to email me with their experiences, thoughts, blogs they like, other references. I'd still love to hear from anyone else out there but it'd probably help if I gave you the right email address. Email me at lewisjennif at hotmail dot com. Sorry!

So today started out in a really good mood and then it slowly deteriorated as I realized how little inventory I have leading into these two shows. Ironically I have significantly more then I did at this time last year but the problem with making the product by hand - and not in China - means that every little piece is a huge labor of love and takes a ton of time. I didn't end up hiring anyone just because finances are, as always, running tight, so I'm doing all production, pre trade show organization, marketing, etc etc etc by myself and I'm right now wishing I had more inventory.

My fear is that after these two trade shows I may be lucky enough to have our product picked up by one or two consumer publications (pr is being sent out to them in the next few weeks) and then I'm trying to fill wholesale and retail orders while simultaniously making more product and I'm hoping that I'll be able to keep my head above water. I guess that'll be a nice problem to have but it worries me none the less.

Perhaps I should just go out and buy a ticket for the $250M lottery.

The New Printer Has Arrived

I finally broke down and bought that new printer I've been coveting for over a year. The sad thing is that it's not an expensive printer at all - it's simply a little B&W laserjet that cost under $100 (PS - OfficeMax is having big sales on technology equipment this week for "Back to School"). But it's so fast and so compact...I'm so happy. Best of all, it has enough MB to be able to print out mailing labels and postage from USPS and FedEx (which my little color inkjet wasn't capable of doing) so now I can get all postage organized at home and then simply drop packages off at the post office. And, once the weather cools a little bit (as my product is temperature sensative) I can even leave the packages on my doorstep for the mailman to pick up. How convienant!



Other than that, right now my house looks like I'm in the process of moving out since I'm getting all trade show orders ready to ship along with the big shipment next week for our big PR event. Think that has the dogs a little nervous!



I'd love to hear what's going on in the thoughts & minds of other small entrepreneurs (or those who are simply considering the change in career). Email me at entrepreneurrollarcoaster at hotmail dot com with any thoughts, posts of your own, or other references/blogs/

Finally!

The online store is officially up, running, accessible, and now taking credit cards. And we even had our first real order (aka - not my test sale to myself) already! If you want the store site let me know...yes, I'm very excited.

I also went online today and ordered some "interlocking mat" flooring for tradeshows. The deep dark secret of tradeshows is that not only do you have to pay for your booth space, dryage, etc etc etc - but you also have to pay an arm and a leg to have your space carpeted and some sort of flooring is required. I did the quick math and realized that for this year's two remaining shows alone it will save me 50% to just buy my own interlocking flooring mats. And the good news is that they're squishy which will help when you're on your feet for hours on end with nothing but concrete below you.

Three Days - Max!

Trade shows should not be four days. There's just no need for it. My feet hurt, my back hurts, my head hurts...ok, pretty much everything hurts. Jeanette says she's hurting as well.

Seriously though, four days for a trade show is just rough. By the fourth day all the exhibitors are toast and the buyers are really just looking through to see if you'll sell them any of your samples at cost. Today I felt like one of the old women I used to see when we lived in China using a newspaper to swat the flies away from the fish. And with that analogy you can see why I'm not a very good saleswoman!

A few notes about this weekend's tradeshow if you care to read on:

1. It was nowhere near as successful as I had hoped. Everyone told me it would be better then the one I went to in San Francisco earlier this year but honestly I had better sales in SF I think in part because my product is higher end and has a higher end price point as well. This show had a lot of "small town" folks who may have loved my product but, understandably, didn't think the price point would work with their clientele.
2. I kind of knew I was in trouble from day one when I walked in to set up the booth and realized how much stuff that was for sale there was stuff I would never put into my home. Not that it was bad stuff - just that it was very "country craft" stuff which, while it works for many many people - is not the same audience who will be buying my product.
3. However, I did have a chance to meet one of my potential new biggest accounts at this show. I've already been working with them but hadn't met the head honcho in person so it was great to meet her and give her some samples of the product to look at. She seemed excited about it and loved our packaging so that is all good.
4. I also had a really random contact with the PR director for a major race event that falls within the realm of my industry. He just happened to be at the show accompanying his wife but loved our product and was wondering if there would be a way to incorporate it into this major race. I told my husband that if there is - even if we make no money off of it - we're going to the race simply to be there and take part in the atmosphere because it'd be pretty cool.
5. Lastly, and thankfully, we did make enough money to cover the cost of this show. That was probably partly due to the the fact that the show was local for me so I cut out a huge amount of expense by not having to ship product, not having to fly down there, not have to pay for hotels, etc. So at the end of the day we at least came out even.

I'm waiting to hear back from one of my sales reps who took some of my product to a huge show in NYC this past weekend as well. It was a show we were thinking about going to next year so I'm very eager to hear how it turned out. Keep your fingers crossed that the reason I haven't yet heard is that she's knee-deep in new orders for us.

And lastly, this show helped me realize that sales really is not a strength of mine. To be really good at sales I think takes some real talent and skill and it's just not something I have. Mainly because I don't enjoy doing it. I LOVE to create the product, work on marketing, develop new product ideas, etc but really don't enjoy the sales end of things. I think I realized that I need to more seriously look at getting sales reps who will not only have relationships with their local stores but will also be able to make "housecalls" to those stores to showcase product, get reorders, etc. Thankfully my product pricing is such that I can handle having the 15% commission taken out and if they bring in more sales then it seems worth it to me and would free me up to focus on the things I do enjoy and am better at. And give me time to get back to my accounting which I've managed to ignore for the last quarter or so.

Introducing Jeanette

Let me introduce you to our newest sales person - Jeanette.

But first some backstory so you can truly understand how insane I really am.

Several years ago while working in a job I absolutely detested, I started making up different personalities for myself while on plane rides. Essentially, if the person seated next to me struck up a conversation rather than telling him/her what I actually did for a living (and hated with a deep passion) I would make up another career entirely. Sort of like trying on a career for an hour or two and then I'd discard it later. It was fun and better then talking about a job I hated.

Even though I love what I'm doing now, as my last post shows, I'm terribly emotionally (and financially) invested in this business and it's hard for me to have people walk by our booth and disregard it. So I've decided that rather than being "Founder" this weekend at the trade show I'm going to be Jeanette - a happy (perhaps even perky?) sales person who doesn't really have too much invested in the business. Granted, Jeanette obviously believes in the product and wants the business to succeed but if someone walks by and says something negative she doesn't take it personally because it's not her baby. Instead, like a good sales person, she'll shrug it off and look forward to the next person to talk to.

Yes, I know it sounds insane but I'm going to see how it works this weekend.

In other news - the trade show booth is all set up and ready to go first thing tomorrow morning. I'm a bit nervous about the fact that I'm literally in a back corner (this is one of the shows I don't get a say in where I'm placed) but I had some new professional photography blown up and put it up in the booth and had a fair amount of vendors today stop and check out the booth simply based on the photos. So we'll see...

Hopefully Jeanette will be a killer salesperson. Though if she is, does she get commission?

The Usual Course of Action

It's 48 hours before the tradeshow season officially begins and I'm doing my usual stress-out routine. For the record, in the last year of operation I've done a grand total of 2 trade shows. In the next two months I have four shows and the Emmy Awards so I'm feeling totally overwhelmed and just doing everything I can to keep my head above water.

A huge part of the stress is sitting here worrying that in the upcoming shows my product is going to be ignored - or worse - seen and then disregarded - and that just kills me. It's so hard to stand there for days on end feeling like you're being judged. Yes, I realize that it's not judgement but the opinion of each retailer as to whether the product fits into their store, their store design, and what their customers will purchase. But still, it feels like judgement.

I've been working like a dog to get ready for the shows (two of which start this weekend) which is serving as a very good lesson that should things go well, in 2008 I really need to hire at least one person to help me with production.

Course I'm terrified that these shows won't go well and...well...at what point do you stop throwing good money after bad.

Just frightened...and nervous...and stressed.

Big Accomplishment

Very proud of myself for today's big accomplishment. After weeks of working on it in bits and pieces (and, truthfully, procrastinating) I finally got our online store up and running. The good news is that it's live and appears to be working and doesn't necessarily look "cheap" despite the fact that it was put together on a very cheap budget. The bad news is that technically it's a subdomain of my web site so I have to have my web friend get it linked into the main site correctly since that's beyond my grasp of limited web knowledge - which means I have to wait until he has time in his schedule. So while the site may actually be live, no one going to my main web site can yet see it. If you want the shop address email me and I'll send it your way. :)

So very happy with today's accomplishment - despite the fact it took far longer then anticipated and kept me from doing 101 other things this afternoon - that I'm taking the dogs for a bath. They, as you might imagine, are now not as excited by today's accomplishment.

Online store and a bath - good work for a Friday.

Foiled...

by math. Yes, it's sad but true and those who know me well will agree. I am horrible at math. Lord only knows how I actually got into business school - aside of course from my good looks, witty humor, and the fact that there was no one else from my career path applying to school and they figured why not, it'll make for an interesting addition if nothing else.

Up until now I've been thinking that I had to support four trade shows in the next three months. I realized today that it's four in the next eight weeks. Ah - so not good at math.

Interestingly enough I was only going to be supporting three trade shows in the next eight weeks until the other day. I had planned to go to a trade show that was just outside my industry niche but from which there's been increasing interest in products like mine from retailers and consumers. It's in my home city so easy to get to and I've heard great things about it. Then I had also planned to go to a show in Vegas in September which will hopefully bring in a lot of southern california buyers who should, in theory, be interested in my products. And lastly we were headed to one of the biggest industry trade shows in Chicago in October.

Of course there are others that I've had my eye on but finances being - as always - tight - I figured that we'd see how this year goes (in truth, our first full calendar year of operation) and then reevaluate for 2008. The other day I got a call from one of my sales reps who wants to have our product in her booth at one of the biggest and most well-known luxury trade shows within our industry. The luxury market - for which we were created - is growing in leaps and bounds (hoping the economy doesn't collapse) and we had wanted to attend the show so now we've got a very cheap way to get in and see if it works. I'm a little hesitant about the fact that for the first time someone else will be representing our product but she promised me I can send her some cheat sheets to help keep the marketing message the same everywhere.

So we'll see...