Scary

Happy Halloween! Hope you're enjoying the ghouls, goblins, and other assorted monsters. Or I hope you're enjoying dressing up as one.

Scary work is afoot here in the "home office." I was in our production space all day and now am back at the office working through Quick Books - that bane of my existance. I have an appt with my accountant in a month and I've been absolutely horrible about keeping my books up to date. It's been hanging over my head and I just wanted to get it back into shape so I've committed tonight to starting work on it.



Yes, just "starting" because I realized after looking at what I last did (4 months ago), I had to go back to square one and basically backtracked to 1/1/2007 and am slowly working forward through the year. I've made it through the first quarter and hope to get through second quarter tonight. It's actually not going too poorly since I had already inputted most entries through the end of second quarter. So after that large order goes out a week from Tuesday I'm dedicating Thurs and Friday of that week to getting the Quick Books the rest of the way up to date which I imagine will take significantly longer.



You'd think I would have learned my lesson by now. I keep saying that I want to update it every month when my statements come in but I just got so busy these past few months I haven't had time. That's definitely going to be one of my New Year's resolutions.



Anyway, Happy Halloween one and all!

New and Red!

See my new computer! And yes, it's red. I'm so excited! It showed up today and I can't wait to break into it.

Why haven't I done so already? Well, I'm a bit of a technophobe so I'm waiting for my better half to come home and help get me started. I realize these things are pretty foolproof but I'm still worried I'll do something stupid and screw it up.

Nonetheless, I'm really excited about the new computer. I need to find a good name for it and then it will be all ready to join the ranks of "My Company."

Just When I Thought...

Just yesterday I was telling my better half that I was through the worst of it with regards to orders and that after tomorrow's orders - which are ready and waiting by the door - get picked up then it would really just be a small push for the next two weeks and then I'd really just be focused on building up inventory before we take off on our (belated) honeymoon in December.

And then today I got a rather impressive order. Actually, not only is it the biggest order to date - it doubles what we did all of last year (though keep in mind last year we were really only up and running for 4th quarter). Have I mentioned that I have no inventory? So yeah, it's going to be a really really busy next two weeks.

In fact, I'm calling up the reserves and have harnessed the power of some friends to come in and help me package up the product as that's just as time consuming as making the product itself. There's just no way, short of going the next two weeks without sleep, that I could get this order filled without them.

But truthfully, it's a pretty nice problem to have, isn't it? Much better than sitting here with a ton of product and no one wanting it. Plus I think this sale will push us up to our sales goal for this year which is fantastic. The only thing that has me worried is that I just started a promotion with one of my reps which, if retailers like it, could really put me up a creek.

So while I really did do a decent job of not working too much this past weekend - maybe only 20% of the time - it looks like the next two weekends that percentage will be closer to 75%.

Weaning from Weekends

I had an interesting conversation the other day with another small entreprenuer in my kitchen space. She said that she doesn't work on weekends. GASP!??!

Not work on weekends, how does anyone do that? I wondered.

I can't tell you the last time I didn't do some work over a weekend. Oh wait, I can - it was the weekend I was in NYC for a wedding and didn't have my computer with me. Even the weekend I was away doing an Ironman I actually did work as well. So that recent wedding and my wedding back in July were probably the two last times I didn't do some sort of work on a weekend.

Now granted I think that part of being an entrepreneur is that you're most likely the type to let work consume you if you let it. But I'm going to try and see how much of my weekend I can keep to myself over the next two days. Sadly, I already know that I have some work that needs to get done so I can't go completely cold turkey (besides, I would probably have some pretty severe withdrawel symptoms if I did) - but I'm going to try and get away with just doing what's needed to get me off to a good start next week and not necessarily spend all free time working on some aspect of the business or another.

We'll see how it goes...for starters I'm going to sit down with a glass of wine tonight and try to finally get through my wedding photos to figure out which ones I want to buy.

Lack of Focus

In truth I'm not really procrastinating today - more like I'm having trouble staying focused enough to see tasks through to completion. This morning I was supposed to go into my production space but got caught up checking the internet to see what the suspicious lump on my dog's leg could be (most likely from her recent vaccinations) and then decided that I really needed to reorganize my recipes. I managed to get about 2/3 of the way through that task before finally going down to my production space.

I got a little work done there until I decided that I really needed to head to the grocery store to pick up some goodies for tomorrow night's dinner. Tomorrow is my better half's birthday and I've promised him - after weeks of being ignored - that I'll make it all up to him tomorrow with a really yummy beef brisket and his favorite Red Velvet cake!

While picking up the items in the store I came across all their Halloween accessories which are now on drastic sale. And this is where this post swings back into the real of entrepreneurship and business ownership...it dawned on me that if all goes as planned and we release a new product geared towards Halloween/Fall this time next year it would help to have some Halloween accessories to use in the booths at our Fall trade shows. And I realized it would be far cheaper to get the stuff now then try to find it at the end of August next year. So I picked up a few cheap items that I think will work and, if at worst, they don't, then I'm really only out $8.

And I got a flu shot while at the grocery store! But I forgot to get the beef for tomorrow's dinner. Yeah - one of those days!

DONE!

The first wave of orders is out the door! Sweet relief! I think the tally was 21 orders in the last seven days. I know it doesn't sound like much to some - but given that these are wholesale orders as opposed to single retail orders means that every order has many many many componants so they took longer to pull together.

I still have a second wave that has to go out early next week - not to mention the fact that I just got two more orders and two more requests for information - and then a third wave to go out the second week of November. But I honestly think the worst of it is over and I'm taking the afternoon to breath, reclaim the house (which doubles as my packaging and mailroom), and take stock of where I am with production (all of it's gone) and where I need to be both in terms to fill these next two waves of orders and in terms of getting a slight lead on the holiday season. Though since I'm mostly wholesale orders I'm hoping that the holidays shouldn't be too nuts for me and that the truly nutso part is right now.

Phew - feels good to have that first wave out!

Free Time...HA!

If you're thinking of starting up your own business so you have more free time let me tell you that it's a giant GIANT lie. I have spent ALL last week and all weekend (my birthday weekend nonetheless) getting out these show orders. After tomorrow I should be through the worst of it but it's literally been 10-14 hours daily on my feet. Worst of all, it's infiltrating my dreams!

Good News Bad News

As I mentioned before, the good news is that we had a really really good show. Course now that means I'm rushing around like mad trying to get all the orders out by next week and it turns out I'm about 1710 units short of one product. Our new product turned out to be much more in demand then I anticipated! Thankfully it's not horribly labor intensive - but this does mean I'm in for a long week of long nights trying to get everything made and packaged and shipped.

The bad news is that one of my packages from my packaging company is backordered and won't be in until 11-23. Not good! Now I have to reach out to my orders and find out if they want to wait or cancel that part of their order. It's not the worst thing that could happen but it's definitely not great. Again, it's a new product so I just had no idea and obviously the inventory I prepared with is not enough.

Going to be a busy week!

Home Again Home Again

It's good to be home! I got back earlier this afternoon from my 10 day stint around the country which ended with the Chicago tradeshow. I'm tired and my computer is running out of juice so I have to keep this short but just wanted to say that the tradeshow was a HUGE success. We more than doubled our results on any other show and, interestingly enough, made 400% more in the last three days then I made in 2006. Definitely reason for celebration. But celebration has to wait until after I get all the orders out the door! It's going to be a really really busy next week (or more if it takes more time!).

On the plane I was thinking about the fact that last year at this show the majority of my orders were <$75 per order while at this show the average is - at first glance - most likely around $150 per order. The difference is due, I believe, to the fact that I created "sampler" packages for retailers. For example, let's say my company offers chocolate fudge, vanilla fudge, and mint fudge. At last year's show I had minimums for each flavor so if retailers wanted to bring the fudge into their store they had to buy, for example, a dozen of each flavor. Many retailers were hesitate to bring that much "untested" fudge into their store so would choose to only bring one flavor in. This time around I offered retailers a few sampler packages (of varying sizes) which enables them to bring in all three fudge flavors without having to buy the minimum of each. For retailers it provides piece of mind that they can bring in this "untested" product without spending a significant amount of money. But the sampler package costs cost more than simply the minimum of one fudge flavor so rather than paying $30 for one dozen fudge pieces the retailer is paying $75 for 28 fudge pieces.

Ok, I'm not sure that math totally makes sense but you get the idea I hope. Anyway, very good show and I'll be busy for the next few weeks! By the way - I do not make or sell fudge. But I'd love some if anyone has a good recommendation!

Tradeshow Day 1

Just got back from a nice little 12-hour day at first day of the last (hooray!) tradeshow of the year. All in all the first day was pretty successful. We had a bunch of people come by and pick up material which is typical for the first day and hopefully we'll have a good attrition rate and a fair number of those folks returning over the next two days to place actual orders. We also had a decent amount of new retailers place orders today and a good number of folks come up to us and say "oh, I've heard of you before" which is validating.

Most exciting however was probably the first person who stopped by our booth this morning. Without giving away too much information, it was from a large chain retailer (though not as large as a Target or the like) specific to this industry and even more specific to my niche. I honestly thought that they produced everything inhouse but in the last year the company was bought and new management took over. It was the CEO who stopped by our booth this morning and seemed sincerely interested in potentially bringing our product into some of their stores. It may, as I've found, come to nothing at the end of the day but it's always exciting to have that as an option. Always good to have options, right?

But at the same time I'm tired, been traveling far too long, and have those moments that I'd be willing to sell the company to the first person who asked. Thankfully they are only brief moments and I've so far managed to regain sanity before anyone comes looking to buy.

Letting Go

So I fired my PR company. Trust me it was not nearly as easy as I made it sound. But first, the backstory:

I hired a PR firm in early summer after interviewing a number of them truly believing that the one I chose would help me get a tremendous amount of publicity which would in turn help build the brand equity. Between then and last week they got me precisely one radio spot on a local radio station. During that same time period I got (without even trying but simply through contacts I had who contacted me) four print pieces and one national radio spot (albeit all were within my industry) for or about the company. If you do the math - their one radio spot cost me more than the annual rental cost of my production space whereas my 4 print pieces and one radio spot cost the company nothing (though one could argue that I should be getting paid for my time - which hopefully will happen one day).

I'm incredibly frustrated that I spent all that money this year - money that could have gone to so many other things.

But that's what I'm learning running a small business is all about. While you do your absolute best to make the right decisions based on a combination of knowledge, know-how, and gut instinct - at the end of the day there's still a fairly large amount of trail and error and sometimes, as in this case, you error.

What's the plan from here on? I really believe PR is a huge asset to a company but I will most likely be bringing it "in-house" after the new year. I'm right now looking into getting a PR Newswire subscription in 2008 and once I have a chance to investigate that a little further I'll let you know what I find.

Another Goals Post

(Please excuse the cheesy photo - I thought this post needed something a little "extra"). I was recently contacted by an export company about potentially exporting my products overseas. Like anything, I'm finding, it's not nearly as easy as it looks between deciding whether this is a company I want to work with (under a 5 year contract) plus all the bits and pieces of bureaucracy that I have to get through simply to get the product ready for export.

And truthfully, I'm somewhat scared. Scared that I won't make the right decision with this. Scared that neither I nor the company are ready for this next step. And at the same time scared that this is a huge opportunity that I may potentially pass on.

Obviously I need to know more about the opportunity itself (have a phone call scheduled for Wends) but I think at the crux of it I need to reorganize my thoughts and figure out exactly what I want out of the company in the next 1, 3, and 5 years and then see if this fits in with that plan. Hoping to have some time today (while on the train from NYC to Philly) to put some of my thoughts in order in the hopes that it will give me a little more clarity in this and other matters. Guess I'm feeling a little lost right now as to what my goals really are which makes it very tough to accurately weigh potential future opportunities.

Rethinking Goals

This is actually a tag-on to the earlier post about thinking like the cake guy...so let's talk goals.

When I started this company I laid out a set of financial goals and an overreaching goal of becoming "the" luxury brand within my very specific niche. And I laid our financial goals for the first and second year which I did alter based on quarterly results.

But what I haven't done - and need to do - is come up with other short term goals. And I think those goals need to be two-fold. On the one hand they do need to encompass the short-term financial goals, the steps I want to take to grow the business (and help meet those financial goals), and other business strategy goals. But at the same time I think that I need to have "personal" goals when it comes to the business. Things that my not be as tangible as end financial goals but will help me remember, even when things get really tough, that progress is still being made.

I also think I want to make out a five-year plan so I can lay out - to the best of my ability - how I get from where we are to where I want us to ultimately be and what my role in that is going to be.

I'm leaving tomorrow night for a ten-day trip that starts on the west coast, takes me to three cities on the east coast, and finally lands me in the last trade show of the year in Chicago before coming home again. My hope is that sometime in all of that - since I won't be able to be using my production space - I can sit down and better articulate these thoughts onto paper. That and get a new rough draft of my business plan (version 2.0) completed. Those are my first two new short-term goals.

And Then...

I got a new copy of a new industry publication (consumer publication for my niche) and right in the front of the magazine - which by the way appears to be a really nice new magazine, great editorial and wonderful layout/photos - is a HUGE picture of one of our products. I mean we really have the entire page to ourselves. It's like a big beautiful ad - only it's editorial!

I'm leaning towards - if I have any money to do it - creating an ad budget for next year to target to a few of these consumer and business pubs in my industry. Editorial like this certainly encourages me to buy ad space when/if I can afford it!

Blustery

The weather outside is frightful! Not a winter frightful - a true fall frightful. If Halloween were today this would be absolutely perfect weather for the ghoules and goblins. Truly frightful weather.

Which makes it the perfect day to stay indoors and get stuff done. And there is a ton and a half of stuff to get done. The past few days I've been busy trying to get all our Las Vegas orders out the door (they all finally shipped today), get everything shipped out to Chicago that has to go to a trade show out there, and continue to work on building up inventory before what will hopefully be a busy third quarter. Not to mention trying to pack up for a wedding on the east coast this weekend and prepare to take my older dog into the vet tomorrow for a teeth-cleaning (the type of deep cleaning where they've got to put her under to get it done).

Perhaps it's the weather that's making me cranky but for the past day or so I've totally been in a "I'd be willing to sell" mood. As my husband rightly said - if you didn't feel that way every so often I'd worry that you weren't taking this seriously. I knew it would be hard, but I honestly didn't think it would be this hard. Yes, the production end of things is hard physically, but for me it's more of the day-in and day-out always thinking about the business, working on building the business etc. It just never ends!

Yes, I'm whining...I'll shut up now...