One of those days

Today was one of those days I'm glad I work for myself. In a nutshell, we had a dog emergency here so I spent most of the day driving back and forth from the vet while also trying to reschedule house contractors amongst other things. Not a whole lot done today on the actual work front, but the pup is all better and everyone's happy.

Today's Favorite Web Resources

Want to hear about the exciting Friday night of an entrepreneur? I spent all night - and I mean all night - searching around on the internet. Let me explain, if you will, for a few minutes.

This is an interesting time for my business and I honestly feel as, yet again, we're 110% ahead of where we were last year with regards to the learning curve. Everyday this little dining room business is starting to feel more and more like a real business. The biggest evidence of that, to me atleast, is the fact that right now not only do we pretty much have the 2008 marketing plan and product launch schedule laid out, but the 2009 one is starting to come together as well. I'm starting to feel like we're a little less flying by the seat of our pants and much more trying to make strong strategic decisions that will hopefully pan out in the short-term but the focus really is about long-term brand awareness and, ultimately, brand trust.

Last night the "muse" struck me and I was inspired to try and figure out some of the nitty-gritty pieces of the 2009 product launch which includes trying to figure out a way to more easily make the new product. As much as I love all the energy and detail that goes into my current products, the new product is less detail oriented and I want to make it as operationally efficient as possible while still keeping everything inhouse.

So I spent all night online trying to figure out what type of equipment would be needed, what those costs would look like, and then trying to figure out if it's possible to get a used one at a cheaper price. The beauty of the internet is that you can find pretty much anything and after several hours of locating a few of the identified equipment I finally found one that was located on this side of the Rocky Mountains. In fact the closest I found was up in Canada just a few hours away. Gotta love the internet.

Even more interesting though was that I found an old Ebay listing for one that had been on sale here in the Seattle area that didn't look like it had sold. However, since it was an old listing I couldn't get any of the sellers information. So instead I put an ad on Craigslist under "Wanted Items" and lo and behold - the seller contacted me today! I'm still getting all the details of the sale but if it works out it may save me a trip across the border (not to mention I wasn't sure how I was going to explain the machine to border guards on the way back. It's not dangerous but I'm pretty sure I'd have to pay a tariff on it). So today's favorite website #1 is Craigslist - even for business stuff!

The second one is docstoc.com. Essentially docstoc is a user generated repository of business documents available for free download after you sign in as a member (membership is also free). A friend had asked today about finding a terms and condition document for the sale of her business and another had asked about a loan document and after I directed them to docstoc they both apparently found a boilerplate they chould change and apply to their respective businesses. I've played with it a bit and have been really happy with it thus far. Best of all, I haven't received any spam from them!

I'll throw in a third just because I received the samples today and am really impressed with how they look. If you're interested in "green" printing of any marketing materials take a look at greenerprinter.com. Let me reiterate that I haven't yet used them and they certainly are more expensive them just going with your normal everyday printer - but from the samples I received you can tell these guys do a great job of "green" printing (soy based inks, recycled paper, the entire company wind powered, etc) and are the printing company of choice for companies like Clif Bar. I'm trying to run through my remaining marketing material this year and will then get new pieces redesigned and reprinted next year so I will most likely use them. Check them out and order a free sample if you think this type of thing may be of interest to you.

Relationships Revisited...

Ok, so here's the backstory on the other entrepreneur. As you may or may not have read, this entrepreneur and I work in the same shared workspace and have become really good friends. We are very similar people and since we work so close (our workspaces are literally right next to one another) so we spend a lot of time talking about everything from our respective business to life philosophies to favorite books and movies. Since moving to this city two years ago she's become an incredibly close friend whose opinion and insight matter significantly to me.

One of the best things about our relationship from a business point-of-view is that we're very honest with one another and spend a lot of our time together bouncing ideas off the other. We joke that our relationship helps keep our respective husbands sane because then it means we don't have to constantly bounce all these ideas off of them (though we still end up doing that anyway). For me, working by myself, her ideas, resources, and feedback have proven invaluable in helping me grow my business.

Sadly, she has decided to close down her business. Keep in mind that she is a VERY accomplished corporate professional who, like many people, decided to change careers completely and start up something she believed in. She has done an incredible job not only developing a product that people love, identify with, and enjoy, but also a brand that actually has some weight behind it which is not an easy task to do in only one year.

But, like many entrepreneurs, she's burnt out and no longer loves the business like she once did. In truth (and for what it matters), I think she's doing the right thing. She and I have often talked about the definition of success and I've told her that my believe is that success if not defined by money (though it would be nice!) but by the fact she took the risk to start up something from scratch. So she's put the business up for sale and I'm hoping that she does find the perfect person to take "her baby" and grow it to the next step because what she's created is truly something special.

My friend said something very profound to me not too long ago as she realized the she needed to sell the business. She said that starting the business and running it for the past year was what she needed to do to take herself from one place in life(a bad emotional/mental spot) to the next. The business was a transition phase that helped get her mind, heart, and spirit ready for the next phase of her life which she is now really excited about. That truly is success.

So I'm really bummed that she's leaving but am really excited to see her take on this next phase.

Follow Ups

I'm going to try and give some updates on some earlier stuff I talked about if anyone's interested:

Relationships - January 18, 2008
I talked about how a relationship with one entrepreneur might help skyrocket my company given a talked about partnership agreement. Like many things I find in the entrepreneural world this has not come to pass. In fact, not only has it not come to pass but the other entrepreneur is shutting down her business. If I remember I'll talk more about that another day.

Google Adwords - February 5, 2008
I signed up and am running Google Adwords and while it hasn't gotten me a ton of business it has brought in some good wholesale leads which may or may not pan out. So far for the $50/month I'm putting into it I'm pretty happy. I had at one point thought about running a seperate ad for the new product I'm getting ready to release in the next 6 weeks but think instead I'll just replace the current ad with the new one since I'll be doing a fair amount of marketing to retailers at that time to the point which I don't think Google Adwords will bring in a significant amount of additional wholesale business.

Company #2 - February 14, 2008
It's going well, albeit slowly. I think there were a few weeks when both my business partner and I wanted it to go gangbusters but then we remembered that this is much more of a "hobby" business for the two of us then anything else so to just take it easy. We're about to start doing some marketing to retailers with the product so perhaps that will help move things along. However, I just found out that my business partner is moving to Denver. We're still going to keep the business up and running but we need to work out the logistics of who does what when.

Just In Time - March 12, 2008
I did send some of the new professional photos to the trade publication and they really seemed to like them. Enough so that I actually got a call from their reporter who asked me a bunch of questions. Hopefully we will be part of their article which is due to come out in May. Actually, the reporter was pretty excited when I told her about the new product (which will be released the beginning of May) so I have high hopes they'll do a good piece on the new product which should generate some interest (hopefully!). We're also going to be doing a mass mailing to 12,500 retailers at the beginning of May to promote the new product so I'm starting to worry about how much inventory I need to have on hand. 200 units? 500 units? 1500 units? More? I'm really not quite sure!

Lastly, at some point I mentioned that I there was a potential trademark infrigement on my company's name by another company (I can't for the life of me find that post). My trademark attorney sent their attorney a letter back in January letting them know that there was a potential trademark violation and we never heard back. That got me all fired up so we've put an injunction in with the trademark office which alerts the trademark office of a potential problem and puts their trademark application on hold for 90 days. So that is still unfolding...

As always there's a million and one other things going on as well but that's a good overview of where we currently stand. Now I need to get to work.

Restless Night

I barely slept at all last night and am paying for it today. The reason was that my husband had a meeting yesterday with an interesting product purveyor for a product that could be part of a very cool new product idea I have for my line I've been thinking about. Sadly, I'm horrible at turning my mind off at night and after I saw some product samples last night at dinner I got all excited which turned my mind on and I spent all night running through different thoughts and options. It'll definitely be something pretty unique and differentiated if I can pull it off but considering that I won't be releasing it until 2009 and have a big new product release in a month the least I can do is focus on the current product rather than letting the product pipeline keep me up at night.

I believe I just wrote the word "product" more time then anyone every thought was possible in one paragraph.

More on the Employment Front - employer and employee

I filed with the state this morning so that I'm actually legal to hire employees. Though it also means that now, regardless of whether or not I have an employee, I have to file quarterly employment taxes. Taxes of any sort make me really nervous so I'm less then keen on that front. I figure though that at least it will make me keep my Quickbooks updated on a more frequent basis.

Speaking of accounting...a funny story...as I'm sure you're aware everyone's favorite April 15th deadline is coming up and I needed the business CPA to file the Partnership Form/Schedule C from the business so that the losses from the business could flow through to my husband and my personal taxes. I was having a hard time reaching the business CPA and was getting antsy about 4-15 so finally contacted the CPA who has been doing my husband's taxes for years. Keep in mind that my husband and I just got married in July so this will be the first time we file jointly.

I call up my husband's CPA and explain that I need to have a Partnership Form/Schedule C filed and what type of documents does he need from me to accomplish that. "Do you keep books on the business?", he asks me. I just about laughed out loud and said that of course I had accounting books on the business and that did indeed file annual business taxes in January as required. Then I realized that he must run into his fair share of "wives who run a home-based business" but keep no type of accounting records whatsoever which is a little scary. It's also a little scary that for a moment or two my business was lumped in, in his mind at least, with those. Sometimes it's just hard to be taken seriously when you make no money.

And speaking of that, this weekend I was playing around on the internet and found what appears to be, at least via the internet listing, the 'perfect' little beach cottage just about 90 minutes from us. From the pictures and the description it really does seem quite perfect and something we'd probably totally jump on if I was working for someone else and bringing in the type of salary my peers are which is a bit of a bummer. More than anything else it was one of those times when the reality of my choices came to stare me in the face in a way that hurt* the family unit.

*I use the word hurt warily here because complaining about not being able to buy a beach cottage isn't exactly the end of the world. Trust me when I say I realize that my little family is in a very good spot right now and really happy. It was just one of those times when I wished I could have been making that type of income so as to be able to more seriously think about these opportunities without the entire weight of our financial lives riding on my husband's shouldars.

Looks like I'm an Employer

I got a call last night from Candidate #1 accepting the part-time position. Hooray! Hopefully this will be good fit and both of us will learn a lot from the experience. Though this means that top on my list of things to do this week is figure out the whole payroll - and the associated payroll taxes that go along with it - of being an employer.

Interview #1

Yesterday I met with the first candidate for the open part-time position my company has. It was an interesting experience being on the other side of the interviewing table. I've certainly interviewed candidates before but it was always to come in and work for the organization I was currently employed with - this was the first time I've ever interviewed to come work for me.

In a nutshell, she was really great and someone I think would do a good job and be a good personality fit to work with. She's finishing up her degree so is looking for some real world experience to beef up her resume. (On a tangent - looking at her resume reminded me of that time we've all gone through where you're desperate for someone to give you a break so you can have something else on your resume aside from part-time jobs in retail or summer positions lifeguarding.)

Given where she is in her life and career, I want to give her as well-rounded an opportunity as possible while working for me but, sadly, I also realize that my chances of holding onto her long-term are small. I realize that she's most likely looking at this as another stop on her resume that will give her the experience necessary to get bigger and better jobs. That being said, I don't hold it against her at all since my company is small and offers little in terms of room for advancement or those fun things like benefits (though I am offering an above-average hourly rate). I know that if I were in her situation I'd be doing exactly the same thing.

My hope is to one day grow the company to the point where I could have a handful of people on full-time. In reality I'd love to grow it to the point where I had a whole staff but for some reason the idea of hiring people to work for me is really scary and I've been taking very very slow steps to this point. I think it has something to do with the fact that I'll be giving up some of the product quality control to another person so it's a matter of learning to trust that another person can do this job as well - if not better - then I can. I'm also pretty worried about the fact that despite my MBA training - I've never had a good manager in my career (which is probably one of the key reasons I opted to go out on my own) so I'm worried that I haven't actually learned the skills necessary to manage people effectively.

But I'm committed to trying to work on my weaknesses this year in addition to building the business - in fact I think if I can work on them it should add to the business significantly. And one of my big weaknesses is managerial skills so now's the time to jump in and get my feet wet.

After our meeting I told Candidate #1 to think about it for a day or two and give me a call so hopefully I'll hear something one way or another by the beginning of next week. In the meantime I need to get myself registered with the state to employ workers and figure out what the best options are with regards to payroll which will be another post in and of itself. If anyone has any suggestions on any of this I'd love to hear it as I'm feeling slightly outside outside my comfort zone.

Ode to Office Max

In truth it should be an ode to Office Max, Fedex Kinkos, UPS, and all those other businesses without whom I don't know how I would manage. Closest to my heart truly is Fedex Kinkos and thankfully there one just up the road from me that's open 24 hours. It's a beautiful thing and I seem to spend a decent amount of time there.

They have all the equipment that makes life as an entreprenuer easy. I can print things out in full 4-color on powerful laser printers that would cost me several thousand not to mention not fit up my stairs to my office. I can get everything and anything laminated - who doesn't want to laminate! But best of all is the fact that they have all the latest Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator software which means I can play graphic designer to my heart's content. At $18/hour it is significantly cheaper than laying out the cash for both of those programs on my own and it also gives me just the slightest bit of outside world contact on the days when the only time I talk is when I beg the dogs to stop digging up the yard.

Have I mentioned how much I love photoshop and illustrator? I sometimes wish I was a graphic artist but, truthfully, I do not have the right talents to be a success in that industry. More frighteningly though, I have just enough knowledge to be dangerous with both of those. So much fun trying to be creative!

I figure if I could just talk my local FedEx Kinkos to install a coffee shop I could probably stay there all day. Figuring that this is Seattle you would have thought that they would have already installed one!

Speaking of coffee shops, tomorrow I'm interviewing my first potential new employee in...a coffee shop. I'll let you know how it goes.

Words From The Wise

Some would say that the entrepreneurial spirit is in my blood since my grandmother started and ran her own business for 38 years before finally retiring. Keep in mind that when she started her business, women didn't typically work let alone start and run their own business.

I talked to her the other day and one of the things we chatted about was what it really is like to run one's own business. She agreed that starting up a business is the hardest thing you'll ever do but if you love what you're doing you really wake up every day and are happy to go to work even when times are tough. She said that she learned so much during her time as a business owner - many times learning from mistakes she had made (sometimes costly mistakes) - that the business was always interesting and challenging to her. She also mentioned that the reputation she built in her town (she ran a retail store) carried far beyond the walls of her store and to this day people continue to mention that they remember buying from her and vendors still respect her for the fact that she always paid them on time even if it meant she wasn't able to pay herself.

Since my last post was about hiring help I do have to mention that my grandmother - with no actual managerial experience before she started the company - was able to create a family-like atmosphere where the women who worked for her were excited and motivated to come to work and do their best. That's no easy task.

Keep in mind that my grandmother didn't make millions from her retail operation. This isn't a $0 - $12M story. She was an ordinary woman who started a business at a time when those options weren't open to women (I think she once told me that my grandfather basically had to co-sign everything b/c the banks really didn't trust women's money-management skills) and made a decent living doing something she loved. She was happy, she was challenged, and she made a difference in the community which she lived and worked. That's pretty impressive!

Course I am biased since she is my grandmother.

The Search Begins

After many many months of saying I need production help but hesitating on making the final move I've finally gotten my act in gear and begun the search. I'm trying to avoid the mistake I made last year of saying that I'd hire on help in the late summer only to realize that by that time of year I'm too busy with production for the Fall (major tradeshows) and Holiday season that I don't have the time to train someone. My hope is this year to bring someone on part-time early second quarter so that by the time things really get rolling full-steam in the summer I have someone who knows exactly what's going on. And if things get busy enough I can have them work on the very technical aspects of my products and hire other folks to work on the more basic steps.

Now though begins the tough part of finding the right person to help me out. Is it wrong to say that I'm hoping the slowing economy makes it easier to find the right someone? I already approached one woman I know through another entrepreneur but haven't heard anything back so I'm going to begin the search next week by posting with the local community colleges and if that doesn't work then go the Craigslist route since the type of position I'm trying to fill is more of a "work with your hands" then "sit at a desk" type job.

The trouble is that while my work is technically challenging to the right person, I think that my product category - since it falls just outside the norm - may scare off any skilled community college kids which is why I think I may end up going the Craigslist route. Ideally I'd love to hire a stay-at-home mom who wants to make some extra money since the hours I need help would be during school hours - someone who is responsible, has attention-to-detail, and is not necessarily going to flit off one day because the coffee shop down the street just hired the "omg cutest boy eva and I could like totally work with him and then he'd fall in love with me and we can spend all day reciting poetry to one another." But we'll have to see what the job search turns up.

The good news is that I'm pretty sure the hourly rate I'd be willing to pay - to the right person - is a little higher then the industry norm and, from what I've heard, other hourly positions in the area. I do believe in paying the right people well and, god willing we turn a profit, also letting them partake in a bit of the company's success, but it is a nerve-wracking position to be at that point where cash is tight (as always), be thinking of hiring someone which will be an added expense and - the hardest part for control-freak me - trusting that I can hire someone who will be able to have the same focus on product quality as I do. Not to mention the uncertainty that I'll be able to adequately manage someone so that they're motivated, challenged, and want to do their best possible work for me.

Though I can't lie that I'm also finding huge irony in the fact that someone (or people) working for me will be drawing a larger salary out of the company then I am.

Just In Time

I got the photos in my hot little hands on Monday which was just in time for a number of projects that managed to crop up over the weekend. First of all I had the editor of one of the larger industry trade publications contact me saying that they're doing an upcoming story on products similar to ours and wanted to include us in on the article and could I send her pictures. I told her we were having new professional photos taken and I would get them to her ASAP (which is what I've spent all morning doing). She was very excited as many people in my industry - sad to say - don't spend the money on professional photos and obviously a well-lite and well-shot photo makes all the difference in magazines. I'm hoping that the new photos help get us closer to making the "final round" of companies that make the cut for the article as the timing would almost perfectly coincide with the new product's release and the big direct mail campaign I'm going prior to one of the big spring trade shows. All that press this time of year (when I'm typically slower) could really help boost 2nd quarter sales.

Over the weekend I also happened to randomly hear that the Martha Stewart Show was going to be doing an upcoming feature on products that are closly related to mine. It's a bit of a stretch and the odds are about as good as my winning PowerBall but I figured that since I play PowerBall when it gets over $250M that the Martha Stewart Show as equivalent to that $300M PowerBall so I might as well throw my hat in the ring and see what happens. So in yesterdays mail out went a FedEx package containing said new product, a thoughtfully crafted letter, and some photos of the final product. Like I said, it's a real long shot but you can't win if you don't play, right?

Photos!

I just got back from our FANTASTIC photo shoot with our new professional photographer. One of the main things I'm trying to do this year, in addition to launching a few new products and getting them onto store shelves, is to upgrade all our marketing material so that what people see via website, marketing brochures, trade show setup, etc, is in line with the brand we've created. The brand is currently seen as an upscale, high-end product but much of our marketing material is truly "middle-market" so it all needs to be brought up to speed.

One of the key steps to achieving that is to get new professional photos since the last time we had real photos taken was two years ago. I went in today with a list of shots we had to have and a list of shots I'd love to get and walked out with all those and more. My photographer was wonderful and I'd tell him what I envisioned using each picture for and he would get it set up and looking wonderful. I just saw the pictures as they flashed on the computer screen but I'm over-the-moon happy with what I saw and can't wait to pick up the proofs and the disc on Monday.

One thing that did make the photos really "pop" was due to a tip another entreprenuer gave me. Photographers obviously have lots of backdrops and props in their studio but this friend recommended I hit up Papersource and Impress (fancy paper stores) and buy a small stash of anything unique that caught my eye. We ended up using the paper I bought today in the more artistic shots since I specifically bought that paper with various products in mind. At the end of the day it cost me approx $30 for the paper and the return was some amazing looking shots that I just know are really going to stand out in advertisements and blow people away at trade shows.

Not to mention that at the end of the day he charged me *far* less then I was expecting to get charged. We had talked about price initially but with photographers, obviously, a lot of the price is dependent both on time in studio as well as post-production. At the end of todays shoot he gave me a better idea of the price range we were playing in and it's less then I anticipated. I also found out that he offers his services up at an upcoming silent auction I'm planning to attend so I plan on trying to secure his services once again as I know I'll be needing more photos again at some point.

If anyone would like the name of a really great product and food photographer (he does the "menu" food shots for Nordstrom) in Seattle let me know.

Getting It All Together

Ug - it's 8:40am and I haven't yet actually made it to my workspace despite the fact that for the last two hours I have been doing work. Sometimes the little things (mainly - paying bills, canceling old merchant account, instituting new merchant account, etc) take so much time!

I'm trying to get all the little bits and pieces of the business that sometimes have a tendancy to fall through the cracks together and organized. Since repainting the extra bedroom I've been very slowly turning it into an organized office space - very slowly! And for now the dining room table continues to serve as my main office but looks like an office that a tornado ran through.

I have a professional photo shoot set up for tomorrow for our new products so perhaps on Friday I'll have a chance to get that office organized. I'm excited for the shoot though so I'll let you know how it goes!