Breath

...just breath....

A few weeks ago I got an email from a "bigger company." Actually they are a BIG COMPANY but are looking to launch a new section into some of their stores that has to do with my product line. It's not a complete launch into all of their stores which is why they are just referred to as "bigger" and not BIG. But in truth, it's BIG compared to the independent retailers I'm used to working with. Anyway, they were interested in seeing some of our products so I sent along a catalogue and heard nothing. Figured the usual, nothing was really going to come of this, so didn't put too much thought into it. The other day, after a really poor night's sleep, I decided to follow up (again) with a(nother) phone call and this time I got a response in under two hours. Turns out the person I had been dealing with had been moved onto something else and I now had a new contact person. Let's just say, she's a go-getter and seems really excited to bring our products into the store.

So I went from thinking this wasn't going to happen to thinking that she may order in several thousand dollars worth of merchandise for the holiday season and while it would make it hard work given the time crunch it could be done. Then today she emailed me a preliminary list of products and quantities along with a request for samples (which are going out Express tomorrow) - let's just say that the amount she's talking about would be more than my company's total 2007 revenue.

Breath....

It's exciting, it's overwhelming, it will be a logistical and operational nightmare. Then add to it that I leave on Wedns for the last of the season's tradeshows and typically come home really busy from it (though given the current economy who knows!). Regardless, I can't let this fall through the cracks. It's too good for the business. So I've sent along the information she requested and the samples as well as a reminder that all of our stuff is handmade so if she wants it by the holidays I need to get to work on it ASAP.

It's really exciting...it's really overwhelming. I vacilate between focusing on it and all the moving pieces that would need to be pulled into place and going to friends' blogs so that I can stop my warpspeed brain by losing myself in someone else's world. I'm thinking that I need to stop the pain pills so that I can start drinking again. Either that or start taking more pain pills.

Breath...

Getting Ready for the Wind

The wind of the Windy City that is. Though so as not to be accused of spreading a myth, Chicago was nicknamed the Windy City not because of the wind whipping off Lake Michigan (which, trust me, it does with a gusto in February!) but because the politicians were considered long-winded. There's your random fact for the day!

History lesson aside, I am getting ready to head to Chicago for the season's last tradeshow. This is my third time going to this show but, sadly, for the first time I actually had to rent a hotel room. For the past two years I've stayed with friends of mine but it appears they've now all left the midwest. It's really too bad because nothing makes a tradeshow more manageable then knowing that at the end of every day you're going to get to catch up with friends on a comfy couch with a glass of wine before retiring to a soft bed. This year I will be enjoying the comforts of the Crowne Plaza.

The other bummer is that my hotel, like the convention itself, is out by the airport. Rosemont, for those who know Chicago, is lightyears away from Chicago in terms of being able to take advantage of what the city has to offer. And one of my favorite things in years past has been to go back to my favorite city haunts (I did my two years of business school in Chicago so I know the city decently well and absolutely love it...expect when it's cold enough to freeze my car doors shut...then I wasn't so thrilled with living there). While I know that I could jump on the el and get downtown, trying to do that from Rosemont after the show closes at 6pm everyday and with a broken leg just isn't going to happen. Which means that I'm stuck in Rosemont and the glory of O'Hare.

While I know the area is used to holding conventions and hosting business travelers, I'm fairly confident that I'll be able to find some decent food for dinner at the end of the show everyday. It's during the show I'm a little more worried about. In year's past I used to stop at a Panera Bread as I drove to the show and picked up a huge fresh salad which I would munch on during the show. Yummy and healthy. Since I won't have a car and there doesn't appear to be a Panera within crutching distance, it means I'm left to fend for myself for lunch from the selection offered at the Convention Center. For all the strides that Chicago has made in the culinary world, the convention center is very much stuck in the "cafeteria" type food mindwarp that just doesn't sit well with my stomach. The solution? I'm bringing snack foods with me that are healthier and will hopefully keep me from starving during the day. In fact, on today's to do list is "Make Chex Mix." Ok, maybe not so healthy but it is good and will keep me happy.

Where's My Coffee?

I always forget how exhausting tradeshow season is. Every day is filled with making product for orders, filling orders, shipping orders, billing orders, and then turning around and starting all over. Yes, this is exactly what a company wants to be doing all the time but during tradeshow season it's done at a frenetic pace and still it doesn't feel like we're keeping up. Then add to it the final packing of items that have to go to the next trade show, the sending out of marketing material, and basically trying to keep all bills paid on time while also maintaining your sanity is just exhausting. Then try doing all of that with a broken leg.

Which brings me to a really important lesson I've learned through all of this. Having help - and being able to ask for help - is priceless to a business. As I think I've mentioned, my mom is in town helping (for three weeks - basically from one show through to the next) and I've also hired someone who comes in and does packaging twice a week. Between the three of us we've been able to pound out a ton of inventory and get the shelves stocked and ready for orders to ship out. Plus my mom and I have shipped out a ton of orders that had to go out already so things are running smoothly - and they definitely wouldn't have been without the help.

The other day I also ended up grabbing another part-time employee from another person in my workspace who was going on vacation. He worked with us this past week and will help out again on Monday. Thanks to his help we've honestly been able to get more done then I ever anticipated. So while I'm still frustrated by how slow I am thanks to the broken leg, I've learned how much more can get done when you hire the right people to help (should be an obvious point but it was one I was hesitant to learn).

It's a good lesson to learn. Especially given that we received a call from a bigger company yesterday who may be interested in bringing in some of our products for the holidays season. Not on the magnitude of BIG COMPANY but enough that it would be a really good test of our operational system and how fast we can turn product around if needed. I'm excited for the possibility of the exposure it could give my company and the revenue it could bring in, but also excited to see how I would figure out the operational needs of the company to be able to meet the deadline. In the meantime though, I'm going to go get some coffee.

The Big Question

Despite trying to read reassuring things into my dreams, what impact is this economy going to have on my business? My product is not a necessity - I know that clearly. And a large portion of my buyers are retailers who count on some level of credit (be it credit cards or lines of credit) to fund the spending they need to bring product into their stores. We're not there yet but at what point do you look at the economy and say that throwing money into a small business is not the best financial move. (Then again, throwing it into a big bank also doesn't seem like the best financial move.)

I won't lie, I'm a little bit scared. I'm scared about how this is going to impact the immediate short-term of my company with one of the industry's biggest tradeshows next week. I'm scared about the longterm of my business. And I'm scared that perhaps I made the wrong decsion and had I been working for a big company for the past few years out of business school at least we would have more money in the bank (again, not that that's necessarily a safe place these days, but you know what I mean). And I'm scared that if things go horribly wrong (more so then currently) that I've backed myself into a corner where I'm not highly employable especially when up against other MBAs who have been in the "outside" job market for several years.

Fun nightime thoughts...good times!

Dream Interpretation

I had a really odd dream last night. Most likely not connected to business at all but odd enough that it still has me thinking about it.

At some point in the middle of the night I dreamt that I was at a swim meet getting ready to compete in the 200yard freestyle. As a little background, I've swum competatively all my life - including college - and the 200 free was one of my events. As another little piece of background, dreams about swimming are usually my anxiety dreams. In those dreams I am typically at a meet and can't find my cap or goggles prior to my event. Other races are being swum and it's getting closer and closer to my turn but I can't find those blasted cap or goggles anywhere. When I have those dreams I've found that I'm typically vexing over something or another in my waking life and it's spilling over into my dreams.

This swimming dream was different. In this dream I was in Lane 1 waiting to start the 200 yard freestyle. This was the trials of trials/finals meet (as in, if you had one of the top 8 times from trials you would come back and swim finals) and as I stood there before the blocks I was totally calm. Somehow I knew that I was going to make it back to finals that night and I also knew that I was going to swim a 1.51.89 (one minute, fifty-one seconds, 89 tenths). For the record, the fastest I ever did swim a 200 was 1.51.99 (just under the 1.52 wire!) so somehow knowing that I was going to PR at trials and that the time would be good enough to have me competing at finals seems like a huge leap of confidence. But I stood there and I just knew that to be the case.

Sadly, I never did get to watch myself swim the race in my dreams. Given that I'm still two weeks away from being allowed back in the water - and likely four+ months away from being allowed to dive off a starting block - I don't see myself doing a 1.51 200 yard free anytime soon. I would have enjoyed watching and experiencing the race in my dream.

So how to bring it around to business? Now this is a long shot so bear with me, but I've been thinking this morning about how my swimming dreams are usually related to anxiety and much of that time it's related to the business. Perhaps this is my body & mind's way of telling me that everything is going to work out just fine. Even better than fine, you're going to have a PR so not to worry about it. Just stand behind the starting block confident that you are going to do what's needed to be done to be successful. It's a nice thought, isn't it? Course then again, perhaps it was the drug cocktail I need to take to sleep pain free every night? Nah, I'll go with Option A.

Now Waiting

I sent off said email to BIG BOX today after agonizing and rewriting it all weekend. I finally had it narrowed down to a trim three lines that (hopefully!) reminded them who I was and what our product was and then (hopefully!) piqued their interest in a potential future product release. After having it checked and rechecked by multiple proofreaders (my husband and mother) I finally sent it off this morning.

Now I'm trying to keep myself calm and remind myself that I'm likely looking at a week or more before they even get back to me. Of course, the highly unprofessional part of me - the part that loves immediate gratification - is whining about how come they haven't answered my email yet, maybe I should have reworded the email, perhaps I should have approached them another way?

Yeah, as usual my lack of patience is making me a blast to be around. (then add to that the broken leg and limited mobility...don't you wish you were here!)

Crafting the Next Big Thing

I'm in the midst of crafting a follow-up email to some BIG buyers. Here's the brief story:

While at the tradeshow last week two people came over to the booth oohing and aahing over our products. They loved the products and the packaging. Turns out, they admitted on the sly, that they were one of the BIG BOX retailers (they admitted it on the sly since many in the industry see them as BIG BAD - no they are not a "W" company). Personally I have no qualms with the BIG BOX retailer because it's one that we shop at to begin with and I think they're doing a good job given their market and customer base. While they were visiting the booth I had an interesting conversation with BIG BOX about their future plans for the company and their new focus on working with smaller entrepreneurs. Interesting...very interesting.

Of course the minute they left my mind began swirling about the various ways my business could leverage that information and could we possibly angle ourselves to be the next entrepreneur said BIG BOX works with. I have some ideas but while I pull them together to see if they look as good in reality as they do in my head, I wanted to drop an email to BIG BOX to basically remind them that they met me at the show and pique their interest in what we may be able to offer them. In my usual ocd way, I've written and rewritten the three line email numerous times and finally think I have a version that says what I want it to say without sounding A. overconfident or B. desperate for their business. It's a fine line to walk between those two!

Now that I finally have the email to where I want it I'm almost anxious for Monday to roll around so that I can send it out. I know enough not to pin my hopes onto this and the chances of this thing actually coming to fruition is slim to none. But it's still nice to think about the possibilities, right? (Actually, the operations and production challenges scare the daylights out of me when I stop to think about those implications so I choose not to worry about those until they are something that needs to be worried about.)

Ramblings

I tried to find a fun picture to put with this post but as I type I'm not yet even sure what the post is going to be about. There, nothing hooks a reader like an opening like that!

First random topic - overdoing it. I think the fact I slept 11+ hours last night and could easily have gone down for a nap today is a good indication that I overdid it the last three days. My mom and I have been going nuts both in my workspace and at home getting product ready and getting orders filled and out the door. Last night I set a "we don't do anything before 9am rule" - little did I know that I wouldn't even be up by 9am! I still had a fair amount of work to do today and while I didn't get everything done I hoped to, I'm a lot more relaxed and feeling more at ease then the past three days.

Second random topic - Google Analytics. I love it. Why didn't anyone ever tell me about it with my old website? We now have it hooked into the new website and I'm simply loving the information it provides me...for free nontheless. And yes, the fact that I knew nothing about Google Analytics outs me as the technophobe that I am.

Last random topic - My business bank account. It's with WAMU. So far I have no complaints though I don't do anything but basic banking with them. However, are they going to get bought or are they going to go under? If they go under my funds are well within the 100K FDIC insurance quoto so I will be able to get my money back - but how long will it take? Is it worth the headache to move the business account, and the associated merchant account etc, to another bank? And if I make the move, how do I know that the new bank is safe? Honestly one of the things I NEVER thought I'd have to worry about as a small business owner is whether the money the business earned (aka - I sweated over and made) would be safe in a major banking institution. But then again, I never thought I'd see Merrill, AIG, and Lehman all go out one way or another in the same week. At the very least, I'm thankful not to have taken a job with one of them out of business school - not that they would have hired me anyway.

The Power of Partners

I'm going to keep this relatively short b/c my leg is hurting and I'm exhausted from the 8+ orders my mom and I managed to get out the door today (hooray!) so am thinking that a percocet is about the perfect thing to finish the evening with right about now. However, I was thinking today about how much 'partnering' has benefited me and my company.

I'm not talking about official partnerships that you send out press releases about. But those smaller partnerships and networks that can, when leveraged, really pay off for the company. I think I mentioned before that all my tradeshow materials went out via freight (and are currently on their way to the next trade show in Chicago). At this point I certainly don't have enough stuff for a full pallet so I partnered with another local company - who technically is a competitor - so that we could share a pallet and split the cost. We both get our stuff to the shows easily at half of what it would have cost us to do on our own.

Then tonight I placed an order for new packaging material. Even though I placed it, the order is technically done in combination with a friend/entrepreneur who lives near me. With our combined order we were able to get the cost high enough to qualify for free shipping - otherwise shipping would have cost both of us approx $40. For us, right now, that $40 is a huge savings.

And lastly in my list of examples tonight, the order that is coming in tomorrow that was made with another one of the entrepreneurs in my workspace. We both order materials from the same provider but said provider requries a minimum amount before we can place an order. So, again, we combined our orders and together were able to meet the minimum needed and are able to get the materials we need. That saves substantial amount over having to potentially purchase the materials at retail prices versus the wholesale price we pay with this provider. More savings!

As a wise friend of mine in the industry once told me, to be able to compete with the big guys we small businesses HAVE to develop partnerships that help give us some sort of economies of scale. Otherwise they can too easily push us out of business.

Shipping Central

As I type my husband is currently marching up and down the stairs bringing down boxes of product from our guest bedroom down into the living room. And once again, as tend to happens this time of year, the living room has begun to look more like a shipping warehouse then a place of rest and relaxation. As is typical for these shows, I have a bunch of orders that need to go out in the next two weeks and then there's a bit of a lull until the next group of orders has to go out closer to the holidays (which is perfect as it allows me more time to build up the necessary inventory and make sure it's ready to go).

Since I can't walk and have been told that I'm not allowed to climb our 100+ year old stairs (which apparently are so steep they no longer meet modern building code but are grandfathered in because of the age of our house) my husband and I have also reconfigured some of the dining room to make room for the printer and other necessities for the shipping process that are normally kept upstairs and out of the way.

The last part of the equation will hopefully come together tomorrow when my mom arrives in town for 2.5 weeks to help out with orders, dog walking, and general house care (yes, I truly am that incapacitated right now). I'm not sure that a "Day at the Spa" gift certificate is going to be enough to thank her for 2.5 weeks of unpaid labor. Perhaps "Month at the Spa?"

And we're back

Sadly I did not win the $12M jackpot on the slot machine I played. But then again I only played $3 so some could argue I didn't give the machine a fair shake. Other than that $3 lose though we did make some good money. I just got home and am exhausted from the show so I'm going to keep this short (for now) but in a nutshell the show went really really well. When I added it all up yesterday it turned out that we had more than broken even on the show based on the orders written at the show. That's great news as we will typically get in followup orders in the two weeks after the show so the usual goal is to at a minimum break even at the show itself. I think the show was better this year though with a twist. We had far more people really coming by the booth and spending a considerable amount of time asking us questions about our products, wanting to know the best way to display the products, etc. This is in contrast to a lot of the folks who came by last year mainly looking to see if we dropshipped (no, we don't) or if we were handing out free samples. And while not everyone we spent time with placed an order, I and other vendors got the sense that many retailers are delaying their buying decisions to a little closer to the holidays given the current uncertainty in the marketplace. However, I do think we're going to get a good number of followup orders as we start to get to the end of Sept and into October as despite the economy, retailers still need to have something to put on their shelves for the holidays.

So all in all I was really happy with the show. We also made some great new contacts that could have the potential for great business down the road if I can swing it correctly. Plus, despite the broken leg, I realized that Vegas is a much nicer town if you're not staying at the rock bottom barrel hotel on the strip. This year I split my time between Treasure Island (while not the top of the top, it was a marked improvement over where I stayed last year) and the Four Seasons (my better half was in town on business so I stayed with him when he was there) and the fact that the rooms were nicer and more appealing to go back to after a very long day on the showroom floor made a huge difference in my attitude. This is the second year in Vegas though where I still haven't made it to hang out by the pool. Last year I couldn't find the stupid pool thanks to the maze-like design of the crappy hotel, and this year my doc has put a hold on submerging my leg for a few more weeks. So I will be going back to the show next year and hopefully third year will be the charm when it comes to finding a little time to relax by the pool.

Viva Las Vegas

I'm heading out to Las Vegas tomorrow at the crack of dawn for the first of our two biggest tradeshows of the year. Right now I'm just hoping that I actually have everything I need since my brain seems to be very sieve-like lately (ie - forgetting to call in for that board meeting for the nonprofit I work with - just absolutely slipped my mind!). Thankfully my dad flew in this week to help me get things ready and he'll be at the airport with me tomorrow morning to help check me in while also checking himself in to go home. Then my mom is flying into Las Vegas to help me out at the show (and do some shopping - she loves Las Vegas shopping since she lives in a very rural area with no stores) so hopefully with her help I'll get everything needed done this next week.

On the plus side, the company's new website is up and running well. I've mentioned the new secure wholesale section before and we've already had three orders placed on it so it's already starting to pay off. Best of all, two of the orders are "pre-orders" for shipment November 1 or later so it gives me plenty of time to get the orders ready to go. Right now I need all the extra time I can get!

Keep your fingers crossed for me that we have a spectacular show but yet at the same time I figure out a solid plan of attack on how to deal with all the potential orders. Sort of a catch-22 at this point but things always seem to work out in the end. Right?

To Tired to Write? What Else?

I sat down yesterday to try and add another post to this blog since I seem to find myself mentally writing blog pieces lately but not actually putting them down on paper (or would that be screen?). But after having gone into my workspace for a grand total of three hours I was just too tired. Yep, this week I've managed to do a grand total of three hours of production. Let's just say that this was not in the original plan.

I'm a great planner. I love to plan things and have spent most of this year planning exactly what I wanted to achieve at these tradeshows. Honestly 90% of my focus and attention for the past 8 months hsa been getting the company in the right position - or as right a position as I can with my experience and budget - to really blast through this holiday season. I truly believed, and still do, that this was the year we were going to simply hammer it home and, hopefully, also break even.

Of course what I didn't plan for was this broken leg which has slowed me down significantly (I can't even tell you how slow I now am not to mention how tired I get). If you ever took Operations 101 in business school then you'll know what I mean when I tell you that I am now the "Herbie" of the company. Poor slow Herbie. But like I learned in Operations (one of the few things I was able to take away from a class that was well above my skill level), I need to figure out how to reorganize things so that Herbie doesn't slow down the team. Whether that means hiring more people, coercing more family to fly in, or simply adding more hours to my workspace, I'm not yet sure, but if I really do want to hammer it home this holiday season and make my mark in my little niche of the industry then I need to come up with a proactive plan - and soon - rather than allowing myself to wallow in frustration and self pity.