Well...Now It's Official

No People Magazine. I knew it was too good to be true. I knew it was a long shot - one hell of a long shot. But I can't lie, I am a little bummed. Not sure if I'm more bummed about the fact that I spent $100+ to have samples overnighted to them (per their request) or the fact that we're not featured. I know it was a long shot but it would have been so nice. So very very nice. Oh well, try again next year, right?

This weekend has been a good reminder that I do need to spend more time and energy focusing on the retail part of my business. I've built and am continuing to build up a good wholesale base though this next year is going to be hell on wheels for wholesale I'm guessing with many stores having credit and other financial issues. I'll definitely keep focusing on wholesale (both big and little stores) but since I have a retail componant on my site I might as well see what sort of traction I can get from it. Lots of ideas that I need to write down into a marketing plan which is something I'm hoping to actually get to before 2009. Then again, now that the People Magazine thing didn't come through I can probably stop working so hard in my workspace and spend more time on things like that marketing plan. ....SIGH... Ok, onto bigger and better things.

No People Magazine

No People Magazine. At least not this week. I had been hoping that their holiday issue would come out this week since last year it came out December 3rd. Apparently the lateness of Thanksgiving this year has pushed their holiday issue back and it's not this week's (based on the Dec. 1 issue I just saw at the drugstore). This week is dedicated to the world's sexiest men - I definitely don't qualify. Next week perhaps? Who knows. Course I don't even know if we're in it or not. In a way it's like when we were kids and just waiting for Christmas to arrive. And not knowing if you were going to get all those gifts that were on the list you sent to Santa or if all you'd end up with was coal for your less than perfect behavior over the course of the year. Only this time I don't even know when/if Christmas is coming. Will it be next week? The week after? And when it does finally arrive, will we get gifts galore or coal?

"You're Not Trying To Make Money"

A quote from my beleaguered husband this weekend: "You're not trying to make money, you're trying to build a business."

Funny, I thought we were doing this to make money? Actually, I know he's right. You can't build a business without pumping some money into it. In the grand scheme of things we haven't funneled a ton of money into the business (if you don't count the opportunity cost of me working for someone else) but right now it feels like every penny coming in is going out two-fold. Not a great feeling but it is what it is. Right now I'm buying up packaging in case the People Magazine thing hits. Unfortunately the good people at People won't share with me whether or not we're being featured and even if we are I'm not sure if that will result in 1000 sales or zero sales. But, like the boy scouts, it's best to be prepared. Thankfully if it doesn't hit I can always reuse the packaging next year. Just means I'll have to carry the inventory cost until next holiday season. Ah well, it will just join the rest of the packaging that is taking over our shed and threatening to overrun my husband's lawn equipement.

So, no word from People but lots of other good stuff going on. Not necessarily in terms of sales (though we are still getting in orders) but I did have a conversation with another small business in my industry where we shared ideas and came up with some joint ways we could market ourselves and split the costs. My gut is telling me that the whole splitting costs thing is going to be very important in the new year. More about all of that later though as I need to spend a few minutes turning my brain away from work. I've been sleeping horribly for at least a week (if not more) mainly because I find myself waking up at 2am and my brain absolutely racing through business issues. Except last night where I dreamt a friend and I met on a beach and talked for two hours. Think that was my subconcious' way of telling me that I've been crap at keeping in touch with friends these past few months? So a few minutes of nonwork time before bed and if that doesn't work I'm hitting the benedryl.

Sometimes All You Need Is A Good Belly Rub

I can't lie, I've been really tired and grumpy lately. The business is still going pretty strong - which I'm overjoyed about in this economy - but my part-timers have been cutting back their hours. I'm not totally against that as it cuts down my cost but does increase the amount of time that requires me to work. I know...complain, complain, complain.

As ridiculous as it sounds, I was super-grumpy yesterday when what I thought would turn into a leisurely day spent getting some goodies ready for Thanksgiving turned into a FULL day of work. To make matters worse, it was correcting other people's mistakes. Mistakes that customers had made as in "Oops, I really meant to order XYZ, can you send that out yesterday and I don't want to pay anything extra." I try so hard to provide good customer service but honestly there are times that it takes all my willpower not to flip out. So I ended up spending all day correcting those mistakes and basically watching money flow out the door. In my own defense, I also had my first PT session that morning which left me very tired and in a decent amount of pain that even a handful of aspirin didn't do a whole lot to alleviate. I'm sure that added to my mood.

And here's the ridiculous part - I felt horrible about the fact that I didn't have time to spend with my dogs. Yes, I'm a crazy dog lady. While I'm not "dress them in foo-foo outfits and carry them around in my purse"- lady crazy, I am absolutely head over heels for my girls and have had a tremendous amount of guilt over the lack of time I've been able to spend with them due in part to the broken leg and in part because I've been so busy. Normally I would be out running with them most mornings (and with my husband) and while I'm not a great morning person, especially in the winter, I did love spending that time together as a family. So that's been gone for awhile as has any free time in my schedule to simply go out and play with them. I was hoping to spend some time with them yesterday and couldn't. To make matters worse, the younger pup just kept following me around and whining which just added heaps and heaps of guilt to what I was already feeling. It was one of those days where I seriously questioned whether my husband and I should try and have a kid because the guilt I felt was simply overwhelming.

Today is significantly better. It's a glamorous day of house errands that includes taking in one car to the shop, dropping paints/oils off at the hazmat transfer station, and taking the other car to costco to get new tires. Such is the life of a work-from-home entrepreneur. But I have been able to spend some time giving good belly rubs. And neck rubs. And behind the ear rubs. And playing Fetch (which my dogs seem to think is either A - a game of keepaway or B - look at me questioningly when I throw something and force me to go get it...they love that game!). Spending just a short amount of time doing that this morning has been just the restorative I've needed.

Though it does raise a question that has been nagging at the back of my mind. As we start to think about having kids, how do I balance this business and a child? A child, especially a baby, simply can't be ignored because you have five mistakes to fix or fourteen orders to get out the door by 5pm. And if I go the nanny route will that just leave me with an incredible amount of mommy-guilt for not putting my child first? Or is guilt just one of those things that comes with motherhood? Like at the same time they hand you your newborn they also hand you a massive sack of guilt that you get to carry around for the next 18+ years.

Two Quick Things

1. Something cool I just learned - Paypal can automatically print out my packing list and UPS shipping labels for any retail orders I receive. How cool! Not only does it save me a boatload of time but the shipping cost is also automatically taken from my paypal account (I use PayPal for my virtual terminal for wholesale orders and for my processor for retail orders) so I don't have to put it onto the already over-worked business credit card. Ok, I realize that I probably should have figured all of this out before but that would take away the excitment that comes from flying by the seat of my pants at times.

2. I found my space today. The space I want to get and build out when I move out of my current workspace. I'm still at least a year away from it but I did find my space today. It's currently a tri shop but they're moving into the neighboring building. Not only would the building work well for me from a layout standpoint...but it used to be a tri shop!

I think that last statement is proof positive that I'm not ready to rent my own space. :)

I'm No Expert...

I had an interesting experience yesterday in my workspace (yes, I was working on a Saturday). There were a few of us entrepreneurs in there and as I was getting ready to leave one of them stopped me and asked my opinion on marketing and advertising. While it's a subject I love, I was a little caught off guard because her business model and mine are completely different - as are our industries - so I'm not terribly well-versed in what would work for her specifically. Instead I gave some broad suggestions such as going after PR by sending local publications press releases from time to time with a "hook" or something that would make them interested in mentioning you as well as looking into any blogs that may write about your area to traditonal and e-advertising. While we were talking a third entrepreneur joined our conversation and started asking my opinion about what she should do for her business.

Which made me wonder, when did I become the expert? Or, perhaps more importantly, when did I start being viewed in my workspace as someone who knows anything about what they're talking about? I have yet to break even and my marketing and advertising costs are astronomically high in relation to my actual revenue. Part of that is due to the fact that I don't play in a limited local market but am trying to get the word out throughout North America (thank you Canada for being one of my biggest buyers!). So I certainly don't see myself as an expert. I was very frank about the fact that I wasn't yet making money from the business and gave them an idea of what just my tradeshow costs for 2009 were looking like to give them an idea of my spend. Regardless, they seemed to value my opinion. All of which I found interesting because for whatever reason I've somehow become labeled as an expert - or at least as close of one as we've got in our workspace.

In other news - I'm still convinced that 30-50% of my current small retailers are going to fail in the next year given the economy. I just get the sense that many of them are too underfunded and many of them started their businesses because "they love to shop" not because they came in with any real business experience. Now I may be proven wrong at the end of the day but in the meantime I'm spending a lot of time thinking other distribution avenues. The problem I'm faced with is how a different distribution model may affect my brand - and brand is KING and paramount to success in my mind. So do I think about creating a subbrand? I'm just not sure yet.

A Surprising Day

It shouldn't have happened this way. But somehow I just knew it would cause the universe enjoys irony. Do you remember my new machine? The machine (actual machine not pictured) that I spent a good deal of our limited operating budget on and that was buying it used (and going up to Canada to get it). As I think I may have mentioned, the machine is formulated to work one but and while similar to how i needed it, was not quite the way I envisioned it working for my company's purposes. Yet I got a bee in my bonnet, found a used one nearby, and went and put down cold hard cash for it not being 100% sure it would work as I needed.

And then I proceeded to spend the next several months trying, retrying, retrying, retrying it to no avail. I knew the machine was working properly but I just couldn't get my product reformulated in a way that worked for the machine. Needless to say I was frustrated. Then I broke my leg and we simultanious entered the crazy holiday buying season so the machine has been sitting on the shelf just waiting.

Yet I knew if I was going to seriously talk to BIG company I needed to get the machine working properly so today, after months of being on the shelf, I pulled it off and decided to try again. There's no reason why today should have been any different then any of the other days I tried previously but for some reason it was and I actually got the formulation right. It worked! And it worked well! I can't tell you how excited I am. Now I can confidently call BIG company tomorrow and know that I'm not promising them something I can't actually deliver. This machine can also be used on some of the other new products I was thinking of introducing next year which will speed up production time indefinitely so hopefully we won't be caught behind the 8-ball like we were this year.

HOORAY!!!

S.L.O.W.I.N.G D.O.W.N

It's not totally slowed down yet but I can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The big order is out (and the invoice is going to Accounts Payable via FedEx tomorrow so just 60 short days until that money is - hopefully - in my hand), and the majority of my small retail orders are out. Unfortunately I'm also literally out of product so I'm frantically making enough to get me through this week and then I'll start all over again next week. I can't say it's the most productive way of doing business but I am getting the orders out the door as promised and, at the the end of the day, that's what counts to my retailers.

I can tell it's going to be a very interesting holiday season. While on the one hand I've had more orders from smaller retailers this year then ever before (and continue to get an order or two in every day), I'm starting to see signs that retailers are nervous. I have one who's called me twice looking for suggestions on how to display the product so as to move it more quickly. Taking it a step further, I finally got paid today for a shipment that went out early September. I so VERY rarely give Net 30 terms (with the exception of this big company) and was convinced to do so by that sales rep. Let's just say I won't be making that mistake again. I'm none too pleased but at least it looks like I'm going to get paid which I was beginning to think wasn't going to happen at all.

And lastly, I heard from my old employee. Remember her - the one I LOVED despite the fact that she moved to another city. It's not certain yet but it looks like she may be headed back this way after the new year and looking for a job. I need to run some numbers and see if I can at least get her a consistent 20hrs a week as she really is a special person.

Other than that - this is going to be a busy week. Get most of the rest of the orders out or at least ready to go next week as scheduled. Contact BIG company and try to get them interested in seeing samples from my company (and if so, I need to get to work ASAP on those samples). And contact People Magazine to see where that whole process lies at the moment. Last I heard we were still in contention so - deep breath - I want to see how we're faring and when they expect that edition to launch.

I know that busy is good - very good! - in this economy especially. But this small slightly slower window to catch my breath, clean the house, actually cook a meal every so often, and play with the pups is just what I needed at this juncture to recharge my batteries.

And It's Gone...

Here's a picture of my shipment from one side...

and the other. What I forgot to get was a picture of my crutches up against the order because that made the entire order fulfillment process indefinitely harder.

40 boxes (which was accidently labeled as 41 and I didn't realize until partway into the process. I never was good at basic math. Or advanced math for that matter). All full of product. Customs documents filled out - hopefully correctly. NAFTA form filled out - hopefully correctly. All the other paperwork required for the shipment filled out - hopefully correctly. Now I just need to send in the invoice and wait my 60 days to get paid and hope that I didn't make too many mistakes along the way to be handed a bunch of chargebacks.

It feels great to have the shipment gone but at the same time I find myself a little anxiety ridden that some of the paperwork may not be correct and as such will have issues getting across the border since the shipment is destined for Canada. Maybe the anxiety is due to the fact that for the first time since I got the order it's actually out of my hands? Before if it didn't get done it would have been my fault. Now there are a myriad of things out of my control that could happen to it - all of which are running through my head. I think I'm just tired!

No rest for the weary though. I'm going back to work tomorrow to work on getting the orders out that need to go out next week. And apparently my company is one step closer to getting that coveted People Magazine spot. Nothing set in stone yet but we're getting closer. Both exciting and somewhat frightening. Actually, very frightening.

But for tonight I'm going to try and put all of that out of mind and just sit and relax with my better half and my pups. I've missed them.

My Ring is Back On!

Don't worry, my wedding band wasn't off because due to any marital unhappiness. It's been off for the past two + weeks due to the fact that every single day has been spent working with my hands. Either producing my product, packaging my product, or putting it into the shipping boxes. The vast majority of that is now done. Just one more order to get out tomorrow and this week - this crazy, crazy week - is done. This, for me, was the week from hell. In addition to having to have the bigger order ready to be picked up (and it still waiting to be picked up) I also had several thousand $$$ worth of orders that had been placed by smaller boutiques that needed to ship out. By Sunday at 10pm I had the bigger order ready to go but didn't have anything pulled together for the week's orders. Usually by that time the week's orders are ready and waiting for FedEx. So every day this week has been a frantic attempt to make enough product, get it packaged, and get it to FedEx before the 5pm pickup. It's been frenetic and exhausting...but done.

I still have a number of orders to ship out next week but have this weekend to start to get that pulled together and ready to go out the door so I - hopefully - won't be as horribly behind as I was this past week. So the wedding band is only on temporarily until I start to prep for next week but I'm taking 24hrs or so to take a mental break and try to make headway on the piles that have taken over the dining room table. And after next week it will all start to slow down. Unless of course People Magazine comes through. Fingers crossed!

The Benefits of Being an Endurance Athlete

I had a thought last night as I was at work late finishing up the "bigger" order. One of the benefits of being an endurance athlete that no one talks about is the ability to sit in one position for 11 hours straight doing the exact same task over and over and over. We were finishing up packaging last night and my part-timers dropped like flies as we worked through the process. But me, well, in all honesty, my back and neck didn't hurt much more then they do on a six hour ride in the aero position. And the monotony? Heck, I could at least grab a few Hersey Kisses and munch on those - something that would never be in my Bento box on a long ride and FAR better then any clif/power/combination (though the new jelly bean electrolyte thingy's are pretty darn good!)

I may not be getting a heck of a lot of training in right now (or for that matter, any training in) between the broken leg and these orders. But right now my ability to hold a painful position for several hours while letting my mind wander is finely tuned. And trust me, those skills will come in handy next tri season! Perhaps this current training regimine will even help me land on the podium a time or two next year. :)

And now back to the workspace to get out all of the retailer orders that have to go out today and tomorrow. I'm hoping this is the last long horrible day.