Kudos to DWR

Someone at Design Within Reach is keeping an eye on the bloggersphere and I commend them for commenting on my last post. I also commend them for keeping track of the blog world and social networking - as that's something I'm hoping to do more of in the new year.

I should also add that while I didn't end up purchasing the shelving system through DWR, the rest of our house is essentially something straight out of one of their catalogues and up until this incident we've always been really happy with them.

So DWR and I are now even.

Marketing Plan v. 1.0

I've been working on the 2009 Marketing Plan for a few weeks now. It sorta gets worked on in bits and pieces as the inspiration hits me. Truthfully, most of it is in place with the exception of the "social networking" piece. I've decided that I need to spend more energy on buiding up our retail sales (in addition to our wholesale sales) and one of the ways I want to work on this is via social networking. The only problem is that despite being relatively web savvy, I really have no idea how to go about this. So in my usual fashion I've purchased a book or two from Amazon and am trying to learn about it that way as well as asking friends who are much more in the know then I am. I even signed up for a Twitter account - though I have yet to figure out what the heck to actually do with it.

The only concrete part of the social networking plan I have figured out is that I need to spend more time being part of online communities/forums that relate directly to my industry and my end consumer. Though I do find it ironic that technically that part of my marketing plan is basically "spend more time screwing around on the web." As if I don't do enough of that already!

So Much for Procrastination

I got a call today from Design Within Reach that the great cube shelving system I ordered - despite saying they were in stock on their website - is not only backordered but won't be coming in at all. So glad it took them 4+ days to figure that one out.

I did find four sets available new on ebay so I bought them. It was actually even cheaper on Ebay then the Design Within Reach sale. But after I purchased it I learned that the sellers address is something like ebayorders @ DWR.com (dwr= design within reach). So I'm not holding out hope that these cubes are actually in existence. The better half is telling me to keep my hopes up and that this may be a DWR liquidator and that he wouldn't have put them on ebay if he didn't actually have the quantity listed online (he said he had 8 units and I ordered 4 of them) but until I actually see them I'm going to be highly skeptical.

Keep your fingers crossed for me because now that I've gone ahead and spent the money on them I'm fallen in love with them and really don't want to have to figure out an alternative. They're just too perfect!

Last Minute Holiday Gift Idea

While it is the holidays, I received sad news last night that a dear friend's dog passed away. It reminded me that if you are searching for any minute gift ideas, one that pretty much any animal lover would appreciate is a donation to their local animal shelter.

If you do have pets at home and would give them an extra hug in Soleil's name I'm sure the newest addition to puppy heaven would appreciate it.

Sometimes Procrastination Does Pay Off

Back in the Fall, while attending one of the tradeshows I had to go to, I saw a few vendors with what I thought was just the best booth display setup I had seen (short of the companies who invest $gazzillion in their booth displays which is just not feasible for little ol' me). It essentially is a modular bookshelf made up of squares that you could adjust and reconfigure as you desired. So you could build what looked like a pyramid out of the boxes, or a simple "bookcase" of boxes. The flexibility the system gave you was unmatched from anything you could rent from the tradeshow company. But it gets better - the entire system could be broken down into flat pieces and was relatively light which is key for shipping from tradeshow to tradeshow. Add to that the fact that you don't need tools to put it together which technically would require you to hire a union man at $30/half hour and it really is the perfect system for tradeshows.

I found out that the system came from Design Within Reach (tried to find a photo but it looks like they just took it off their website) and have been keeping an eye on the item. I almost bought it a few months ago when they were offering free shipping which would have saved me about $50 but ended up not doing it for one reason or another. Then yesterday I ended up showing my sister the units and realized that they had been marked down from $245 per set to $95 per set. That's a drastic savings! Not to mention that you also got free shipping. Needless to say I went ahead and ordered them yesterday and ened up saving myself $588 in unit costs and $50 in shipping. That is a pretty great savings! Not to mention, what the units ended up costing me is equivelent to what I typically pay to rent tradeshow furniture at just one show. Which means by the time I hit the second show next year I will have saved money.

Course I just got an email from the company saying that the item is backordered but since they don't charge my card until it ships and I don't technically need it until August I'm not going to worry about it just yet and bask in the glory of my $638 saved plus the additional approximate $400 per show I will save on tradeshows going forward.

Working Like A Dog

Just in case there's any question about whether or not I'm working while home for the holidays I present this picture as evidence.

Home Sweet Home

I'm home...well, the parental home. And yes, the picture is a picture of my home. Extra points if you can name the town. While I love where hubby and I currently live, I absolutely adore my so-called 'hometown' (didn't actually grow up here but my whole family is here and, in truth, I didn't really grow up anywhere since we moved around a ton. So this is as good as a hometown as any). I want to buy a ranch in this general area one day and have tons of dogs, bunnies, goats, horses, riding cows (a cow that can be saddled - strange but true!). Best of all, I think hubby actually wants the same thing too - or at least he says he does. I think we're still at least 15-20 years away from that actually coming to fruition but it is good to have goals. In the meantime, I always look forward to coming home.

The benefit of running my own business is that I am able to escape for a few weeks every December to come home. This year things got a little crazier then usual as I was frantically trying to get the house ready for an appraisal as we're hoping to refinance, and then also trying to get out of town before the massive storm hit the Pacific Northwest. I honestly think I got out just in the nick of time though the two day drive still had us going through some pretty miserable conditions.

But I'm home now, the dogs are with me (the reason for driving), and I even brought home some inventory and - surprisingly enough at this late stage - have even had a decent amount of orders. Mostly retail but also two wholesale which really surprised me. Do you really want to place a wholesale order and then request ground shipping? It won't get to you until the 22nd? Apparently they did and who am I to argue.

As I mentioned above, hubby and I are hoping to one day move out this way. It dawned on me that to help move that goal along I needed to make some goals for my business. And not just 1 year goals - but true 5 year goals that include both revenue targets and what that would do for the business. IE - at revenue figure X I ccan hire on a fulltime manager. At revenue figure Y I can start to pay back the loans that were used to cover startup costs. The funny thing is - and I didn't plan it out this way - it looks like my goal is for the company to grow by approx 75%each of the next three years which is on target for how much it grew this year. Nothing like ambitious goals in a down economy!

When Did I Become Old & Jadded?

First of all - the CBS exposure has netted exactly zero retail sales. But, more importantly, I've been able to use the fact that we were on to build our reputation amongst our retailers. Both the small ones and the bigger one - and the BIG one we're going after. While a little extra revenue at the end of the year would have been nice the real goal was how I would be able to leverage the exposure so it's working on that end.

On an total aside - I had a rather interesting experience in my workspace on Monday (sorry, it's actually been a crazy week). As I've mentioned before, it's a joint workspace with a number of small businesses working in there. However, non of them could be considered direct competitors to me though some of them are direct competitors to one another. Until Monday when a new company came into the space to look at it and they are a direct competitor to me. We're differentiated so not 100% directly competitive - but close enough to make my skin itch. That being said, the owner I met was very very nice and I think we'd get along as individuals. However, I made some comment about a tightening economy and he looked at me and said - in all seriousness and, honestly, with the slightest tinge of glee in his voice - "It's a good thing we're in a growth industry." I was so caught off guard by his optimism and joy at his foundling business that I was stunned into silence for a minute. The look that crossed my face must have been one of utter confusion because he follwed up with "Right?" in the same hopeful tone. And while on the surface we are in a growth industry, I was stunned that he didn't seem to have any understanding of how hard it is to grow in this business. And then toss in the fact that the entire small retail market - the distribution for most of our business - is just going to get hammered in the next year with this economy. On the one had his excitment was refreshing but on the other it seemed...dare I say it...terribly nieve.

But then again, I was just that person three years ago. I was convinced that all I had to do was make the product and it would literally sell itself. I can now laugh at my former self. Laugh very very hard. But when did I become so thoroughally jadded? Then again, I just sent off samples of a new product to BIG company in what is being called the worst economy since the Great Depression. So I have to believe that there's still enough of the optimistic nieve fool in me.

Speaking of watching newbie entrepreneurs lose their optimism and become jadded - check out this article in the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/11/business/smallbusiness/11hunt.html?ref=smallbusiness

We Were On!!!

It was apparently a slow enough news day that they did feature our product this morning. Hooray! If you want to check out the online link (which is not nearly as interesting as the video which I'm going to try and get) you can see it here.

They not only showed our product but also the 'finished' items which I sent. And while the finished items didn't look totally perfect, I'm willing to bet that I'm the only one who would notice because I am just that obsessive.

UPDATE: Just got the video.

Slow News Day Tomorrow

slow news day tomorrow...slow news day tomorrow...slow news day tomorrow...slow news day tomorrow...slow news day tomorrow...

Ironically, the question of whether or not to order in more raw materials to build up inventory ended up solving itself when I realized one of the raw materials - which I have to order from a third party - wouldn't get here in time so I'm limited by how much of that I currently have. And it turns out I have enough to make about another 300 units which is what all my other raw materials will make. So I opted to simply focus the next two days in my production space on getting those 300 or so units made and then that's it.

And while two more really busy days will be good for me - and hopefully the business will continue with retail orders - I actually only have two more days in my production space this year. Truthfully it's a good thing too. It's that time of year when all of us in the production space are grumpy, tired, overworked, and basically just on one another's nerves. Like a family who has spent too much time together, we're driving one another crazy and need some time apart. Wednesday is my last day in the space and I'm as yet undecided whether or not I'll also take January off (not off from work - just off from my production space) partially to save money and partially to conserve my sanity. We'll see, a few days off and I'll likely be singing a different tune.

In the meantime....slow news day tomorrow...slow news day tomorrow...slow news day tomorrow...

And Just When You Thought It Was All Over...

So I wake up yesterday morning preparing for my "Friday" in my workspace since lately I've been working in there Sunday - Wednesday. Not long after I wrote the rant about the sales rep you see below I got an email from - of all people - a producer for The Early Show. You know, that big national show on CBS every weekday morning. Yeah, the one that's seen by apparently 2.8million viewers every day (based on the only stat I could find from January '08). Um, Wow.

They had heard about us (no idea how, I asked but they never told me) and they wanted to know if they could have samples for their gift show centered around my industry that will be broadcasting next week. They even offered to return the samples after the show. I, of course, said yes and told them they could just keep the samples and share them with the staff. So I boxed up a few samples yesterday and dropped another $75 to get them overnighted. If nothing else I'm keeping FedEx in the black these days.

I'm hoping I'm being smarter about it this time then I was with People Magazine. I realized while looking at the People Magazine spread that I think one reason I may have gotten cut is that I don't think I sent the right photo. I sent some damn good photos but not something that worked with their layout. I totally blame myself for that oversight. I even worked as a freelance writer for some major consumer publications at one point in my past - I should have been thinking like a reporter and not a product manufacturer. At the end of the day a reporter (for a consumer publication - not necessarily a news organization) is looking for photos that will fit properly with their layout and I don't think what I sent was right.

So this time, trying to approach it more like a journalist, I tried to envision what would look good on TV. One box of product wasn't enough so I sent one of each variety (a seasonal and an 'everyday' version of the product they requested). Then I realized that I should probably send more than one of each so that they can show the boxes closed up and beautifully packaged but also show what the inside of the box looks like. And, since the product is a 'make-it-yourself' type of thing I also sent them several samples of the finished product - which are damn cute if I do say so myself - figuring that the final product is also part of the visual appeal of the product. Now I need you to pray for two things for me - an incredibly slow news day so that they don't preempt the segment with late-breaking news (and heh, a slow news day is really a good day for everyone being that there are no emergencies) and that they actually choose my product this time. If you're interested, the segment is supposed to air sometime during the Tuesday morning broadcast. You can garuntee I'll be glued to the TV with a cup of coffee starting bright and early at 6:59am.

Course now I'm vexing over how much product to have on hand. Will this segment air? If so, will they choose my product? If so, will people be intrigued enough to click through and buy? And if so, how much do I need to be prepared for? Part of me thinks I should just suck it up and build up as much inventory. Not including what I have on hand, I could essentially spend approx another $1200-$1500. That would leave the opportunity (assuming all of the above align correctly) to make about $5000-$6000. Yet the other part of me, while knowing that $1500 is peanuts for many businesses, is just sick and tired of putting things onto the credit card and is just ready to get it paid off and take a rest through the end of the year. Plus there's that little voice in the back of my head that worries that I'll spend the money and it won't result in any additional sales. The good news is that I can just use the products next year so they wouldn't totally go to waste, but I'm thinking that AMEX wants to get paid sooner rather than later. Got any advice?

Cutting Dead Weight

I have a few outside sales reps who work around the country. They are actually general industry reps in that they rep a number of similar products and go around to stores in a given area. And even though the economy is doing poorly they are all, for the most part, doing a good job for us and earning that 15% commission.

All but one that is and that one has managed to get under my skin in a way unlike any other person I work with. First and foremost, she says that she's not a sales rep but a "consultant" to the industry and that her clients are high-falutin' stores that spend big bucks. As such she demands a 30% commission. And me, in my stupidity, granted her that. In my defense, she was the first rep I ever started working with - but still - 30%!

30% would be one thing if she actually brought in business but she doesn't. This past year she's opened a grand total of one new account for me and that was only after I called her to let her know that our business relationship was done due to the fact she hadn't brought in any new stores. To top it off, the new store she brought in and insisted was a premier customer and needed Net 30 terms (they don't pay upfront but will pay 30 days after receiving the merchandise) then never paid. I hounded them for weeks and finally around the 90 day mark I got a credit card. So let's see, I just let you hold onto my money for 90 days and now, instead of getting a check, I have to pay credit card fees on top of that - and a 30% commission?

Then I got another email from said sales rep this morning asking - in all caps - when the order for a new company was going to ship. Only problem, she never sent me the new order so I have no record of it. It's gotten to the point that anytime I get an email from her or her assistant my stomach just automatically tightens. There is so much disorganization on her end that I'm always rushing to get an order for her out the door so that I don't look like the incompetant fool to the store. And again, for this honor I'm paying 30% commission.

I'm done. For a while I thought it wasn't worth it to burn a bridge but I've come to the decision that working with her is causing me more anxiety then it's literally worth. And truthfully, I'm not sure I want my brand to be connected to her in any way shape or form. She is one of those companies who, assuming there's no huge bankroll partner behind her, I just don't think is going to make it through this economy and, like a rat on a sinking ship, I want off.

I just wrote a very short but sweet "this relationship will end as of 12/31/08 letter to her. It hasn't been sent yet but it will, shortly. I dread the followup call that I'll receive from her but I know this needs to be done. In fact I've known for a long time and have been too wussy to deal with it head on but the time has come.

Cool Tip of the Day

www.helpareporter.com

It's essentially a poor man's PR Newswire. From what I gather, a journalist/social networking expert started the site and it's a way to bring journalists together with the "expert sources" they need for their stories. You sign up as an "expert source" and are emailed up to three times a day with a list of the queries this guy receives over the course of the day. If there is something on the list that you are qualified to talk about then you email the reporter directly. The reporter gets their sources and you get free PR for your product/company/service/etc. In exchange you promise to never contact journalists for something you are not qualified to talk about and never mine the list to use to send pitches. On the same hand, the person running the site promises never to sell the mailing list to anyone so you don't have to worry about spam.

I signed up last night and so far am decently impressed with both the range of topics covered in each email - everything from LifeStyle to Business & Technology - but also the range of journalists looking for sources. In today's list there were people from small blogs to CNN and the Oprah Show. While nothing on today's list was something I could talk to I did find a blog that was looking for holiday gift ideas in an industry that a friend of mine runs a small business so I sent the information over to her and she's going to follow up tomorrow. Hopefully something positive will come of it for her and perhaps down the road I can be an expert as something.