And There It Goes

It's that time of year again - there's just so much money going out right now and not too much coming in as we prepare for what we hope will be a really busy trade show season, holiday season, Emmy Awards Show Season, etc etc etc. Essentially everything that could potentially bring in a good deal of money is hitting in the next three to four months which means we're doing everything possible to prep in advance and that's a lot of money going out. Money for trade show booths - trade show furniture (did you know that with your 10x10 booth space you have to "rent" carpet?) - travel expenses for those trade shows - marketing material that has to be printed in advance of the trade shows - product that has to be made and packaged in advance of trade shows, emmy awards, etc. Honestly the list is never ending and it's freaking me out. I'm just hoping that everything will go well over the next few months or we'll be tapping out of cash.

One of the biggest expenses I'm struggling with lately is for PR. I know that one needs PR but I'm just having a hard time swallowing the amount that's being spent on PR and when I think of all the other things that money could be spent on it makes me want to cry (I've wanted - heck, NEEDED, to get a new printer for about a year now and never seem to have enough "untouched" cash to draw from to go out and get it!). It's not that I don't think PR is valuable - it's just that I'm not wholly convinced that the professionals are worth the price they're being paid.

Now I know that PR is one of those tough things to measure and that if it works a lot of it is going to come down the line later - right now we're essentially laying the groundwork. But still...I'm just not sure I couldn't do an equally good job for a fraction of the price. And yes, I realize that it's insane to think that I can be doing everything. But really - compare the amount I've committed to PR for this year versus what it could cost me to get a ProfNet subscription and do it on my own...that's more then enough for that new printer. That'd be enough to perhaps even pay me a small salary!

I'm pretty committed to seeing 2007 through as planned with the PR plan in place. But I have to admit that I need to see some pretty significant results to make it worth it for 2008.

Talking to a Real Person

I imagine this is a pet peeve most people can relate to - you call up a company and end up either getting an automated message or going through a list of choices and never actually talking to a live person. Now, for a small business like mine I don't have to worry about dealing with massive call volume, but since I am going into a very busy season (I hope!) that will have me on the road a fair amount, I was very concerned with the fact that retailers and vendors who called our "office" number would get dumped into voicemail.

Thanks to the New York Times Small Business Section (my new favorite section of the paper), I am in the process of hiring an answering service that my office number will forward to when I'm not around to take it. They can either take a message for me or forward the call directly to my cell phone. Even though in the end a person may end up getting dumped into my voicemail, my hope is that talking to a person at the beginning of the conversation they get the sense that 1. We are bigger than a single gal (and two dogs) organization and 2. A real person knows they called so they have more confidence that they'll actually get their message returned quickly.

I was happy to find a small local company that can work with me and they always have a live person - no machines - answering the phones. I figure I'll give it a try through the end of the year (the busiest time for me and I'll be away for a good portion of it) and see how it all works out.

To Oprah or Not To Oprah

I've been away from blogging for a little while it seems. That doesn't mean a lot of stuff hasn't been going on. I've got three tradeshows coming up back to back to back in the next few months so I've been really busy preparing for those...and yeah, and I went and got married! So things have been busy to say the least.

One thing that has been on my mind lately is the whole PR push that we're in the midst of doing. I'm meeting with the PR company tomorrow morning so I should have a better idea of where things currently lie and where they think we should head versus where I think we should head. One point that I'm going back and forth on is whether or not to send samples and a pitch to Oprah.

Why Oprah - well even though it's a long shot (very very long shot) - if you manage to get mentioned on Oprah (ideally on the Christmas show) it can blow your product/company out of the water. The revenue and the branding opportunity would be huge and would definitely put me on the map. Plus I'm worried that at some point a direct competitor is going to come along and all of the sudden I'm going to have to do more work to differentiate myself - and what if Oprah features that competitor?

On the other hand - as is argued by my PR folks (I should mention - PR folks with many many many years in the field and far more experience with this then me) and my business partner - you really only get one solid shot at an Oprah or the like and it's better to wait until you have a little more buzz built up around your product and know that you can handle the potential increase in production that would be required.

I can't say that I totally disagree with them - but I'm impatient. So do you go with your gut or trust the voice(s) of experience?

Online Shopping

The great thing about getting outside for a run is that it forces you to turn your mind off and get away from the business. Or in reality, it gives you some time to really think through and talk through - with your willing running partner - some of the problems, challenges, and thoughts you've had about the business. On one recent run my running partner (and business partner) and I talked about the pros and cons of adding a shopping cart to my company's site.

Originally the idea had been that my company would only do wholesale to retailers and let them do the selling directly to the customers. But given that we're about to launch a big PR campaign and wanting to avoid any issues like we had last time (where the retailer got all the leads and didn't pass them on to us), we realized it makes sense to add a shopping cart to our site. Not to mention, as my running partner pointed out, any sales that come through the shopping cart as opposed to from one of my retailers more then doubles my company's profit.

There are cerainly some cons to it - the main one being that retailers may get pissy. But I've checked out other "competitors" and they all seem to be doing it so I'm assuming I'm not doing anything that's totally out of the norm.

The other big con is that it then requires more packaging/shipping on my part. But, low and behold - it looks like the US Postal Service is coming to my rescue! Turns out that USPS has a "flat rate" shipping box that would be big enough to fit what I assume any one individual order would be and it will always cost me $8.95 to ship regardless of how much it weighs. And then it turns out that those flat rate boxes are free and will be dropped off at your house if you simply go online and order them! That makes figuring out shipping much simpler and cuts down on the potential cost of moving into the retail segment. Plus I can print out shipping labels from my home computer (once I get a new printer...desperately needed) and have the mailman pick any packages up on my front step. Seems like a no brainer to me!

So hopefully by the end of the month I'll have an online retail outlet.

Connecting with the Outside World

Two thoughts for this post:

1. I saw a discussion this morning (on the Today Show - I keep it on in the background during the morning) with a group called Ladies Who Launch. Apparently the idea is to bring together women entrepreneurs (and wanna-be entreprenuers) to help one another through the process. They have an introductory workshop in cities around the country (for $250) and after that it looks like you can attend monthly meetings, access their network, etc. On the one hand it looks like a great way to connect with local entreprenuers which is something I'm constantly trying to do. On the other though, I'm not sure I necessarily agree with all of what the group says with regards to the fact that women starting up businesses don't necessarily think "business plan" and shouldn't be forced into that mold. Perhaps I'm not reading what they're saying correctly, but I do believe that every business - if you want to make it a real business - does need a business plan and set of financials that are constantly evolving as your business grows (says the gal who desperately needs to update her business plan). But then again perhaps I was just brainwashed by business school. I'm not yet ready to put down $250 for the experience but I'll let you know if I do and what I think of it. If you're interested in checking it our for yourself you can find out more here: http://www.ladieswholaunch.com/

2. I had my first meeting with my new PR team yesterday. In an effort to get the word out about the company/product to a national audience I've hired them to help me with the process. It's a little frightening to put down so much money but I know it's something that will be good for us (assuming it works). The PR team seems to think that my product is an easy placement for a range of print/tv and that perhaps the bigger problem is can I keep up with potential demand since everything is handmade. Hiring staff...that's the next problem to tackle.

Confession

Here's the truth - today is a day when a decent part of me wouldn't mind simply selling the business or shutting it down. It's a day when I dream about what it would be like to sell the business and have all the associated stress be done with.

Let me start this post out with saying that ironically the business has never been going better. We've gotten an incredible amount of opportunity literally land at our feet due to the BIG PR piece a few weeks ago that is bringing in new customers, new potential customers, and interesting marketing opportunities (we'll most likely be given away at the Primetime Emmys). So honestly things have never been better and when I compare it to this time last year I'm overwhelmed at the progress we've made both in terms of building the brand and finances.

But today I'm tired (didn't help that I was up at 5am to drop fiance off for a flight to Vegas for his bachelor party). And I'm tired of dealing with the stress associated with the fact that I now find myself in a position that I may need to hire part-time workers to help with production. Hiring folks makes me nervous because like any true entreprenuer - I'm obsessive compulsive and a control freak. So the thought of having other people help create "my product" makes me have to take a few deep breaths to slow down my speeding heart (all the while fully realizing that the only way to truly grow is to expand production).

I'm also tired of dealing with all the red tape associated with hiring folks - even part-timers - and am working with the accountant to get that little mess sorted out before I can even start to figure out if I can afford to hire part-time workers once unemployement taxes and such are taken into account.

And I'm worried about the fact that we're about to drop a substantial amount of money into a nationwide PR campaign. It's the largest amount of money we've put into anything up to this point and I'm terrified it won't work. And then at the same time I'm terrified that it will and we'll end up on Oprah and there I'll be all by myself (having chickened out from hiring anyone) desperately trying to keep up with production.

And the fact that I'm still not bringing in any money and am essentially just a drain on my fiance weighs heavily on me. I dream of when I can actually bring home a paycheck - even a small one - to help out with the variety of things we seem to be spending money on right now (lesson learned - weddings and honeymoons are not cheap). I hate not being able to help out whereas I could have taken a corporate job and be making enough to support us while simply socking his salary & bonus away for a rainy day.

Like I said before, ironically the business is going really really well and we are already at 40% of our annual goal which is stupendous given that first and second quarter should be incredibly slow for us. In fact, I've readjusted our year end financial goal given how well things are going. And when I look at the big picture - the building of a brand and a company that means something to me and is focused on some way or another in giving back to the community I'm incredibly excited and passionate about what we're doing. But today I'm bogged down in the little details and it's making it hard to breath.

Maybe it's because it's such a nice day outside that I want nothing more then to head out with a book and some sunglasses. But then again, if I wasn't doing this then I would be stuck in an office with flourescent lighting working hard for someone else with no opportunity to enjoy the sunshine. At the very least I can take a two hour lunch today and read. That's gotta be equivelent to a $100K salary, right?

Picking up steam

Things the last few weeks have gotten really busy all of the sudden. The big PR piece I talked about a few weeks ago brought in a fair number of really interesting leads (despite the fact that my one retailer didn't pass over all the leads as expected). So now we're weighing the options and starting to move on some stuff. The biggest one being that we're hiring an outside PR agency.

I had actually had the search for a PR agency underway before the big PR piece came in but that really lit a fire under me. So I spent the last two weeks interviewing PR agencies and have found one that I'm comfortable with. Truthfully, it came down to this PR company (Company A) and another company (Company B) and while Company B probably had more direct experience, Company A was much much more hungry for the business and seemed to care about my product and understand my consumer. Company A did also come in about 3x my budget so I've had to significantly reel them back, but they seem excited for the opportunity.

I'm hoping that this works out as we're devoting a really large chunk of money to it. Largest that we've spent so far on any one thing. Can't lie - it all makes me a little nervous!