Monday, March 31, 2008
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.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
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.
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.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
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.
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.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
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.
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.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
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.
I believe I just wrote the word "product" more time then anyone every thought was possible in one paragraph.
Monday, March 24, 2008
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.
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.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
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.
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