So Much For Waiting

So much for waiting until later in the week to attack "Shed Cleanup Project." This morning, after it dawned on me I really should update my business website to mention the new product (oops!), I figured I'd step out to the shed 'just to take a look.' And that one look turned into just moving a few things around, which turned into maybe just straightening up the back of the shed, which ultimately turned into a five hour cleanout of the entire shed.

I have to say I'm rather impressed with the work that I did. Cleaning out the shed is nowhere near as easy as it sounds b/c I had to keep the emergency supplies within easy reach should there be an emergency (what can I say, we live in earthquake country) while also making sure that my husband has access to the glorious yard tools and we have access to our bikes and the entire 2 tons worth of stuff that manages to go with the bikes. But I did manage to get it all rearranged so that now one side of the shed is the yard/bike/hiking/emergency side and the other is my packaging inventory and a soon-to-be-setup table where I can hopefully accomplish said packaging. For the moment my actual packaged inventory is still living in the basement but hopefully as I start to go through some of the packaging I can make more room out there.

I even have an old rug that is currently in the wash to make the shed truly homey. And then it'll be me, my packaging, the yard tools, the bikes, the emergency supplies, and a multitude of spiders all coexisting happily out in the shed...or so I hope!

This is the week...

This is the week I release not one - but two - new products. This is the week I launch my largest ever direct marketing campaign. This is the week I sit on the edge of my seat hoping that all the work of the past few months getting ready for this week is not in vain. And this is the week I keep waiting for the phone to ring/email to fill up even though I know that people won't be getting the direct mail until later in the week, probably won't look at it right away (for those who evevn do look at it) and once they do will wait another few days/weeks to actually place an order if they're so inclined.

In short, this is the week that I am a bundle of nervous energy with no place in particular to direct it. Sadly, I'm also incredibly sore from some weekend workouts so my usual stress release of exercise is temporarily not an option which only serves to make me an even larger mess of nervous energy. My husband is contemplating stuffing one of the dogs' sedatives into a brownie and feeding it to me.

Insead I've decided to take over the shed. Let me explain...

I've been on a tear recently about office space mainly because having all the packaging, inventory, and other business-related accessories taking up every inch of free space in my house is driving me absolutely batty. I've half-heartedly looked into getting office space but the problem lies in the fact that most places in my area don't have air conditioning and for one or two weeks every summer my inventory will need it to keep from essentially being destroyed. Today I realized that with a little work I think I could rearrange the shed in our yard to that it could be 50% yard materials and 50% packaging space. At the very least I'm pretty sure I could set up a desk and some shelving units out there to hold all the packaging and have a spot to do the actual packaging that is not the dining room table. Best of all, if I actually get things rearranged just right I think I can also keep all my inventory in the shed as well which will free up so much space in the house. As for that week or two of really hot weather - I'll just move the inventory back into the basement (where it currently is) as that stays pretty cool year-round.

So that's my new plan. I have 101 things to get done tomorrow but I'm hoping to start to have some time starting on Thursday to get into the shed and start the rearranging. At the very least it will keep me from hitting the refresh button my email inbox every 45 seconds.

Thank Goodness for To Do Lists

One of the small things I'm thankful for this morning is the foresight I had yesterday to make up a long To Do List of what I'm hoping to accomplish today. I'm sitting here looking at it this morning - after a morning swim practice which means I'm never really fully awake - and realizing that I would have forgotten at least half this stuff. And it's all stuff that needs to get done today. Thankfully it's turning into a nice day here in the Northwest so I can get down to work on the dining room table and the dogs can hang out on the porch and enjoy the slices of sunshine.

And I should add, yesterday after having a small fit about how much I've been spending on the business I ended up getting the 500 direct mail postcards in the mail (the other 12,000 are being sent out directly from the company). Wow - they turned out incredibly well! I can't stop looking at it and I swear it hasn't hit me that what I'm seeing on the postcard is actually my company and my products! I did spend some time yesterday afternoon stuffing the postcards into the 500 envelopes I had the foresight to address so I'm thinking I should put the dogs to work and have them lick the envelopes closed.

Back Away From the Credit Card

My business credit card needs a rest. In preparation for this new product release I've had to buy a fair amount of inventory (still being completely unsure whether the amount of inventory I've bought is the right amount). All of which has been charged to the business credit card.

Add to that the cost of the direct mail campaign to the 12,000 retailers nationwide. Also on the business credit card.

Add to that the cost to personally mail (with handwritten notes nonetheless) information on the new product to 500 "key" retailers in my area. Also on the business credit card (and desperately trying to beat the May 12 postage increase).

And lastly, my brillant idea last night that I should bring in some sort of baked good to my retailers (trust me - there is a connection to the new product - though not necessarily a direct one) because if I'm going to be making actual sales calls to approx 50 local retailers I may as well bring in something yummy for them. At the very worst if they don't buy anything atleast my prescence will trigger a positive reaction for them! But ofcourse you can't just go off toting food along in any old thing so this morning I bought ecologically-correct boxes that more or less match the new product boxes. I'll tie them with the same ribbon and stick my business card on top with a glue dot.

And yes, once again all of this is on my business credit card as well.

At least I'm getting miles!

Tryout #1

My new product release is t-7 days away, I still have a ton of inventory to build up and marketing stuff to get ready...and yet, today I spent half the day playing with my new machine.

Now I realize that it is going to take more than one pass to get the raw materials exactly right to work with said machine - and yet I was every so slightly disappointed that after the first try it didn't work exactly as I had envisioned. Thankfully the machine works exactly as hoped but it's my combination of raw materials which isn't exactly right yet. Half the reason I bought the machine now for a product I plan on releasing next year was to have the time to work/play with the machine and the raw materials but still...there's always that part of you that hopes the machine will work right out of the gate.

The good news though is that my new employee is excited to play with it the next time she comes in so perhaps she'll be able to help me unlock the secret. In the meantime I need to focus on the product that's just about to go out the door.

Earth Day

In honor of Earth Day I want to share this great printing company I found. If you need any type of marketing material printed up this looks like the company to go to if you want to do it green. Skeptical? You can request samples from them to see what their paper stock and printing quality is like.

www.greenerprinter.com

I'll warn you that their site is running really slow today - perhaps due in part to Earth Day traffic - but they are the company of choice for names like CliffBar and other Fortune 1000 names so apparently they're good at what they do.

My Own Vegas?

I was away over the weekend enjoying a girls weekend with a good amount of swimming, biking, and running which was great fun. While I was there I met a gal who works for the gaming industry and we talked a little bit about how some machines pay out a little at a time to keep you interested while others don't payout at all but when they finally do it's huge.

For some reason, during yesterday's run, I started to think about how running a small business is really not that different then gambling. In some cases or even with some products within a company's portfolio there is a small but relatively consistent payout at a fairly regular business. But just like sitting down to a slot machine, that money you get from these regular payouts typically goes right back into the business machine in the hopes that one day that business will hit the jackpot and payout big.