Thursday, May 29, 2008
How Much Does It Cost?
There's a great "real life" article in the New York Times Small Business section about the financial end of starting up a small - mostly unfunded - business: http://shiftingcareers.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/26/behind-a-start-up-one-familys-choices/
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
So That's What Color My Fridge is Supposed to be!
One of the huge benefits of working for yourself and from home is the flexibility it gives you to take care of all the little life/household things that inevitably crop up day in and day out. We were having some work done on the house last week so Monday and yesterday we moved everything back into the first floor of the house. The benefit of having everything moved out is that it's the perfect excuse to spring clean like you've never spring cleaned before so after doing about 5 hours of actual work yesterday I spent the next 5 hours scouring every corner of the first floor. I'm not quite sure when I last cleaned out the inside of the refridgerator but let's just say it's now a different shade of white then when I started.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Turning the Dials
I took the weekend off from work (more or less - aside from a few crackberry email messages to a few retailers) to head out to Washington wine country for a long weekend of wine tasting and a little race. Before I jump into the entrepreneurship end of this post let me first get on my soapbox and just say that anyone who loves wine should take some time to try out some of what Washington has to offer. Or perhaps you're looking for a unique vacation but are worried that the dollar is worth pittance overseas...come visit Washington's wine region. Specifically I was in Walla Walla, WA and it really is what Napa/Sonoma was 15-20 years ago - a very quant town that has a few good restaurants and some great wineries but a very down to earth population and the majority of the town is still agriculturially based. It's great fun and I highly recommend it.
So now onto the entrepreneurship end. Believe it or not, this stems from a wine tasting we went to. It was actually a private wine tasting with one of the vitners who just started up a year or two ago and he was telling us that a lot of what he's currently doing is "turning the dial" on a variety of factors to see what makes the best wine on any given year. This idea stuck with me and today while in the car back home my husband and I were talking about how this stage of my business is very much about "turning the dial." Specifically we have the product mix dialed in but I'm trying to find the perfect recipe of trade advertisements, direct to retailer via direct mail/tradeshows, outside sales reps, and wholesale website.
Originally I thought that the way to get into the most retail outlets was to go the outside sales rep routte but I've been vastly underwhelmed with this crowd (note: I'm talking specifically about those reps I've met in my specific industry and not all reps in general. I actually believe that sales reps can do a fantastic job but they can make much more money working in the medical or technology field then working for little ol' me and as such I can't afford to hire the really good ones). In a sense I turned that dial up to a 7 or 8 (out of 10) and didn't get the results I was looking for so I'm now dialing that back down to a 2 or 3 and turning up the direct to retailer via direct mail/tradeshows while also simultaniously adding in the wholesale website in another month or two. So those two are getting cranked up towards the 7 mark and I'm turning up the trade advertising to perhaps a 5 but am thinking that in 2009 perhaps that will have to be turned up even further.
I could go on forever here about tweaking this one thing just so and adding in a dash of that thing but you get my point, right? So much of entrepreneurship I'm finding is not just straight trial and error in that if something doesn't pan out the way you imagined then it's just a no-go. Instead, it seems to be a matter of turning the dials on a multitude of moving pieces until you hit just the right match. Course my fear is that entrepreneurship may be just like fine Walla Walla wine and that as soon as you have this year figured out you have to go back to the beginning and start all over to figure out the right mix based on a variety of new factors for the next year.
So now onto the entrepreneurship end. Believe it or not, this stems from a wine tasting we went to. It was actually a private wine tasting with one of the vitners who just started up a year or two ago and he was telling us that a lot of what he's currently doing is "turning the dial" on a variety of factors to see what makes the best wine on any given year. This idea stuck with me and today while in the car back home my husband and I were talking about how this stage of my business is very much about "turning the dial." Specifically we have the product mix dialed in but I'm trying to find the perfect recipe of trade advertisements, direct to retailer via direct mail/tradeshows, outside sales reps, and wholesale website.
Originally I thought that the way to get into the most retail outlets was to go the outside sales rep routte but I've been vastly underwhelmed with this crowd (note: I'm talking specifically about those reps I've met in my specific industry and not all reps in general. I actually believe that sales reps can do a fantastic job but they can make much more money working in the medical or technology field then working for little ol' me and as such I can't afford to hire the really good ones). In a sense I turned that dial up to a 7 or 8 (out of 10) and didn't get the results I was looking for so I'm now dialing that back down to a 2 or 3 and turning up the direct to retailer via direct mail/tradeshows while also simultaniously adding in the wholesale website in another month or two. So those two are getting cranked up towards the 7 mark and I'm turning up the trade advertising to perhaps a 5 but am thinking that in 2009 perhaps that will have to be turned up even further.
I could go on forever here about tweaking this one thing just so and adding in a dash of that thing but you get my point, right? So much of entrepreneurship I'm finding is not just straight trial and error in that if something doesn't pan out the way you imagined then it's just a no-go. Instead, it seems to be a matter of turning the dials on a multitude of moving pieces until you hit just the right match. Course my fear is that entrepreneurship may be just like fine Walla Walla wine and that as soon as you have this year figured out you have to go back to the beginning and start all over to figure out the right mix based on a variety of new factors for the next year.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
What Am I Missing?
I finally got around to getting my QuickBooks caught up to date. Well almost completely caught up to date if it were not for a suspect charge I came across on last month's statement which then forced me to call 801 different agencies to try and get the issue resolved. The nice folks at Alaska Airlines are now looking into the issue for me since the charge came from them.
But that minor drama aside - getting my QuickBooks up to date made me realize that sales year to date are currently 44% behind where we were last year at this time while right now costs are pretty much staying even with last year. On the bright side - at least costs have risen drastically given the current economic environment! Plus, a lot of what i would consider our "mistake" spending from last year happened in the second half of the year so I've hopefully learned from that and will be making wiser choices about where to spend our money. I'm hoping that means at the end of the day we'll have kept costs at par, at the very least, while also increasing sales.
However, I feel like I'm missing something. Do you ever have that feeling where you've walked into a room for something but can't remember what it is? Or that there's a voice in the back of your head trying to tell you something but you just can't seem to hear it? I've been feeling like that for a few weeks now and I just can't get a good handle on it. I swear it feels like I'm missing something business-wise - something obvious that's right in front of me - but I just can't seem to put my finger on exactly what it is.
I'm a relatively smart person who's managed to surround herself with a group of really smart people but yet something's not quite right. What I can't tell if whether I'm too focused on short term results and success that perhaps I'm negating the long term goal of building a brand or whether I'm too focused on building a brand that I loose sight of the fact that something needs to be done today to get money flowing back into the company. I'm not really sure what it is but something's missing...
But that minor drama aside - getting my QuickBooks up to date made me realize that sales year to date are currently 44% behind where we were last year at this time while right now costs are pretty much staying even with last year. On the bright side - at least costs have risen drastically given the current economic environment! Plus, a lot of what i would consider our "mistake" spending from last year happened in the second half of the year so I've hopefully learned from that and will be making wiser choices about where to spend our money. I'm hoping that means at the end of the day we'll have kept costs at par, at the very least, while also increasing sales.
However, I feel like I'm missing something. Do you ever have that feeling where you've walked into a room for something but can't remember what it is? Or that there's a voice in the back of your head trying to tell you something but you just can't seem to hear it? I've been feeling like that for a few weeks now and I just can't get a good handle on it. I swear it feels like I'm missing something business-wise - something obvious that's right in front of me - but I just can't seem to put my finger on exactly what it is.
I'm a relatively smart person who's managed to surround herself with a group of really smart people but yet something's not quite right. What I can't tell if whether I'm too focused on short term results and success that perhaps I'm negating the long term goal of building a brand or whether I'm too focused on building a brand that I loose sight of the fact that something needs to be done today to get money flowing back into the company. I'm not really sure what it is but something's missing...
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
What Impact Has the Economy Had On You?
I stole this blog topic from a forum I read as it's definitely something that's been on my mind with regards to the business.
Right now it's actually a little hard to tell how the economy has impacted my business since my business is very seasonal. I will know more after the Fall tradeshows since if retailers aren't buying then it will be a very good indication that people are incredibly worried about the economy and holiday buying season.
Right now we've actually been doing ok business-wise given the seasonality in our business. I can definitely tell that retailers are less apt to make new product purchases now and are sticking to "tried and true" products but our new products are getting a lot of attention from retailers but most are telling me to come back to them in the Fall.
At the same time, our new product seems to be generating a lot of buzz in the industry trade publications. I already know that we're going to be in the upcoming June edition of one publication (or so I've been told - we'll see if I make the final editorial cut) and it's looking like we're going to be spotlight in another publication in July. I've also sent in material to a few other industry trade publications so I'm hoping they bite and perhaps do a little more press towards August/Sept timeframe as that's getting mighty close to tradeshow season so I want our products/company top-of-mind for retailers.
So while right now the company is blowing through a decent chunk of change - it's not necessarily so much that it has me totally bent out of shape (only midly bent out of shape). I was hoping that we'd break even this year and while I do think that we still stand a chance of doing that, this economy may make that goal a little harder to reach than originally anticipated.
Right now it's actually a little hard to tell how the economy has impacted my business since my business is very seasonal. I will know more after the Fall tradeshows since if retailers aren't buying then it will be a very good indication that people are incredibly worried about the economy and holiday buying season.
Right now we've actually been doing ok business-wise given the seasonality in our business. I can definitely tell that retailers are less apt to make new product purchases now and are sticking to "tried and true" products but our new products are getting a lot of attention from retailers but most are telling me to come back to them in the Fall.
At the same time, our new product seems to be generating a lot of buzz in the industry trade publications. I already know that we're going to be in the upcoming June edition of one publication (or so I've been told - we'll see if I make the final editorial cut) and it's looking like we're going to be spotlight in another publication in July. I've also sent in material to a few other industry trade publications so I'm hoping they bite and perhaps do a little more press towards August/Sept timeframe as that's getting mighty close to tradeshow season so I want our products/company top-of-mind for retailers.
So while right now the company is blowing through a decent chunk of change - it's not necessarily so much that it has me totally bent out of shape (only midly bent out of shape). I was hoping that we'd break even this year and while I do think that we still stand a chance of doing that, this economy may make that goal a little harder to reach than originally anticipated.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Playing the Lotto - Business Style
I'm not a lottery player with the exception of when the jackpot gets above $200M and I happen to actually hear that it's above $200M and I actually have $1 in cash in my pocket (interesting fact I recently learned - you have to buy lottery tickets with cash). As anyone who actually knows me will attest - typically having the $1 in cash on me is the deciding factor against buying my chance at $200M+.
I do happen to play the business lottery though. For example, today I sent a product sample off to a large company that is incredibly well known and has an equally high brand image though they don't typically carry products like mine. Heck, I didn't even have the name of the appropriate person so it's literally addressed "Dear Sir or Madam" - since hours of internet searching turned up nothing. But let's just say that on the off-chance it actually makes it to the right person and they buy into my carefully crafted and hopefully persuasive cover letter. Imagine the results!
And post memorial day I will be sending a sample to a well-known tv personality who has a famous "list" in her magazine that also typically makes the "list" she broadcasts on tv. It's one heck of a long shot - in fact my odds of winning that $200M+ lottery are probably better - but just for a moment imagine what would happen if someone did think it would be a great new feature for their publication.
I don't do a lot of this "business lottery" sample sending since, at the end of the day the probability of actually winning are next to nil and the money spent to send samples out the door could be put to better use. Though in two instances it actually has paid out for me. Like the above two scenarios, one was to a large well-known retailer (I did have a contact name that time) which actually ended up being the first retailer my company signed. And the other was a PR move where I sent samples to "Dear Sir or Madam" and it actually made the cut. So I believe these things can happen despite the fact that the odds are not in my favor. But again, just imagine what would happen if you won...
I do happen to play the business lottery though. For example, today I sent a product sample off to a large company that is incredibly well known and has an equally high brand image though they don't typically carry products like mine. Heck, I didn't even have the name of the appropriate person so it's literally addressed "Dear Sir or Madam" - since hours of internet searching turned up nothing. But let's just say that on the off-chance it actually makes it to the right person and they buy into my carefully crafted and hopefully persuasive cover letter. Imagine the results!
And post memorial day I will be sending a sample to a well-known tv personality who has a famous "list" in her magazine that also typically makes the "list" she broadcasts on tv. It's one heck of a long shot - in fact my odds of winning that $200M+ lottery are probably better - but just for a moment imagine what would happen if someone did think it would be a great new feature for their publication.
I don't do a lot of this "business lottery" sample sending since, at the end of the day the probability of actually winning are next to nil and the money spent to send samples out the door could be put to better use. Though in two instances it actually has paid out for me. Like the above two scenarios, one was to a large well-known retailer (I did have a contact name that time) which actually ended up being the first retailer my company signed. And the other was a PR move where I sent samples to "Dear Sir or Madam" and it actually made the cut. So I believe these things can happen despite the fact that the odds are not in my favor. But again, just imagine what would happen if you won...
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Week In Review
It's been a busy week with a ton of balls in the air so I apologize for not writing too much. Here's a quick recap and then I'm going outside for a ride in this first beautiful weekend in the Northwest (hallaluhia summer may have actually arrived!)
I've been getting a few calls this week from people who are interested in working with the direct mail group I worked with for my spring direct mail piece asking me what I thought of the group/results/etc. It made me go take a look at the ROI and I realized that we're at about a 75% ROI for the campaign which is really pretty good. We don't have the sales figures I thought we would (there's still another week left on the promotion) but I keep remembering that at it's base I wanted this to be more of a brand awareness campaign first and a sales campaign second in the hopes that when people see our ads & second campaign this fall and then see us at the trade shows it will spark them to come over and check out the product offerings (and place orders - big orders!)
The new website is underway and I'm ecstatic. After much searching I finally found someone - well really two people - who I think are going to do a bang-up job on the new site and really help us bring the site up to the brand image of the company as a whole. We're also going to have some great new componants for retailers so that they can quickly and easily get all the wholesale information they always need and place orders directly on the site. I'm very very very excited.
Our house is in the midst of being torn apart to have the wood floors on the first floor redone. That means we've been moving everything out of the first floor of the house which includes the dining room table/my office. We're actually moving out to a friends house for a few days so we're also trying to pack up what we'll need for a week, etc etc etc. In short, it's chaotic around here right now so next week is definitely going to be a shortened work week. I'm bringing my accounting to-dos with me to the friends house and if I get that taken care of and nothing else I'll be really happy since I also have to be at the house part of next week playing constructon foreman and then spend a day cleaning the house post floors/pre moving everything back in and then off to a race on Friday in the eastern part of the state. Phew!
I also submitted my application to join the Board of a local nonprofit that is connected to my industry and, obviously, in line with something I believe in and love. I'm excited to meet with the Board in a few weeks to talk more about the position/responsibilities/and goals of the organization to see if it will be a good fit.
Many in my industry are at a big tradeshow this weekend on the east coast and while I'm not there - obviously - I'm interested to hear from friends in the industry how it went. It's in a new venue so people were a little skeptical of it not to mention the slowing economy so I'm glad I didn't go but am anxious to hear how things panned out.
Lastly, I did have the first round interview with "Big Company" which I don't think actually went too well since I haven't interviewed in over two years so am a bit out of practice. It's still an interesting position and if I get a callback I'll probably continue the interview process to learn more but am leaning towards sticking it out fulltime with my company rather than hiring someone to run it for me for a few years. But who knows...we'll have to see how this all plays out.
I was talking to a good friend the other day and after doing the quick "what's happening in your life" rundown he said it sounded like I had my hand in a lot of pots. I don't disagree with him for a second and while things are going really well I'm definitely reaching my limit on what more I can take onto my plate and think I may need to start taking some stuff off/delegating some stuff off.
I've been getting a few calls this week from people who are interested in working with the direct mail group I worked with for my spring direct mail piece asking me what I thought of the group/results/etc. It made me go take a look at the ROI and I realized that we're at about a 75% ROI for the campaign which is really pretty good. We don't have the sales figures I thought we would (there's still another week left on the promotion) but I keep remembering that at it's base I wanted this to be more of a brand awareness campaign first and a sales campaign second in the hopes that when people see our ads & second campaign this fall and then see us at the trade shows it will spark them to come over and check out the product offerings (and place orders - big orders!)
The new website is underway and I'm ecstatic. After much searching I finally found someone - well really two people - who I think are going to do a bang-up job on the new site and really help us bring the site up to the brand image of the company as a whole. We're also going to have some great new componants for retailers so that they can quickly and easily get all the wholesale information they always need and place orders directly on the site. I'm very very very excited.
Our house is in the midst of being torn apart to have the wood floors on the first floor redone. That means we've been moving everything out of the first floor of the house which includes the dining room table/my office. We're actually moving out to a friends house for a few days so we're also trying to pack up what we'll need for a week, etc etc etc. In short, it's chaotic around here right now so next week is definitely going to be a shortened work week. I'm bringing my accounting to-dos with me to the friends house and if I get that taken care of and nothing else I'll be really happy since I also have to be at the house part of next week playing constructon foreman and then spend a day cleaning the house post floors/pre moving everything back in and then off to a race on Friday in the eastern part of the state. Phew!
I also submitted my application to join the Board of a local nonprofit that is connected to my industry and, obviously, in line with something I believe in and love. I'm excited to meet with the Board in a few weeks to talk more about the position/responsibilities/and goals of the organization to see if it will be a good fit.
Many in my industry are at a big tradeshow this weekend on the east coast and while I'm not there - obviously - I'm interested to hear from friends in the industry how it went. It's in a new venue so people were a little skeptical of it not to mention the slowing economy so I'm glad I didn't go but am anxious to hear how things panned out.
Lastly, I did have the first round interview with "Big Company" which I don't think actually went too well since I haven't interviewed in over two years so am a bit out of practice. It's still an interesting position and if I get a callback I'll probably continue the interview process to learn more but am leaning towards sticking it out fulltime with my company rather than hiring someone to run it for me for a few years. But who knows...we'll have to see how this all plays out.
I was talking to a good friend the other day and after doing the quick "what's happening in your life" rundown he said it sounded like I had my hand in a lot of pots. I don't disagree with him for a second and while things are going really well I'm definitely reaching my limit on what more I can take onto my plate and think I may need to start taking some stuff off/delegating some stuff off.
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