Attitude Readjustment

I'm going to bed in no more than 45 minutes. After running on minimal sleep in a fairly physical job for the past two weeks straight I'm exhausted and it's impacting who I am, my attitude, and the job that I'm doing. So rather than staying up late tonight doing work that could be done, I'm going to bed and will get to my workspace early tomorrow morning to hammer through the day. If nothing else, the sleep will help me substantially. Also, to reward myself for what will likely be a very long day, I'm going to pick up one of those new Starbucks hot coco's that I've been eyeing for the past few weeks. I'm also picking up one for my loyal part-time employee even though he'll be in working for another person tomorrow. Do you think the hot coco will be seen as a bribe by the other employer?

Worth It?

(sorry, small rant ahead)

I need all this craziness and hecticness to be worth it. I know in my heart of hearts it is because I'm building something from scratch and no one ever said that would be easy. But sometimes I just need the reminder that all the hard work, the not spending time with my husband and dogs, the waking up in the middle of the night with worry, the dishevieled home since that's where 50% of the packing is currently taking place, the no paycheck, and the general turning my entire family's lives upside down is worth it.

I did a very quick scan of quickbooks last night and I realized two things:
1. In the next two weeks I'm sending out the same dollar amount of revenue as I did all of last year (as such I'm exhausted and eaten alive with worry and stress)
2. At the end of the day, after the credit cards have been paid off for the year and all revenue is accounted for, I will likely break even.

Don't get me wrong, breaking even is a great thing to do and something every new business strives for. But to work this hard and not see a penny of it return to your pocket is a little tough to swallow right now as I prepare to spend another fully day in my workspace after having been woken up by eastcoast phone calls first thing this morning.

The business is definitely running me right now, running me ragged. And I just want a reminder that it is all worthwhile and will pay off in one form or another at some point.

Being Grateful

It's not yet Thanksgiving but I am thankful for a lot of things right now:
1. My company is getting orders faster then we can fill them. It's keeping me incredibly busy (14+ hour days 7 days a week) but right now so many of my friends and competitors are slower then expected. Therefore I am SO thankful to be busy. Tired, yes. But thankfully busy.
2. FedEx is one of the greatest companies in my mind right now. Not only do they stop by my house to pick up all the orders going out the door, my FedEx person even dropped off more supplies for me since she knows my leg is broken (even left a nice little note!). And today FedEx freight called me up to make sure that someone would be around to sign for an important package tomorrow. They didn't know it was important but I was waiting for it so I'm so thankful that I know to expect it and can be around.
3. Easy returns. I'm having to return some packaging that didn't work out as planned and the company I order from makes returns so incredibly simple. That means that not only do I get my money back, but I also get the boxes out of my house. A house that my husband affectionally referred to as "a bomb shelter."
4. In two weeks 95% of the orders for the year will be out the door. That is something to look forward to right now!
5. Not related to the business but something to be happy for nonetheless - my husband isn't totally opposed to a "UnThanksgiving" meal this year. No pumpkin pie, no turkey, no stuffing. Right now I'm thinking mini hors d'ouvres and triple chocolate cheesecake. Not that I don't like typical Thanksgiving food, but right now I'd prefer to spend the time reconnecting with my husband and dogs rather than spend the day in the kitchen.

Planning for a Recession

I was doing some work at home last night and had CNBC on in the background to keep me company while my husband was away at a business function. In time, The Big Idea and Mad Money came on and they were talking about how certain companies would better weather the recession because they saw it coming versus those that were completely caught off guard. Now they were talking about bigger companies but I started thinking about how it applied to my company as well. For a while I've thought that we were headed into a recession (mainly thanks to a finance professor who, back in 2006, pointed out that the yield curve was inverted and as such we would likely enter a recession in 12-18 months. Turns out he was exactly on the mark!) so I've tried to plan accordingly.

That meant doing things like trying to cut back marketing expenses (ironic given that I was a marketing major at bschool) since it's sometimes tougher to determine the ROI of those activities or, at the very least, being much more strategic with the few marketing dollars we have been putting out there. I think we've done a good job but I'm also looking forward to figure out what we are and aren't going to do next year. Topic #1 - I've nixed an east coast tradeshow in the spring. Too expensive, too far to travel, and the east coast is - right now - being harder hit by this economic downturn then the west coast so I just don't think my products would play well there right now. Course it's a gamble since other folks I talked to had a great show there last year.

The economy is also impacting the types of new products I'm thinking of introducing next year and the price points that will be feasible for those products. And it's also weighing on my mind as I think about the next steps for this company. If we're at max capacity right now with the way things are currently organized I want and need to figure out a better way to grow. But if the economy is such that sales may take a huge hit I'm obviously a little nervous about dumping capital into business expansion be it on increased production space or additional personnel. It's a fine line, made even finer in this economy, and I'm trying to determine the right balance so that at the end of the day not only are we one of the businesses who have survived, but that we can emerge as a leader in, what will be initially, a smaller competitative landscape so that we can be positioned to thrive as the economy gets back on its feet.

Being More Efficient

If the company was more streamlined and more efficient I'd have more time to put down all the thoughts that are currently running through my head. But I literally don't have the time to stop. As Martygaal posted in response to my last blog post, I do need to become more efficient and figure out a way to make this business run with less "me" time actually having to be in there doing it. However, part of what makes our product so unique is the fact that it's not put together by teenagers getting $8. Trust me, I tried it and they just don't care enough to make the product look the way it should. Or they just quit (or never show up in the first place) which then puts the onus back on me. My hope is to spend some time over the holidays figuring out a way to bring on another employee or two to work with me and take some of the load off. However, it's hard to get people who want to stay, even if you pay well, if you can only offer 20-30 hours a week and I just don't think I'm at the point where I can offer more hours, especially during first and second quarter which are typically pretty slow. So I'm sort of trying to walk a fine line between finding the right person and paying them enough to make them want to stay and be motivated but also not breaking the bank on employee costs since, at some point, I'd actually like to be able to take a salary from the business...or at the very least start to repay some of the loans I wrote into the business to get it started.

And We're Off

The big order from the bigger company came through on Wednesday morning. It's about 50% of what my company made in 2007. It also needs to ship the first week of November. Yes, I know that it's already October 16th...I'm choosing not to realize how close the first week of November is. So I've been spending the past few days ordering in all the packaging (and a few pieces are backordered so please please please let them come in in time), renting more workspace time and the office in the workspace because if I have to do all the packaging in my house my husband will leave me - and I won't blame him, and I've been scheduling in employees to help with the load.

Thankfully yesterday I had the foresight to tell one of our online wholesale partners that our products were going to be backordered until Nov. 10th. In addition to this big order, I still have to fill all the orders that came in at the tradeshows so my hands are pretty full as is. Then this morning a decent sized order came through the wholesale site so I'm so glad I don't have to worry about it (or, realistically, even think about it) until after this big order ships.

So I'm basically going to be working around the clock for the next three weeks but it's all good. I just need to figure in a way to hit up the HUGE Title Nine sale next week. You know, the important things.

Ah Crap!

Thankfully other people are more organized then I am because left to my own devices lord only knows what would happen. A few weeks ago I gladly offered up some product for the Bicycle Alliance of Washington because 1. I'm a huge cyclist (well, when the leg heals) 2. I'm good friends with someone on the board and 3. Said someone also has great connections into the WA wine scene (just kidding Erin!). So my friend called and asked if I would be willing to make a donation to their silent charity auction. More than happy I said...and then it promptly slipped my mind.

The Bicycle Alliance is apparently much more organized and called me on Monday wanting to know when they could pick up the donation. "Ummm...yeah...how about towards the end of the week," I said as I desperately starting to think about what I could add to the promised gift basket. We agreed that they'll come pick it up tomorrow.

Which meant I had to run around today to pick up things like...oh, the actual basket that the gifts will go into. Since I'm in a little bit of a whining mood today I'll take a moment to whine about how what should have been a 30 minute errand ends up being a 90 minute one because I'm just so damn slow on these stupid crutches. Sometimes I wish I had actually asked for a temporary handicap tag for my car so that it wouldn't take me 15 minutes - not to mention many many explitives - to get across a parking lot. But on the plus side - my arms have never been stronger or looked better!

So I'm sitting here looking at the basket and figuring out what's going to go into it. I'm fairly confident that I'll be able to pull off something that looks pretty snazzy (she says with hope!). I'll post a picture later tonight after I get it done.

* To my Board Member friend Erin - I'm so sorry it slipped my mind. But I will get you something that will look great and hopefully raise a lot of money. If not I'll owe you a trip to Trophy AND Theo Chocolates (as well as a personal donation to the Bicycle Alliance)