First Show of the Season - Sorta

Well we survived the heat but just barely. As I said before, my workspace was unbearably hot (someone registered it over 120- that was as far as their themometer would go) and after a few days of that and a few days of little to no sleep due to the heat in the house I just about cracked. My better half had to force-feed me last night since I hadn't been eating anything and couldn't figure out why I felt so horrible. The good news is the temps dropped substantially overnight and while it will still be warm - for us - it's not going to be the 103 we have had. I don't care where you live, but 103 without air conditioning is just unbearable.

Thankfully the heat has broken as it gives me a chance to get ready for a show I have this weekend. Technically I guess it's the first tradeshow of the season but unlike my others, this is a consumer show where people can actually come in and buy things. Given that it's consumer, and not wholesale, I'm really not sure what to expect out of it. Could be a total bust if it doesn't attract my kind of audience or it could go really well. At the very worst though, it only cost me $185 to have a booth there compared to the 10+x I usually pay for my wholesale shows so I figure it won't take too much to break even. I've tried to price my items in the $5-$10 range including tax mainly to give folks an incentive to buy (it's a touch cheaper then they can find online) and it helps make easy change.

Like I said, at it's worst I figure this is $185 and a weekend down the drain (and truthfully I'd be more upset about the weekend lost) but it does give me a chance to do a quick runthrough of my booth setup for the two big shows coming up and brush off my marketing spiell so I can sound a little more rehearsed and relaxed by the time I go to Vegas in six weeks. And heh, the venue is air conditioned so I can't complain about that!

And since it's always good to have goals, my main goal is to breakeven and get a chance to expose lots of new folks to my product/brand name. My stretch goal though is to make enough money to pay for the new labels I have to pay for next week which is roughly $2K. Keep your fingers crossed for me and I'll let you know how it goes...

This is your brain

This is your brain on 9 hours of incredible 100+degree heat. In case you haven't heard all the whining coming from the northwest quadrent of the US - the Pacific Northwest is going through a record heatwave and we are woefully inept at dealing with it. I've lived on the east coast and midwest and while I know it can get much much hotter (and more sticky humid) in both of those places - both of those have one thing we up here lack, air conditioning!

My workspace is unbearably hot. Take the 95degree outside temp, turn on about 6 ovens, multiple equipment, stuff it full of people, and take away any ventilation and you essentially have my workspace. It felt markedly cooler to step from the workspace out into the 95degree heat.

As soon as my brain forms back into something that doesn't resemble pudding I'll write about the business again. Lots going on right now...just heat-hampered brain.

Sorta Like Christmas

I spent the better part of yesterday unpacking from last year's tradeshows. You can't say I'm not on top of things given that the tradeshows ended in October last year! But in truth, between the broken leg and then coming back from the shows and being so (blessedly) busy with orders, my better half and I just put the boxes into their storage spot and let them be.

With some warm weather predicted and a mini-tradeshow next weekend (more on that later), I figured now was the time to get my stuff out of the storage area and try to clean it up/get it ready for this year's foray into the tradeshow madness. So with the 60's folk rock blasting (can you legitemately blast folk rock music?), I spent all day yesterday unpacking boxes and going "Oh wow - so this is where that was!" Apparently packing up boxes at the end of a tradeshow while under the influence of some substantial pain killers makes for a really interesting packing job and it really was like Christmas with all the goodies I found or had forgotten about.

Last year at one of the tradeshows I noticed that a company had packed all of their materials into giant Rubbermaid containers rather than boxes and then loaded them up onto their pallet. This, I realized, was a brilliant idea as the tupperware is a bit more sturdy then the boxes and most likely has a longer usable life. After two shows the boxes just start to go to pieces with all the opening/closing/packing/unpacking/moving/jostling/banging/etc. So I also hit up my local Storables store (the west coast version of the Container Store) and picked up a couple of those which everything is now neatly packed into.

I'm guessing that this year I'm going to have about 200lbs of materials headed to the shows. That includes the actual display (for the first time I won't be renting furniture at the shows), flooring (which is required so either must buy and bring or rent for an absurd fee), and then all product as well. Every year my display seems to be getting better and better, but it's also causing me to have to cart around more and more stuff. My first year I just shipped two boxes to a friend in Chicago and called it a day. Course then I also paid $600 just to rent furniture at that show so I figure the $900 I'm going to spend to get my stuff to two shows and back again will have me ahead of the game...I hope.

On a totally unrelated note it's going to be wicked hot here this weekend. Yes, I pulled out my old Boston slang for that one. Wicked! It's supposed to be in the upper-90's which is all well and good for you folks in Atlanta and parts south, but the Pacific Northwest literally does not know how to deal with this type of heat. Mainly because none of us have air conditioners and I don't care how many fans you have going it's still just moving hot air around at that point. Under the auspices that I'm worried about the dogs in this heat, I went out and bought an inflatable kiddie pool. It was on sale and I figure the $23 I spent will be well worth the entertainment value of watching the dogs trying to figure out what the heck this new contraption in their backyard is. Plus, at 97+degrees I may very well end up in there with them - with a margarita in one hand and a book in the other.

NYTimes on Twitter

An article from the Small Business section of the NYTimes about the power of Twitter for Mom & Pop's:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/23/business/smallbusiness/23twitter.html?_r=1&ref=smallbusiness

...and with that I'm off to go update my twitter profile.

(sorry the article is a few days old, I've been out of the loop trying to get the company's snazzy new brochure finalized. It's amazing how many times you can proofread the same sentance and still find mistakes!)

Ground Up

I heard about this book yesterday (via DailyCandy.com) and while there aren't currently any reviews posted on Amazon, it sounds like it could make for an interesting summer read if you have an entrepreneurial bend and need something to add to your beach read collection.

The novel is a fictionalized account, loosely based on the author's life experiences, of one couple opening up a coffee store and the trials and tribulations that occur in the course. I'm a little disappointed it's fiction as a true account would be much more interesting (to me personally at least). There are plenty of entreprenuer becomes millionaire stories out there but few true entreprenuer falls on their face stories and I think there's something to be learned from both sides.

If you're interested check it out here: http://tinyurl.com/m2bqtv

Burning through the reserves

Nothing like spending upwards of $1500 in the course of two hours to feel like you're really burning through the company's cash reserves. Sadly, none of it was frivolous stuff. It was all boring grown-up company stuff that I needed. Mainly parts, pieces, etc to help me create my products. And since I'm trying to do a much better job this year of building up a larger inventory - just in case, for example, I break my leg again a week before the busy season begins in earnest. I'm trying to be better prepared this time around. But to be prepared means I need those parts and pieces so I was a spending fool earlier this week.

All of which then had me up in the middle of the night worrying about our cash position and whether there's enough cash in the business to cover all fixed costs through the end of the year assuming no actual sales between now and then. Nothing like midnight angst to make for a really good night's sleep.

Motivation

Am I the only self-employed person who struggles with motivation? I'm normally a very motivated person and very much of a "to-do" list person. However most days seems to be the same cycle. I start out first thing in the morning going gangbusters against my list - crossing off to-dos like mad. Then by noon I start to slow down a bit and figure I'll check some websites, browse the net, etc. I can typically get remotivated but it's not with the same morning fury but I still manage to get another few things done. Until around 4:30 when I seriously start to lose steam and have to fight to keep myself focused. You notice I'm writing this right around noon...

Finally made it back once and for all last night. After vacation I had to head to my parents house to pick up the dogs and spent a few extra days there before the very very long 14 hour drive home yesterday. But a book on tape made the drive much easier (on me at least - the dogs still hate me I think). Check out "Don't Let's Go To The Dogs Tonight" if you haven't yet read/listed to it.

On a totally seperate note. I learned today that the brochures I'm planning on having made will cost 50% less then I had estimated. Hooray cause I had budgeted double! Unfortunately I also learned that one of the really popular stock packaging options I used last year is no longer available this year so I'm trying to quickly figure out an alternative.