Concept 9 Accessories - Behind The Scenes

Wholesaling vs Retailing

2010-04-13T07:06:00.000-07:00

This is a topic that I have been struggling with for almost a year now. Should I be focusing on wholesaling our products, or selling them at retail prices to the end customer.

On the surface it seems really easy, get product into stores, sell a lot of product, get re-orders, make a lot of money. Or, make twice as much money selling your product retail, do lots of trade shows, drive traffic to your website, make lots of money. Sounds simple right? yeah right!

At the beginning of last year, we focused all of our effort and energy on getting wholesale accounts, we even started working with two sales reps. The problem was, we were so busy fulfilling our orders, and keeping up with production that no one was out there promoting the product on a day to day basis. So once the initial rush of orders happened, we weren't getting re-orders as quickly as we thought because the products weren't moving in store.

It isn't because our products aren't great, (because they are), but we didn't have a plan for what was going to sell them once they were in the store. The thing is, at a trade show I am selling the product to everyone that walks up to my table, and I'm good at that. But when your products are in a store they are competing with hundreds of other products, and the salespeople aren't bending over backwards to sell them either. In hindsight, we needed to have better packaging, point of purchase signage, and maybe some training materials for the salespeople included with our orders. It would also help if we were spending some time doing PR work to get additional exposure for our company in the areas that we have retailers.

Retailing isn't easy either. Doing trade shows is physically and emotionally exhausting, and when you really get down to it, you don't always make a lot more money than wholesaling when you start valuing your own time. And if you are trying to get online sales then it is a whole other ball game; AdWords, pay per click, social media, e-commerce, etc., it is all very time consuming. But I have to say, I love interacting with our customers at events.

I know of some businesses that do only one or the other, retail or wholesale. And there are other companies that seem to be managing both just fine...So, where does all of this leave me right now? I have decided to really focus on product development and presentation for the next 3 months. I want to have a clear focus on what our brand is, and who our target customer is before starting an aggressive wholesale campaign. We will also be trying to put some more effort into website/online marketing as well as a PR campaign to support our wholesale efforts.

A Simple Sales Lesson

2010-03-27T09:12:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday I met the sweetest, little old man, that reminded me of the most basic sales rule: if you don't ask, the answer is always no.

I was in the waiting room of the Orthopaedist's office with my 2 year old, and this older man walked in holding a cardboard box full of pine cone and pipe cleaner birds. Like most people, I had never seen these before so I was a little intrigued. What impressed me most though was his sales presentation. He had the birds separated into sections, flamingo, ostrich, etc., and he took a minute or so to explain how each one was different, and show the receptionist the most popular colours. When my daughter showed an interest in the birds, he told me they were very safe, and children love to play with them. They were even labelled, "Genuine Pine Cone Bird", so I'm assuming he thought someone might try to copy his idea eventually.

So, as you can see from the picture, I did end up buying one. Not only because he was so sweet, but because he reminded me about the basics of selling a product. He was going door to door making "sales calls" without any fancy literature,and no great display, it was just him and his product.

When I first started my business I would talk to everyone about it. I would give my card to pregnant women in the mall, or stop by a baby store and start a conversation with the owner (if they weren't busy of course). Don't get me wrong, I'm not pushy, and I respect the importance of an appointment, but sometimes it's just the right moment to make your impromptu presentation. And to be totally honest, I haven't been making phone calls, or setting sales appointments for the last few months. Instead I've just been coasting along waiting for big things to happen.

I suppose this happens to everyone in the sales profession at some point. You get a little burned out and then you start making excuses for your inactivity. Sometimes all you need is a little push in the right direction. And that's exactly what that chance encounter did for me; renewed my passion for sharing my products with others. If you are in a sales rut, why not try to focus on the things that you love about your products, and why you thought they were special enough to share with the world in the first place.

Weeding Out The Product Line

2010-03-23T08:37:00.000-07:00

It's time for some tough love at the C9 headquarters, we have to make some difficult decisions about what to keep in our product line. Currently we offer 8 types of products, and each comes in a variety of colours, and or sizes. It's not a huge line, but not everything is selling well,and some of the things that are selling just aren't making enough money.

The hardest part about business for me is the dollars and cents. I never really wanted to be self employed just for money, I wanted it to be more about creative fulfillment. But the truth is, if you aren't making money, you aren't able to pay your bills, and you aren't going to be in business for very long. This is a lesson I have learned the hard way.

Back to the original problem; choosing which products to retire, and which ones get a second shot at profitability. What makes this even more difficult is my poor record keeping. Over the last year whenever I've done trade events, I try to write down what I've sold, but I haven't always written down what size and colour it was. I know, in hindsight it seems obvious, but I just didn't realize the importance of deatiled sales records until now.

Since I haven't been able to find any hard and fast rules about how to choose which products to "let go", I came up with my own criteria:

1. Profit Margin -
I haven't figured out the magic number yet, but there will be a minimum profit margin
2. Popularity -
Well obviously...
3. Ease of Supply/Availability -
even though we make all of our products locally, we still rely on suppliers all over the country for fabric, trims, etc. And sometimes they just aren't reliable with re-orders.
4. Transition from Retail to Wholesale -
This one is a bit tricky. Some products do great at trade events, and when I am selling them one on one to customers, but we just can't convince retailers to buy them. I know this probably has more to do with our sales style, and support materials, but it does make managing inventory difficult. I would rather carry products that wholesale and retail customers want.

And of course, moving forward we will be setting up a better inventory management system. If you have any tips on how to set this up, please pass them on!

Social Media - Tools

2010-03-20T06:47:00.000-07:00

This week I've spent a lot of time figuring out how to manage all of the information that is coming at me from different social media websites. The goal is to cut out the noise and start focusing on the valuable insights.

To tackle the challenge, I've started using some applications to manage my social media channels. Although there are hundreds (maybe thousands) of tools available to do that, these are few I've found useful and user friendly. They may be obvious to some of you, but to a technological immigrant like me, they are the bee knees!

1. Face Book Fan Page Insights:
This is a completely free service offered by Facebook to all fanpage administrators. I have found this information to be very useful. Facebook is measuring your post quality, number of interactions each week, the sex of your followers, what city they live in, and so much more. I get to see how users are interacting with our page, and what I should do more (or less) of to keep them engaged.

2. TweetDeck:
This application let's you manage your Tweets and Facebook updates in real time, in one browser. (I haven't tried it yet, but I hear you can also connect to your LinkedIn account through TweetDeck). This has been a lifesaver for me. Everything is set up in columns and easy to manage, much less stressful than working with the Twitter website.

3. Twitter Lists:
This discovery alone has been the most exciting highlight of my week, (thank you @owengreaves). Of course, in hindsight, I wish I was setting up lists well before I started following a thousand people...but I guess I shouldn't cry over spilt milk. So here's the deal with lists; you separate the people you follow into categories like local, friends, marketing, etc, and you set up individual columns in Tweetdeck so you can look through them one stream at a time. The key is that you must turn off the live feed, so you can block out all of the extra noise.
Somehow I feel that I am just not giving lists the credit they deserve, just try it out, trust me.

4. Smart Phone:
I am in no position to recommend one smart phone over another since I just recently started to use one (the Iphone). Being that I am not technologically savvy at all, I found it pretty easy to use and idiot proof, just remember to use a good, thick case.
With the right apps installed, you can upload pictures and video directly to your twitter stream, and update your Facebook status on the spot.
This is a little off topic, but I have found it to be a huge time saver also. I've synced my gmail calender, email, and contacts with it and am loving all of the features.

4b. Smart Phone Apps:
This one I'm still experimenting with, so I will share my favorites in a later post, but I do know you are going to need them. My only recommendation right now, TweetDeck for Iphone.

So, on to next weeks challenge; working on the content I'm offering my followers on social media. As always, I would love to connect with you, so here are my handles:

www.facebook.com/concept9
@concept9
www.linkedin.com/rajthandhi

Vision Board Completed!

2010-03-15T10:41:00.000-07:00

Yes, I realize that I have written about this topic many times before, but I just couln't help sharing - my vision board is finally done!

Friday's Post, and a little more!

2010-03-09T15:35:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know it's not Friday...but I did say that I would post about my social media marketing efforts every Friday, and clearly, I did not. So hear's the big news....

Last week I made a big proclamation about how I was going to start promoting my business using social media, but it has proved harder than I expected. I just haven't figured out how to incorporate all of the different forms of social media that I want to use into my day and still manage to get anything else done.

What I did get started is the Facebook Fan Page update. We got the vanity url (www.facebook.com/concept9), added some custom pages (testimonials, events), and some applications that compliment our business (My Etsy, Networked Blogs). I know it doesn't seem like a lot, but it took a surprisingly long time for me to figure all of that out.

Next week's goal, post something engaging and useful on the fan page daily. And as a sub-goal, I will aim to publish my Friday social media update on Friday.

PS: Don't go away just yet....Monday and Tuesday's posts are coming shortly :)

Life Changing Advice from Jerry Seinfeld?

2010-03-02T15:53:00.000-08:00

I know it sounds strange, life changing advice from Jerry Seinfeld? But it's true, and it happened to me.

I was watching an episode of Oprah yesterday featuring Seinfeld and his new show The Marriage Ref. Jerry was funny as always and I was glad to have a much needed break after hanging out with sick and whiny kids all day (yes, they are mine). What really got my attention was something he said in the last 5 minutes of the show...."you have to design your life so it works for you". Such a simple concept, but it really hit home for me.

I haven't ever thought about "designing my ideal life", I've just always taken each day as it came. Sure, I do a lot of planning and strategizing on business goals, and I make resolutions every year, but none of those things really fit together and create a whole picture.

So here I am pondering all these deep thoughts last night, and I find myself making a Tylenol run to Wal-Mart at 11pm, and as I'm walking to the pharmacy a book called The Vision Board practically jumps out at me from the book rack. (Okay, maybe it's a little exaggerated, but I definitely did not go there to buy a book!)Curious, here's what the book reads on the back cover:

DISCOVER THE SECRET TO LIVING THE LIFE OF YOUR DREAMS!
The Vision Board will help you discover who you are, create your personal vision board, and ultimately achieve what you want most in life.

This had to be a sign from the Universe, or I totally did not get The Secret. I've only started working through the first chapter on Visioning and I am already amazed. This is exactly what I needed to start designing my life. Sometimes we forget what it was that we were racing towards in the first place and we need to reconnect with not only our goals, but also our values, beliefs, and dreams.

I'm looking forward to spending time this week getting back in touch with myself and visioning where I'd like to take my business in the future, an how I want my personal and spiritual life to look.

I hope my ramblings will inspire some of you to start designing a new life for yourself also :)

Social Media Plan

2010-02-26T12:31:00.000-08:00

Those of you that know me well know that I am a little resistant change, and very confused by technology. But, after months of coasting along, I've decided to ride the waves of social media and really use the tools that are available to promote a small business online.

Don't get me wrong, it's not like I live under a rock or anything. We have a Facebook page, a Twitter Account, a couple of blogs (do they really count if you haven't been updating them?), I'm on Linked In, etc,etc. But the truth of the matter is, I don't really know how to use all these applications effectively, and I haven't really tried to learn how. Well this is it, my public proclamation, I am going to learn how to use social media for business and apply what I learn for the next 90 days. (Hopefully it will last longer than 90 days, but I think that's a good place to start.)

According to much of the reading that I have done on the subject 90 days is about the time that you should start to see some trickle of results from your social media activities. On the other hand some experts say it will take 6 months to a year before you see any concrete results. Anyhow, I digress...for my little "project" I've selected the following outlets:

Facebook - www.facebook.com/concept9
Twitter - www.twitter.com/concept9
You Tube - concept9accessories
Linked In - www.linkedin.com/rajthandhi
Blogspot - www.startingc9.blogspot.com

I won't go into too much detail about what I plan to do for each area, but promise to post that in coming weeks. In order to keep myself on track for the next 90 days, I intend to post about my social media adventures every Friday.

Packaging, Displays, etc, etc.

2010-01-20T10:07:00.000-08:00

We have been working on a big project for the last few weeks. It is time for us to re-vamp our packaging, update our labels, and create some point of purchase displays, and marketing material for our retailers.

This was actually the most procrastinated on project of 2009. Every time I start searching for a new packaging I find myself lost in a world of overseas suppliers, offering great boxes at amazing prices, as long as we buy 25,000 pieces. What?! I just find it so frustrating! But, I have finally tracked down some Canadian, (and US) companies that offer nice packaging at affordable prices, with manageable minimums. Yeah for me!

I haven't received all of my samples yet, but I'm confident that I will meet my self prescribed deadline of March 1st for new packaging.

The other big chunk of this project is designing some point of purchase display boxes for our retailers. Last year I was asked more than once by retailers for some marketing materials that they could display in their stores, and I had to keep putting them off (not a nice feeling).

Surprisingly, it has been easier to source local suppliers of POP displays than I expected. Because of cost factors we will be beginning with a POP display box and master shipper for just the Belly Bands, and we'll move to in store displays for our other products in the summer.

Now that I have started working on this project I'm kind of kicking myself for not doing it sooner. The display box for the Belly Bands has led to us creating a pre-packaged starter pack for the bands, making it easy on the customer and us. It comes with a variety of sizes and colours, and is sent out in a master shipper that the retailer just opens and places on their shelf. So simple, I can't believe we didn't think of it before!

So there you go, if you have been putting off a project for a while, get working on it! You never know what will happen once your creative juices start to flow. On that note, I better get cracking on today's to do list.

"The best way to get something done is to begin ~ Author Unknown"

Ready for 2010

2010-01-01T21:45:00.001-08:00

Wow! What a wonderful feeling it is to be starting a New Year. I'm not sure about everyone else but for me it is like a clean slate, a do-over of sorts. To be perfectly honest 2009 was a bit of a disappointment for me and I am ready to forget about it and move on.

We've spent the last few weeks brainstorming ideas, researching new markets and products, and making plans for 2010 and I must say I'm pretty excited about it. For the first time in months I have a plan, and I know where we are headed.

My big goals for 2010 include:

1. A Website Marketing Plan -
I don't really know a whole lot about website promotions, SEO, keywords, pay-per-click, etc., but I intend to learn. This year I am going to spend a good amount of time and energy, (and some money) to promote the e-commerce portion of our website.

2. Streamlining the Wholesale Process -
This is both for me and the wholesale customers. Right now the entire system is too manual. I need to focus on using a more efficient CRM program, and following up with customers in a more timely manner. We also have to make it easier for retailers to order from us. I haven't really figured out how we are going to do this but when I do, I will definitely share it with you.

3. Work on Publicity Opportunities Consistently -
My PR efforts were pretty sporadic in 2009. I tend to push the project every other month or so and then it falls to the back burner for a while. We all know that consistency is everything when it comes to PR. I know that if I keep at it we'll see the results. I guess I should work extra hard at #4 to make this possible....

4. Respect My Time -
This one is pretty self-explanatory, and it's easy to see how this will improve every area of the business.

5. Be Better Prepared for the Trade show Season -
There is so much that needs to be done in this area; better signage, more inventory, new display products, making better choices on which shows to participate in, better payment options for customers etc. If I ever make it through this project I promise to share my findings!

And finally in addition to these business related goals, I am going to make an effort to re-connect with spirituality in my life. I really feel like I've lost touch with religion of the last few years and that has created added stress in my work and relationships. In borrowing from the amazing Mary Kay Ash, I am going to get my priorities in order this year; god first, family second, work third.

As I'm wrapping up this post it is occurring to me that perhaps I should have made one of my goals to blog more regularly :)

Wishing you a happy and prosperous New Year!

Getting Unstuck

2009-11-01T14:12:00.000-08:00

Wow - this has been an incredibly busy month...yet I still feel like I haven't accomplished much.

I have talked about spinning my wheels and getting no where more than once this year. Even though there has been a lot of activity in 2009 I have this unshakable feeling that my business isn't really going anywhere. When I think about it logically I know that the thought is totally crazy, but my heart just isn't convinced.

I have been thinking about why I feel so stuck for the last few days and I think it is because I never really make a formal written plan for my business. Every few months I sit down and write out goals about revenue, number of retailers, new products etc., but I never really visualize what I want the business to look like one, three, or even five years from now. Which leads to the age old question, "how do you know when you've gotten there if you don't know where you are going in the first place?"

Tonight I have committed a few hours to brainstorm and visualize where I would like to see my business at the end of 2010. Where do I want to be working, at home, in an office space, in a warehouse? What types of trade events do we want to participate in? How many employees do we plan to have? Which marketing materials will we update?

I hope to take everything I decide on tonight and turn it into a written plan as well as a vision board. Being a more visual learner, I have always found a "dream board" more effective for motivation than a written plan. That being said I also think that making a written commitment is very important.

I would love to hear some of your big goals for your business...go ahead dream big, reach for the stars, ask the universe for something totally crazy, you never know it might just happen!

Balancing Act

2009-10-11T11:38:00.001-07:00

Next week I am scheduled to give a presentation on how to balance your life as a Mompreneur. Seriously, I'm not kidding! I know that most Mom Entrepreneurs also struggle with the daily challenges of runinng a business and raising a family (especially when the business is run out of the home), but what are we doing to help resolve this issue? What steps are we taking to reduce the guilt, stress, and general anxiety of living this way?

If you are anything like me, when you are working on the business you feel guilty about being away from your kids and when you are with your kids you are secretly wishing you could distract them for a few minutes and get some work done. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids and enjoy playing with them, I just wish I could do it without worrying about work.

So anyways, the point of my post is that I am going to spend the last quarter of the year focussing on balance. I am determined to create two seperate "job descriptions" (for lack of better words) for myself - Mom and Entrepreneur. I want to give 100% to each of my roles without cheating on the other. How am I going to do it? Here is what I have planned:

designated work hours. no exceptions!
turning off my phone, computer, etc from 5-8pm every night. no exceptions!
planning at least one fun family activity each weekend
attending a business development or networking event once a week (and trying not feeling guilty about it)
Taking at least 30 minutes a day for myself, by myself
Sharing my business goals with my family and asking them to be a part of the process

If you would like to hear more of my ramblings about my life as a Mom visit my other blog here:

www.theworkingmothersdilema.blogspot.com

Back To Business

2009-10-08T19:56:00.000-07:00

Wow, it has been over two months since my last blog post! You may be wondering what happened over the summer...well, to be perfectly honest, not much. This entire summer I allowed myself to be distracted by family and social commitments, and basically I didn't give the business my 100% effort.

I'm sure that all business owners go through ups and downs and am not ashamed to say that August was a month of major downers for me. Believe it or not I even thought about throwing in the towel and looking for a regular 9-5 job. But thank goodness for my beautiful children that inspire me and motivate me to keep going even when the times are tough.

Anyways, it is time to move away from the old and look into a new direction. Right now we have some amazing things happening at Concept 9. In September our business was featured at the backstage gift lounge for the Canadian Country Music Awards (photos here: www.facebook.com/concept9), we are working on a corporate re-brand..(check out our new logo!), and a new website is coming soon.

On that note, I will try to blog more often in the coming weeks and keep you updated on what is going on in my world. Right now it is time to get some work done!

"The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the one who will win"

- Roger Banister

Sales & Marketing Check Up

2009-07-22T08:17:00.000-07:00

As we approach the busiest selling time of the year I have started to notice how little selling I have actually been doing the last few weeks. We are starting to make a few sales a week on our website (not much, but better than the beginning of the year), people are calling from word of mouth, and our new sales rep is bringing in some good sales. So I guess we got so distracted by the little bit of revenue that has been coming in regularly that we stopped concentrating on making sales.

Well, now that I've realized what's going on it is time to make some changes. Somewhere along the way I stopped making sales a priority in my day. I stopped sending pitch emails, making cold calls, setting up appointments etc, and I just got lazy. It has also been a while since I concentrated on retail sales, and really talking to people about what we do.

So, in an effort to get myself going and make an increase in sales the infamous Sales Marathon is back on. For the next 60 days I am going to make a concentrated effort on sales & marketing. I chose 60 days because it is enough time to see a change to our bottom line but not so much time that I will feel like procrastinating. Today's task is to create some goals - definite, number based goals, that will serve as a guide during the sales marathon. (And if time permits I should probably update some of our sales material)

As we head into the holiday season, have you set any sales goals for your company/product? How will you know if the trade shows you signed up for were "worth" the investment. What plans do you have in place to finish the year off in the black?

I will try to post my sales goals before the end of the week!

Time to Slow Down

2009-07-15T07:03:00.000-07:00

The last few months have been extremely busy for us and I have been working crazy hours to try and keep things going, and it is finally catching up with me. People have been telling me for as long as I can remember that I need to slow down or I'm going to burnout. Somewhere in the back of my mind I've always known that it was true I just didn't realize how close the reality was.

This week has been very difficult for me. I am used to the physical exhaustion, but I have never dealt with this type of mental fatigue before. The irony is that I am too tired to think about important things during the day, but I can't stop thinking all night so I'm not sleeping well. Yesterday's "aha moment" came when my 5 year old asked why I'm always so crabby..."maybe you are hungry Mom?" he said. And you know, I realized I am hungry (not literally). I haven't been doing anything that feeds my soul lately. It has been a while since I've done anything that is just plain fun - no strings attached. Everything in my life right now revolves around the business.

For the rest of the month I am going to spend some time everyday playing and being creative. I truly feel that is necessary for my personal well being and business growth to get in touch with my fun side again. I have also been giving some serious thought to where I would like to see the business go and how we can get it there without giving up so much family & personal time. Please share any tips in the comment section.

Today's advice is simple; slow down and enjoy the day!

Still Working on Christmas Pr Plan

2009-07-05T18:15:00.000-07:00

It feels like I have been working on this media plan for the holiday season for so long now, but now that we are only one day away from our first mail out there is still so much to do! I am scrambling today to get the new media kits finished and printed (I had a few ideas for last minute additions), and I still have to pack the samples that are supposed to ship tomorrow.

Originally, we had planned to send a sample product to each of the glossy magazines on our list but have since gone back and forth on the idea. I've now narrowed it down to the the top five on my "wish list" that will be getting a physical sample and the other 23 will get a fancy press kit and a personal note offering samples for review. I am not sure if this is the right way to do it but that is all that our budget will allow right now.

We will start sending mail outs to the daily papers and some of the smaller/local baby magazines in October and will also start targeting bloggers and online mags at that time. This is the plan right now but you never know it could change. That's the problem with learning as you go, everyone has different ideas and suggestions and it's hard when to know that you should stick with your original plan and when you should follow the new advice. You never know, I might read something tomorrow that tells me that my holiday media plan is all wrong!

I am also in the process of setting up some new accounting software for the business and am totally dreading it. Unfortunately, as much as I hate anything to do with mathematics I have to start taking more of an interest in the dollars and cents side of the business before this Christmas season. Before the start of next year we are going to have to make some big decisions about our line and may even have to cut or substantially change some of the products to keep our business profitable. So that I can make some informed decisions this fall I have made a commitment to better record keeping and accounting practices. Wish me luck!

On a side note: I have totally been neglecting my boutique appointments for the last few weeks and I really have to focus on that in July, August, and early September before I become to busy with the holiday trade shows to call on stores. I'm planning a sort of "boot camp" for myself and will be posting about it soon, if you want to participate in a sales marathon with me, email me at raj@concept9.ca

Momentum

2009-07-03T00:42:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if this is something experienced by other entrepreneurs but I tend to go through hard work "spurts" in my business. I'll get really motivated and work extremely hard for a few days, waking up early and going to bed late, getting so much accomplished I can hardly believe it. And then I'll crash and fizzle out and spend the next few days puttering around and trying to figure out what to do.

That has been the case for me over the last few weeks...I'll have a couple of good days and then spend a few days in an unmotivated funk. Unfortunately, you can't run a successful business this way. It is so important to develop and maintain a momentum to get through all of the things that need to be done each week. So how am I going to do it? To tell you the truth I'm not entirely sure but I will keep you posted....

One area that I have really fallen behind in is making sales calls. I know how important this is to my business and I can see the negative results in our revenue but I just can't seem to get motivated to do it. In the past I was okay with making cold calls but all of a sudden I can't even dial the number. I am not sure what has happened to my motivation and excitement about the business and our products but I need to get back in touch with it.

Somewhere along the way I got so caught up will all of the things I had to do to keep the business going everyday that I forgot what I loved so much about it is creating the products and sharing them with our customers and retailers. I've decided to spend some time thinking about my goals and visions for my business this week and try to remember why I wanted to do this full time.

Have you revisited your business and personal goals lately? Are you doing what makes you happy everyday?

Dealing with Production Problems

2009-06-27T09:58:00.000-07:00

Like so many other DE's (designer entrepreneurs) I started my line by making every product myself and buying fabric from anywhere that I could get a good deal. When I started my business I didn't have any idea about design schedules, the buying process, and sourcing fabrics.
Now whenever someone tells me they want to start a clothing or accessories business I always advise that you learn about that sort of stuff first....it will save you a lot of time and money.

I have had my share of production problems to deal with this week, most of which were related to sourcing a new fabric for our belly bands. After weeks of looking for and sampling different products I finally found something that we could use and were very excited about but when I went to place my order one of the colours I needed right away was on back order until July 20th! And all the while my new sales rep is out selling the belly bands like crazy and the orders that are coming in are all stuck....This brings about the topic of making sure that all of your production issues are ironed out before starting to use a sales rep (but that will be another post).

Another issue that we are dealing with is how long we should allow for shipping to wholesale customers. Although we have a product line that is available year round we are still not at the point where we have have every product in stock all the time. In the past our turn around time has been 3-5 days but now we are finding that if a product or style is out of stock it can take up to 2 weeks to get an order processed and shipped. We are definitely going to have to change our delivery times on the order form.

We are also working on new packaging for our products and trying to create a uniform look for all of our products. This is an area that I have really sturggled with but can't keep ignoring it any longer. Our new retailers are also looking for point of purchase materials and between you and me, we don't have any! I guess that is another project to add to my to-do list.

To sum it all up, I still don't know what I'm doing most days but I am just learning as I go. If you have any tips for me feel free to leave a comment!

Planning my Days

2009-06-22T14:18:00.001-07:00

Wow! Today has been one of my most productive days in weeks. For the last few months I have been reacting to everything in my business on a day to day basis and life has been sheer chaos. I find myself putting out little fires everyday and I never get to the big stuff I should have done that day.

It occurred to me over the weekend that if I spend so much time working "in" my business I'll never get to doing the big picture stuff that I would like to do (and need to do if I want to grow my business). Last night I sat down and made a list of all the things that I could think of that needed to be done and it was long..... Then I started crossing off things that were part of a bigger project, i.e: marketing, trade show set-up etc. and moving them to lists of their own inside of a designated file folder. It took me about an hour or so, but by the end of it I had 6 project files (these are the projects I'm working on, depending on where you are in your business your list could look totally different):

Marketing Plan
Publicity Plan (sub category: Christmas PR Plan)
New Trade show Setup
Christmas Planning/Inventory
New Packaging
New Sales Material

Once I was done setting up the new project files my original to-do list looked a little less intimidating. I was able to go through the list and prioritize it further, choosing the 6 most important things that had to be done today. Since I work at home and my children are here too, expecting to get more than 6 things done a day is just setting myself up for failure.

Also, in addition to the 6 things to do, I also have few things that have to be done daily:

answering customer emails,
10 cold calls
5 internet marketing activities (twitter, facebook, blogs, forum comments etc)
shipping any new orders

Now I can just schedule an hour at a time into my calendar to work on those projects rather than having them sitting on a list on my desk making me feel bad.

And I did spend about 30 minutes last night prepping for today and it really helped out. I was able to plow through my to-do list by 1pm because I wasn't looking for phone numbers, invoices, fabric swatches, etc. Everything was laid out and ready to go. So it looks like prepping for tomorrow today really does work. And the best part is, I'll have an extra hour to play with the kids this afternoon!

So if you have been feeling overwhelmed by your to-do list try taking some time to break it down and let me know how it goes.

Sick Day

2009-06-19T07:47:00.000-07:00

So after weeks of overworking myself and dismissing obvious signs of burnout I got sick yesterday. Not just a little sick, but too sick to work. So as I lay in bed thinking about all the times that people have told me not to overdo it, and make sure to take some "me" time, I was also thinking of what would happen to my business if I couldn't work for a few days, or even a few weeks? And the simple answer is, if I shutdown - my business shuts down.

I know, I know, this is not a good plan. But to be honest, I had never thought about that until yesterday. I have a few people that help me out with my business, seamstresses, a graphic designer, a printer etc., but nobody that knows how the business runs day to day.

I am still not feeling 100% so I won't extend the post much but I will remind everyone that we all need a back up plan. For me this involves making sure that all of my technical sketch sheets are done so if someone else had to step in and manage production they could. I also need a better filing system both for paper and computer files, my husband probably could of answered some of my email requests yesterday if he knew where to find the answers. So maybe we should all spend a few minutes today thinking about what makes our business function day to day and start making a back up plan. A word of advice though, don't try to do it all in one day.

On a side note, let's also take a few minutes of "me"time today and do something nice for ourselves!

Organized Chaos

2009-06-16T07:07:00.001-07:00

Today's post isn't really about anything in particular but it is about a lot of little things, and that seems to be the case with my whole life right now. Each day I wake up with a list of things I am supposed to accomplish that day but by about 9:15am it becomes painfully clear that there are so many other little things that need to be done that I am never going to get through my list.

Those of you that have read my blog before know that I struggle with organization (like so many other creative people). I have tried many different systems before; daily lists, goal charts, bring forward files, electronic pda, and time and time again I end up going back to my written day planner and three ring note pad. So my new take on organization is all about baby steps. I have made a list of the things that absolutely must get done each day; answering customer emails, shipping pending orders, and making 10 cold calls. I make sure to get those done and in between I just pick things off of my master to-do list and do what I can. I also have a list of things to do on Fridays; process customer payments, pay the bills, and check inventory levels. I know it is a real bare bones approach but at least this way I am not looking at a giant to-do list that I didn't get through each night and feeling bad. And don't get me wrong I do a lot more than just the bare necessities.

On a totally different note, I have been meaning to do a post on getting ready for Christmas but haven't been able to get to it yet. Not sure when I'll be able to do it in more detail but here is a quick list of what I've been working on:

Choose (and book) the shows you will be doing between September and December. Remember not to overbook since you will have web orders and previous customers order to fill also
Make a plan for how much extra stock you will need and divide those numbers by 12 weeks (this is based on having the stock ready for October). This should give you an idea of how many extra pieces you will need to make, (or have made) each week.
Start making a media list for Christmas gift guides you would like to approach and get your pitches done in July for long leads. Don't forget to pick your favorite blogs for reviews.

I hope this helps get you started, send me an email at info@concept9.ca if you have any specific questions or, leave a comment.

Price Inreases

2009-06-12T13:13:00.000-07:00

With everything that is going on in the economy today many small businesses are probably wondering if they should consider a price increase or not. I recently had to increase the prices on some of my products and it was a difficult decision that I was reminded about it through a tweet I saw yesterday.

In our case the price increase wasn't a result of the economy, but rather it was a result of poor planning in the early stages of the business. I thought I had done my homework and found a good pricing strategy that left plenty of profit for us and our retailers, but I hadn't accounted for the cost of growth. The old mark-up formula looked at what the fabric, cutting, manufacturing and packaging cost but it didn't include anything for marketing, promotions, economic fluctuations etc. I don't know if this is the "correct" way to plan a pricing strategy but what I do know is that you need to have a cushion built into your prices for unexpected business expenses.

We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to make our price change just before launching our shopping cart and bringing on outside sales reps but, we have still made some changes to our overall business so customers can see the added value in our price increases. Some of the steps we took included:

not raising the prices on all of our products
replacing the existing fabrics with newer, "better" options. For example: our belly bands are now made with a technical fabric that pulls moisture away from the skin making them more comfortable for moms-to be. This fabric doesn't cost us more than the old fabric we were using but is more valuable for our customers.
we also planned for our new prices to be introduced at the same time as an upgrade to our website, packaging, and displays were planned. This way the price increase is part our planned re-branding.

If you already have retailers that are selling your products remember to include them in the process. Talk to them about how they feel about the price increase and remind them that it will increase their profits as well. You can even share your plans on how you are going to leverage the price increase as a marketing opportunity.

I hope these tips help....leave me a comment if you have any questions or if I've missed anything!

Preparing for Product Photoshoots

2009-06-03T16:17:00.000-07:00

Let me begin this post by saying that I am in no way an expert in photography. As a matter of fact most of the pictures I take end up with bad shadows, people with red eye or fuzzy images. That being said, I still have to have professional photos taken of my products every season and I have learned a few things along the way. This morning we completed a product shoot and I was amazed at how far we have come in our preparation, so I thought it would be nice to share some of my tips....

The most important piece of advice I can give you is to make sure your products are finished perfectly before you set up a photo shoot. There is no point setting something up with an unrealistic timeline and then rushing to finish your samples the night before. Don't waste the photographer's time or your money but bringing a product to set that isn't perfectly ready to go.

Think about how you are going to use these pictures...are they going in your online shopping cart? Then you will need some detail shots and some pictures of how the product works. If they are promotional (for postcards, signage, your homepage) take some pictures of the product in action, and use models if necessary. I think people relate to a product better if they see someone using it. If you are using the pictures for publicity purposes they will have to be high resolution.

For our photo shoot today I made a list of the pictures I wanted to take, and some ideas that I had for set-ups. Although we didn't end up following the list exactly, it was definitely useful to have.

We are now moving ahead full force with the new website. Once we get the photos back from our photographer and I finish writing the content for, the site design can begin. I can hardly wait and will keep you posted on any developments.

Getting Your Products Into Stores

2009-05-26T16:14:00.000-07:00

Whenever I meet new designers one of the first questions they ask is, "how did you get your products into stores?"

Like many other small design companies my first experience with stores was local boutiques that I just walked into and started talking about my products. It wasn't until I got a few orders that I started thinking about the right wholesale mark-up, packaging, fulfillment, and a follow up plan. In hindsight I wish I had put more preparation into my sales pitch and materials before starting to pitch stores.

In an effort to help those of you that may just be starting to approach retailers here are some tips:

(The first two come well before approaching stores but I think they are important to mention)

visit www.fashion-incubator.com and purchase Kathleen's book. Pay close attention to the section on taking orders first and then buying fabric and supplies. Don't buy more fabric than you need to make your samples (this is so important I will say it again...don't buy more fabric than you need to make your samples)
Have your samples made by the same contractor that you will hire to produce the line. I have made samples myself and found later that the contractor had better ideas on how to sew them/produce them.
Finalize your packaging. Think about how your product can be merchandised, potential customers will ask you for suggestions. Spend some time looking at how your competitors products are packaged, it will help think of something unique.
Create a professional brochure or line sheet and order form. On a side note, most retailers will want to fax you an order form later.
Decide if you will be offering a discount before you get to the store so you don't feel obligated to make a decision on the spot.
Make sure you have some firm terms and conditions in writing - usually this can be incorporated onto the order firm
Most importantly, be confident, have fun, and talk about the benefits not the features.

I know it is a lot of information but I hope you find it useful! Next week I will try to write about managing your relationship with stores once they have your products.

Managing the Business Day to Day

2009-05-24T07:46:00.000-07:00

For those of you that don't know prior to this I ran a maternity clothing business, and sold some of my other wares on eBay and etsy. When we started Concept 9 it was because we wanted to move to the next level and make things more "professional"

Since we launched this business and started wholesaling our products we have been growing steadily. We are doing a lot of trade and retail events to promote the brand and boutiques are starting to carry our line. But now I am starting to feel disconnected from the end user. I have put so much effort into designing the marketing materials for retailers, making the cold calls, and connecting with sales reps that I haven't been selling to anyone on a one-to-one basis. Before I got so busy with the "busy work" of my business, I would be out in the community talking to moms and listing my items on eBay so I was getting customer feedback first hand and sales were better.

As we go into the second half of the year I have set some goals for both our wholesale and retail sales. Some of the ways we plan to increase our retail sales is through our new online shopping cart and website (launching July 1st), participating in kids swap meets/shows to get out into the community, and attending more networking events. I am sure that more sales will help our bottom line but it should also build brand recognition for customers and help to move the products on the retailer's shelves.

On a side note...don't forget that now is the time to start thinking about and planning for Christmas. I will write a post later this week about making a sales plan, increasing your stock, and choosing events.

If you'd like to hear more of my musings you can follow me on twitter @concept9, or become a fan or face book http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Concept-9-Accessories/29360523686?ref=ts

Dazed and Confused

2009-05-12T06:26:00.000-07:00

So I have been totally absent from this blog for the last month, and looking back I feel like I've been a little absent from the rest of my life as well. This has been a phenomenal month for the business but somehow I feel like my head is a little in the fog. Anyway, here is a little re-cap of what has happened:

We added new sales reps to cover the Inter mountain US (Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Idaho, Arizona)
We picked up our first US store
We've had interest from a few Canadian reps and are interviewing our faves
I just finished a 3 day show in Calgary (which is not close to were I live), and have been pitching stores out here for the last few days
And, we got some good publicity opportunities thanks to a positive response from Trista Sutter on some gifts we sent her.

Phew! I'm tired just from writing that....! But that being said, the logistics of managing our company and personal time has been a nightmare for the last few weeks. I feel like I am always "on" and to be honest I'm exhausted. Now that I've vented that I guess I should put a plan in place for what to do next. So here are my big goals for the next month:

Create new sales/marketing material for our reps
New packaging and hang tags for our nursing covers
Work on a more effective trade show booth design (I don't think I will get this done in June but it is definitely a must before the fall shows start)
Update the website and upgrade our shopping cart system
Blog on the site a few times a week

As I'm writing this list out I'm realizing how long and ridiculous it seems! I guess I will just have to keep plugging away at a little each day. How do you stay focused on your business goals? Please leave some comments......

Sales Marathon Interupted....

2009-04-07T21:14:00.000-07:00

So as Murphy's Law would have it, everything has been going wrong since my sales marathon started. My kids have been sick, I have been sick (lost my voice the first day I was going to start cold calling), my car broke down, and my website shopping cart still won't work.

Now for the good news - I got one new retailer (first in the US!), one re-order, and 2 customer orders off the website from totally different parts of the country. So what I'm feeling really good about is that people are starting to find us online, but then I hate the thought that I am missing sales because the shopping cart isn't up and the new prints aren't even online yet.

I have been working on our website for almost a month and every time I think we have it right something fails. Finally I have all the updates completed, but we just can't figure out why the shopping cart won't load on the site. I don't know how website designers would feel about me saying this but I really believe that if you are going to have a strong web presence and make money selling online you need to learn about the back end operations of websites just as much as you need to learn about SEO, and social networking. It's not that I don't appreciate the work of professionals, but when budget and time are both tight you are going to run into occasions where you will want to be able to make some updates or minor changes yourself.

So I've clearly been sidetracked from my Sales Marathon, but I will make another effort at getting started on Monday. I think right now the universe is telling me to re-group and create a plan of attack. Tomorrow is day one of the "list plan." I'll elaborate on this a little more in a future post, but I will tell you that a very organized and successful entrepreneur friend of mine swears by the to-do list and has convinced me to try it. Attempt at being organized #156? (But who's counting!)

Sales Marathon - Day 2

2009-03-29T11:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the start of my big sales marathon and I have to say that I wasn't at my best. Even though itwas a beautiful venue with lots of traffic I just couldn't get into the "sales" mode.

In hindsight I think I was distracted by what the other vendors around me were doing, how they were selling, etc... It is really hard to get motivated when people around you are so down. Today I plan to put my blinders on and just focus on talking to my customers and educating them about my products. The good news is that more and more people are becomming aware of what we do. Now when I do shows I see many moms-to-be or new moms that say, "I've seen these bands before", or "My friend told me about belly bands", so its nice to see that we are getting some brand recognition.

I am going to get the venue a little early and clean up my table and try to make some set up changes. Today is really important - I need to break even on the cost of my table! Wish me luck and send some positive energy my way :)

Prep work for Sales Marathon

2009-03-25T22:23:00.000-07:00

As we got get closer to the starting date for my Sales Marathon I am getting nervous! There is still so much that I have to get done to ensure success during this sales blitz. I spent some time this week updating my order forms and price list but I still need to complete our new line sheets and press kits before Monday. And all of this has to be done around a birthday party for my 5 year old and a two day artisan's market this weekend.

The one thing I have been neglecting but I know has to be done is updating my phone list and writing a script. In the past I've never used a script when cold calling but I think I will try it this time. I'm not much for reading from a piece of paper when making a sales call but I should probably have some notes to prompt me on what to ask:

buyers name
direct email/phone number
what days they work
If you get the buyer on the phone: try to set up an appointment.

Just some basic notes to keep me focused and prevent wishing I had asked one more thing before hanging up the phone.

On a side note, we had a photo shoot today with Voth Photography (www.vothphotography.com) and it was great! Check out a sneak peek at our spring line: www.flikr.com/concept9

Planning My First Sales Marathon

2009-03-22T07:16:00.000-07:00

I first heard of the term "sales marathon" from Amber at Baby Fabulous (www.startupkidsline.com), and after some web searching found that other DE's are using similar systems to plan a boost in sales. Well, I am going to join in fun!

I have set my marathon to run from March 28th - April 30th, about 60 days. I know this is pretty much the tail end of the fall buying season, but 80% of my products are season-less and always in stock. I do have new prints on our Nursing Covers which start shipping to stores in 3 weeks but will be in-stock items until September.

My main goal for this marathon is to add 12 new retail outlets. In the past I have been pretty weary about adding more than a couple of stores each month since I was doing all the production. Now that I have the production side in place with contractors I am excited about really growing the business.

Some of the other goals are; increased web traffic and sales, attending more cash & carry events, and increased publicity efforts. Wish me luck!

Here are the things I still need to get done before the 28th:

photo shoot on Monday for new patterns
update style numbers on Line Sheet
update wholesale terms
create new order forms (the old one just isn't working for us)
decide whether I am going to offer an incentive on new orders during this period?

Looks like next week will be a busy one. Not to mention that I am participating in a 2 day event on the weekend. But somehow I'm not so worried about that, I have my trade show stuff (signs, tablecloths, tables, carpet etc) all set up and I know I will have stock to take with me, all I have to do is get there and sell.

I guess I better get going and update the wholesale documents before my kids wake up! PS: I refer to Amber's blog quite a bit because it has been a real inspiration to me, in fact reading her blog so many times is what gave me the idea to start this one. If you haven't checked it out already - www.startupkidsline.com.

Using Twitter to Promote Your Business

2009-03-18T21:59:00.000-07:00

Until very recently I considered myself social networking illeterate, then one day I took the plunge and joined the online community at twitter.com. I have found it to be a great experience and have connected with press contacts, potential retailers, and several highly successful DE's. Since many people have been asking how to use twitter I've decided to share my thoughts:

Register your name on twitter even if you aren't sure if you will be using it. This way you will have it whenever you are ready for it.
Choose a direction/theme for your tweets. In my opinion you can either target your customers or business networking contacts. For example Appaman (www.twitter.com/appaman) does a great job of tweeting for their customers. They are very professional and post regularly. My tweets on the other hand are a little more personal, (www.twitter.com/concept9) and are geared to my social networking contacts. If you plan on asking your customers to join you on twitter please don't badmouth competitors or tweet about your kid puking up his lunch. These days online impressions are just as important as face to face impressions.
Share valuable information in your tweets; links to an article, a great motivational quote, a fabulous product you found online, and then slip a few links related to your website into the mix.
Don't spam others about your specials, one tweet per sale is enough!
Be active in the community, respond to other members comments, and follow those who are following you.
Remember, just like any other network it will take some time for people to trust you and take an interest in your tweets.

I hope this helps....remember, have fun and use a genuine voice!

Spreading Myself Too Thin?

2009-03-09T22:04:00.000-07:00

Lately it seems as though my brain is going 24 hours a day and the only thing it can focus on is the business. I try to force it to concentrate on other things, but somehow it always finds it's way back here.....(I'm supposed to be wandering aimlessly on the Internet right now).

The problem is that there is just way too much to get done and unfortunately there is only one of me. I know that all entrepreneurs feel this way sometimes but I'm wondering, how do you know when you are in over your head? I have always loved a challenge, and enjoyed working under pressure. As long as I can remember I was the kid that stayed up late on the last day to finish assignments and I crammed in the hallway before a big exam, but is that really how I want to live my life?

So it seems like I am back to where I started this whole blog - getting organized and managing my time better. I have no idea how many times I have made goals for getting organized and how many books I've read on managing my time but it never seems to stick. But as I'm writing this post it is starting to occur to me that maybe I just have too much on my plate. Perhaps there is a point of overload where no system will work. Okay, so the light bulb is turning on....it's time to start delegating. I've talked about this before but I think that my little business isn't so little anymore and it is time to give in and hire some help.

I know this post wasn't really about anything in particular but the point is, next time you feel like you are drowning, try draining the pool a little instead of fighting to get out :)

Developing a Shopping Cart

2009-02-28T18:48:00.000-08:00

I'm back to working on the shopping cart for our site today. Some time last week I had decided to hire someone to look after this for me but unfortunately the budget just doesn't allow for that right now. We have some much invested in new fabrics, upcoming markets, trade show booths, etc. etc....that this online store keeps falling to the back burner. I know we need to get it going so I am committed to figuring it out.

I just spent the last few hours reading online guides on html code, and creating your own web pages, and after much frustration I found something useful, www.pageresource.com. There tutorials are fabulous and easy to understand, (I can't believe I just said that)! After weeks of asking people how to put boxes on my web pages it finally makes sense - they aren't boxes, they are called tables.

Well, now that I have got a good start on the shopping cart design I have to make up my mind about the online payment system we will be using. I find the financial decisions involved with setting up my business the hardest to make; what bank to choose, where to get my credit card terminal from, business loans, and now the online payment system. For some reason whenever it comes to money, commission, and percentages my mind turns to mush. I would much rather be designing.

On a totally unrelated note, we need to have pictures taken of our new line of nursing covers before I can get the shopping cart done. I guess it is time to start planning a new ad campaign!

First Tradeshow Was A Success!

2009-02-26T12:29:00.000-08:00

So, I am back from my first trade show and feeling pretty good. I am not sure what other companies use as a measure for success but we are happy to have broken even and heard great feedback from visitors to our booth!

Being as this was our first show I was very nervous about what people would think of our products but I was pleasantly surprised. As expected we had a great response to the price point of our belly bands. Customers are so used to paying twice as much for the leading competitors brand that I have rarely come across a price objection. But what was really interesting is how many people were buying nursing covers for someone else. I've never really thought of nursing covers as a gift item but we will definitely be exploring that idea in the coming months.

As for the setup of our booth and display I think we could have done better. Since we were sharing a booth the size of our setup was pretty limited. What I was really happy with were the decals we had printed for our pink booth. What I really needed though was a good floor covering and a fold up chair! Even though I don't think sitting at your booth is good promotion for your product, during a 5 day show you definitely need to take a rest.

I will share some more thoughts on my trade show experience in my next post.....

The Secret?

2009-02-15T10:02:00.000-08:00

It is a beautiful, sunny, Sunday morning and unfortunately I have to work. I was feeling pretty unmotivated when I woke up this morning so I flipped through some of my favourite motivational books, (I have a lot so I'll share the list another day) and something popped out at me:

Success or failure depends more upon attitude than upon capacity. Successful men act as though they have accomplished or are enjoying something. Soon it becomes a reality. Act, look, feel successful, conduct yourself accordingly, and you will be amazed at the positive results.

- William James, Philosopher

Not a bad thought for successful women either! I will leave you all with that thought today and head back to the trenches as a successful designer of nursing accessories!

Trouble with Invoicing

2009-02-12T16:08:00.000-08:00

Even though I should be spending all of my time getting ready for the upcoming show, I had to spend the last two days organizing my bookkeeping and invoicing systems. I have always said that I love to sell my products but hate collecting money. Unfortunately, the business is at a place where I have to be more efficient when it comes to invoicing and collections. Frankly, we can't afford to wait for payments any more.

I spent several days last week calling on customers that were overdue on invoices and wouldn't return my calls. Don't get me wrong I have a lot of great customers and I have rarely been burned by non-payment but there are always going to be a few people that will give you a hard time. I used to think that the hardest part of my business was making sales calls but now I think making collections calls is even harder.

So what have I learned about billing in the last year?

Always make your customer re-read the sales order and sign it. Or, ask them to send a signed purchase order.
Have your terms, shipping schedules, and refund policies clearly written out and include them with your sales orders so customers can reference them at any time.
Whenever possible collect a deposit or full payment before shipping. (The only time I would deviate is if it is a chain store, or if you think offering terms will close the sale - it's a calculated risk).
Don't feel bad about asking a customer to pay their bills. You did your job by providing a product or service and now they should complete the transaction as promised.

I still don' feel any better about the harshly worded emails I sent out today but I'm glad to get it off my chest. Now I'm going to play around with the trial version of Quickbooks I downloaded.

First Major Consumer Show in 9 Days!

2009-02-09T15:53:00.000-08:00

The countdown is on for the BC Home and Garden Show. We only have 9 days to go and it feels like I have barely done anything!

I have made some good headway on the inventory. I wish I was going to have some more stock available in the nursing covers but unfortunately the new fabric hasn't arrived yet. I hate to lose sales at the show but we will just have to bulk up our stock in other products. It would also be great if our shopping cart is done before the show so we can encourage shoppers to visit our site after the show.

My next big issue is how to address the booth space. We are sharing a 10 x 10 space with another vendor so we have 5 feet x 5 feet to work with. At first that seemed like a lot of space but now I'm having a hard time laying out my display and deciding how to set up. If you are planning on doing a show in the future I suggest taping off an area in your home that is the size of your booth and practicing your set up. I'm glad I've been trying....it is much harder than I expected. I did happen to find out that we are allowed to paint our booths! It is going to be a little extra work but I'm sure that my pink booth will stand out amongst all of the white booths at the show.

starting an online boutique

2009-02-04T10:10:00.000-08:00

Today is day one of my online boutique challenge. Even though I know that I may regret it, I am going to add the shopping section to our website myself. There is a part of me that knows I should hire a professional to do this but unfortunately the budget right now is a little tight.

We are doing our first major cash and carry show starting on Feb 18th and it just occurred to me that our online boutique should be up by then. I don't know why I haven't done this sooner, mostly just fear of the unknown but I think I have no choice now. We are definitely loosing sales by not allowing purchases on our website.

I'll keep you all updated on how this project turns out, and you can also follow my updates on twitter if you would like more details....www.twitter.com/concept9

On another note, does anyone have any thoughts on how much inventory we should take to this show? They are expecting about 60,000 people and I read somewhere that when attending trade shows you should expect only 1% of visitors to really look at your booth. I know it doesn't sound very promising but that is still 600 people.

If you live in Vancouver or the Fraser Valley and would like to visit us at the BC Home and Garden Show, we will be in booth #2163

Going in Circles

2009-01-27T11:45:00.000-08:00

So far today has been a bit of a downer day. It's strange how some days I'm on cloud 9 and can't wait to get to work and on others I can barely get myself out of bed.

We've all heard it a hundred times before....you have to have discipline and motivation to be self employed. But what happens when you hit and wall and can't get excited about moving forward? This is definitely the area of my business that I struggle with the most....any suggestions?

I spent some time this morning reading about motivation online and I think it's time to have a planning meeting with myself. I really need to take some time to reconnect with myself and figure out what I want to achieve from my business this year. However, right now I need to start working on a plan for a big cash and carry show we are doing in a couple of weeks. I'm going to start making calls to a few boutiques in the area today and see if they would like to visit us at the show.

Ciao!

Time Management and Goal Setting

2009-01-22T16:02:00.000-08:00

It's already Jan 22nd and I don't feel like I've gotten my year off to the kind of start I was planning. Although I'm still sure that the goals I set were right, I didn't plan for the type of time commitment it would take to get everything done.

I have been working on the business everyday but I'm not sure if I am working on the right things. I'm always busy, and as my 5 year old pointed out yesterday, always "too tired to do anything! So it looks like I need to re-work my weekly plan once again. I have tried many different methods but I am going to begin focusing on 1 category or type of task each day for the next few weeks and see how it goes. Here's what I have in mind:

Monday - Administration
Tuesday - Store visits/Sales
Wednesday - Marketing
Thursday - Publicity
Friday - Production

The exception to this is that I will still spend an hour everyday on prospecting phone calls. Of course I'll have other work to do each day and emails, phone calls, child care issues etc., but I will try to focus on one major area each day. I figure by doing this no matter how many times I get interrupted, when I sit back down on my desk I'll know that it's Thursday so I was probably working on publicity.....

Goal Setting for 2009

2008-12-08T13:57:00.000-08:00

Well, it's that time of year again.....resolution season! This year I am really excited about setting goals for my business and personal life because I think I have finally learned effective goal setting. In the past I have always set unrealistic goals and had way too many things on the go, but, thanks to an amazing book I discovered called Simplify Your Time by Marcia Ramslund, I have been able to prioritize what's going on my world and decide what is really important.

So here are my business goals for 2009:

add 30 new wholesale accounts
double our direct retail sales each month
participate in 3 buying shows
attend at least 1 retail (or cash and carry) event each month

Some sub-goals to help achieve the big one:

contact at least 25 buyers each month
attend 1 networking event each week
implement a publicity plan to create brand awareness
follow a bookkeeping and invoicing schedule
clean out my office and paperwork weekly

Family and Personal Goals:

spend Sunday afternoons with my kids (no computer, no blackberry!)
take at least 1 holiday with my family
buy a new home
go running 4 times a week

Why not take some time this week to think about your goals for next year. Try to focus on what's really important to you, and what would make the most positive impact in your life.