For all of you that are new to my blog, this is not your traditional business blog where I write articles that offer my “expert” opinion on different topics etc… (Although I do do that from time to time as it is a wonderful marketing tool and a fantastic way to get out valuable information)  This is the real deal, nitty gritty, down and dirty tell it like it is truth about everything involved in having a light bulb moment one fine day, manufacturing a product and bringing it to market.  I hope it does not deter you or scare you from this process because sometimes it’s not all a bunch of roses.  “Stuff” happens and happens with great frequency.  You just have to roll with the punches and maybe some of my hurdles will prepare you for your journey.  Okay, here we go, ON WITH THE HURDLES! 

To keep my cool and maintain my sanity, I have been laughing out loud to myself up here all alone in my office for about an hour now.  My littlest one is napping and my older daughter is running errands with daddy, so they don’t know just how crazy mommy is right now.  I got an email from my agent and they are still working on the “breakage” problem with the stem, so no samples yet.  They think they totally can fix it; they just have to make a new tool for it, which takes time.  In the meantime, yesterday I asked my agent for a time frame on tooling the other head designs as they come in sets of 6 and initially I wanted to launch 3 sets at the same time, well in advance of the holiday gifting season.  Here is the email I JUST received. 

“It is about 60 days for 15 different heads, 45 days for the tooling and 15
days for the sample.” 

Ha!!!!  Okay, for all intents and purposes it is September…  it’s 60 days for just samples of all Charms, then I put in my first full PO which will have a production time of 30 days + once the first order is complete, Taiwan to Charleston is 26 days on the water + customs clearance time and delivery from port to door… YOU DO THE MATH!!  Ha ha ha ha Hee hee hee Ho ho ho…  Not so much Ho Ho Ho is there???!!! 

Here is my email back 

“Hmmmmm… that’s really not good news since I wanted/needed to be in stores for Christmas huh?  I have pending orders for customers who are giving sets for Christmas presents…What do we need to do now?  Can we start the tooling for the new heads today?  What are your thoughts based on this new info and my deadline?  What if we launch the 2 simpler collections quickly before the holidays (the Steak and Spicy) and worry about the more complicated Charmed Life collection after the holidays?  HELP!!!” 

I’m just gonna keep on smiling and keep on laughing… after all, it’s just another day in the life of a Mompreneur ®!!  Yahoo!!!! 

Leslie Haywood, Founder and President of Charmed Life Products, Inventor of Grill Charms™  www.grillcharms.com

It’s time!!!!!!!!!!!  For many of us it’s been a week already of children back in school or back into the homeschooling routine.  For some, there is still the Labor Day Weekend ahead that will then mark the official end to summer and find children returning to the ‘academic grind’ next Tuesday.  Whichever category you fall in, you fall in with a sense of relief………..don’t you?!?!?!

Come on’!  Let’s all admit it!  We love when the early morning routines begin again and add a sense of order to our lives that still ring with “I’m bored.  There’s nothing to do!” to “Mom, can you drive me to the driving range to hit some balls?” to “Can Sarah come over to play?” to “Could you skim the pool so we can go swimming?” (Right in the middle of a client phone call of course!!!!!!) and then back to “I’m bored.  There’s nothing to do!”

Being a teacher for more than ten years in the traditional classroom setting, I remember the first days of school thinking to myself, “Look at you parents dropping off your little darlings with such a smug smile on your faces.  So ready to jump into the car and whoop with delight that I now have them for the next 6 hours!”  I knew as a parent myself what was going on in your minds……………..Visions of a nail appointment without rushing, a lunch that consisted of more than fast food burgers, Spaghetti-Os and chips, an afternoon of hearing nothing other than the birds chirping outside and the tap-tap-tapping of your fingers on your work-from-home computers…………….Oh, the serenity that a new school year brings!

Don’t get me wrong.  I love, love, love my three children with the unconditional love that only a mother has.  Who else would take a trip to Puerto Rico with three children knowing well in advance that all five of the family would be sleeping in the same hotel room which in itself can lead to insanity!  Who else would say, “Let’s go out to dinner tonight to celebrate Mom’s big sale.” knowing deep down in her heart that it would be anything but a celebration as the teasing of two older brothers to younger sister always supercedes any inklings of mommy success! 

We keep trying, don’t we?  And while we will never be the Leave it to Beaver family, I continue searching for that lovely place of “Getting Along” that seems so out of reach as I raise one from age 17 to 18 within the next two months hoping that he doesn’t abandon the ‘academic grind’ to be seen on ESPN’s Poker Stars Tour!  This guy can bluff the best of ‘em (including me!). 

It’s all good ladies!  We can make it!  Thanks to this network of support created by Ellen and Pat we have a forum from which to share, to grow, to learn. 

Our summer travels are at an end (or soon to end with this weekend), our routines will hopefully become more conducive to great business practice and my sharing from the Teacher Mom side of things will rev back up so………………

Put your thinking caps on, get your fingers typing away and open your minds to networlding around the net with women who strive to be great at what their passion is.

Happy Educating!  ¡Sea feliz educando!

Boca Beth

This past week I had a lot of fun.  I went down to
Daytona Beach for the weekend to visit a girlfriend from Junior High.  We have been friends since 7^th grade and once a year we try to get together.  It’s so nice have those friends that no matter how long it’s been since you’ve seen or talked to them, you pick up right where you left off.  I had a great opportunity to meet up with a fellow Mompreneur® on my trip.  BeachDianne lives in FL pretty much right on the way so we met up for lunch.  We had such a good time!  We were two very excited entrepreneurs yammering away at lunch about our ideas, our business, our futures, our brands…  The waiter actually came over to us and said we sounded like that text messaging commercial on TV where the teenager talks to the mom like “OMG, It’s my BFF JILL, INBD!”  It’s really cool to REALLY meet people you talk to here.  

The trademark attorney called me back and said he’d email me by early next week about my case.  I’m not in a hurry right now as I’m using ™.  I have 6 months to respond to the USPTO so no rush.   

My OEM did a big sample run this past weekend and here is what my sourcing agent says… 

“Minor problem. Several of the shanks broke during machining(20%). If this
continued in production, it would mean a per piece price increase. They are
making a tool that will cut all the Vs at the same time, to reduce the stress
on the shank. They will also add a radius to the location where the shank
meets the head, which will make the shank stronger, but not affect the overall
function of the shank.

Finished samples should be ready Friday.

A good sized quantity of 100+ will come FedEx directly to you, with a couple
of pieces sent to me.” 

I don’t mean for this entire blog to be one continuous cliff hanger, but that’s pretty much how I’m living my life right now! Hee hee    

I’ll let you know how it goes next week!

Leslie Haywood, Founder and President of Charmed Life Products, Inventor of Grill Charms™  www.grillcharms.com

I always see so many posts about doing shows, so I thought I would add my two cents! Did I mention that I have over 10 years experience doing corporate event planning?!?!

So hopefully I can offer some insight, here are some FAQ I have seen (I will do several posts on this subject - so stay tuned!):

WHAT TYPE OF SHOWS ARE THERE AND WHAT TYPE IS BEST FOR ME?

Craft Shows- these are the most common and are great for most home businesses. They are often held at schools and most are done to raise money for the school or location it is being held at. They are usually pretty affordable to get into and bring in a fair amount of people. These are not high dollar shows and sales are typically on the low side. I do not recommend a craft show for a high dollar item. I highly recommend sticking with shows that have been happening for many years as those shows have loyal followers that will attend every year. These are usually noted in your local paper-but always ask around at your local schools, churches, synagogues - many are on a “who you know” basis! Also, many of these shows require that you donate an item or service that they can raffle off to make some additional money for the organization. Cost is typically under $100 for a 8×10 or 10×10 space and these shows probably bring in a couple hundred of people.

Art Shows - This is my target market. These shows are typically juried shows and it is not always easy to get in. They usually limit the number of vendors in each category (ex. they may only allow 2 jewelry vendors)…but this is a huge help to the exhibitors. These shows do bring in the people with more expendable income and those that are looking for “different” or the “latest and greatest”. They are more expensive to get into and can cost several hundred dollars, but again if this is the market you need to market to it is worth it right? Art shows do typically bring in several hundred people (geographics play a part here though–I had over 1,500 people at an art show I did last fall)

Street Fairs - this is an awesome way to just get your name out there! A mish mosh of thousands of people cramming the streets, seeing the sites and eating food. I do not find that people go to actually spend money-but they do love seeing new and unique things and they will spend money if they love what you got! I would really only recommend a street fair to someone who has a really unique item that will stand out among the hundreds of vendors that may be there. Thee is often 20 jewelry vendors at a street fair making it hard for any one specific to get noticed….these usually run about $100 or so to get into and there is no special criteria to get in to one.

WHERE DO I FIND A SHOW IN MY AREA?

1) www.eventlister.com

2) www.smartfrogs.com

3) local newspaper events calendar

4) check with local schools and churches

WHAT IS A JURIED SHOW?

A juried show is one where you will have to submit images and descriptions of the products you will be offering at the show. A committee from the show will determine whether you are accepted into their show. This is typically done in finer shows that really depend on the quality of their crafters to attract what is considered the “right” shoppers.

I AM A BRAND NEW BUSINESS-CAN I DO A SHOW?

A craft show at a school is a GREAT way to either launch a business or get feedback if you have a viable business. That is how I launched Expressions…I took a few collages and a book I had made for my daughter to a show to see what people would say (I was wearing my hard hat that day thinking people would hate it…) well the opposite happened…my booth was packed and I even got 2 customers from that show…that was almost 5 years ago! So, if you are just starting out–try a show…for a low cost you can see what other people HONESTLY think of you ideas……

That is all for this excerpt……so start looking for those shows and get your name out there!

Some other things I will BLOG about will be:

-cost effective marketing for your show

-ideas for displaying at shows

-what to do at the show

-what to do after the show….

If you have any questions please feel free to post and I will answer all questions!!!!!

Jill Caren, owner of Expressions Photo

For anyone that’s interested, here is the pod cast. I think it went well, but it sounded better in my head than did on the air, but free PR, I’ll take it!

http://www.startupnation.com/pages/radio/RD-aug-4-2007.asp

We just got back from a wonderful family vacation at the Jersey Shore. I am afraid to step on the scale… I REALLY think I gained about 3-5 lbs in those 5 days. It was worth it though! Today for lunch I had a Lean Cuisine®. Time to buckle down! It was so much fun, the kids had such a great time and were FANTASTIC! It’s funny how now that I’m a mom, my barometer of how good a vacation was, is directly correlated to how good the children were and how much fun THEY had. Let’s see… what irons I have in the fire today… I have a call into my sourcing agent. I have not heard back from him since we discussed how wrong the stems of the Charms were.

I also have an email into a local trademark attorney. As you know from previous entries, my initial application for Federal Trademark Protection was rejected. Through my local SBDC, I received a list of professionals that offer free 30 minute consultations. Before really plopping down the money, I need to know if my case can be won. Instead of my “free 30 minute consultation” I asked his secretary if I could email him my serial number (for my case w/ the USPTO, US Patent and Trademark Office), have him view the full file and give me a “Yes, in my years of experience as a trademark attorney I can win this for you” in which case I will hire him to win it for me, or a “Nope, they are right, no can do”. I’ll let you know how it turns out!

 Leslie Haywood, Founder and President of Charmed Life Products, Inventor of Grill Charms™  www.grillcharms.com

It’s hard not to let the ups and downs of business effect your family.  I’m trying really hard, but I don’t always do a good job.  I just got 2 more samples of my Grill Charms and unlike the one I received the other day, these stems where machined.  (The other one was just to approve the decorative top)  The stem is all wrong!  I’ve been back and forth with my sourcing agent, going over the engineered drawings, emailing, sending photos etc…  All of this has made me a little short with the kids.  I’m trying really hard not to let my stress effect how I talk to them or my patience with them, or my tolerance for “normal 2 and 4 year old behavior” but WOW it’s hard!!  Then of course… comes the guilt.  Today I actually had the thought… “What the heck am I doing???  We don’t need for me to work; I have a wonderful life, why am I doing this when I don’t have to?”  Then, as a sign of a true entrepreneur, I answered myself with a big “I don’t know EXACTLY why… I just HAVE to”.  I can’t stop, and a nanosecond after that moment of doubt entered my head I realized that not only COULD I not stop, but I REALLY did not WANT to.  It’s all part of the ride and I’m willing to accept that, but I won’t lie to ya… (Shhh…don’t tell anyone)  but there are moments that my family pays a price…. OUCH that hurts to admit!   

On to a better topic… I missed the airing of my pod cast so now I have to wait for it to be archived.  From what I understand, that will be next week.  I’ll put up the link as soon as I have it for anyone that wants to hear it. 

 Leslie Haywood, Founder and President of Charmed Life Products, Inventor of Grill Charms™  www.grillcharms.com

Holy Cow where did July go???  Did anyone see it??  Is life speeding up or is it just me?  My 2 year old has had a few potty set backs which has me perplexed.  She has been accident free for so long now and then 2 accidents in the same day.  I’m going to keep an eye on it as that sometimes means a UTI.  Ahhh the joys of being a girl!   

So…. About the interview last week…. I totally kicked butt!!!!  It was so cool!!!  Of course they replayed my old speech (which I knew they would do) and as I’m on the phone listening to it, I wanted to just crawl in a hole and die!  Afterwards, we talked about it and “caught up” on my progress etc… I feel like it went really really well.  During the interview I was totally pacing my upstairs hallway, talking with my hands, doing laps around the playroom… I just felt “ON”.  It was a great feeling.  They spoke so highly of my product and went on and on about how they loved Grill Charms™ and thought I really had a winner.  It airs on Aug 4^th and because I’m pleased with the outcome… I’ll put up a link!  Hee hee    Now if I only had Grill Charms™ to sell, I KNOW I would sell about 50 of them on Saturday, but instead, I’ll just have to look at my Google™ analytics and wonder how many of those “views” would have been sales…  Oh well… my time will come! 

I talked with my sourcing agent again today and he has 2 more samples on the way which should be here by Friday.  It will give me another look at some more adjustments before going forward.   We might be “rounding third base” but I’m still waiting for the coach to wave me home!!

 Leslie Haywood, Founder and President of Charmed Life Products, Inventor of Grill Charms™  www.grillcharms.com