Reel it in
So the hub-bub of the holidays has come and gone. This year the kids are at such a wonderful age so it was an especially nice Christmas. The older one is 5 now and really got into the whole Santa thing. The little one who turned 3 yesterday pretty much just followed along with everything her older sister said and did. You should have seen their faces when they saw all the presents Santa left. The entire family (all 13 of us) spends the night every Christmas Eve at my mom’s house (still) so Christmas morning; you pretty much can’t walk in the living room with all the presents under the tree. In 35 years, I have never NOT spent the night at mom and pa’s. Okay, onto business!
After Christmas I went around to my retailers to get their little frames off their hands from the Low Country Live stocking stuffer promotion, and 2 of my stores completely sold out. Needless to say, I had cases for them lickedie split. It worked out wonderfully because the new Spicy collection was delivered right before Christmas, so I had 2 collections to offer. I’m still compiling my list of target accounts for next week, and in doing so, I made a realization. Let me back track a little. (If you have been following my blog for any length of time, you know how all over the map I am.) Sorry, it’s just how my mind works. I call my writing style “the stream of consciousness nightmare”… there I go, digressing again. Okay, back on track… A few days ago a fellow member of a business forum I am on announced he made it to the “big show”. (That’s what I like to call QVC). It’s no secret that QVC is my Everest, and while I am soooo thrilled for him, I kinda got wrapped around the axle with “I want QVC too!!!” A day or two before that, for some reason I was obsessed with getting into Omaha Steaks Store locations. This morning I actually looked over the Cracker Barrel Vendor Requirements (it’s a 62 page PDF file) and got snapped back to reality. I need to just slow down there Cadillac. I think I am wanting too much too fast. For a about a week, I felt like I was so obsessed with landing that big fish NOW, when really I need to stick to the plan. (I LOVE MY BUSINESS PLAN) This is one reason why I am SUCH an advocate for “The Plan”. You write your business plan before you go into business and hopefully with a clear head, so when you are in the thick of things and can’t see the forest through the trees, you can refer back to it to keep you from running off in the ditch, or remind you of saner days when you methodically researched your strategies so it could reel you in. That is exactly what my business plan is doing for me this afternoon. Reeling me back in! Don’t get me wrong, if the big fish comes my way, I’ll be getting him, but I need to focus on building my company one small step at a time.
My plan was for the first year to concentrate on smaller, independent gourmet gift shoppes and butcher stores, build a good base of customers then target the national chain stores like William Sonoma, QVC, Crate and Barrel Etc… How did I get so ahead of myself?? I’ve only be really out there for a little over a month and I’m putting the cart before the horse. I need to just stop, think, breath. (That’s what we tell the girls when they get frustrated, panicked or just crazy in general) Stop, Think, Breath. There is plenty of time for the Omaha Steaks of the world; I just need to concentrate on building business slowly and carefully. Let the momentum build naturally and as my track record becomes established, the buzz gets created, and the sales start to speak for themselves, then there will be a time and a place to go national. Stick to the plan Stan! Okay, I feel better. I’m back on track and sufficiently reeled back in!
Leslie Haywood, Founder and President of Charmed Life Products, Inventor of Grill Charms™ www.grillcharms.com
