JPD Mom

Who Loves You Baby?

September 26, 2007.

Do you ever have those days where you are positive that everyone is against you?  You know someone has a voo-doo doll and they are totally poking you?  Well, I KNOW those days (um, yesterday.....today.......)  But, let's back-track to last Thursday......you know I was kind of (okay totally) complaining and rallying the troops about what we can do about copy-cat artists, designers,blah, blah blah blah.  That very day, this magazine shows up; Fortune Small Business, "Extreme Customer Service".  Hmmm, I think the universe is totally on my side......

  The cover story basically talks about what it takes to win on service.  Customers (we know this) want to be dealt with, they want to know they are important and they want their problems taken care of - in a speedy manner.

Last post, I mentioned I was going to step it up a bit, promise to deliver (uh, what I had already been doing....but still).  The small companies featured in the article had some very creative ways of dealing with, and exceeding in Customer Service:

• Simply Soles was started by Kassie Rempel, due to poor service she encountered on line.  She started simplyshoes.com, an on line women's shoe emporium for high-end women shoes.  The company will send samples to a customer, no cost, to try on shoes - and the customer only gets charged for shoes purchased.  Since European sizes and American sizes do not always match up - it gives the customer the opportunity to sample the shoes.
• Threadless.com gets feedback from it's customer base - on every t-shirt design.  It uses its website and various company sponsored blogs of underground t-shirt design contests to gather information on the best design to reproduce.  Sometimes a t-shirt that has a "hate-it" response will provoke more controversy.......this mean sales.
• A gym based in Michigan sends our various newsletters and tracks responses.  He gathers email addresses and if someone stops coming to the gym he sends gentle reminders, consisting of phone calls, emails and letters.  Emailing an article about "a marathon" was all it took for a (this is what they called him) laggard, (their terms NOT mine) to start training again.  A little encouragement has been found to get people back into the gym.

The back lash on America made products, or created in the U.S.A is very evident these days.  Being a parent I get what it means to save a few bucks for that gift.  However, it seems that some small companies are doing all that it takes to win the deal and keep the customer.

We have had the great fortune to work with an amazing company, The Warm Biscuit Bedding Company for the past three years.  They have helped me understand how important customer service is.  When a mistake is made - they fix it.  If  it is my product, they contact me, and see how fast I can get it out and they apologize.  I swear, it sound so simple, but most companies do not do either.  Make it right - fix it , that is all the customer wants, and The Warm Biscuit Bedding Company gets it!

Yesterday I got to take our Customer Service to the test.  A customer, who had purchased a Birth Certificate 3 months ago, (we turn our products around in 2 to 3 weeks) from one of our sales channels called to complain.  She had called  (the re-seller) to get tracking information, she emailed to find out if the order had shipped......she even went as far as finding out the store next door and making them walk over and track her sale.  She got no response.  She got no confirmation.  But, oh ya she DID get charged for the product, and the shipping.  Well, she found us on line and called as a last ditch effort to get some information on her purchase (it was for her brother's first born).

I spoke with her on the phone, listened to her story.  We never got the order, in fact we had continuously tried to contact this vendor for listing us incorrectly (Jamie's Printing & Design....um, close!).  Bottom line, is it was not my problem I never got the order, THEY took her money, not me.

However, my product was what she wanted to order - I did NOT want her to have a bad impression of Jamie's Painting & Design.  I took her information, I took the order, I took the shipping information - I personally made the tile.  We are shipping it Friday - at NO charge to her.  I figure she has been through enough.  I am sending it at no charge (did I mention that? It is very late...).  She was ecstatic - what more could I ask for?

I am not puffing my chest out and pounding it........my chest is not big enough, and I am too tired for physical labor at this point.  I want her to have a good impression and experience with my company. 

And, yes, I AM dropping this sales channel..........immediately.  I do not want to be associated with a company, no matter what the excuses are - for not handling Customer Service like we do.  We make sure the customer is happy - we make sure that we make it right.  And my gosh, we call or email back.......come on people!

A Rally Cry.....and an interview

September 21, 2007.

Well, well, well....I did not realize that this "topic" would cause quite the emotional  reaction that it did...........uh, kidding YA I did!  Anyway - look here, Shelly Kennedy has put her support behind me - and thank you Shelly!  If anyone knows about being plagiarized it is Shelly, from what I can tell she has people (notice I did NOT say artists) post items up on the Internet weekly, if not daily copying her work out right.  I may be opening up a can of worms here.....but really, if you can't be true to yourself who can you be true to?

Anyhoo - if you are not sick to death of me at this point, even I am getting sick of me.  I was interviewed on an interview site Entrepreneur Interviews. He had some very nice things to say about me, my business and my blog...thanks Cristian, greatly appreciated.

Okay and the world it is a changing.....well I am pretty sure that pigs will fly, hell will freeze over and Britney and Lindsay will get sober.....my mother actually read my blog - can you believe that? (well she uh...said she skimmed the blog....still an accomplishment).  She did let me know that the rhyme my grandfather would say goes more like this:

"Copy-cat, dirty-rat, stole your brothers baseball bat....When the bull begins to pee, you will get a cup of tea"

Uh....ewwww?  Gee, thanks for the input Mom!

There's a new Sherriff in town...

September 21, 2007.

Yesirree pardner' I have come out with both guns blasting, take no prisoners if you will.  I have a plan and that is helpful.  I just read a blog last night that talked about changing direction for your company, even if it was not what you ever wanted to do.  Successful entrepreneurs are creative, they are able to go with the flow, move with the punches......cry, pout and throw a tantrum when no one is looking.

If you have read this blog for any length of time, or you know anything about my philosophy you know one thing - I may start out negative, swearing, crying (uh we have addressed that) but I always come to a solution.  The solution may take weeks, or months - but I do get there.

Fortunately I have figured some things out rather quickly:

I can win and will win on service when competing against other, similar products.  I have been delivering my products on time, actually make that early for the past year.  We have processes so tight that we have exceeded our deadlines, with almost a perfect record.  We put customers first, we fix problems quickly, we are nice about it.   

So, I have turned my turn around times around....sorry that sounded better in my head.  I have been able (at a crucial time mind you - the Holiday season) to shorten my turn around time on a number of products. 

• This is the time of year when most artisans start their Holiay cut-off dates around middle of November..........ah, I laugh at November!  We keep taking orders till middle of December.
• This is the time of year when artisans put 4-6 weeks down as turn around time, because they are sooooo overloaded with orders.......pfff, again - we get overloaded with orders, guess what we do?  No really guess?  We bring in holiday help, we work extra hours - we prepare for the holiday season!
• We say YES when others say no.  What a RUSH order? Sure!  What you need that in a week?  You betcha!  Gift wrap?  Okey Dokey!  You lost the order, it's going to be late?  No problemo, we will get that out for you!

Figure out what you do well and do it - that is my motto...oh, uh my other motto!  Consider this part I of a series called, "Plagiarism-shmagerism....or uh, Copy-Cat Dirty Rat Don't Mess with Me, better yet....Bring it On!  Oh, damn.....I need to work on this a bit more.

Not sure if I mentioned this earlier but I was in a sorority waaay back in the day, and we had these inspiration books where people wrote nice things about you, or left you messages.  Now that I think of it, I would love to have one at home now....anyhoo - a good friend left me a message, right before she graduated.  This is what she wrote:

"Jamie I know you will be a huge success in life, you have drive you have ambition and you are very talented.  Oh hell, who am I kidding?  We both know you will just knock anyone down that stands in  your way"

Ah, I guess it is what it is, or I am what I am.

We're Not Gonna Take it Anymore!

September 18,2007.

Quite a call to arms, that Twisted Sister song from back in (gulp!) 1984.....I think I even owned the album.  Well, I loved the song back in the day - not sure why, but what else was a restless teenage girl to do?  But then again, who did not shake their fists in the air at some middle school dance screaming "WERE NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE" back in the mid '80's?  Funny thing is back then I had no idea what the song meant....other than being a teenager was SOOOO awesome, and shoulder pads, and acid washed jeans, and pumps, and lip gloss, and Madonna.....oops sorry I digress.

Now that I am quite past the teenage years, hell I am a teenager 3 times over, those years are quite a blur.  Other than the random note or photograph I find from back in the day, or a long forgotten song  that I hear on the radio, I don't spend much time dwelling on those turbulent years.

Today, after finding out some information about a competitor in my industry, the Twisted Sister song immediatley popped into my head - my mantra if you will.  I actually had to go and put it on my i-pod and watch the video on u-tube....I know, I know what a great use of my time at the office....at least I am not banging my head into the keyboard. 

So, I have addressed this copying, imitating, forging - you know the drill, subject many times.  I have touched on, I have ranted on the subject, I have brought up other artists who have been copied, I have even cried about it.  Though, I have not done anything about it, I have basically just sat back, watched, waited - and maybe, uh sort of sulked about it a few times (my husband an attest to this).

I am done I tell you.  I am ready to address this head on - because....."I am mad as hell and I am not gonna take it anymore".  Seriously, the industry I work in copy-cat artists multiply, just like Gremlins (sorry, could not help the other 80's reference).  If it is not a bedding designer, it is an artist, or a new product idea, or a lamp, or a shoe, or a bag - as soon as they reach some form of success, 14 others pop up.  That old saying, 'You haven't made it till someone knocks you off ' must hold true in the Children's Industry.  So, considering what is out there today, and what I know is coming.......whoo hoo I made it America!

So, that being said I will be delving into this subject, with interviews from other entrepreneurs, trail blazers, known and unknown artisans and business owners in my industry.  They will each be giving their opinions, their advice and their stories.  As I stated in a much earlier blog;  My mother would lead me to believe copying is the 'highest form' of a flattery........uh, ya NO it isn't Mom, no it isn't!

Do You know the Stress Monster?

September 17, 2007.

"Do you know the Stress Monster? The Stress Monster? The Stress Monster? Do you know the Stress Monster that lives very deep in my brain?  Yes, I know the Stress Monster, the Stress Monster, Yes I know the Stress Monster that...."  (sung of course to the tune of the Muffin Man - volunteered in the Kindergarten class, sorry)

Well - guess what?  I do!! I know him! I know him well, my friend....but then again if you are an entrepreneur you would have to know that little bugger.  This November I will have been in business for five years.....five long, wonderful, stressful years.    I did not know him nearly as well as I thought I did - until I started my business that is.  Some years we are very close, other years he does not visit that often, he really keeps his distance.  However, he always loves to come for an extended stay right around the holiday season though- but who doesn't love Christmas?

This year, uh - let's just say Mr. Stress Monster has parked his big ol' Stress ass on my couch, he is watching TV, eating Cheetos, drinking beer, making a royal mess, and does not seem to be leaving anytime soon - I think he showed up around the beginning of June.  The worst part of it is that sometimes he actually wakes me up in the middle of the night to discuss things (okay, truth be told he does it EVERY night around 3:00 a.m.)  No, I swear I think he has moved in permanently....

All kidding aside ,the long term effects stress are known too well, and all of my friends, family members and doctor have informed me of them - they are not good.  So, I had to figure out why I was so stressed:

1. No Office Coordinator It has been a little over five weeks since we (me) let our office coordinator go.  And it has been five very long weeks of me doing, well what I used to do - processing orders, kitting orders, answering order questions, printing orders, checking orders, confirming orders, gift messages, emptying garbages, answering order questions......basically the stuff that I spent the last 10 months slowly removing from my plate.  I have done this managing the office, processing orders thing before - and I am NOT that good at it.  I do NOT want to work this many hours any more - I want to do other things.  Now, before you scoff at me and assume I am a spoiled-entrepreneurial-brat, do know I CAN do it, I am just at a place (did I mention five years?) that I do not want to.  Nor, do I think it is the best use of my time.

2. Atlanta Gift Show...NOT!  The show did not go as planned, it was not a great show.  It was a huge financial suck on the business (I did have some fun though).  On a side note, I have not heard great things about the ABC Kids Expo, which I was hoping to exhibit at next year - so I do think the industry is changing.  Again, this does NOT make me feel all warm and fuzzy - it scares the *8&^%$ out of me.  Thank God I am immersed and heavily integrated in some wonderful websites - because the Trade Shows seem to be dwindling.  If you are snubbing your nose at the Internet - be warned - the Internet is here to stay, so be niiiice.

3. Ho -Ho - Ho It's Frickin' Christmas!  This is the best and worst of time for our business....best because we can do up to 40% of our sales between October and December.  Worst because....well our work load doubles, then triples, then quadruples - week after week.  If I am not on top of my homework/holiday/party shopping game then....well Mommy starts to get a wee bit cranky!  Not complaining - it is a fact, it is part of the business, but it does stress me out.

4. Your Competition Can and Will Kill You!  Okay, a bit drastic - yes, but this is the truth.  While you were sleeping, or changing processes, or inking a licensing deal, some other company can and will take your business.  There are business classes right now studying why some Internet companies failed and others blew the top of the Internet.  I do not think competition is bad - I think copying is bad.  I think that when someone or some company is slowly creeping into your space you can do one of two things; beat them to the punch, or punch them (I am kidding....but tempted).  Sometimes the winner, or the success story of a given industry is NOT the trail-blazer, sometimes it is the very smart, very crude, very shrewed business woman.

From my tone you can probably tell I am tad bit irritated - and trying to SAY something but not SAYING it.  No seriously - I can NOT ignore the problem (ya right, me ignore it?), or I could call them out on it (won't do much good - what will I say - you are copying me and that is NOT nice!)  I will delve into this subject much more (with hopefully some experts and other like-minded people), and will not be so vague....let's just say I know who you are and I know what you are doing.  Again - anyone that is not stressed out by their competition slowly creeping into their space - get your head out of the sand woman - wake up!  Something needs to be done!

So, those are my top reasons - did not even delve into the soccer/start of school/bathroom remodel/dog ear problem/re-new our lease/car accident (someone hit my parked car)/family/no voice something on back of throat/student conferences......uh, oh - dang I just mentioned it!  Oh well, figure we are all in the same boat! 

Would love to know what you do to relieve the stress, because my answer is blogging!

7 Reasons Why I Love My Email (and you should too)

September 9, 2007.

I love email, no really I do love my email!!  I swear, I mean this with all my heart - I am not like those other fickle email users, that are hot and cold on their email accounts.  When I hear someone bashing email, or saying I am addicted to it - I tell them to shut-up, thank you very much I do NOT have a problem.....and if I had a problem I would stop, I can stop anytime I want to - but I don't want to...sorry I uh, was starting to rant a bit.  Anyhoo -  I think all small business owners should embrace this part of technology (email) and work it!

1. Paper Trail

I always have a paper, that would be ....email trail of the correspondence I have sent to my sales channels, my accountant, my ex-employees, my landlord - everyone.  My email NEVER deletes emails without asking, it  saves all of them - and I can go back years and years to PROVE I did send the information.  This is invaluable way of communicating with people that do NOT like to be reminded of what they promised us, or they do not recall (bi-polar) what it means to sign a C-O-N-T-R-A-C-T, or that I kept notes, or those that do not USE EMAIL!!  (sorry yelling again).  Forwarding emails (forwarding a handwritten note or fax is not as easy) to people is a better way of saying, "See I told you so!"

2. Communicate Any Time or Anywhere

I can communicate with anyone and everyone at all hours of the day.  When else can I go over our meeting agenda or finalize the copy for our newest website ramp?  5:00 a.m. in the morning of course - and NO ONE wants a phone call from me at that hour, I need more coffee!  Doing clerical and office work from home in my pajamas is great and I would not have that liberty with out email (and I use GoToMyPC - worth looking into if you do have a small business OUT of the house).  I appreciate the ability to check all accounts, orders, emails all from the luxury of  my home office.  If you do not have a way to check email remote - get one immediately!  If email is down or Internet is down I use blackberry, wireless, or the website to download emails.

3. Not Now & Not Interested, But Thank You

I never, ever want to squash someones dreams.  However, I do NOT always want to be there mentor, mother, best friend, bank account, life coach or therapist.  I find it best to let those stalkers I mean uh........people down easy and Email is the best way!!  Please, do not get me wrong, I love to help, the blog is to help, I answer all questions, but it is easier to get to the point, answer quickly - and hit send.    It is so much easier to send and email to communicate why you can not give them your list of over 200 stores and all your company secrets to a total stranger, or why I can not design there website for them (I did not design mine, how could I design yours?), or give them Oprah's phone number.....  I love that I can communicate with NO emotion, cause, uh.......well I may have oh a wee tad bit of some of that!  And I can empathize, I have been there  - needing help, not knowing where to turn - I get but I am busy.  Case in point I spoke with a fellow entrepreneur for over two hours one day - I could not get her off the phone - and IF I had used email....well I would have those two + hours back.

4. So Many People, So Little Time

I can send out an email to all websites with information, I can let bedding catalogs I am available for exclusive designs.  The physical stores (those with email accounts) can be informed of new products, specials and price increases.  The Distribution List is a small business owners Best Friend - it allows us to communicate with everyone at once.  So, uh how could I do that by phone? Or Mail?  That is right...........I can NOT - Email rules.  I have one for Friends & Family, one for Direct Orders, I have one for every segment of my company - I bet some of you are going "duh...." but trust me, not everyone uses this handy little gadget (read I did not till my husband said I was wasting time re-typing emails in over and over, and over....)

5. Tracers on Email 

Did you know you can send an email to Oprah and find out if she actually got email and opened it?  You can send New Product placement emails and find out that they actually DID get your email - even though they keep telling you they did not.  Email is fabulous like that!  You can also trace when the email was opened, so you know when to follow up.  When I leave a voice mail, I have no guarantee the person even got the voice mail, or let alone listened to it.  I have been known to actually just press delete when a certain family member calls to talk.....so I know that I am not the only one! 

6. Organization - Folders

I am a bit of a pack rat when it comes to email.  I save all correspondence....except that one I keep getting that says if I send this email to 20 close friends I will get great luck, or money or something.  I have every sales channel in a separate folder, with correspondence, changes and orders saved.  At the touch of a key I can go in and check an order, or find a missing order, or find out we did NOT get that order.  I even keep folders for possible stores, press, blogs, supplies, materials - everything so that I can track it easily.  Each of my employees has their own folders too - just in case I need to find an old email or re-send some information.

7. I Get Email on My Blackberry

Any working mom that wants to be connected at all times to work and home - get a Blackberry.  I swear it is the best thing (other than my i-pod) that my husband ever got me - he is so romantic!  I can stay connected when I am out and about to everyone in the office, any sales problems, any new store inquiries, any press ('cause they usually need your information like, yesterday).  This is good and bad, as I have stated earlier....but I would say the good far out ways the bad.  I am able to check both my direct email account and my orders email on a daily basis - gotta love technology!

So, there is my love letter to email - if it ever crashes I do NOT know what I will do.  My family will need to have me committed for sure.  The convenience of writing an email - or giving someone the easy way out - done by email to me - makes the sting a little less painful.  When we got dropped from a magazine article, when we got  dropped from a catalog (it does happen) I got it in email - that way I did not need to gravel, uh swear or cry on the phone.  I was able to compose myself and send back a kind email wishing them good luck, not the um first words that came into my mind.....and honestly a lady should NOT say those words....

8 Successful Traits of an Entre....er, Mompreneur

All the business blogs seem to be experts with information about what it takes to be a good entrepreneur (yawn).  They list these traits that are.....well for the most part very vague and for MEN (excused me while I barf in my mouth a little).  If you are female and IF you are a Mother and IF you are starting a small business....this is your list.  I always like when arm chair quarterbacks list what traits YOU should have to succeed....walk a mile in my shoes Mr. Expert!

So, I decided to list MY of best traits (no, no not ME, what I would recommend are good traits...gosh I sounded so pompous!) for a successful Mom-preneur-ish type of lady, cause uh, well that is what I am:

1. Be Creative

This is critical, and I do not mean being able to make a lovely knitted-yarn cozy to cover your Kleenex box.  You must be able to use your creativity to make sales, close the sale, if you can not pay a a lot, find other ways to "pay" your employees.  We give employees a 50% discount on products and unlimited freedom to work when they  need to work, just get the job done.  No forms to fill out when asking for vacation - make it work.  Being creative can come in many different forms - find what you are good at, and work it!

2. Follow Through Queen

Do you follow through on what you say you are going to do?  Do you still have Christmas cards from 2001 on your desk?  Are you able to continue to follow-up on sales leads, on bad partnerships from 5 years ago?  I am!   Some of the hardest calls I need to make are when I need to end a relationship or let a channel know that we will no longer be working with them.  Or to continue to be a thorn (a friendly that is) in some company's side to remind them (friendly reminder) that they were going to purchase products.  It is all in the delivery!  But I do HAVE to do it.  A fellow entrepreneur was telling me about this company that had just gotten into yet another bedding catalog - she said, "Not the most original product, but  they follow up religiously".  So keep following up - it's not the Early Bird that gets the worm.....it is the Persistent One.

3. Become Tenacious D

Are you tenacious?  If I get put off, or blown off, I mark it in my calendar and approach them again.  I spent years pursuing one of our largest accounts, and it took the right product the right time, the right email and bingo - best seller on their site, over and over!  This site is so savvy, that they dump  ( good technique) products that do not sell - my contact called earlier this year to say we had NO products to dump, we did TOO well on their site..... I continue to nurture my accounts - the squeaky wheel (the nice squeaky wheel, you do not want to be a pest) gets the attention.  I also make it a point of keeping up on what is going on in my industry.  If I am trying to get into a sales channel and they show up in an article in a trade magazine, I send a congratulations email to the owner.  This has opened many doors for me.

4. Have Some Passion 

Do you have a passion for what you do?  After having my first child, I realized I would never care as much about work as I used to, it just did not matter to me.  No fire drill that I was sent through would ever matter as much as my little boy did.  And, if I was to leave him for a job - it better be a damn good one (case in point it was not, that is why I stayed home).  The passion gets me up at 6:00 a.m., the passion sends me to the computer before I go to bed to check orders, the passion keeps me sane.  That same passion keeps this blog going and keeps me chugging along.....my life has a purpose!

5. Be The Communicator

You need to be able to communicate what you need and when you need it.  If you do not talk well, learn to write well.  You need to be able to communicate to everyone.  If you hate talking to people, then being an entrepreneur is not for you.  Tell a good story, be able to weave a tale and explain yourself.  If it takes you 25 minutes to explain what it is you do and what you sell, no one is going to be awake for that.  You need to work it, and do it quickly!  It is sink or swim, learn to talk well, write well - this helps with all aspects of being an Entrepreneur, and let's face it....your kids will love that Mommy knows how to spell Entrepreneur....

6. Information Guru

Sometimes I am privileged to meet other business owners, sometimes I meet other entrepreneurs that choose to put their head in the sand that DO not pay attention to what is going on in their given industry and I think how nice.  How nice for you to ignore the rest of us - and good luck when your company goes belly up because you chose to not pay attention.  This is really not the best strategy.  You need to be aware, if for nothing else know who to get into bed with (not literally - come on people!) and who to NOT be in bed with, to know the upcoming trends.  Information is good, it is not bad, it will NOT suck your creativity out of you, be aware, be smart - be a MAN!  To quote my very precocious little 8 year old "Knowledge is Power!"

7. Be Competitive

Now I am NOT a competitive sports person type.  I actually played sports for years - basically I did it because, the boys were playing, everyone else was, and I got to talk, meet and hang out with some pretty fun people.   Now that was sports - fast forward to my business....I am fiercely competitive, I know who is doing what, I know where things are sold, I know who my competition is and will make sure and win every time.  I know their weaknesses and I know what I can do and can't do.  Come on people the early bird gets the worm......or the smart girl gets the sale!

8. Multi-Tasker 

Now come ON!  Being a Mom you already are a multi-tasker.  Who can change a diaper, make dinner, answer the phone, clean sink, run a load of wash, feed the dog AND write 14 thank you cards at once?  Who? Who?  A MOTHER-that is who!  Multi-tasking comes much easier to women, especially Mothers!  The ability to put out ten fires at work all at the same time, and be able to stay calm...only a mother.  Trust me - if you can do these things at home you CAN do them at work!  We do not get enough credit in my opinion - we are women, hear us roar!  We can multi-task without scratching ourselves, or losing our concentration because some "buddy" sent us a video of Jessica Alba!

So, there it is - the very unprofessional, and totally honest 8 Traits of a successful Mompreneur!  I am sure you all are patting yourselves on the back and saying to your significant other...."see...I told you so!" (I know I am)