Jamie's Blog

I Can Do Anything (well almost) Better Than You

December 6, 2011

Growing up my sister and I were suckers for Musicals,but only those that were on TV that is.  A little Shirley Temple on Sunday morning, Wizard of Oz at Easter, Musicals on Sundays and every single Christmas Cartoon, Movie or Claymation/Stop motion ever made during the month of December.   And if I liked the Musical, then I had to memorize the darn songs.  So, late last Thursday when a RUSH order came in this song was a playing in my ear:

Anything you could do, I could do better
I can do anything better than you!
No you can't!
Yes I can!
No you can't!
Yes I can!
No you can't!

Yes I can!
Yes I can!

These are the only lines I know of the song from Annie Get Your Gun, but pretty much I think that is all I need to know.  I think the rest is about shootin' varmints or doing cowboy-like things all the live long day.  Anyway, so I was singing this song because there are things my company, my manufacturing canand pretty much I  do better than any of my competitors.  I hate sounding like a braggart or an egomaniac, but there is one thing I can do better: I can always win on turn around times for my products.

Handpainted is Great But....

I used to hand paint all of my ceramic products, after a few months I realized it was very time consuming, messy and exhausting.  I hired one artist and then soon many more to help me paint my large number of products I sold.  After the now infamous Gooey Messy Glaze Gone Wrong Christmas Season of 2003 I caved (okay my husband helped me come to the conclusion).  In 2003 I was spending all of my time and money painting instead of growing my business.  I even wrote some lists of what sucked, or was a time suck when I hand painted every single frickin' product:

1. Each item was unique, meaning no two products looked the same. 
2. When a customer sees an image on a website or in a cataloge they want to get something that looks JUST like that image.  
3. Colors can vary when hand painting items (mixing of paint is not an exact science).
4. Taking the time to hand paint something over and over takes countless hours.
5. The turn around time is 3 to 4 times as long as a non-painted product.
6. Artists are expensive to train and charge a lot of money (As an artist I know they totally deserve that, but as a business woman - ouch).

Hand painting (in my opinion) was not a scalable model.  I spent all my time and money on painting products and paying artists to paint my products.  It was great in the beginning, when I was trying to figure out if these products would sell, but after a year it was, again not a scalable model.  We quickly slowly changed our manufacturing process and stopped all hand painting.  By the end of 2004 the paints were used for developing new designs and a new era in production was born.  Turn around times were greatly decreased, errors went down, customers were happier and all was good in the world.

Hand painting Takes Time 

A few years ago I realized that a number of my competitors were also using the same manufacturing process for some of their ceramic products.  What I once touted as an ancient secret or a proprietary manufacturing method, soon became the norm for other ceramic artists.    However they don't maufacture their plates like I do, the companies that I compete with hand paint their plates.  

I manufacture everything the same way, my competitors - not so much.  After doing some online research I found out the difference with my plates vs. their plates:

Competiton: Average turn around for a ceramic hand painted 8 or 10 inch plate is 2 to 4 weeks, possibly six weeks during the holiday season.

Jamie's Painting & Design: Average turn around time for a ten inch plate 1 to 2 weeks.  Never a problem with holiday season.

Competition: To RUSH a plate you pay an extra $10.00, plus possible expedited shipping.

Jamie's Painting & Design:  Each order was taken on a case by case basis, however there is seldom a RUSH fee needed because the turnaround time requests are within my normal service level. 

Competition: A plate that is RUSHED ships in 10 days

Jamie's Painting & Design: We can get a plate shipped in less than 24 hours if needed. 

What Can I Do For Our Customers

So, back to my sing fest....last Thursday night, I got a phone call that one of my sales channels needed a plate made for a first birthday gift.  The customer needed it by December 14th.  Could we get this to the customer in time?  Could we RUSH this order?  The answer was yes and yes.  I was able to make the plate within an hour, it was produced last night.   Turn around time 2 to 5 business days.  

I know for a fact that not one of my competitors could compete with my turn around time.   In fact sometimes we compare notes because we are all sold in many of the same channels and we get the same requests....sales channels sometimes try to find who can do what, how fast and sometimes which of us artisans will give a discount.  We share notes, we talk.  Whether or not the plate was shopped around or not, I was able to get it done and done quickly.  And this time quick equals a very, very happy customer and sales channel.

Take it to the Next Level

To any other like minded Entrepreneurs I say figure out what you do best and do it.  Do your research, know what you are up against.  Can you beat the competition on pricing?  Can you make a better product?  Can you beat them on quality or packaging?  Figure out what makes your product better and do that.

But most importantly brag a little about how you can win the customers business.  It helps you and your business build a good reputation, and that is very important.  So, brag a little, stick your chest out and pound it.....I think every company deserves a little pat on the back once in awhile....or just sing a silly song around the house until your family goes a little batty.

These Are & Those Were The Days

As I already tweeted or facebooked (is that even a word?) we are downsizing , and we are doing it big time.  I am not saying that I was not sad (okay, yes I cried a few tears if you must know) by the huge change and pressure to downsize.  We are sub-letting space(s)  and moving some employees to work from home.  We can actually do that you know - without sounding like we losing the battle with the Economy.  I am not saying I am thrilled, but to be honest thinking smaller, meaner and leaner sounds pretty good to me these days. 

When we rented our space 4 years ago we were growing in leaps and bounds and had at any night up to 8 employees in the studio working.  It was very cramped and it was exhausting to manage everyone's schedules.  From morning till night we had people coming in and out of our home.  It wasn't their fault, heck I hired them - it was just too much for me to handle.

The Dog Days Are Over....Almost (oh and yes, yes I do  LOVE that song!)

The Economy still...uh sucks, and retail is um oh well it is challenging (I am trying my best to not be negative or have a potty mouth - so work with me) to say the least.  The Economists (the ones that are not totally bipartisan) claim that we will start seeing some real job growth and recovery in the summer of 2011.  I figure the worst is behind us and we can only get better, right?  Like I mentioned in last post - it could be worse, and right now I soooo know that.  I am thankful for all I have and I am still willing to pull up my pants by the boot straps (okay what does that even mean?  Stir-Up pants? Suspenders? Booty straps maybe?). 

Out With the Old In With the....Not Much New

Anyway - our lease is up and we are outta here.  I have actually started to get excited about scaling down and getting rid of extra baggage.  I already have a pile of decorations, frames and office decor on the table in the work room just ready to throw on Craig's List.  I also have a butt load...ton of inventory/samples/errors/duplicate orders to get rid of.  I am thinking 65% to 75% off retail to my Facebook Fans.  We won't have the space to just keep tons and tons of inventory and samples, which again is good and smart (I think).

So, while pulling a part my office space I have been doing a lot of thinking.  Just ripping nails out of walls and photographing all the samples we have in our warehouse has made me think a lot about the past, and mistakes I have made.  While cleaning out our space I came across some interesting items, and by interesting I mean all my notes, invoices and orders from our eight years in  business.  Most importantly (or most depressing) we saved them from 2005, probably the most prosperous year for Jamie's Painting & Design and the worst year for me personally. 

2005....It was the Best of Times, it was the Worst of Times

So after pouring through the entire year in sales for 2005 I am able to look back with (I hope) an un-biased and rational eye.  The good, the bad and the oh so ugly literally jumped off the pages at me.  The orders, the notes take me right back to that year.  The way we stamped each order and signed off on the inking, the ribboning and the shipping - it was so time consuming.  I can see the mistakes we made and I can see the right decisions we made.  I can remember what it felt like, I can recall most of that year.  It was my last year of not sharing (that is code for before I started this blog) of hiding in my "in-house studio/garage" and finally realizing I was/am a really bad manager.  It was a simpler time back then, or so it seemed.

The Worst of Times in 2005:

• My Living Room had popcorn and bubblewrap  in one corner
• We never entertained because of our employees/business/supplies that flowed into every room
• My un-remodeled Master Bath was un-usable due to boxes and boxes of tiles stored in it
• My life was my business, and my business was my life
• I started work  (and my husband also) at 6:00 a.m. and usually till well past midnight 7 days a week
• We got an order for birth certificates for triplets from a channel, but one was still-born.  We refused to charge them for the 3rd birth certificate.  We got a heart-wrenching thank you letter from the customer.
• My daughter was put in the hospital the middle of December because she could not breathe.
• A few days before our drop dead date Warm Biscuit Bedding sent us a 100 page fax with more than 100 missing orders, due to a malfunction in their system (good for orders - bad that we were having a hard time filling all orders).
• At least 30 plates were shipped 2 day  (on our dime) and overnight (again us) to make our guaranteed Christmas deadline
• I was a bitch to everyone
• No really I was not a nice person

The Best of Times in 2005:

• Our orders were huge, people ordered Name Tiles for their daughter ISABELLA....now they order an I
• Everyone paid their bills on time
• Most companies gave us credit cards and they were never over their limits....NEVER!
• My employees made a lot of money and were paid top dollar to paint/ink our tiles
• I never had to take off my slippers to go to work
• That was the year Roy Disney ordered a tile
• We grew the business by 50% from the year earlier
• Darin (husband in case you are new) worked with me a lot - which I totally enjoyed.
• We had our first TV appearance at the un-godly hour of 6:00 a.m.......for one of our ornaments on The CBS Early Show.
• I got to work with some fabulous women, and I so looked forward to when they came into the office/studio/garage.

 The Past is in The Past

I am not one to really focus or obsess on the past.  I have never been that person, and I do not plan on changing.  When my friends were crying because our children stopped breast feeding, or started walking & talking - I was celebrating.  I approached parenthood like a project, with me checking of an invisible box when my child reached a milestone.    After each big event I gave a big "Hoo Ha!" and waited for the next.  I embraced change, I encouraged growth and I detested trying to hold our children back, but instead focused on moving them forward.

My business, though not as monumental or important as raising my children I have tried to come at it with the same philosophy.  It is hard for me to talk with young (wait for it, I am not being evil)  entrepreneurs that only came into their business within the last 2 or 3 years.  It is just that being an Entrepreneur during a Recession is not like being one during the Glory Days.  Yes, some things are similar - most are not.  Their growth is nothing like mine was and their losses are nothing like mine are/were.  Though in their defense they are probably smarter, leaner and more timid when it comes to taking risks.  Even as little as their companies  grow, they see the best, they are so positive - they are me from five, four or even eight years ago, an even though I do not want to go back to 2005, I wish I could talk to that me.  I wish I could give the me of January of 2005 a bit of advice.  And not that I have given it much thought (oh but I have), my speech would go something like this;

"Look Jamie I know that the last three years have been amazing and your business has been all that you can think of (or talk about - and trust me, your friends & family have all heard just about enough about it), but times are changing.  This year is going to be your toughest yet.  You will find yourself hiring a large number of employees. Please remember, with managing people comes a great responsibility.  You may (will) have to acknowledge that you are not a very good manager.  While we are discussing your weaknesses, I happen to know that  you do not separate business from personal life very well either.   Don't shoot the messenger, but this year will bring you to your knees - literally, not metaphorically.  You will be forced to accept that you can not separate business and home life and let's face it your business may (well will, but I am the wiser Jamie of 2011) over-run your home life.  Sales will be good or dare I say it better than ever."  

"Though I ask you at what cost?  I advice you to stay calm, stay sane and realize that this growth you have experienced will not keep up forever.  Look at the history of our country.  Lastly Jamie - try not to be so tightly wound and anal.  Try really hard not to be a.....uh a bitch.  You will thank me later.  Also, don't be in such a hurry to move the business out of the house.  Times are not as bad as you think, and you can work better/smarter/more efficient if you are willing to look at other options.   Lastly I would suggest you breathe, just breathe and enjoy your success - it will not last forever." 

Back to the Future of 2011

Oh how I wish like Back to the Future the Older Marty McFly could have sat me down and gave me that speech....oh wait I guess it would have been the older wiser Jamie McFly.  Anyways, if anything at least I have learned and grown from my very very hard lessons.  I hope I did not hurt those that worked for me.  I hope that they have forgiven me for the way I was.  As I look to downsize I think quite a bit about all those employees that worked with me in my garage.  I look around my now empty garage and wonder what they think of those years.  I may never know,  but I hope they know I am sorry and I wish I had handled that year better.

Getting into Pottery Barn Kids

My very, very good friend London Edwards has done the impossible.  She has her products for sale in the Pottery Barn Kids catalog and website.   There were ups and downs, good and bad days.  It was a very long process that started last fall and just finally came to fruition last week.  Her products debuted on the Pottery Barn Kids site late Thursday, July 22, 2010. 

If you are like me and wondering how the hell...er heck did she do that - well I found out.  Actually, I lived through it with her most of the past year. She was nice enough to answer a few questions to help others that might (like who wouldn't?) want to get into Pottery Barn Kids.

Can we get a little history about your Company, My Little Dish?

London - I started My Little Dish in 2001.  Began wholesaling immediately with local stores, I never did any local shows.  We did our first trade show in the first few months and again 6 months after that.  Even though now I think trade shows are a waste of money, but I did learn the term "Licensing" from a neighboring booth.  That turned out to be helpful in 2004 when I licensed some of my products.

How did you get into PBK? Did they contact you? 

London- They called late one afternoon. I didn't answer because it was after hours and normally don't even check voice mail until the next day. Something told me to check right away and when I did, I about fell out of my chair.  (I still have that voice mail saved on my phone.  I also have the voice mail from when she called to confirm they were adding them to the new line.)  I called them back and spoke to the senior buyer, who said they needed samples immediately could I overnight them!

I guess I should have asked her how on earth they found her, because I still do not know.  I am guessing that if the buyer was searching for personalized dishes or plates, My Little Dish would be one of the first to come up.  Something I wish I knew when starting a company, it helps to have the product name in the company name.  I can not tell you how many times I am called to paint a house, paint a sale sign at a Burger King or ask if I am hirng contract painters.

What was the process like?

London - The process was long. Actually that's an understatement.  From conception to the finished product it was exactly 8 months.  With a lot of back and forth, design changes, many more samples and dealing with dozens of different people. Everyone I dealt with was very nice, but big companies can be interesting to deal with.  Everything has to go through senior designers and buyers and they change their minds more than a teenage girl changes clothes!

Ahhhhh, like I said in the intro, I was going along with her on this entire ride, getting emails, texts and phone calls from her weekly and sometimes daily.  I know for a fact it could be very frustrating sometimes for her , especially if you are not used to collaborating with so many people on your designs.  When working with big companies (I have done it) you take the good with the bad and learn that it is not just you but an entire design team that is helping (or hindering) your designs.

How did you come up with your designs?  Was it a collaborative effort?

London - They asked me for my top sellers and told me what they were looking for (sort of in a very vague manner) and I painted all 12 designs in both girl and boy colors.  After they looked them over and told me they loved them, they started to pick them apart.  They didn't like the black, could I change text color? This pink was too light, but that one was too dark.  So after a few more batches of samples, we finally narrowed it down.  Then they sent me a few bedding samples and asked for designs based on that.  Voila! Done, sent the samples. They loved them and were going to take all of them.......then they weren't going to take all of them.  Indecisive definitely, but with so many cooks in the kitchen, I got it!  They were always very polite and very appreciative of everything, so it made the changes very bearable.  I have been very appreciative of how kind everyone has been there. You hear stories about big companies. I have stories about some big companies.  But this company has not disappointed me in the least, yet.

Was there anything crazy or funny that they asked you?

London - I can't remember anything they asked, but I can remember a comment that blew me away when talking to the first Buyer.  She wanted a price break, because (of course) they are a profit driven company.  When I asked her for the volume they thought they would do so I could run numbers, she said a similar product sold 10,000.  10,000 units? 10,000 dollars?  For a quarter, for a year what?  She said $10,000.  I assumed she meant in a year. (Which my accountant informed me that plenty of my accounts sell that much in a year, so a price break might not be worth it.)  Sooo.......I emailed her as much.  Within seconds she shot back an email saying "No, that is $10,000 a week!!!!!!!"  I began laughing hysterically.  I'm not sure why, if I found it funny, or if it scared the hell out of me.  But I couldn't stop laughing. All I kept thinking was OMG, that was for one product and they just took 12 of my designs. 

Something to keep in mind is that many companies (large and small) always give out these huge projections for what they think they will sell.  I have been doing this for eight years and never have they been correct.  Almost always (except for one Halloween Plate) they were way off.  It is very exciting and I hope that PBK is dead on, but just keep in mind that projections are not facts.

Anything else you can share for someone hoping to work with big Company?  Bit of advice? Or something you wish you knew?

London - Ask a lot of questions, kill them with kindness, don't turn down additional products they want to add, because chances are they will narrow down the line eventually after numerous meetings with other buyers.  I wish I had agreed to do the melamine, ornaments, frames and any and all they initially asked instead of being cautious.  Some problems are good to have, so take them on and worry about how you produce them later.  That's easy to say now, because I haven't started producing yet.  So ask me again in a few months, in the middle of Christmas season!

Well, actually this is only half the story, I can't wait to see how this plays itself out.  London is a hundred percent right about asking questions.  Also I would add if you are itty bitty and run your business out of a closet....maybe do not share that.  I never used to let on how small my company was - as long as I could deliver what they asked, that was good enough.

I have worked with some large and very, very large companies.(psst...Nordstrom, Target, Warm Biscuit Bedding when I was a newbie, Home Goods, Favorites Catalog, Femail Creations Catalog, The Right Start).  One store even took an entire year to pay me.  A. Year.  I am not saying that will happen here, but if you choose to work with a large company know that you are doing everything on THEIR terms.  Also, you may need to hire additional employees, rent more space, buy more supplies, purchase special packaging - added costs that you may not know when you get wined and dined by one of the big guys.

An artist? Really?

September 20, 2006.

Main Entry: art·ist
Pronunciation: 'är-tist
Function: noun
1 a obsolete : one skilled or versed in learned arts b archaic : PHYSICIAN c archaic : ARTISAN 1
2 a : one who professes and practices an imaginative art b : a person skilled in one of the fine arts
3 : a skilled performer; especially : ARTISTE
4 : one who is adept at something <con artist> <strikeout artist>

Okay truth be told this is one of my biggest pet peeves.  Uh, notice the definition from Websters' Dictionary.........it says skilled.  Skilled to me means you have a degree!  Or, have taken some college courses eh?  A 2 week course maybe?

Considering that I went to school, got the degree I consider (as many others do too) myself an artist.  However, many er I say 'women or moms' that are crafters or crafty or not, call themselves artists.  I like to decorate, I have been complimented many times on my skills on decorating my home.....yet I do NOT consider myself an interior decorator.

In my industry this 'term artist' seems to be thrown around quite a bit.  It makes me crazy, really it does.  So I recommend if you claim to be something - be it, own it, live it, or by all means fake it so we do not know (and we always know)  that you are faking it.

And secondly, own something unique, try and make it your own.  Do not just rip off what an other artist/entrepreneur has already done.  I swear, this happens time and time again.  When starting a business do you want to be known as a fake or a copy cat? 

Okay, I got that off my chest, now my husband will not have to hear me pontificate tonight about it.....I may complain about something else though ;).