Jamie's Blog

Posh Pet Gifts by Jamie

May 30, 2006.

Three, two, one.......blast off - we are now live!!!  Our new venture www.poshpetgifts.com is now live.  Okay, um we are live!  We are ready to take orders!   Why aren't there any orders???  Is anyone listening????  Come ON people!  Anyone.....?

Truth be told, yes we launched a new division of Jamie's Painting and Design - a personalized pet division.  In a year or two we will launch another division to round out the company.  And yes very excited, we are doing a big press push, and hoping to get some interest in the division.  This is all true...but no one knows we exist, until now.

To get sales channels and get interest you need to a number of things with your website.  I have had more companies claim their website is live and EXPECT that millions of visitors (and customers) will flood their site.  How are they promoting the site? Who are they advertising to?  Are they purchasing ads on line?  Do they have reps?  Did they buy words?  Do they even own the name of their company?

You need a plan, and it is hard let me tell you.  You need to generate a 'buzz' and you need to generate sales. To each is own, some hire sales reps, some purchase tons of advertisements, some go to trade shows, some buy words on google or yahoo - but you need to do something.

Anyone can put up a website, but not everyone can create a whole business around it. 

Working Mother...Oh Yeah!

May 26, 2006.

Last year I read in Lisa Hammond's Book, Dream Big(http://www.femailcreations.com) twice at least and did do one thing she mentioned about putting together a wish list, or an inspirational board.  The theory is you cut out things you 'want' or 'want to do' and put it somewhere you will see it every day and remind you of your goals.  I put all of the things I wished to accomplish on my board, and on a whim posted a cover of Working Mother Magazine.  Lisa suggest the bathroom, but err - no, not in my house, try the garage (where the studio was and I spent every frickin' day...).  So when we moved into new office space and I had a REAL office, the board did not make the move.

Which made what happened all that more amazing., I had responded to a Working Mother email questionnaire about a year ago....then in April of this year,I got an email from a journalist asking if I could be interviewed for an article in Working Mother, my answer -HELL YA!

Well, if you catch the latest Working Mother (www.workingmother.com) and don't blink, and read cover to cover you will notice I am featured in the Desperate (non)Housewives article (not the company, just Jamie Lentzner).  Ya, ya I know you thought I was the Entrepreneur Mom (ha- good one, right), but I digress- I got to give some good tips on getting your children to help clean the house.  I was interviewed for an hour, it was a great experience.

So.....where does this leave me?  With Oprah, Entrepreneur Magazine, business plan, investsors, debt free, larger channels and many other goals on my board, I get to cross one thing off my board - if I could find it.  It was a huge honor to be in Working Mother, all working mom's should read this magazine.  I felt a sense of accomplishment, although I will admit two paragraphs does not parlay to 'Cover Working Mother of the Year'  but I take baby steps....

Take what you can get, be proud of yourself, pat yourself on the back.  Seriously, set some goals with your business and go for it....and when you accomplish them - tell people, smile, be graceful.  It feels good!  Make tiny goals...you can get them -it just takes perserverance and answering EVERY email in your in-box ;).

I think my head is going to explode

May 20, 2006.

Ever get so mad that you think your head is going to explode, so every time this happens you say it to your three year old and you both laugh about the absurdity of it?   You know, turn it into a little joke between the two of you?  And then when your parents take your son to look at Christmas lights one night, he belts out, "IF I SEE ONE MORE CHRISTMAS LIGHT I THINK MY HEAD WILL EXPLODE!"  Um, guess I over-used that line a bit much, and had to explain to my mom why I was so stressed (ouch!).

These days, the only time I say that is when I am at work....and everyone else has gone home.  Things that are not finished, things done wrong, items not shipped, development not done...I could go on and on.  And if one more person says to me, "Ya, but...." when I show them the error of their ways, I am POSITIVE my head will explode.

Part of being the boss means having to take the fall (yes we have addressed this before) or the blame.  And sometimes, it even is my error.  Like last week, everyone was running around (literally) trying to find all these order forms, they were on our sheet for processing, but the actual orders were gone.  We looked everywhere, then I thought as a last ditch effort I would have to go home and see if I brought them home.........yep, you guessed it I screwed up.  I had to come back to work with my tail between my legs and apologize upside down and backwards that it was me, I made a big mistake.

So, my point is I take hours or even days before putting anything in writing.  I sit on it, I would like to say I have learned my  lesson (email fight with an ex-sales channel that ended badly).  I try to bring a calmness to the conversation and stay less emotional after finding an error.  I also try to put myself in their shoes, try to remember what it was like to be the employee, part-time,a full-time college student with other stresses in their lives.  And if all else fails, my husband will proof my email, bring me down a notch to realize we are all human, it is not the end of the world, and say, "no Jamie your head will NOT really explode".

So how many hats do YOU wear?

May 15, 2006.

Alright, I know you wear tons of hats.  And, a Mom to boot - on any given day you wear the following; caregiver, driver, cook, maid, teacher, disciplinarian, personal shopper, launderer, doctor, bather, and the list goes on and on. 

Last week, one of the artists I work with asked how or more like why I was doing so much at once.  She wanted to know how I was able to function doing so much at the same time.  I thought about it and said, "Because I have to".  and the I mumbled to myself that I was wearing too many hats at work.

So, I made a list of my hats:

• CEO
• Web Designer
• Office Manager
• Receptionist
• Cleaning Person
• Buyer
• Accounts Receivable
• Collections
• Sales Manager
• Art Director for new development
• Copy writer
• Shipping Clerk

Okay, and that was Monday.....I am not writing this to brag, nor to complain.  This is just a fact of being the owner of a small business - and it's growing.  Actually, I think I need to find a better balance and focus on one  (or 4) thing at a time.  Having me jump from one task to another is counter-productive.  And when I get down to it, I am not good at all those jobs.

Find what you are good at, and focus on that (so they say).   All the books I read say that you should hire someone, however they never mention 'how to' if you don't have the funds.  That is when we got creative.

Using friends, family members, high school students, interns - are many of the ways we found when we started the business to fill key positions.  If all else fails my husband will fill in the position on the weekends or evenings.  We have been known to do web design (our first ) on our bed late, late one night.

Our busiest time of the year is Christmas and Friends and family always seem to volunteer each year.  They get a 50% discount on holiday and personalized items for friends and family and get to attend our annual holiday party.  They don't get paid much, but each year they rally around us because the KNOW we need help.  Last year I was a blubbering mess at our party thanking all of the friends that had helped us.

I am about at the end of my rope on my 15 jobs a day, so I think it's time to see what to do to fill some much needed spots.  I need to give up some hats,  because, for me Christmas is right around the corner.

Patience...uh sometimes?

May 8, 2006.

Patience - a must when starting and running your own business.

This is my first in a 27 part series on Patience.  What?  You don't think I have patience?  Wait a minute......my husband just fell over from laughter, I have to help him up so he does not swallow his tongue.

Okay, I will admit I am not the most patient person..........um, if we are being honest, I am not patient at all.  This is one of the hardest parts of starting a business for me.  I have to wait for so many different aspects of the business:

• I wait for a possible prospect to answer a New Product Submission
• I wait for a store to put in an existing order
• I wait for the existing channel to send their checks
• I wait for people to review a new version of our website
• I wait for a new channel to run numbers on sell through to see if we will continue to work with them
• I wait for a possible product placement in a major magazine
• I wait for materials to ship
• I wait for EVERYTHING

Being a type 'A' personality (I know you are surprised....stop I am blushing) I have mostly no patience for anything.  I realize that it takes months, sometimes years to establish ones company as a brand, a leader or a sought after partner.  Believe me, in my head I know - but my heart is not so patient.

This has been a difficult thing for me.  When I feel that I do not have the patience for something, I often need to focus on something else that is tangible.  I may need to go into the shipping department and do shipping that gives me a feeling of accomplishment by the end of the day.  Or, I pick up the phone and start cold-calling channels, or follow up on dry sales channels. 

Don't get me wrong, none of these things fill the void of 'WHAT' I am waiting for.  However, it does let me do something that has been on my arm-length to do list that would have otherwise NOT gotten done.

Get - it - in - writting!

May 3, 2006.

Sounds pretty obvious, I know.  You say you KNOW that....well this is easier said than done.  It is so easy to get all excited over a handshake or a or a phone call conversation.  I can tell you from experience if you don't get it in writing, it may be too good to be true.

Here are a few things I never got in writing:

• Feature one of my products in major magazine
• Products carried in a catalog
• High-End website agreed to carry my products
• Store samples ordered over phone, but owner refused when products received
• Boutique agreed to carry products
• Sales Representative agreed to represent my line of products
• Check is in the mail
• Project finished by certain date
• My company's name would be listed in newspaper article
• Competitor's products would not be sold on website
• Competitor would not copy my products
• A contract employee promised to work till a certain date

All of these things were things I was promised, either in person or via phone conversation.  None of them came to fruition.  Sometimes I have been wrong, but more times than not - it never happens if it's not in writing.

The key takeaway is that if someone commits something important to you, then get a confirmation in writing, whether it be email or on letterhead.  Once you have it in writing then you can fall back on it,  besides, it is a binding agreement.  Again, easier said that done, now I try to send a follow-up email to my partners, contract employees, or channels to verify what we discussed.