Grant and Abby made a Leprachaun Trap, but did not catch one, whew that is all I need is Leprachaun to take care of! Anyone with children in school know that Leprachauns can cause havoc on the classroom.....That little bugger made a mess of my family room and boy were the kids excited. He was a creative little leprachaun leaving green foot prints all over the place....and um THOSE were tough to clean up!
I love my children's creativity and their ability to use there imaginations. Without any outside influences it is amazing how creative you can be....When you are not afraid of what others will think, or the "Ya but...." questions, it is amazing what you can accomplish:
Which made me think of some challenges I have faced and I see others face, running a business:
The Band Aid
Do you ever have a problem that you just keep adjusting and making small adjustments to? Not addressing the problem and finding a solution? In a sense you just keep adding more band aids....
This was me after our first year in business, painting all tiles and cooking them in my oven. I was even ready to put an oven in my garage, add more artists, farm out work, babysitter...leave more time for me to paint, but I could not grow the business. My husband is the one who found out a way for us to press the art into the tile....and I did NOT believe it would work. We spent an entire year researching and preparing for the change, before finally jumping on the band wagon and changing our process.
I was scared and I was convinced our channels would balk at the new products, even sending samples to our largest channels. Well, you all know how THAT worked out.....
I took a risk, I had to or my company could never have grown to what it is today. It was honestly sink or swim....I ripped off the band aids and started new, problem solved.
My Way of the Highway
Being an entrepreneur (and a mom for that matter) I have had this philosophy one um, time or another...okay three times tops!!! Being the entrepreneur this is an easy thought process, you have been the one from the begining you way SHOULD be the best....but sometimes you get so deep in the minutia of running it you lose track of what is really important.
I especially had this philosophy when we were processing orders...I was convinced we did not need a system (December of 2005 proved me wrong) for processing our orders. With upwards of 100 different themes for five different products my system (chicken scratchings on binder paper....stop laughing!) was not working. So, we had meetings we discussed....I thought NO way would we change..it could not be done...it should not be done.
I finally just threw my arms in the air and said fine....(or my husband pulled me aside and said do you want to paint designs or do you want to run the company?)....not um sure which happened. But we started processing using Excel, SKU's, specific product names....again you heard the story.
I now have a office that runs itself. I no longer have to manage the processing of orders, the making of shipping labels, the shipping of orders, the ribbon purchasing, the purchasing of tiles, I have fabulous employees to do this! I get to do...other things.
As the business owner you HAVE to make the tough decisions, even when they are not popular. When a problem keeps coming back and coming back and coming back....you need to find a solution. I would think your goal would to succeed....and grow, and with growth comes change, it just has to. You are going to see your competition start to take over your space if you don't.
If you aren't willing to make changes, or grow you don't have a business....you have a hobby.
Stubborn People! Don'tcha just love us!
Posted by: LondonE | March 18, 2007 at 09:58 PM
Thanks London! I love stubborn people, especially because I am one!
Posted by: Jamie R Lentzner | March 18, 2007 at 10:05 PM
Good makings for a successful business owner!
Posted by: LondonE | March 18, 2007 at 10:08 PM
I get to read your blog occasionally. I can so relate to this post. I am also stubborn and don't want to delegate a lot of the tasks I face as a business owner (Bunny Creek---we sell your tiles)...but you hit home with the part about making decisions and growing! I/We are dealing with similar issues and currently working through some of things you've been through! Thanks for your thoughts....your blog is fun and insightful reading.
Posted by: Sheri Sharp | March 28, 2007 at 09:46 PM