Jamie's Blog

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.

My Little Boy Grows Up

This post is actually very late - I should have put it up Fall of 2009 when my son's room was actually finished.  However, we had a few last touches that we finished this summer, and in my defense I tried.  Though, every time I wanted to photograph his room....it was a mess, or he had mis-matched sheets, or worse he was in it and refused to leave. 

Change is Good

I am not one to balk at change, I can handle a little change with my life.  I get it is part of life, I understand we all grow, we get our own ideas and we....change.  You would think with my son having no had less than 3 different room designs and decorated by me, I would be all gung-ho on this new venture.  Well, trust me I was excited.  I spear-headed the shopping spree to IKEA, the search for bedding that looked like soccer but was not a cheese-fest of bright colors.  I researched the posters, I experimented with having the room painted white, tan or cream.  I was into the decorating - I DID all the decorating.

Out with the Old

When the day came last year to dismantle his room, to actually pack up his sweet bedding, his model air planes and the hand made pillows my grandmother made him.....I got a bit weepy.  I wanted to save it all, and all I did save.  I kept much of his items because I could not bare to get rid of them.  It was like I was saying good bye to my Little boy and hello to a bigger, meaner and sometimes stinkier one.  He is not yet a man, or a teenager but a tween as he is often called.  The airplane room was his, and he loved it - but it was for a little boy.  This soccer, I mean Manchester United Room - was all him, and all his idea.  Don't get me wrong, I encouraged him and I wanted him to really help us, but it was defiantly his room.

For whatever reason last year when my husband went on his yearly boozefest golf trip my parents offered to watch the kids.  I was all alone on a Saturday night so I decided to paint my son's room.  As I quickly used primer over all of my airplanes I got even more melancholy.  I so wanted the room to stay the same, or as my therapist would say (if I had one) I wanted him to stay the same.  I got it, I get it still today....and yes, looking at that picture of his old rooms still makes me sad. 

Ah, such is life and I will keep living it.  I am usually one to embrace all of my children's milestones - but this painting time I was down right weepy.  Looking back, it probably did not help that we were having a major heat wave, it was 90 degrees inside and the first time I was home alone.  I would chalk it up to hormones but I was just a wee girl of 39 back then and pretty sure it was not menopause.

It is All Soccer Baby.....I mean older Boy!

This past June Grant just graduated fifth grade and is soon going to be entering junior high.  I figured this was a good time to show off his room.  I mean, if painting over a few airplanes brings me to tears, you can only imagine what I am like envisioning him in junior high.  I will try and keep my blubbering, my experience in junior high and my urge to kiss him in public at bay these days.  It was just a bedroom, right?

So, now almost a year later I am excited by his room, I am embracing him as he tells his friends about it and how he shows it off to his soccer team.  I like that he has taken ownership (and some of my credit) for his room.  Now, my husband and I are crossing our fingers this will be our LAST re-design of our son's room before he hits college.  And, at the same time we realize that Abby is going to start wanting a new room pretty soon......

The Past Six Months

July 12, 2010.

It has been a long, long....really long last six months at JPD.  Just getting a new website up and running - even working with real engineers -  is a ton of work.  The designing, up loading, the writing copy, correcting copy, swapping out images - all of it hs been exhausting - and that is just added work on top of the every day grind of running a business during a Recession.  And I have not even done most of the work.  I have done my share, but not even close to the bulk of it.

Re-launching Jamie's Painting & Design

The relaunch is scheduled for just a few weeks away.  I am optimistic that it will go off with out a hitch and we will have a smooth transition and make tons and tons of money and live happily ever after...........uh ya okay.  Sorry, I wish I could just have all positive thoughts, write a mantra or post a fabulous affirmation on my mirror - but I can not, that is not me.  I am not negative, I am a realist - oh wait maybe a negative realist, or a realistic negative person.....food for thought none the less. 

Honestly, I am trying to just go with the punches and let it go, or just accept what I can not change.  Life running a small business can be is very challenging.  Sometimes to make  myself feel better I make lists.  Some lists are things to do, things I wish for or this list.  This is all the sort of kind of annoying things that just happened to us these past 6 months.  This list sucks.  

Jamie's Top Ten List of Things that Sucked This Year

1. The logo alone was a topic of debate for everyone and their brother to discuss.  It had to be done, it was time.   Oh hell, was it painful and I had to defend my choices, then I had to go and second and third guess myself.  I like the new logo - we are going with the new logo......change is good I think, right?  Yes - I mean YES....
2. Finding the time to upload about 300 products, prices, descriptions and images to a new site takes a..........sorry was going to use some swear words, anyhoo it takes a very long time.  Many, many hours in front of the computer just adding images to an excel spreadsheet took time.
3. The economy is not better and times are still tough.  It takes money to do things, lots and lots of money.  We can get creative with financing, we can do much ourselves - but in the end nothing is free.  Doing the whole "running a company on a shoe string" is not so fun going on year two of the never ending Recession.
4. Just like that supplies can sell out.  Our Children's China line is temporarily sold out as of about 3 weeks ago.  The distributor is based in China, and China being China has not shipped any plates to the USA in like forever.  They may not ever ship them again.  One of our suppliers has refused to carry the plates, we found a new supplier that says they will be in stock early August.  We are not sure that will happen (and of course this happened after we had uploaded all the China plates.....yep).
5. The cost of our large ornaments and the drilling of them has made us re-think the product.  With budgets tighter and trees smaller the big honking 6 inch 2 pound ornament was not cutting it.  We decided to drop the product.
6. Some of the press I got is gone....gone Daddy gone.  It just does not exist on the web any longer.  A few blog posts about JPD, an article I wrote that was syndicated across the country and my first product placement in a magazine.  Those losses sucked, but the worst was my first National TV placement.  Working with Warm Biscuit Bedding my Christmas ornament  was featured on the CBS Early Show back in Christmas of 2005.....I accidentally deleted it off of Tivo.
7.  Some of our ribbon we use for our products has been discontinued- not a huge deal, but worth mentioning.  Just go get it somewhere else you say?  Not so easy, and not so realistic.  When it is gone - it is gone.  We buy our ribbon from a wholesaler, we have worked with this super big company for ages....I can't just run into my local fabric store and demand 15 rolls of a specific springtime gingham check ribbon.
8.  The crows ate our duck eggs, well not ours but these two ducks have visited me for the past four years at the office.  The Mommy duck laid 3 eggs at the end of May in one of our flower pots.  We were thrilled with the excitement of baby ducks this summer.  Then those awful damn crows ate 'em.
9. Our fridge in the break room is dying a slow death.  It leaks water and the freezer section does not work any longer.  You have no idea how cranky some people at JPD (that would be) will get without their Green Iced Teas frosty cold during a long work day.
10. My laptop is also on it's last leg.  Getting a new laptop is exciting - but paying for it, well I think I already mentioned how tight things were.  I just can not bring myself to buy a new one till this one dies for real.  I did buy a back up drive so that I am not losing anything....I hope.

Such is Life and There is a Silver Lining

A few weeks ago a friend and I were gabbing about life, kids, gossip - it was a run on conversation we were having when we had a few free minutes.  And, as it always does with me, the conversation changed when she asked, "How is business?".  I was honest, I was brutal and I did not pretend that we were bathing in hundred dollar bills and drinking wine out of golden goblets.  As I was giving gruesome details about how much the business has changed I sort of had an epiphany.  I thought that maybe this was just a bump in the road and maybe it was sort of a good thing.

It is no secret that for the past two school years I have volunteered my little heart out at my children's school.  I have done what I would have once pointed and laughed at other Mothers for volunteering to do.  I have loved parts of it, I have hated other parts.  I have made friends, I have probably ruffled more than a few feathers.

But the point is I have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to help out at school and spend countless hours with my children.  Had business been booming I never would have ventured down this road.  So after being totally honest about business I told her, "You know what is good about this?  With our sales down, it gave me the opportunity to volunteer at school, something I never would have been able to do.  I am not glad that things are slow, but I am glad at how I spent my time."

Oh jeez, look at me now!  I had go all positive energy mantra on y'all.  Damn it, I guess I am more of a positive realist or a used to be negative now realist....who would have known?

We are all Fredo

I really, really wanted to have my last post at SV Moms be a super sugary sweet look back at my time blogging.  I was hoping to touch on the good, the bad and the ugly. I wanted to embrace, enjoy and feel the Mommy Blogger love I have sort of evaded my entire blogging career.  But, then the hand of God......er, my right hand while I was watching The Daily Show I checked my blackberry and I read this article on Blogher.  These days, I do more reading and less commenting - but um, well I feel the need to comment on this one. 

Twilight Fever....Not for Everyone

If you did click on over and read the Blogher post you might know where this is going, or if you are too lazy then let me help ya out and catch you up to speed.  Robert Pattinson of the Twilight series.....hold on I am blushing, and let me catch my breath and remind myself I am 40 and he is....ewwww, okay I am back.  While speaking to Entertainment Weekly for his upcoming Eclipse cover story, Robert Pattinson made a comment about Kristen Stewart’s comments last month, where she compared the paparazzi to rapists (totally gross statement, I agree - but not what I am here to discuss).  While Kristen saw the error in her statement and she even apologized for it, Edward, eek I mean Robert Pattinson made a statement about the comment; “That whole system of Internet journalists, where no one is called to account, is almost entirely about hate,” he said “All these people get away with doing it because they have no responsibility to anyone… there are so many little nerds behind their computers, on their little blogs.”

 Here is a quote from the article"But that's not really the most important point to make about those 'little blogs.' End of the day, who cares if Twilight had never become the phenomenon it did and if you'd never moved on from small roles in big films or big roles in forgettable films? The world would not - forgive me Twilight moms - be poorer for your absence as a movie star. But you know what? It would be poorer without all those little blogs. Because those little blogs contain some of the best writing from the best writers writing today (all those little nerds are literate and poetic, and they are storytellers of a quality that matches or exceeds that of the creator of your Edward.)"  

Uh, uh, OUCH!  Was that necessary?     I re-read the Blogher blog post a number of times, then I did a google search on the whole article about Pattinson.  That was one of many things from the Blogher blog post that struck me.  My initial response was....um when did he call out Mommy Bloggers?  He said you were nerds, not bad writers...and uh no offense some of the gazillion blogs out there are bad, as bad as some of his films, okay?

We Did Not Create Edward

And since when did bloggers make him who he was today?  My gosh, I get that we (not really me, but the rest of you movers & shaker bloggers) really rock the blogging world, but Hollywood....come on now!  Ladies, ladies - let's not get our super comfortable extra elastic panties in a bunch...he is um 20 something and defending his lady.  And he said "nerds with computers"....uh duh - he is sort of right, isn't he?  Don't fight it....own it!  I am more of the um he is so not looking at me.  Get with it people, stop being so self-absorbed.

I don't mean to kick a girl (Mom) while she is down, but just 'cause your blog is super popular, and at Blogher you get to sit at the popular table....it does not mean that Mr. Pattinson knows who you are.  Nor, does it mean he was looking at you, or any of your blogging friends.  He is an actor, and I am guessing does not read blogs - let alone Mommy Blogs.  He never ever said Mommy or even female bloggers.  Why must people assume he means us, you, me?  I do not read some article about blogging and think, "Oh my gosh they are talking to me....I must have my dress tucked into my underwear?  Or they know I am lacking with comments....Must.Write.Evil. Angry. Comeback." 

I do not recall the same fury, hatred and anger towards Mr. Steve Jobs earlier this month when he said something similar at The Wall Street Journal's All Things Digital, "I don't want to see us descend into a nation of bloggers," Mr. Jobs said during an on stage interview. "I think we need editorial oversight now more than ever. Anything we can do to help Newspapers find new ways of expression that will help them get paid, I am all for."  Yes I blog, and I suppose I should have been offended, but I was not.

We are just like Fredo

There are a gazillion blogs out there right now.  Tuesday on CNN there was even two bloggers that told us how to get our blog popular in he Blog Universe.  Uh.....okay, I guess that sounds great, but  would rather be popular in the real world- you know that life where we interact with real human beings?    I love blogging, I love writing a blog, but I am not willing to go all "Motrin Mom" on everyone because of some stupid (ya I said it) advertisement about cramps and headaches (please do not make me go there....the commercial was dumb, end of story).  I can already hear Seth Meyers of SNL in my head, going "This is our new segment titled, "Mommy Bloggers....Really??"

One of my favorite trilogies was the Godfather series (you thought I was going to say Lord of the Rings right?  Gotcha - I am not a nerd with a laptop though....).  I even wrote a paper in college about it and got an A- thank you very much.  I always loved Fredo's speech at the end of Godfather II, it is a classic, and I think relative to some blogger's view of themselves, "...It wasn't the way I wanted it!  I can handle things.  I'm not dumb Christ, not like everyone says. I'm smart; and I want respect!"  This is how I see some bloggers, they so want to be considered part of the game...but they are just Fredo.  Hell, I am Fredo.  On the sidelines, running a few casinos here and there, but not the family.  They have no say in what the family (that would be Hollywood) does.