Last week I wrote of my journey into capitalism and ideas on how to venture forward into a slightly known arena. This week I would like to celebrate my mother and her family for their courage to venture forward into very unknown territory.
I spoke with my mother tonight, who relayed an earlier conversation with her sister-in-law. "Happy 65th Birthday!" my aunt said. "It's not my 65th!" mother replied. "Yes it is. You set foot in America 65 years ago today," my aunt insisted.
January 24, 1947 my grandparents, my uncle and my mother arrived from a two week voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to venture forward into a new and better world. My grandparents each survived concentration camps, my uncle survived living away from his parents in order to be protected from the horrors of the world around him, and my mother survived by being born in the environment created by the terror and end of the days of World War II in Germany.
And together they ventured forward. They left family, friends, and community behind in order to create a better world. They left careers, education, and a way of life behind in hopes to find the freedom and inalienable rights they knew should be theirs.
They took huge risks. Mine so pale in comparison. So many times I look up to my grandmother, who became my best friend, and am amazed at the courage it took for her, simply, to live.
But they also took calculated risks. They did not make decisions in a vacuum.
I write this in my business blog because I think as entrepreneurs we all take risks. But as I reflect on my mother's "birthday", I find myself thinking of the risks I'm taking. Are they decisions made in a vacuum? Are they calculated risks? Or are they petty decisions I make in order to "advance" a hobby? It's difficult for those of us who work full time, who manage a family, who are trying to uphold New Year's resolutions to have clarity of thought to take calculated risks to advance our work.
My challenge to you, to myself, is to look at our businesses, to be honest in what we see, and to take the risks necessary to succeed. The risk to develop an accounting system to analyze the profitability of our entrepreneurship. The risk to reach out to experts for help in marketing our business in order to succeed. And the risk to leave the product creation behind just a bit.....we won't succeed if we're creating and only hoping to sell our creations. We will only succeed if we take the calculated risks necessary to grow our business beyond a hobby.
This land was made for you and me...
Happy Birthday!
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Venturing forward
I have received much strong encouragement from my family, friends, and colleagues on my venture into capitalism with D'Lites by Dorene. In fact, some of my friends have been extremely strong supporters, as they know my frustrations with my day job and have seen the creativity my business has unleashed in me.
One of the strongest recommendations I received in the beginning of my journey was to explore opportunities to become involved in weddings. I didn't follow this line for some time as I wasn't certain of how to do it. I mean, yes, candles are burned frequently at weddings, but doesn't every one just go somewhere to buy them in bulk?
While familiar, I've become increasingly knowledgeable about high-end customization for weddings, parties, and other functions. So, I've been thinking about how to approach clients on how to include my candles on their special day.
I've decided to approach first wedding planners. I've already established my prospect list and am planning to send sample products, such as Vanilla, Jasmine, etc. that would work for weddings, showers and other parties. I've also worked to update my Etsy site with samples of party favors:
I will add my tea light sampler when it is ready, hopefully soon. But frankly, I'm stumbling a bit with information to mail for a cold call letter.
Have any of you in the blogosphere worked with wedding or event planners? What recommendations do you have for entering into this line of business?
One of the strongest recommendations I received in the beginning of my journey was to explore opportunities to become involved in weddings. I didn't follow this line for some time as I wasn't certain of how to do it. I mean, yes, candles are burned frequently at weddings, but doesn't every one just go somewhere to buy them in bulk?
While familiar, I've become increasingly knowledgeable about high-end customization for weddings, parties, and other functions. So, I've been thinking about how to approach clients on how to include my candles on their special day.
I've decided to approach first wedding planners. I've already established my prospect list and am planning to send sample products, such as Vanilla, Jasmine, etc. that would work for weddings, showers and other parties. I've also worked to update my Etsy site with samples of party favors:
I will add my tea light sampler when it is ready, hopefully soon. But frankly, I'm stumbling a bit with information to mail for a cold call letter.
Have any of you in the blogosphere worked with wedding or event planners? What recommendations do you have for entering into this line of business?
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Marketing Calendar
One of the tasks I've struggled with since starting my business has been developing products for the season in a timely fashion. Fortunately, I'm small enough and have suppliers close to me, and I can be nimble in creating new products within a few days. And since a lot of sales come from my Etsy site, and since I refer a lot of local buyers to my Etsy site for a complete product listing, I haven't been adversely affected by this tremendously.
Until I'm ready to prospect into retail. Just in time production works fine, until I try to promote my products to retailers....I suddenly realize that marketing Valentine products today is useless, as many retailers already have seasonal displays established or at least have their seasonal products purchased.
So I knew I had to establish a marketing calender. But it couldn't be just a marketing calender, as it's easy to highlight holidays on a planner or electronic device. I needed to establish a marketing and production calender.
I started with a basic Excel worksheet, labeling the left column with the months of the year and the planning schedule at the top. For my column headers, I chose "Marketing Trends", "Product Marketing", and "Product Testing."
Completing the Marketing Trends column was easy,
January - New Year
February - Valentine's Day
March - Easter
and so on. Next, I needed to complete the Product Marketing column. So, for my established customers, newsletter, and Etsy shop, the Product Marketing column looks something like this:
January - Valentine's Day; weddings
February - Valentine's Day; Easter
March - Easter; spring
and so on. Next was the Product Testing column. Here, most everything backs up another month:
December - Valentine's Day; weddings
January - Easter; Spring
and so on. What this will do is help me integrate my supply purchases into other orders and help to save on shipping costs. I can work test pours into my customer pouring schedule. And if I order early enough, I have plenty of wiggle room if something isn't right, and I can integrate the successful fragrances into other supply orders, as well as watch for sales!
The final calendar looks like this:
This hasn't quite solved my problem of marketing to prospective retail vendors, but it does help me establish a calender through which I can anticipate their marketing plans. All I have to do is add a column for when the stores would set up their retail displays, another column to anticipate when they will place their product orders, and integrate that into my testing and marketing calendar!
Do you have any planning and marketing strategies you can share?
Until I'm ready to prospect into retail. Just in time production works fine, until I try to promote my products to retailers....I suddenly realize that marketing Valentine products today is useless, as many retailers already have seasonal displays established or at least have their seasonal products purchased.
So I knew I had to establish a marketing calender. But it couldn't be just a marketing calender, as it's easy to highlight holidays on a planner or electronic device. I needed to establish a marketing and production calender.
I started with a basic Excel worksheet, labeling the left column with the months of the year and the planning schedule at the top. For my column headers, I chose "Marketing Trends", "Product Marketing", and "Product Testing."
Completing the Marketing Trends column was easy,
January - New Year
February - Valentine's Day
March - Easter
and so on. Next, I needed to complete the Product Marketing column. So, for my established customers, newsletter, and Etsy shop, the Product Marketing column looks something like this:
January - Valentine's Day; weddings
February - Valentine's Day; Easter
March - Easter; spring
and so on. Next was the Product Testing column. Here, most everything backs up another month:
December - Valentine's Day; weddings
January - Easter; Spring
and so on. What this will do is help me integrate my supply purchases into other orders and help to save on shipping costs. I can work test pours into my customer pouring schedule. And if I order early enough, I have plenty of wiggle room if something isn't right, and I can integrate the successful fragrances into other supply orders, as well as watch for sales!
The final calendar looks like this:
This hasn't quite solved my problem of marketing to prospective retail vendors, but it does help me establish a calender through which I can anticipate their marketing plans. All I have to do is add a column for when the stores would set up their retail displays, another column to anticipate when they will place their product orders, and integrate that into my testing and marketing calendar!
Do you have any planning and marketing strategies you can share?
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