Wednesday, October 11th, 2006
Yesterday, I completed most of my inventory purchasing at the Minneapolis Gift Mart. It was two days of the most exciting shopping I’ve ever done! Day 1, I power-shopped my way through EVERY store at the mart. I didn’t buy anything, but collected catalogs from all the places I was interested in. I had to drop off a pile at my car 4 times because there were so many!
I went home and parked myself on the couch with a pad of paper, a pen, and a cat on my lap. I went through all the catalogs and put together what I think will be a winning combination of merchandise for the store. I’m SO excited to carry these products - they truly are fantastic!
Then, yesterday, I went back to the mart equipped with a list of all the items I needed to purchase. Have you ever spent an entire day making purchase after purchase? It took me nearly 7 hours to make all of my purchases. What a rush that was! I simply sat down with each sales person and told them I wanted “this” and “6 of that.” It actually didn’t end up costing as much as I anticipated. I was able to carry a couple of really neat lines because I had been conservative elsewhere.
Among the products I picked up were:
- A FANTASTIC bath & body line made locally
- A wonderful candle line that’s new and trendy
- An amazing handbag line that will make you say, “cool!”
- Lots of photo frames, and other decor items
- Baby gift items
- New items for the kitchen
- A few stationery items
- Lots of other cute little fill-in items
I know I’m forgetting something…
The rest of the week is back to busy-crazy land. I received another project last night and all the previous ones are still looming overhead. This, of course, is FABULOUS news for the business, I’m just having a hard time staying on top of it all while trying to get the store open. The good thing is, the more I work, the better I feel about things. I’ve had a lot of weekends lately where we weren’t even home so I couldn’t do anything work-related. This weekend I FINALLY get to stay home and I am itching to get caught up on non-client related aspects of the biz. I hope to get a new website up soon, featuring my existing services as well as a teaser ad for the store. I also need to update my portfolio section.
WOW, business is great. I couldn’t have ever imagined what this would be like. Until next time…
Friday, October 6th, 2006
Well, I am the proud owner of a handfull of debt! I just closed on all the financing for the store. Whew! It’s official! There’s no turning back now.
So, I was thinking, the place I’m looking at comes pretty bare - it’s new construction so basically there’s a hunk of concrete and a bathroom. Well, I think I’ll have to supply the fixtures for inside the bathroom. So, my loyal readers and fans (just a joke about the fan part!!), I need your help with a little poll. Please respond by leaving a comment in the comment area.
Would you rather use:
a) a non-electric paper towel dispenser where you grab a sheet and pull it, it tears off and another sheet appears
b) one of those paper towel dispensers that you wave in front of it and it spits out a sheet
c) an electric blow-drying machine, reducing waste and mess.
Any other recommendations for this “JOHN”? I never thought I’d be outfitting a public restroom in all my life.
Thursday, October 5th, 2006
In honor of the upcoming Halloween Holiday, today we’ll be cooking up a fabulous combination! Don’t ask me how I came up with this one. Well, actually, yes please do.
Let me give you the recipe…
Boiling Blood: Allow something work-related to get to you. Can’t be more specific than that. I can say that proper boiling temperature is reached in the creative world when there is a matter at hand that is HUMAN-related. Yes, often times you will come across something technically-related that will definitely attempt to raise internal fluid temperature, but it will almost never reach boiling point nearly as smoothly as a little biped soup will.
If you’re looking for that extra sizzling boil, be sure to add a heap of existing stress on top of it all. The stress alone will often do it, but it most certainly helps to heighten the temperature.
How about a little appetizer? Well, I should have mentioned this first, but with a main course like Boiling Blood, it’s so easy to forget about the appetizer. Let’s back-track, shall we?
Excitement: If you want to give yourself a great start to the weekend EARLY in the week, be sure to serve up this delectable emotion as guests arrive. Perhaps earlier in the week you found yourself going crazy with all the new projects that were coming your way? Bogged down by the thought of having a MAJOR lease to sign and a MAJOR banking transaction taking place on Friday? Do something that was a first and exciting move for Ekcetera, contract new jobs out to your valuable future employee! Excitement is sure to follow once you stop and realize that while this was a major stressor and you wanted to shriek every time someone asked you a question, this is actually great news for your business. I’ve never had so much to do at once!
Well, that’s it for today, I’m off to Woodbury to enjoy some retail therapy.
Stay tuned, next, my husband teaches us how to crash a single engine plane into the ground after a busy day engineering.
Cheers!
Tuesday, October 3rd, 2006
When I first started planning this store, I had selected November 1 as an opening date. As things are picking up, I realize that it would be a TIGHT SQUEEZE to open by Nov 1. Once I sign my lease - which will probably be this week - the builder needs 3 weeks to finish the space. Then, I have 60 days from that point to finish my build-out. Being that the store is all about DIY, and I’m on a budget, hubby and I plan to do as much of the buildout ourselves as possible. WOW, what we’ve gotten ourselves into! So, if we can get into the space by the end of October, we’ll have to work night and day to get things done before the end of the year.
I’ll gladly accept lunch deliveries and volunteers during this time! I have a feeling that the store will literally be my home for a while.
On another note, since things have picked up lately - both with the store and with the addition of some new clients and projects - I once again feel as behind as ever. I’m looking at other craft and photography sites and envying all of the people who have time to do their hobby and enjoy it. The grass is always greener, right?
Friday, September 29th, 2006
I spoke with a women today who is interested in taking some classes and learning more about Photoshop and Digital Photography. Much to her surprise, we are the place where she can get hands-on experience with it all! As I explained that we are holding classes in St. Paul until the store opens, then will be moving to that location with additional services and such, she was really excited and asked to be added to my mailing list.
This is the kind of interaction that is vital to the success of Ekcetera at this point and I feel so fortunate to be able to be the person that spoke with this woman. Yes, I still am a company of one and most inquiries will come to me for a while, but it won’t be long until I have multiple employees and my interaction with the end client will be less and less. I hope that my passion for this business can be conveyed through my conversation with people and it is very important for me to be at the customer level interacting with clients. I cherish these moments now because I am the one person interacting with clients, but as the business grows, this will become harder and harder.
I proclaim, in writing, that as my business grows and I become busier and busier that I will take the time to stop and take some customer phone calls and be on the sales floor of my store interacting with customers explaining to them what we can offer and helping them with their creative pursuits.
This is one way that I can make sure that my mission in building Ekcetera remains apparent and it will also help instill a culture among the employees of the company that the only true way this concept can be successful is with the creation of a community of creative people who are interested in helping each other and sharing ideas.
This company is not your typical retail store. I don’t need people to exist strictly for the purpose of stocking shelves and my customers don’t come into the store to buy something and then leave. This is a community I’m building. It’s a place to come to get inspiration. It’s a place where the people working there are able to throw ideas out and in turn, take ideas from customers and work together to make the store better, and to make the customer’s project better.
I must come back an read this when I start to face the challanges of transitioning from a one-man business to being the CEO/President of a growing company with may facets.
Tuesday, September 26th, 2006
This week is all about that nasty little game everyone calls catch-up. My husband and I spent the weekend in Fargo taking part in my brother’s wedding. It was a fabulous time! I’ve really been looking forward to this wedding for a long time and now I have a new sister-in-law and niece to bond with. Nevertheless, it created a mound of work for me to get behind on and I’ve been swimming in catch-up sauce ever since.
Of course, Entrepreneur’s Law states that when things need to get busy, they will get as busy as they possibly can and when I am the most prepared to be busy, it will be dead. Well let’s hope that I can make it through this busy spell without drowning.
On a side note, I was just reading my friend Awna’s Blog. Dang! That girl is funny! I think I’m being all witty and then I go and read her’s and my posts look like entries from the Encyclopedia of how to NOT be funny. Maybe that’s why she’s a writer and I’m not. I hope to get her involved in my store. It could definitely use a comedy corner. Cheers to Awna!
Monday, September 18th, 2006
Well, I just got off the phone with the bank and my loan has been approved for my store expansion! You all thought that I had enough pocket money to do this, right? Ha ha. I’m taking a huge risk, but hopefully it will be rewarding! I’m already working with a real estate agent and think I have a location secured, so I just have to check back and make sure things are ok on that end. WOW! I can’t believe it! I’m going to be a store owner. I’m SO excited for this and can’t wait to open my doors for business!
Monday, September 11th, 2006
Yesterday was the Inver Grove Heights Days Craft Fair. After spending three days in the freezing cold at a garage sale, I was a little worried about how this outdoor event would go. Although, I tried to remain optimistic because the weather had warmed up the previous afternoon.
I woke Sunday morning to rain drizzles and a grumpy, cloudy sky. I was hoping it would clear up, but I put on my long underwear and two layers underneath my down vest anyway. The craft fair did NOT go well for many reasons: First, the weather was undoubetedly the biggest thing keeping people home yesterday. It rained and was cold. We probably saw 50 people all day. Secondly, this was the first Craft Fair Inver Grove Heights had during its IGH Days Festival. The man in charge of the whole festival came around and chatted with us. He mentioned that there was no one person dedicated to the craft fair and this explained why it got less attention than it deserved. Finally, while my target audience includes craft lovers, it is still not the best venue to showcase my products and work. My husband consoled me by saying that not a single person he saw at the fair looked like my target client. I have to agree.
Overall, it was very disappointing and naturally made me question my ideas and skills, but in my usual fashion, I slept on it and woke up with my head up and spinning with new ideas and energy to seek out new clients in other ways. I don’t know if it was worth the $35 entry fee (actually $17, I split it with my aunt, Joyce who also had a display), the $40 I spent on making the banner and who knows how much spent printing materials to distribute. I guess I can chalk it up to experience. Good thing I’ll be able to use the banner again. I have another craft fair in Novemeber. I think this one will be much better advertised - it’s a 3rd annual fair with lots of success in previous years, and takes place in a school with lots of soccer moms - one of my target markets.
Thursday, September 7th, 2006
I’m out of the office for a couple of days tending to some personal business (a garage sale, if you must ask!….nosey aren’t we?!) The last two weeks in the office have been particularly normal. I’ve been working on my usual projects, getting them done on time and communicating mainly via email. There are times when I’d really appreciate a phone call from someone because I’ve been listening to myself hum along to my music all day (I can’t sing along because the walls in my office are made of glass and the people who walk by would think I was talking to myself).
So, naturally, today when I am totally pre-occupied with non-Ekcetera things, I of course receive two client phone calls. Not that I wasn’t more than happy to converse, but it always comes at a time when I already have a lot going on. (See the other day’s post about the wait…wait..RUN…wait theory) No harm done. I ended up making an unexpected trip into the office in my t-shirt and jeans (good thing I remembered to take those garage sale price tags off my shirt - I was adding up sales).
Needless to say, my day was JAM PACKED. I think I’ll turn in early at 9:15pm and give my worn out feet and sunburned face a rest.
Nighty night.
Wednesday, September 6th, 2006
I was speaking to my unofficial career mentor and uncle yesterday about Ekcetera’s latest and he made a comment something to the effect of…”Welcome to the corporate world…you sit and wait, and wait some more…then hurry up and get it done quick…in order to wait some more.” That couldn’t be more truthful! I’m currently waiting for the phone to ring. Once it does, I’ll scramble scramble to get some documentation together to present, then sit back and wait again until it rings the next time. In the meantime, I guess I’ll try and get something done. Silly me… last night as hubby and I were preparing for a garage sale this weekend, I dug out a box of photo frames and told myself I would print some new, updated photos and hang them in the house. After all, we’ve lived there a year already - it’s about time something gets hung on the walls. This must have been the Kelly that thinks that I’ll actually have time to do that. Silly me…