Thursday, November 29, 2007

Mind Games


I read an interesting article in my December issue of Entrepreneur magazine tonight. It's been sitting on my desk for oh, about two weeks, but I've just now had a minute to skim it.

The article was titled "Mind Games - When Your Competitors Try to Rile You Up, Sanity is the Best Policy" by Wise Guy.

In my industry and probably just about every other, competitors can drive you crazy! I won't even get into the ones that copy your stuff, because my good friend at Jamie Lentzner of Jamie's Painting & Design has already posted quite a few good posts on her blog about this that resulted in many, many comments. (Check them out) I'm just talking about competitors, not knock offs.

The article gives a Top 5 list of things to do and here's a very brief run down of what they are. Check out this months issue of Entrepreneur (or click Mind Games above to read it online) for the complete article, it's very good. And this is my own summary of what I read, so as not to plagiarize their article. I hope they realize I'm giving them a great plug and not stealing their article!


1. Delight Your Customer - If your customer is happy, then they won't be going to your competition, which will ultimately drive your competition crazy instead of YOU.

2. Don't Assume that Perfect Information Exists - Basically saying that just because it was recently posted on Google or in a press release does not mean everyone knows it. You, your competition and Google could be the only ones who do.

3. Take a Chill Pill - "Don't let your competition see you sweat!" If you are in panic mode you are more likely to do something dumb or something you will regret later. Plus you give them the upper hand (confidence) by letting them know you are worried about them. Don't even let them know that they are on your radar! Also, when your competition "beats you to the punch" on something and you have no control over, don't obsess about it, worry about the things you can change.

4. Hang a Negative on Your Competition - This one is my personal favorite and I have to quote here on what they said. It's too good to put in my own words. "When F.W. Woolworth opened his first store, a competitor that had served the community for years hung out a sign that said, 'This same spot for 50 years.'" Well the next day Woolworth hung his sign out reading, "A week old. No old stock!!"

5. Act Like a Maniac - In other words, make them think you are psycho, they may be scared to mess with you. An example they use is to accept your competitors coupons. That will drive them crazy! A good example of a company that does this is Bed Bath and Beyond, who accepts Linen's & Things coupons and also will honor expired coupons as well as let you use more than one in one transaction! They have my business ALWAYS!


All in all, the main thing that will keep you on track is focusing on yourself and your customer. Emphasize your strengths on customer service, quality and value. Let the competition do the "running around with their heads cut off" routine! Let them stress over YOU.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Is Your Business Legitimate?

I came across this conversation on one of my business groups this weekend and it caught my interest. The topic was on wholesale inquiries and how some viewed them as a pain in the neck. Some even wanted to remove their contact information on their websites in order to stop them.

Now…..I guess this is okay if you ONLY want to sell your stuff direct (through your website only). I mean, it’s okay if you don’t want to deal with wholesale. However I would never suggest removing your contact information from your site as a way to avoid inquiries. If you don’t sell wholesale, simply put a disclaimer on your website stating so. If you don’t mind the inquiries, but would rather retailers e-mail instead of call, then state that too and include your email link. But don’t remove your phone number.

People are very weary of frauds today and charge backs are given at the drop of a hat!
There are a couple of things you need to appear as a legitimate business and to gain the trust of your customers

  1. Have a mailing address (home address or P.O. Box)
  2. Email address (try to use a professional sounding one, not hotmamma@....)
  3. Professional website (there are good non-html site builders that are easy)
  4. Separate telephone line (whether it’s a cell phone or a 1-800 number)
  5. Voicemail (good for those tantrum moments your 3 yr. old is known for)
  6. Business checking account (co-mingling funds will get you audited)
  7. Business cards (not always, but it’s embarrassing to be caught without one)
  8. Business license/tax i.d. number (to purchase supplies wholesale)
  9. Fax number (you can get an online fax number through e-fax FREE)

Now these are the basics, there are all kinds of things you should have to run your business and I’ll expand on that in another post. Things that the customer will never know you have, but will make your life and job much easier (think printer, laptop, Blackberry).

Going back to the website ordeal. Personally, I would NEVER buy from a website that does not list an address and a phone number. You have to ask yourself, why don’t they want to be easy accessible? Now this excludes the big monopoly companies that we KNOW are legit but still refuse to make it easy to contact (a.k.a. Yahoo, Amazon and Google to name a few). However, for the typical e-tailer, these are big RED flags that you should look for when you are shopping on line. Trust me on this one!

Last Christmas my husband was purchasing what was supposed to be a very top of the line faux Louis Vuitton purse for me on a certain website, well he paid a lot for this faux purse. Christmas came and went, January passed and the purse never showed up. The on-line tracking said my purchase had not shipped, her only email to me assured me it had. There wasn’t a mailing address OR a phone number to contact her and email after email went unanswered. The whole ordeal took months to settle and resulted in a trip to the bank to deny the charge. Luckily we were refunded our money. But I learned a hard lesson.

If you are serious about your business, then prove it. Show your customers you are and let them know you are reachable.

Monday, November 19, 2007

A Day in the Studio


It’s the Holidays!!

“It’s a Monday!” That’s what we used to always say in the corporate world when everything was crazy and you were trying to get a million things done at once. Well, “It’s the holidays!” is the art business version of that.


It’s the same thing as every other day, but (x 50) on the days before Christmas. Orders are flooding in, painting is going on everywhere you look, sanding, sponging, glazing and boxes are shipping out. Everyone wants their items TODAY when they JUST ordered yesterday! Gimme a break! My elves (Carl Shown) are working their fingers to the bone, sometimes fueled on tivo and coffee alone, with no time to eat. No, I’m not a slave driver, some just choose not to stop long enough to chew.


Oh, did I mention flashbulbs going off? I have never ever been good at (well a lot of things) but taking pictures of the comings and goings of My Little Dish. Sad, but true! I don’t have much documented. Mainly because I always have crazy hair, pathetic looking clothes on or everything is a mess (typical). So I never let the hubby take any. Oh I have a few, like a million of all the defective prayer plates we received from the factories in China. OR the melted plates that ooze in my brand new $4,000 kiln. Not really what I want to remember!!!! So this holiday season will be full of snapshots – um good ones!






Then there are those mistakes that get made (Yep, this one is my doing). I logged in the wrong plate in our order log. Well the right plate, but reversed the colors. Why? Because I was in a rush and didn’t read the order correctly. It happens, more than I like to admit! So this cute little guy will get repainted with a blue background and my lucky little customer will end up getting two plates instead of one. I have no use for it. All the information is correct, just the wrong color. So I will send both plates to her in the event she ever breaks the good one.

Okay, I forgot to mention, crabbiness is going on!! Everywhere, bah humbug. It happens to the best of us I know. Even ME! But I can’t take it on a Monday. It just sets the mood for the rest of the week. There’s nothing worse than being in a good mood and someone is a big fat wet blanket! Husbands included. I try, try to make my Mondays good days, happy days, productive days, not lazy crazy, days. It really helps the rest of the week to move along quite nicely. Let’s see if I can make through to the new year with a bunch of Happy Mondays not Manic Mondays!

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Dear Kitty,

Okay, I have to say that this whole blogging thing is one more beast of business that I have decided to tackle. Mainly because I’m feeling a little behind the times by not doing one. It’s definitely not because I love to write about myself. Heck, I’m not even good at talking about myself or my business to other people. I’ve had a fear of public speaking since my Com 101 class in college. I was so petrified I had to take a shot of tequila to get up the nerve to give my speech in front of 20 other people. YES, tequila! I got an “A” by the way. Thanks Jose!

I have NEVER been a diary kind of girl. I was always more of a “wannabe” in that department. I would go out and buy the prettiest book and a really cool pen, vowing to write down my most intimate thoughts and adding my list of “thankfuls” for the day. Just like Oprah tells you to do. And after about two days, it would find its permanent parking spot on my nightstand. I did always seem to steal the really cool pen though. At least it wasn’t a total waste. I love pens!

I couldn’t ever figure out what to write. I mean my life is not that interesting and I felt a little silly writing to um, Kitty (remember the Kitty Diaries with the lock and key?). I mean do you address it to yourself….. Do you talk in first person, third person? What’s the deal?

Well this is all leading up to my point. Which is…..there are a lot of really good blogs out there that have some wonderful advice and some “priceless” information. I’ve met some wonderful people through blogs. People I wouldn’t have met otherwise. I’ve found a place where I don’t feel so isolated and also where I can go to get answers. A year ago this month, ya another anniversary, I met one of my dearest friends because of a blog. I read her blog from cover to cover, so to speak, and felt as if we had been working side by side the whole time! Really! There wasn’t one post that I couldn’t have written myself. It was spooky! She had me at “Hello”. She had me cracking up!

I felt compelled to write her and thank her for sharing all her trials and tribulations. I never thought she’d write back. But she did, almost immediately and we have been fast friends ever since. In fact, we talk daily. We email, IM or call each other every day. She lives on the West coast and I’m on the East. About 80% of it is business related and the other 10% is just plain gossip. We are in the same industry and share almost all of the same channels. We even design and sell similar products. So in reality, she is my competition, but as she would say “we are friendly competitors”. The advice we give and get from each other has helped us both grow.

If there’s one thing having two teenage boys has taught me, it’s that (unlike us) technology doesn’t mature. It’s constantly reincarnated. You have to stay on top of it in order to stay on top of your business, your competition and your ever-changing goals. So do yourself and your business a favor and spend some time searching for related blogs. Read them, read the comments and even leave a couple yourself. It will get you thinking in ways you never thought before and you will more than likely meet a great friend or two.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Happy Happy Birthday!!!!!!!



Happy 6th Birthday!!


This month marks the 6th year in business for My Little Dish. I like to call it a Birthday instead of an anniversary. Because I’ve raised this company from concept, to birth, to a full fledged business. Stumbling along, just like a first time parent does with their newborn. It’s hard to believe, it’s gone by so fast. Looking back on my business is like looking back on my 8 year old’s life. Where did the time go?

We have come a long way in 6 years. We have accomplished a lot of great things, and we have stumbled a few times and gotten some pretty good boo-boo’s. Nothing life threatening: just a few stitches here and there.

I had a very funny thing happen to me this week which made me realize that I really have learned a lot over the past 6 years. I’m smarter than I look! ( ahhhh…… kidding!) I had contacted SCORE, a mentor type program for small businesses. Seasoned business veterans offer their advice to smaller business owners like me. A really great group that I’ve read about, heard about and thought about over the years. I just never did anything about it. This is something that most people do when they are starting a business, not 6 years into it, eeeeeekkkkk! (BUT….in my defense, I have had my husband and his father along side me the whole time.) I just decided it was time to get a fresh perspective on things.


So I call my new mentor that has been assigned to me in hopes of gaining some insight. I actually found that I was able to hold my own in this conversation. It was almost like an out of body experience, listening to myself talk about business. He was actually surprised that I was calling them at this stage. Not that they can’t still teach me a lot, I can just tell they are used to working with the newbies and answering the basic questions, not skipping ahead to year six. Unfortunately I still have to go through the basic steps first. Like attending those seminars on getting a business started, but hey, maybe there’s something I missed in all my reading and research.

It’s been a great six years and I can’t wait for another six! Boy that sounds like something I’d say on an anniversary doesn’t it? But this is a birthday party! I can’t wait to see what is in store for me next. I have a ton of ideas and goals for ’08.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Playin' Hookie


This is me today, or should I say, this is where I'm at today. In my kitchen with my laptop, tivo remote and a big Coke! I'm all alone at work today, for once and I'm playin' hookie. Yep!! I'm rebelling against the last five months of rush, rush, RUSH to get show prep done, DO the show, catch up after the show, fill show orders and um, fill orders that got behind while I was filling the show orders.

Of course, playing hookie for me still means I'm working. I'm just doing the fun part of the job. Reading blogs, doing research and hiding from my paint brush and packing tape. I have even stooped so low as to raid my son's halloween candy. He'll never know!!

I decided to take a few pics around here, to give you a glimpse of a day in the life. In other words, what's stacking up, racking up and what needs packin up. I'll have to get back to the grind tomorrow.





Here's a little present that was waiting for me on my front porch the other day. It doesn't look like such a great present to the average joe. But to me.....it was gold. I have been out of glaze for a few weeks now. Every now and then a supplier runs out of...well supplies! It doesn't happen often, but it always happens when you really, really need something. So I ran all over town, borrowing, bartering and buying whatever I could find to get me through till this shipment came. I think I need to speak to the person in charge of inventory (ME!).



Okay, this is the stacking up part. My kids like to get on my laptop when I'm not looking and yesterday they knocked over all my neatly stacked piles of paper to file. How dare they! I mean there were hours of stacking involved and now i have to start all over again. Seriously, this is really sad I know. I don't even know what's in that stack of papers. OY!



well, technically, this could be considered stacking up too. Here are 2000 pages of inserts just waiting to be cut. I think I need to make a trip to Kinkos.


this is the racked up part. My racks of paint are desperately needing to be merried and cleaned. A job for Peggy this week I think. And......finally.....this is my waiting to be packed up stack. Part of todays orders to be shipped tomorrow. And now I'm about 30 minutes away from two teenagers coming home. So I better prepare the kitchen for an after school raid!


Sunday, November 11, 2007

Another Year Gone By

Okay, I'm feeling pretty lame. It has been a year exactly since I started this blog and there are only four sad little posts, not including this one. So I obviously got side tracked! BUT, I have committed myself to getting back on track, really!

There are quite a few blogs that I've been reading over the past year (....will share, I promise) which have given me the itch to get my hiney in gear and start posting again. I've found a place where I don't feel so all alone. Who knew there were all these other artists out there, like me, who were working on their own little businesses, all alone, going through the same things I am? Who knew?!!


Finding a place to go "where everybody knows your name......." (are you hearing the Cheers theme song in your head?) is a great thing. For me, who has worked all alone for the past 6 years, it's like having a local cyber pub that I can pop into for some much needed advice, pats on the back, or a shoulder to whine on. It's also nice to be able to give a bit of advice from time to time. It really strokes the ego!

So another year has gone by. When I started this little blog, I was five years into business. Now I'm on my 6th year. Yep! Six, can you believe it? Some days 6 years seems like such a short time. Other days, it's seems like forever. The past year has been a good one....a busy one. We have hired three new employees and exhibited at the Atlanta show this past July and now we are gearing up for Christmas. It's that time of year again to re-evaluate where we are and where we want to be at this time next year. Projections for 2008 are in the works. First on the list is to blog, blog, BLOG! For now, it's probably just for me, but hopefully soon someone besides me will be reading this blog.