Intention To Bring A Product To Market

All of you know I've worked my behind off to get our gloves in stores this fall (http://www.zipperbackgloves.com/). If I had a place to go get answers like this newly created library, I'd have been in hog heaven! Check it out. If you're not an inventor, send this link to everyone you know, I bet you have friends who have ideas and just don't know where to start. Check it out and let me know what you think!

The Inventor’s Mentor Library is now open.

Seeking a place to learn without all the chi-chat? The Inventor's Mentor Library is exactly what you are looking for!

Search through the information already there, and help them grow by asking more questions related to inventing. You ask questions, and the mentors answer them, it’s as simple as that.

Information from licensing your invention to watching videos of the manufacturing process, there’s sure to be something to help all level of inventors gain knowledge. If what you’re looking for isn’t there, ask for it and we’ll do our best to get the information for you.

There are no personal opinions here, just information. You take from the site what you need and give back in the form of inventing related questions.

The site is monitored almost 24 hours a day to ensure respect for all mentors and members.
Take a look; you have nothing to lose, but everything to gain.

http://theinventorsmentors.forumo.biz/index.htm

Happy inventing!

From What Do you Wear To Where Do You Work?

Today my hubby Dave and I had a marital meeting with regard to finances, expectations, the glove journey, and all my endeavors to bring home a real paycheck.

We both agreed that the setback with poison oak was legitimate (meaning I needed to stay home and get well) and that I have so many irons in the fire, it's hard to tend to any of them well. He's absolutely right, I need to get organized and get focused! I certainly would be at a regular job on time, stay the length of my shift, and do the best job I could do while punched in. Why is it so hard to stay focused when we work from home? Lord knows it's real work, and lots of it!

Dave's answer was ready and waiting. "You need to get off the bed and work from a table and chair. Better yet, we will get your office back in shape and you can work from there. Psychologically, the bed is a bad desk." Hmm. He might be right, but I love working from my bedroom. The light in here is better than anywhere else in the house. The bed is nice and big when it's just me sitting here. And, I face my vision board all the hours I'm working from my bed.

I know, I know, there are people who make their living in bed, that's not me. I just mean, sitting on your made bed working on your computer. What do you think, is the bed a bad place to work?

Happy Memorial Day!

I'm off spending this day with my family. I hope you are, too!

Please take a moment and remember the many lives that have been sacrificed to allow us the freedoms we so dearly love. Also, the men and women who did not give their lives, come back from war forever changed. This in turn changes the families they love.

In loving memory of my dad, a VFW (WWII and the Korean War).

What Do You Wear To Work?

I love being an entrepreneur for so many reasons, but mostly because I like that I can work in my pajamas if I want to. And many days, I want to!

The really nice thing is that there are times when you need to pull out the tailored suit, and other days when jeans and a freshly pressed shirt will do. Those days are a nice change and make me feel important, but in reality, I'm one of those people who is most comfortable in my yoga pants, thick socks, and a super soft t-shirt.

So hear is my question; do you think it matters what you wear to work? Of course if you work in a bank or corporate environment, you need to comply with specific dress codes, but what about being self employed? I say dress for the event. If you are meeting investors, or making client calls, dress professionally. No matter what your product or service is, you'll feel more confident and your client will have more faith in your professional ability. If you're doing admin at your home office, wear whatever you want, even nothing if that suits you!

This applies to all areas of your life. You're not going to a formal wedding in cut off jeans and a tank top. The same way you're not going to the beach in your best business suit. Use common sense and good judgement and you'll always be dressed appropriately!

On a side note, this reminds me of something I said as our wedding ceremony was beginning. We had a garden wedding planned and as fate would have it, it rained. We moved the wedding to the reception hall where there was a gorgeous stone fireplace. The minister made mention of the bad weather and I politely chimed in, "There is no such thing as good or bad weather. There is just weather and if you are dressed appropriately, every day can be a great day!"

What Do You Do When You Have A Lull?

You know, the time when you finished one thing but can't start the next step yet? It always feels a little strange when I ramp up, work hard, and finish a task to find that there's nothing to do until...fill in the blank.

For ZBG, the blank is, until it's time to start working on our trade show booth for ABC kids in September. We are working on it in terms of tossing around ideas, but no solid "to do's" yet. I'm also waiting on our glove order to put together samples for retailers like Sports Authority.

There is certainly aways something to do, but there are also those times when you just have to wait. I can hear Tania now, "Wait, wait for what? I'm working on invention #352 while I wait on colors from Asia for #176, and bendy wire from Mark for #267."

What do you focus on when you are in a lull? I'm working on other ways to earn an income while we wait, and that means many balls in the air at once. I'm also using this time to get fit and trim so that when the spotlight is on me, I'll feel good about how I present myself and comfortable in my clothes.

When all else fails, I had a manager tell me once, "If there's time to lean, there's time to clean." And I've done my fair share of that over the last few months as well!

Going Out On A Limb!

This is a duplicate post to my IWIL blog (you can see more pictures at http://www.intentionalwinning.blogspot.com/, but I wanted to put it here because I feel it ties into being an entrepreneur.

When your family life is happy and you allow yourself time to play, you find that your business gets a shot in the arm, too. While we were off riding with the wind in our hair, we were also talking about new ways to market our gloves, and even talking about new product ideas. It gave us the opportunity to brainstorm and be inspired. The best part is that we were inspiring each other! We laughed as we took this picture of me going out on a limb! As entrepreneurs we do this every day. Here's how our day went.

Dave took the day off and we had a spontaneous day of fun.

We started off with breakfast at Awful Annie's in Old Town Auburn where we had breakfast outdoors on the veranda. After a delicious meal, we put the top down on the Miata and headed over the summit to Boomtown where we had a few dollars to play poker. We played for an hour or so with the seniors who clearly play everyday, they all knew each other, and the dealers, too!

From there, we headed back home stopping at a beautiful spot along the Truckee river. The water is raging and the scenery was gorgeous! We kissed and played on the rocks like new lovers, and took pictures to remind us that we an still have fun like we did as a brand new couple.

After our stop at the river, we stopped in at Fox Barrel Brewery and tasted cider, yum! We planned a nice barbecue for later, but before we picked Mason up, we made our final stop at Carpe Vino back in Old Town Auburn, for a lovely glass of zinfandel.

What a great day. The best part is that Dave acts on his intention to keep our marriage full of love and life. Friday was the epitome of Intentional Winning in Marriage!

A Surprise!

After all the doom and gloom this week, Dave has a surprise for me. All I know is I'm to clear my calendar and dress for the top down. On the car! I'll let you know on Monday what the day had in store! Happy Friday!

Glad That One's Over!

My last post shared my crappy day. This led me to ask the question, "Is it okay to tell the truth when you're feeling crappy, or is it better to smile and make nice?"

I feel the answer lies somewhere in between. If you know people well, you certainly can tell the whole truth. But even with people who you may not know so well, I think it's okay to be who and where you are.

My feelings are that I don't think people want to open an e-mail or get a blog update that finds them smack in the middle of a pity party. It's no fun to know your friends are down, especially when there's nothing you can do. It also doesn't appeal to me to think of bringing people down when I'm down. The flip side is that people want to help and they need to know you're real. Someone said to me, if you don't ever show the other sides of you, people will think A) you are superwoman who they could never live up to, and/or B) you're a fake. I agree.

I'm up and optimistic most of the time. When the weight of the world starts to get to me, I may feel it for a bit, but then I take action. I start looking for the ways I can make changes that are proactive. I think the world would be a better place if we had social permission to have a bad day and not feel like we're "less than" for it.

Ultimately I believe that having my health, the love of my family and friends are the most important aspects of life. When I'm having a crap day, I recognize I'm still able, and I can be who I am and I will still be loved!

The Downs...That Eventually Come.

Being an entrepreneur is hard work. Those of you who do this know the reality, you have successes, good news, people who cheer lead, and then there are all the other days.

I had one of the days that scare the hell out of most people, but to an entrepreneur, it's just one of "those" days. Just in case you don't know what I'm talking about, it's the day when you realize how far out on the limb you really are. You take note of the interest rate and finance charges that are accruing while you're working your @#$ off trying to make the money flow the other way...back into your account. The unexpected things that happen in your personal life like your checking account being compromised...which of course means filing a police report, notifying the credit bureaus, closing the account, opening a new one, ordering new checks, new debit cards, re-entering all your bill pay and making sure everything is paid on time. Your family needs you to be happy, or at least reasonably so, and you just don't feel like it, but you smile anyway. When all of this, and more is on your shoulders, your world becomes very heavy.

For me, I'm an entrepreneur from my very core. There is just nothing else I can be happy doing. Here's what I know, no matter how long you've been on your own in business, these days are never easy. The truth is, the hardest part about having one, is admitting you're having it!

We're A Leading Mom In Business Winner!

I'm feeling mighty proud. Not just to be recognized as a leading mom in business, but this is our first winning emblem!

It will never go without saying that our business can never be successful without all of you! You are the people who support me, my family, mentor me, help us financially, listen as I work my way through this entrepreneurial education, buy our gloves, share our story, and on and on I can go.

Thank you and here's to many more!

Round Three!

I got the third copy of our agreement with our manufacturer. Before I tell you if it was right, I want to share with you a little something I was advised of. I am not a lawyer, lord knows you can read these pages and know that! The individual who shared this nugget with me is also not a lawyer, but they play one on TV, no just kidding, I couldn't help myself! It doesn't matter if any of us are lawyers or not, this piece of information just made sense.

When I got the second copy of our agreement and it was exactly the same as the first (without the changes), it was my inclination to write the thing myself and send it back to them corrected. I starting spouting off about how I could just do this myself when the words, "No, just hand write the changes on their original and mail it back to them." came quietly across the air waves. The low volume of the voice made me listen as I continued to hear, "...the party that originated the document has more responsibility for it's contents in a court of law than the party who signs/agrees to it." Really? Wow! It makes sense really. When you write something, you know completely what you are putting on the table. There is a much larger margin for error if you are simply reading, interpreting, and hopefully understanding what you are agreeing to.

The woman who is responsible for drawing up the documents for our agreement received my notes and asked me to please make the changes and send it back to them. I did, electronically, and e-mailed the document back to her. She printed it on their company letter head, with the changes, CEO signed it and sent it back to me to "agree to." I did, and mailed it back...at my own expense! They did not provide a third stamped self addressed envelope! Laughing!

You Gotta Do The Sales

So many people I meet have great ideas but think they can't do the sales. You gotta do the sales! Nobody can sell your idea like you can! Why on earth would you want anyone else to it for you? They won't present your product with the same passion you will. They can't talk about how you came up with it or why you think it's best thing since the hot shower!

If you really think you can't sell than you can't. But maybe if you think about it as sharing your story, or giving them the opportunity to know about what you've created, maybe it will be easier for you to se....uh, I mean present your idea. Whatever it takes, open your mouth and tell the world about you and your great idea. No matter what happens, it will put you one step closer to where you want to be.

When They Don't Like It

How do you deal with the people who don't like your idea, or product? Have you had anyone actually tell you they don't like it? I have, well sort of. My experience has been that people have gushed and been so impressed that I have a product, that they can't see the item itself, for any real intent or purpose. They hold the glove, slide the zipper and just keep saying, "Wow, you really created this?" The only people who have been less than impressed are the people who have never put a glove on a kids hand, and then they just sort of look at me with a, "Duh" kind of blank stare.

Now that we have placed an order and actually have these wheels in motion, I'm noticing more feedback. Everything from why are they black to water resistant, why not waterproof? I have my mentors telling me I should have done this or that (Mark, you know I appreciate all your feedback, but where were you 6 months ago?), when in fact, the decisions are made, and the deal is done for this coming season.

The reality is you have to keep moving and making decisions while you learn. I'm no expert and looking at the black gloves that I vowed would never exist, you can see that I've compromised. Good thing for me, I can see the bigger picture and this is just round one of many. Next year they will be in colors and in three times as many stores. I will have taken copious notes from those guiding me, and I will continue to have to make decisions while I'm still not an expert.

Not everyone will like what we do. That's okay but I want to know. I'll bet that whatever it is they don't like is our next "New and Improved" glove. To hear how great you and/or it is feels good, but you'll never get the mileage out of the good stuff that you will from the negative feedback. It's all in how you look at it. If they don't like it, ask why, and then really listen. That's probably the best feedback you'll ever get.