The Final Countdown

We are only two weeks away from our first trade show. This is really important because it's the first introduction of our gloves to the retail world. You know what they say, "You only get one chance to make a good first impression." We are tending to every little detail and those of you who love us are not letting us short cut anything (ie Mark!). Thank you.

I can't wait to come home and share all the fun and stories of success. I will blog while I'm gone if I can, I'm not sure what my Internet access will be. I know I can have it, I just don't know if I want to pay $20 a day in the room when I don't plan to spend much time there! We'll see. In the meantime, it's back to work. Luck comes when preparation meets opportunity. I like to add that you have to be open and willing to grab the opportunities when they come! You can bet we will be!

My Message To Entrepreneurs

Do you have an idea? An invention? I say, "Go for it!" You don't need a boatload of money to pursue an invention. Dave and I had this idea years ago and actually took action in January 2008. Here we are just 19 months later getting ready for our first trade show and our product will be on store shelves in mere months. Don't have time? Dave is full time, active duty military, and when we started this venture, I had a full time sales career. You can do it!

The really amazing thing about this story is that we have not paid a penny for prototyping, samples, or manufacturing. The only money we've spent has been for our legal fees with writing and filing our patent application. Not every idea needs a patent. In fact, "First to Market" is often more effective and a lot less expensive than applying for a patent. How have we done this you might wonder. I don't know what the technical answer is, but I can tell you what I think it is, I asked.

It really is as simple as that. I called US manufacturers of snow gloves and talked to them about my idea. I originally wanted to license the idea with the provision that I would introduce it to the marketplace as mom invented, and then they could run with it. The couple of companies that I was able to have a dialog with, really saw that our idea was good, sound, and needed. They liked the hole in the children's market we were filling and they liked my initiative to pick up the phone and cold call, as I did each of them. The company that is now our manufacturer and distributor paid for six rounds of prototyping, 35 pair of sample gloves, and the polish on the design for the hang tag. We worked on a general look and their graphics department made it look spiffy and professional. From there, they provided us with an additional 50 hang tags for when we needed to replace a torn one. They also provided 75 pair of retail ready gloves that they deferred billing on until October 14th, 2009. It is possible to get the help you need when your idea is a good one, and you ask

So what's stopping you from pursuing your idea? If it's important to you, you'll make time, and don't tell me it's money because I won't buy it, not even for a single dollar!

Cups Of Abundance

I don't have a clue what that means, but it keeps popping up in my mind. Cups of Abundance. Is it a subliminal message about my future? Maybe if I were inventing a coffee cup or a bra! Laughing! Who knows, it's one of those silly things that makes you think. Maybe that's what I'm suppose to be doing, thinking of abundance in my recipe for life! What do you think of when you hear and when you say, "Cups of Abundance." Smiling!

Exactly As It Is Suppose To Be

To hold faith in your pocket, and to see life's plan through the eyes of your heart, is to know that all is happening exactly as it was meant to.

I'm Not MIA

Hey friends, I'm up to my eyeballs in details for the upcoming ABC show in Las Vegas. We are only just over two weeks away from packing up the car and the list of things to do is growing by the moment! I have some exciting news and updates, but I have to be in a place where I can sit quietly and write. I'll get everything updated before the end of next week!

As Promised, Here Are Some Pictures!

These are some of the pics we shot in my backyard...
We plan to use some of these shots for photo stand-ups for the ABC show...

Do these kids look like the epitome of winter fun?

We think so! This one would be fun using a 1/2 a Styrofoam circle to make the shot 3D.

And yes, we are doing a 20 inch stand-up of Riley! He's part of our snow fun!

Does Emotion Have A Place In Business?

My initial answer is "no." I can reconcile that there are businesses that require emotion, but even a business such as hospice, medical, and other sensitive-issue fields, at the end of the day there are expenses to be met and with that, there is no place for emotion. Notoriously, this has been why men have been perceived as better at business than women. I'm here to tell you, not so. I know many men who become very emotional about their businesses, especially when it's something they've created, a product, an invention, and so on.

Here's my take on this, no matter what kind of business you have, you are still a person. Being human mean you feel and feeling is part of what makes up passion. Passion is an important part of loving what you do. With that said, we are all emotional sometimes, but in reality, if you look at the facts and figures, take the emotion out of your business decisions, you are likely going to have better success and stronger relationships. You are in control of how you feel and whether or not you react with emotion. This may or may not be flawed thinking, but it's how I feel about it. I'll give you another example of non-emotional thinking in business on Wednesday. In the meantime, what do you think about emotion and business?

Working On Our Booth

You all know by now that we are attending the ABC Kids Expo in Las Vegas next month. You also must know, because we are just like you, we are on a limited budget. What we are planning is to get stand-up photo cut outs of kids having a snowball fight and making our booth into a winter scene. The underlying idea is to show kids having fun, smiling, and being able to use their hands. Our plans are grand, within our budget (is that an oxymoron? Grand within our budget?), and I expect it to look great. What kind of ideas can you see with this idea? How do you think we can simulate snow in a cost effective and not terribly messy way? I would love to hear your ideas!

Thank You! We Won!

Many of you know I win things. Everything from a CD, to movie tickets, to trips around the world. People ask me, "How do you do that?" And my reply is always the same, "I intend to." This subject is actually what launched Intentional Winning in Life (www.intentionalwinning.blogspot.com). The other answer to the same question is, "I play." You can't win if you don't play. Combine my beliefs, I play and I intend to win, and you have Intentional Winning at Winning!

Three weeks ago I put ZipperBack Gloves in the running for a $1000 grant through the Intuit's Love A Local Business contest. Once I entered the contest, I had to rally my network of friends to nominate ZBG to be one of five weekly winners of the grants. Today we learned we won!

When I spoke with the woman from Intuit, she said that two of the other companies who won this week were in it from the beginning and were just a few nominations away from winning in the previous two weeks. Persistence pays off and today that's to the tune of $500 cash and another $500 in business services! You can't win if you don't play and when you do play, you have to believe you can win!

I Saved An Inventor $1800!

Once people know about the glove project, they come to me with the questions of how did I do that and who did I know to call. One of the parents from Mason's school asked me about a product idea he has and as I was sharing with him what I know, he informed me that he sent his idea to an invention company. He went on to say that they wanted $1800 from him to secure the patent, in his name, and bring his product to market. I asked him what was in it for them. He didn't know. I suspect a lot.

My thoughts during our conversation were to absolutely not pay $1800, file a provisional patent application on his own, and start shopping this idea to companies that may be interested in licensing it. In the meantime, look into what it would cost to manufacture just in case that's the road he ended up traveling. He felt like he found a resource in me and I felt good that he wasn't handing over too much money when in all likelihood, this deal was not going to shake out the way it was presented initially.

What do you think? Have you ever seen success from an invention company? I haven't.

Please Nominate Us!

As we head into week 3 of the Love a Local Business contest, I suspect word has gotten out and more businesses are lobbying for nominations. For those of you who are voting weekly, THANK YOU! And for those of you who have tried and found it difficult, please try again.

If you haven't clicked over, please do. I know that with the number of people in our networks, there isn't a single reason why ZipperBack Gloves can't be a winner of a $1000 grant..free money! Please send this along to your network with a note letting them know you know us and really want to see us win and succeed.

I'm going to see if I can't spell this out as simply as possible. Again, thank you and I'll keep you posted!

Visit http://www.lovealocalbusiness.com/
When the floating cards load, scroll 3/4 of the way down the page to step #1 Nominate.

Type in ZipperBack Gloves and Auburn, CA and hit "FIND"

Make sure you an see underneath the "FIND" button because if you can't nothing will happen. If you can, you will see it says google maps can't find us and there will be the Nominate Manually link. Click that.

You'll now see #2 to the right and here is where you type in our information:

ZipperBack Gloves
PO Box 7476
Auburn,
CA
95604
Dave and Kathy Partak - Owners
Contact info: Zbgloves@yahoo.com

Click "NEXT"

Select "I am a fan of this business"
Enter your e-mail address.
Type in any comments you would like to.
Put in your nickname.
Check the "I accept the terms."
Hit "Nominate."

Once you do it, it's very quick. We have to do this each week as the nominations are wiped clean for each new week. If we all work together, we can win and we won't have to keep playing! Help us by rallying your troops to rally their troops! You can still vote today if you haven't already and if you have, send this along to your netrwork!

Thanks so much!

Kathy
Follow me on twitter: @kdpartak

Zelda Wisdom with Carol Gardner

A few years ago, Carol Gardner was going through a divorce. A friend gave her some advice: "Get a therapist or get a dog." Carol chose the latter and brought home a four month old English bulldog puppy she named Zelda. Not only did Zelda become her loyal companion, but sparked the creation of Zelda Wisdom. Carol used her background as a creative director in advertising to combine the visual of Zelda along with verbal wit and wisdom. The result? Zelda Wisdom Inc. is now an international greeting card, gift, and book line which offers such suggestions as life is tough...wear a helmet, smile...it could be worse, enjoy life...this is not a rehearsal, go braless...it pulls the wrinkles down.

It's amazing that every picture you see of Zelda is the real deal. All of her costumes are made for her, and she wears them exactly as you see them; no photo-shopping! She's a girl who loves her clothes and celebrity.

I get an e-mail from Zelda every day. It's the most wonderful, smile evoking way to start the day. You can get Zelda's Daily Dogmas by going to www.zeldawisdom.com and subscribe. For those who believe you don't get something for nothing, wrong-O! Zelda's Daily Dogmas are completely free.

Those of you who know me personally, know that Mason carries a stuffed Zelda with him every where he goes. Carol has been an inspiration, mentor, and good friend to me. I know you will love Zelda as much as we do. Check her out today! You can read more in Dahlynn's book Chicken Soup for the Entrepreneur's Soul. It's a great read, including Carol and Zelda's story. http://www.zeldawisdom.com/

Sunflower Zelda

"Do You Have That? You Know You Need It, Right?"

We are in high gear getting ready for out first trade show in September. As we work through the things we obviously know we need, we're finding that we need so many not-so-obvious things, too.

Did you know you need a style sheet or "how to use" for your logo? What that means is, you have to have your retailers agree to only use your logo or brand as you allow. The appearance has to always be consistent and positioned as you want it to appear. That may be in their advertising or signage in their store, but not for their personal use or worse. There's more to this, lots more, but we're not going to go into it here.

How about making sure your manufacturer can produce a large order, a very large order. You may think, of course they can, but do you know? In our case, Dave realized that we need to be sure the skus are issued for not only our five sizes in two new colors, but also three larger sizes, also in the two new colors. That's sixteen new skus created in our manufacturers system before our show in just under six weeks.

There have been so many things that have come up in the last two weeks that I just can't imagine boring you with all of it (not to mention, I can't remember it all off the top of my head!). Suffice it to say, this has been and continues to be an incredible journey. It feels like yesterday that I sat at my kitchen table cutting up a poorly designed children's snow glove. I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it a million more times, just start! If you just take those first steps, you'll be amazed at how soon all those steps create your dream journey!