Thank You Good Day Sacramento!

We had a blast yesterday morning on Good Day Sacramento! Live television is tricky because you never know what's going to happen. Stephanie Cruz and I spoke several days before and again yesterday morning when we arrived at the studio. Mason was suppose to be part of the piece and then he decided he didn't want to. Stephanie wanted him to so after I already had my space set, a chair was brought in and Mason propped up with just moments before we were on. As it turns out, it went just fine. The only thing I would do again is I would smile more and move more fluidly. All in all, Mason rocked, he stole the show with his addition of the "nose wipe" feature. If you didn't see it, here's the link to the piece. Come back and let me know what you think! http://www.gooddaysacramento.com/momtrepreneurs

Tomorrow Is A Big Day!

Tomorrow I will be featured on channel 31 Good Day Sacramento's Momtrepreneur segment. This is a feature of moms who invented a product or started a business while running a household. I'm excited to introduce ZipperBack Gloves to my hometown and let people know we've solved this problem! I'll post the details on Wednesday!

Disappearing Inventory

I've been following up with the people from the ABC show and everyone is as nice now as they were there. That's notable because sometimes people are caught up in the moment and say, "Love it! Want it! Call me!" and then when you get home, think, eh, maybe not.

My issue now is that our manufacturer has different numbers than I do for what we've sold and what we have left to sell. It's pretty clear what I will be working on this weekend. I'm convinced that we will be sold out of our current inventory before October 1st. I'm honoring the "No Shipping" sale on our web site, so if you think you want gloves this season, buy them now! Seriously, they will be gone.

Getting Organized!

I can't believe how overwhelmed I feel. We spoke to so many wonderful people, some placed orders right on the spot, some asked me to call for their order, and others showed interest but sounded like they needed more information.

The orders that we took need to be reviewed (some were filled out in a hurry and not clear or complete), missing information collected and then sent to our manufacturer to be fulfilled.

Phone calls and e-mails need to be made and sent to those who said they want to place an order. And when I can muster the umph, I'll follow up with the many other folks who were kind enough to talk to us and leave us their contact information.

My other task is to work out our inventory. It's very clear to me that we WILL sell out of all of our 2009 season's inventory. This is good, I know, but on the same token, I want to go to the snow and have gloves to sell this winter. As a salesperson, having nothing to sell is a drag. It's very possible that we can order some more gloves, but at what cost? I'm going to get to work and I'll let you know what I figure out.

It's Monday!

There is SO much to do this week. I need to sort through all the leads we got, pick the winner for our gift basket of mom invented products, package it to mail, process the orders we took at the show, contact our manufacturer about the many questions that came up at the show, put together a conf. call for our ZBG team, package the first orders from our pre-sale, make a trip to the post office, figure out who we will work with to review our gloves, update all the sales information in ACT!, return e-mails and phone calls, Catch up with my loan modification business, do laundry, get groceries, and the list goes on, and on, and on...Maybe those mostly clean sheets need a little more of my time. Smiling! Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, it's off to work I go....

Home And Very Tired!

We made it! It was a long drive home yesterday and I'm more tired than I knew I could be...and still be awake. Dave flew to Anaheim for work this weekend so I expect he'll be exhausted when he finally makes it back to Auburn on Sunday. That gives me a few days to recover and change the sheets on the bed. There's not much that's nicer than arriving home to a clean house and fresh sheets. I'm so tired, I don't care if they are fresh or not, I just want to sleep. Sweet dreams!

Last Day At ABC

Well today has certainly proven to be the busy day. Buyers who stopped in to look and said they would come back, have. We took six orders here at the show and got contact information from other retailers asking us to call them next week to take an order. I'm sure that not all of those will pan out, but if even half of them do, we will sell out of all of our inventory for this season.

I'm still not in that mindset, all wholesale/no retail, as I was excited to get out and show our gloves to consumers and sell to them. It's a bit of a let down to think we anticipated this time and planned to sell, sell, sell, and what we end up with is, "Sold!" now back to normal, regular life...Laughing! Maybe it's just me, but there was some real fun in meeting people and putting gloves on little hands.

It's all good news and just speaks to the saying, "If you want to see God laugh, make plans." I am honoring the pre-sale happening now on our web site. Go to www.zipperbackgloves.com to order your gloves and pay no shipping for the whole month of September. As of October 1st, I expect all of our inventory will be going to retailers. There is a slight possibility of getting some more inventory before Christmas, but that still has not been determined.

Finally, we learned that ABC is not really our target market, it's geared too much to pregnancy, infants, and furniture. We are gearing up for SIA in January and expect to do a booming business for next season with the ski & snow sports industry. Thanks for taking this ride with me, and if there is anything I can do to help you bring your idea to life, please ask! Big tired smiles!

Monday At ABC

We are in day two of the ABC Kids Expo and today is better than yesterday was. We were so excited to be here and show our gloves to everyone that I think our excitement set us up for a bit of disappointment. You know how that is, you anticipate and prepare for something that all that time envisioning this phenominal outcome lends itself to a bit of a let down as you stand in your booth as people hurry by.

So many of the buyers have established relationships with long time manufacturers that we are like blur of color as they whiz by. Hopefully we will have more of an audience today, tomorrow, and Wednesday. Don't get me wrong though, the people that we have been able to talk to love our product, we are getting so much validation that I'm sure we have a winner. More on Wednesday.

Remembering 9/11

To everyone who experienced the events of September 11, 2001 I want to tell you, "I remember."

Every American felt the effects of that tragic day, but certainly there were families who were forever changed in ways many of us will never know. As a military family, we remember everyday, but today is special. Know you are loved and you are remembered.

Today Is A Red-Letter Day!

Happy day after Monday!

Today is a red-letter day in the Partak family. Today, we officially have a working web site that you can actually buy gloves from! www.zipperbackgloves.com.

I'm extremely proud that we have come from me sitting at our kitchen table cutting up a thrift store glove to having a great new product for sale!

Dave, Mike, and I are leaving on Friday for our first trade show to introduce ZipperBack Gloves to the world of children's retailers. I feel a bit like, "We're off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz!" I don't know if the road we've taken has been yellow bricks or paved with gold, but I can say with certainty that no matter what the ultimate outcome of this venture turns out to be, I have no regrets. I feel fortunate beyond belief that the people who have rallied around us to make this happen believe in this as much as we do, and even more, they, you believe in us!

Tell all your family and friends to visit our site and buy some gloves! E-mail, Tweet, facebook, pull out all the stops! We have limited numbers for this maiden voyage so think Christmas, think snow, and think ZipperBack Gloves!

Just For Fun!

Dear Diary...

I've worked so hard for nearly two years and now things are starting to happen. I sold gloves when I didn't have the product to sell (only a prototype), we have revamped our web site, are on track to start selling gloves, and we are scheduled to leave for our first trade show next week.

All of this sounds wonderful and it is, but there's something else going on that I can't quite put my finger on. It's the feeling of a cosmic change happening in the air around me. Things are happening that are exciting and scary all at the same time. Some might say it's the fear associated with enormous amounts of risk, but I don't think that's it. I'm not afraid to fail and if I do, then what? Then we keep on living our lives being grateful for the love our family shares, our health, and the great friends we have. Sure, we lose some money, but money comes and money goes. Life goes on with or without it. If I had to put words to my feelings, I would say that great things are about to happen and all the hard work, kind deeds, and tenacity is about to come around and give back. Oddly enough, it feels strange yet certain.

Only time will tell what this thing is I'm feeling but I'm glad I took the time to write about it. That way no matter what happens I can look back and know you'll be right here with my answers. Sincerely, Kathy

Miracles

What we've worked for doesn't show,

until one day we wake to see a field of miracles.