quote Archives - Page 6 of 8

Random Monday Musings

February 4, 2008 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

Thank you Donna Maria from Indie Beauty Network for a nice write up this weekend. And, Joanna from Product Body also gave a shout-out. Thanks ladies. You both make me blush.

Today is a busy Monday. Finally, we almost have a full staff at Bramble Berry after having a case of the Sickies run rampant through our team. We’re only short 1.5 people so meeting our 24 hour turnaround goal will be a breeze.

Despite being such a busy day, I am determined to fit in a work out, somehow! Get yourself inspired about physical activity with this article from the Times on daily exercise. Despite my Nike running tracker being somewhat dormant, I’ve still been working out almost daily with yoga, weights but not much running. The snow and ice around my house make running outside a bit daunting.

As DailyGood pointed out this weekend, “Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live. — Jim Rohn”

Things in the blog-o-sphere that I’m liking today:

Seth Godin’s post on Free
Design Sponge’s artist highlight on Mia Pearlman’s papercut sculptures (photo on left)
BeautyBrain’s wrap up about Aloe Vera Gel’s healing properties Best quote from article: “don’t buy products that use reconstituted powdered aloe vera because it doesn’t contain the same 0.5% of goodies that make the aloe work.” You want Aloe Vera Water (Gel) like is sold here.

Finally, I came across this video on Friday night and just cracked up laughing. Given that laughing has so many health benefits, I thought I would share. Enjoy!

PerfumeBay.com loses Lawsuit

January 23, 2008 Filed Under: Business Musings

Following up on this story, Perfumebay.com has lost their legal challenge against E-Bay.com.

United – Not the Way To Fly

January 21, 2008 Filed Under: Business Musings

United, United, United … I was prepared to love you. I even got a Frequent Fliers Card so that I could better fall in love with you and use you more often.

Until today.

Thanks to Yapta.com, I was alerted to a full $50 fare price drop for one of my itineraries. I was eligible to request a travel voucher for $50. Score! I phoned the 1-800 United number, dealt with your robotic little voice activated “No really, this is for your own good!” menu and finally got a real live person.

She informed me that she could give me my $50 fare drop but that unfortunately, she would have to cancel my $50 Economy Plus upgrades at the same time. Not to worry, I would be able to log in and easily upgrade myself back up to Economy Plus. I confirmed this three times with her and even got her to check to make sure all the legs of the itinerary had Economy Plus seats. After all, the trip from NY to Seattle is long and I’d like to have a few inches to move my legs.

But, United, your telephone person was wrong! Not only did I lose my Economy Plus seats, I am now situated near the back of the plane and cannot get my Economy Plus seats back. Despite spending another 45 minutes on the phone with yet another customer service rep (who couldn’t fix my problem because she “didn’t have access to my reservations.” Why is she even answering the phone if she doesn’t have access to my reservation!?!), I still don’t have my Economy Plus seating back.

She gave me the 1-800 number for Tech Support to spend another wasted hour on the line with Tech Support to beg to pay the $50 for my Economy Plus seats back.

What’s the point in offering a “Fare Protection” option if you don’t really want people to use it? What’s the point in allowing me to request a voucher if the experience is so negative that it negates the good feelings that the voucher engenders to start with?

For Soap Queen readers who have small businesses, think about your business practices – what do you do to just look good? Is your return policy overly generous in writing but stingy in reality? Do you claim that you send a “free sample with every order,” yet send non-saleable junk to your customers? Do you have a “Live Help” button on your web site but never staff it? January is a good time to rethink your true commitment to your customers. After all, there’s no point in promising something that you really don’t intend to deliver on.

And just for that, I’m buying a t-shirt

January 17, 2008 Filed Under: Business Musings

Johnny Cupcakes, an entrepreneurial genius and the brand behind the ubiquitous cheeky limited edition t-shirts and now retail stores, just pointed out an amazing similarity between one of his shirts and the multi-kazillion dollar Billabong‘s shirts. Judge for yourself in the photos above. The original is on the left. The “new” shirt is on the right.

For me, this brings to mind a phrase that we have long used at Bramble Berry, “Innovate or Die.” It’s a bit dramatic and yes, over the top but our worlds are always rapidly changing. There’s always a new kid on the block who is cuter, younger and gets a lot of buzz. They’re waiting to see what you’re successful at to ride your coattails.

Or, there’s the big corporations waiting to see what the next great idea is. Etsy had a niche market, carving out a place in online auctions by specializing in the handmade. Ebay is jumping right on that bandwagon with a home page interface that’s starting to look more familiar to Etsy users.

What does this mean to you and your small business? It means that you cannot sit on your laurels. You can never get too comfortable with your great idea (anyone remember when Primal Elements was the only slice-it-yourself MP soap company?). You can never stop creating, improving and pushing the trends yourself. You never know – it might be your little company that prompts Bath & Body Works to decide that cupcake bath fizzies are the next big thing.

What could YOU do with $30million?

January 12, 2008 Filed Under: Business Musings

There are always massive flameouts of venture capital funded businesses but this one is particularly egregious (though it certainly doesn’t beat this doozy).

N2N was an internet site design company. They had one client, Victoria’s Secret. Despite this lack of client diversity, venture capitalists dumped $30million into funding this start-up. And why did they do this? According to TechCrunch, Victoria’s Secret CEO Sharen Jester Turney is an N2N Commerce board member. And N2N Commerce CEO Pinchanski used to be an executive vice president at Limited Brands Direct (Limited Brands owns Victoria’s Secret).

It just goes to show you that once again, it’s WHO you know – not what you know – to help get your little business ahead (or in this case, a cool $30million dollars). Another good learning lesson for those of us with small businesses is that reliance on one or two big clients is never a good strategy.

You can read more about the N2N closing here.

Screw Luck? Really?

January 4, 2008 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

After I wrote today’s blog post on the importance of being prepared, I read an interesting post over at Lip-Sticking (a blog devoted to marketing to women online) that got me thinking.

In almost every interview I’ve done, I credit luck, a great team and being in the right place at the right time for Bramble Berry’s business success.

Yes, it was hard work (and by golly, still is!). Yes, I gave up a lot (and still do) to ensure that Bramble Berry is a business of substance and integrity. And like my post earlier today says, “Luck is being available to take the opportunity.”

But on the flip side, I showed up on the crafting scene when the internet was in its infancy (back in the day when a Word document hastily thrown up on a URL was enough to get customers). And, when Martha was still all about soap (Martha, if you’re listening, can you consider bringing back that heyday of soaping creativity again?). I’ve always chalked that up to synchronicity up to pure luck.

But this article, by Lena West, purports that it’s not luck at all – it’s all about being available to take opportunities as they come at you. She says, “I’m not lucky. I’m on purpose.”

From the article:

I don’t believe in luck. I believe in being prepared.Even scientists who’ve studied luck say that it all boils down to your state of mind. That’s not luck. That’s something we each can control – our thoughts, responses and reactions.

Click here to continue reading. It’s a fast, thought-provoking post.

And, if you feel strongly about, please comment. I am very curious what you think about luck, synchronicity and business.

Podcast on Work-Life Balance

December 4, 2007 Filed Under: Business Musings

I listened to this podcast last night while working on instructions for Jelly Rolls (they will be done soon). It’s on Work Life Balance (and the myth thereof).

Here’s the link so you can listen while you work.

One of the best tips was to “Drop three things from your to-do list. Right now!”

I’m not sure what those three things could be for me. Everything seems like it’s so important and can’t be dropped but I’ll be thinking about it for the next few days.

If you listen to the podcast, I’d be interested to see what you took away from the show.

My first thought was that maybe I could drop some of my housework responsibilities. There’s a great post on that very subject here. It starts out:

Working women let the laundry pile up. That was basically the finding of a recent study on women and housework.

That’s true in my house already – laundry, dishes, and dust are already piling up. So, maybe cutting housework responsibilities isn’t the first thing to drop off my To-Do list. =)

Oh! That Chaps My Hide!

November 23, 2007 Filed Under: Business Musings

As I mentioned here, I’ve taken up yoga. While I don’t feel much of a sense of peace, I am more limber. The downside to all this calm is that I’m gaining weight. I’ve substituted my daily run with yoga, having only finite workout time – thus the extra poundage.

One place I am lighter is in the wallet from suiting up in all the latest yoga gear. I was dismayed when I read on Good Experience that my fave yogawear store, Lululemon, has been defrauding customers, at least with one of line of clothing. Their super duper VitaSea line purports to have 24% seaweed in it to help with reducing stress, detoxifying and and providing extra vitamins to the skin. And that’s on top of having a great cut that makes most figures look a few pounds lighter!

Unfortunately, the VitaSea line doesn’t have any seaweed in it. Whoops.

Click here to read the Time’s story, entitled “Seaweed Clothing Has None, Test Show.”

Quoting from the story:

When told about the findings, Lululemon’s founder said he could not dispute them.“If you actually put it on and wear it, it is different from cotton,” said Dennis Wilson, Lululemon’s founder, chief product designer and board chairman. “That’s my only test of it,” said Mr. Wilson, known as Chip.

I still love Lululemon’s clothing. But their company is just a little tarnished to me right now.

Being Defensive May Lose You Money

November 15, 2007 Filed Under: Business Musings

Bramble Berry recently ran a full page advertisement in a national magazine. The full page did not come cheap. The ad ran but printed incorrectly. The design was … off. The ad looked odd. The ad didn’t look terrible, just wrong.

I phoned my rep and left a generic, “Something was wrong with our ad. Please call me.” The message was friendly, polite and to the point.

The phone message I got in return was defensive and arrogant. “You clearly submitted the ad incorrectly. In the future, we will require you to send out proofs for every single ad you want to run.”

I like the magazine so I decided to try to work this out via email since phone messages obviously weren’t working.

My designer swears she had two ad formats on the disk; the other magazine that ran the ad had a correct rendering of the ad. I’m not sure what to say except that I’m disappointed the ad looked so bad and I’m disappointed in the lack of options offered me.Your message leaves me feeling like you are blaming me, the customer, for the ad rendering issues.

I of course, love XYZ Magazine (who couldn’t?) but am disappointed at how this issue was handled.

This communication worked out much better. The magazine in question is running a (small) free ad in the next issue to compensate for the incorrect rendering in the original ad.However, I still might not do business with this company again for a few reasons:

1. Future ads will now be inconvenient to send. We can’t upload them to the FTP ad server. Now we need to submit a print out proof for each ad, via Fed Ex.

2. There was no effort made to address the underlying problem. The ad ran incorrectly. We submitted the ad correctly (blustery and defensive assertions to the contrary).

3. I don’t want to deal with testosterone driven, obtuse jerks. I like to work with people that admit mistakes and work to correct errors. Defensive blamers are a pain to interact with. Life is short. It’s good to surround yourself with people that are fair, decent and don’t cause you too much stress.

I’m still simmering on this issue and haven’t committed to any future ads with the magazine yet. They did make the mistake right by running a comp ad, gratis. But, it took more effort than I would have liked to get to that resolution.

If anyone has feedback or a shared experience that might help me out with whether I should run more ads with the magazine in question, please let me know. I’m very open to feedback on this issue.

Seth Godin on Public Speaking

November 14, 2007 Filed Under: Business Musings

I’ve been too busy to read much of anything recently (note to Bellingham book club members – I’m on page 22 and not making headway very fast!). Today, at my 4:30 p.m. lunch break (that’s one way to lose weight – forget to eat all day), I sat down and read Seth Godin’s blog. It was worth the break. Excerpted below is my favorite post. If you head to his blog, be sure to read his insights about Dell’s faux permission marketing and the Better Business Bureau’s spam calls.

Copied from Seth Godin’s Blog:

I was at a gala a few weeks ago (featuring no less than ten speakers). At least 80% of them began their talk by saying, “I know you’re hungry, but…” or “I know it’s late, but…” or “I know you want to go home, but…” and then apologized for giving a speech.

If your speech needs to be prefaced by an apology…

don’t give it.

Crave Party in Seattle

October 25, 2007 Filed Under: Business Musings

I have the privilege of speaking at CraveParty in Seattle next weekend. If you’re in the area, please stop by! The scoop: CRAVE Show ’07 is Seattle’s premier indulgence and style event for women. CRAVE Show ’07 showcases nine themes for smart, urban-minded women. To empower and inspire CRAVE Show ’07 features lifestyle experts, a fashion stage, fitness studio, décor design stations, spa services, cosmetics counters, travel desks, culinary delights, a connection café for friendship and networking, and much, much more. Above all CRAVE means enjoyment, enlightenment, indulgence, health, fashion and above all sophisticated, feminine fun!

Click HERE to see the calender for the show on November 3rd and 4th. The panels I’m participating in are at 12 noon on Saturday and Sunday and 4 p.m. both days.

So, if you’re in the Seattle area and want to meet hip, smart and connected women, stop by!

Bob Parson’s 16 Rules for Business

September 28, 2007 Filed Under: Business Musings

Bob Parson’s 16 Rules:

Get and stay out of your comfort zone. I believe that not much happens of any significance when we’re in our comfort zone. I hear people say, “But I’m concerned about security.” My response to that is simple: “Security is for cadavers.”
Never give up. Almost nothing works the first time it’s attempted. Just because what you’re doing does not seem to be working, doesn’t mean it won’t work. It just means that it might not work the way you’re doing it. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, and you wouldn’t have an opportunity.
When you’re ready to quit, you’re closer than you think. There’s an old Chinese saying that I just love, and I believe it is so true. It goes like this: “The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed.”
With regard to whatever worries you, not only accept the worst thing that could happen, but make it a point to quantify what the worst thing could be. Very seldom will the worst consequence be anywhere near as bad as a cloud of “undefined consequences.” My father would tell me early on, when I was struggling and losing my shirt trying to get Parsons Technology going, “Well, Robert, if it doesn’t work, they can’t eat you.”
Focus on what you want to have happen. Remember that old saying, “As you think, so shall you be.”
Take things a day at a time. No matter how difficult your situation is, you can get through it if you don’t look too far into the future, and focus on the present moment. You can get through anything one day at a time.
Always be moving forward. Never stop investing. Never stop improving. Never stop doing something new. The moment you stop improving your organization, it starts to die. Make it your goal to be better each and every day, in some small way. Remember the Japanese concept of Kaizen. Small daily improvements eventually result in huge advantages.
Be quick to decide. Remember what General George S. Patton said: “A good plan violently executed today is far and away better than a perfect plan tomorrow.”
Measure everything of significance. I swear this is true. Anything that is measured and watched, improves.
Anything that is not managed will deteriorate. If you want to uncover problems you don’t know about, take a few moments and look closely at the areas you haven’t examined for a while. I guarantee you problems will be there.
Pay attention to your competitors, but pay more attention to what you’re doing. When you look at your competitors, remember that everything looks perfect at a distance. Even the planet Earth, if you get far enough into space, looks like a peaceful place.
Never let anybody push you around. In our society, with our laws and even playing field, you have just as much right to what you’re doing as anyone else, provided that what you’re doing is legal.
Never expect life to be fair. Life isn’t fair. You make your own breaks. You’ll be doing good if the only meaning fair has to you, is something that you pay when you get on a bus (i.e., fare).
Solve your own problems. You’ll find that by coming up with your own solutions, you’ll develop a competitive edge. Masura Ibuka, the co-founder of SONY, said it best: “You never succeed in technology, business, or anything by following the others.” There’s also an old Asian saying that I remind myself of frequently. It goes like this: “A wise man keeps his own counsel.”
Don’t take yourself too seriously. Lighten up. Often, at least half of what we accomplish is due to luck. None of us are in control as much as we like to think we are.
There’s always a reason to smile. Find it. After all, you’re really lucky just to be alive. Life is short. More and more, I agree with my little brother. He always reminds me: “We’re not here for a long time; we’re here for a good time.”

Hassle Me!

September 18, 2007 Filed Under: Business Musings

How cool is this service? A service that literally nags you. Hassle Me is a UK based company that sends you an email every few days to bug you to do something. I’ve got the service being set up to hassle me to write thank-you notes for stores that are evaluating one of our new lines. Every three days, I get a sweet email telling me to write those notes. It’s a good reminder.

Success = Rust

September 2, 2007 Filed Under: Business Musings

The September 2007 Business 2.0 issue is a must-read. There are many helpful articles from one on Facebook micro-businesses, to disruptive technologies to innovative interview techniques. My favorite article is about the manufacturer of Two Buck Chuck, Trader Joe’s Charles Shaw $2 wine. The best part of the article is this quote:

Success is easy if you think of it like rust: It’s inevitable if you keep at it. You look for magic moments but they’re not there. Guys claim there are magic moments, but that’s bull.