It's been one of those weeks where there has been mass amounts of administrative work to be done. I've done it, I think. The list was so long, I bet there is something I've forgotten to do or just don't realize I still need to do it. Have you ever had a week like that?
Mason was sick Thursday and Friday which challenged me to have to work from home while Dave is working in southern California. It actually worked out well and I got more done for my day job than I sometimes do at the office.
So glove sales are moving along, lots of phone tag, people reaching out wanting an appointment but I don't have the time to drive all over the mountains this year like I did last year. The problem with this is, we have new products, different fabrics, and a mitten for next season. It''s hard for someone to buy the new stuff if they can't see it! We have a local trade show coming up the first week in March and hopefully we'll get to see most, if not all of our existing CA clients there. Otherwise, we have to figure out how to meet with them even if it means making the trip to Truckee, Reno, Lake Tahoe, or any of those outlying areas to see one client in an afternoon. You see, I have to pick Mason and Kyle up from school at 1 PM, drop them off at day care and then have to be back to pick Mason up by 6 PM. This gives me between 1:30-5:30 to travel at least 2 hours of travel and only 2 hours to sell. That's a lot of trips and a very small window of opportunity considering a change in weather will make the whole day a loss. In any case, we will do what it takes to make it happen and as we start to make money, hopefully, we'll be able to have more time to devote to the glove business and not have to spend so much time working for other people (I love the people I work for and with, but I'm only one woman!).
So I got all the paperwork pulled together and submitted to my CPA, completed my P&L for ZipperBack Gloves for 2009, finished another prototype (need to re-do it), sorted/filed mass amounts of paper (bills, receipts, etc), and cleaned the house! Can you believe there is still more to do? There is always more to do!
Here's today's quip: An entrepreneur tends to bite off a little more than he can chew hoping he'll quickly learn how to chew it - Roy Ash, co-founder of Litton Industries
Does that sound like anyone we know? Laughing! I know, I know, "Close your mouth when you chew!" Still laughing!
Monday, February 22, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Happy Valentines Day
Happy Monday!I can't believe how life can speed up and slow down at the blink of an eye. I should realize that January to April is the busy time for ZipperBack Gloves, but working full time now, it sort of snuck up on me. For Dave, he is back in school and juggling more because I am working, too, well it makes for some late nights and early mornings.
We are having to reprioritize our lives and now that we are catching up financially, we have less time to do the things we love. For me, that's writing and for Dave it's gaming. My blogs are behind (not so tragic, but I really do enjoy writing them). I suppose come April when our glove order is placed, there will be more time to write, or maybe not! Who knows what else is on the horizon? laughing!
I hope you all had a wonderful Valentines Day weekend, I did. Dave made a lovely dinner and gave me the one thing I wanted most of all, a love letter. What girl married nine years doesn't want that kind of schmoop? For me, it's the best gift ever!
With that, here is my motivator for Dave and for today: "You don't marry someone you can live with - you marry the person who you cannot live without."
-Unknown
Monday, February 8, 2010
Pictures From Denver & Utah
Welcome to Denver! Our bartender at the bar offering free drinks to SIA attendees. Too funny!
Mike & Mason, the video is even better! Coming Soon!
Too much fun!
Mike and Dave reliving Gilligan's Island Poobah!
Mason on the Woozle-Doolze in Winter Park, CO
Doug, Mike, Dave, Me, and Mason in Winter Park, CO
Just made me laugh every time. You, too?
The Woozle-Doozle
The Family Picture. Winter Park Resort
My family in Utah. My mom, (Mason, me), Coby, Lexi, sister Terry, Tammy (front), Jonathan (back), brother in law Bill (front), and Dave.Monday, January 25, 2010
It's Time To Go!
I know I'm late but I have been CrAzY busy! We are leaving for SIA tonight and I'm asking you for your intention that Dave, Mason, and I will arrive safely in Denver even though stormy weather is eminent. We will take it slow. We are not in a hurry though I am SO excited!
I'll write more when we get there with an update and a full report on 2/8 when we are home.
Big, big, smiles!
I'll write more when we get there with an update and a full report on 2/8 when we are home.
Big, big, smiles!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Happy Tuesday!
Happy Tuesday!
Yes, I'm late. We are in high gear getting ready for the Snow Sports Industry Association trade show in Denver that runs 1/28-1/31. Between work (loan modifications), the glove business (existing customers), getting ready for the trade show, and the normal Mommy-Wife stuff, I'm swamped!
As I get ready for work this morning, I'm wishing I could stay snug and dry at home. The storm that is raging outside is making me wish I could stay in and market for the trade show and write. Nope! This is that week where I have to work extra hard because I will be gone for two weeks. If I could work every week like I'm working this week, I could rule the world! Laughing!
ASSIGNMENT: On this 19th day of January, tell me what you've done this month to improve your condition in life. Have you lost a few pounds? Signed up for that class you've been wanting to take for years? Maybe you are taking more time for yourself. I'm asking because it was two years ago next week that I cut a glove up at my kitchen table and in just two shore years of taking little actions, look what I've managed to create. You can do it, too!
Happy Rainy Tuesday!
Yes, I'm late. We are in high gear getting ready for the Snow Sports Industry Association trade show in Denver that runs 1/28-1/31. Between work (loan modifications), the glove business (existing customers), getting ready for the trade show, and the normal Mommy-Wife stuff, I'm swamped!
As I get ready for work this morning, I'm wishing I could stay snug and dry at home. The storm that is raging outside is making me wish I could stay in and market for the trade show and write. Nope! This is that week where I have to work extra hard because I will be gone for two weeks. If I could work every week like I'm working this week, I could rule the world! Laughing!
ASSIGNMENT: On this 19th day of January, tell me what you've done this month to improve your condition in life. Have you lost a few pounds? Signed up for that class you've been wanting to take for years? Maybe you are taking more time for yourself. I'm asking because it was two years ago next week that I cut a glove up at my kitchen table and in just two shore years of taking little actions, look what I've managed to create. You can do it, too!
Happy Rainy Tuesday!
Monday, January 11, 2010
Off And Running!
Happy Monday!
January is almost half way over, okay a third of the way but today is the 11th and that's darn close to the 15th which to me is half way. Just two weeks until we leave for Denver for the SIA trade show. I can't wait! I just know this is going to be a huge success for us. We will have some challenges this time because we weren't blessed with a corner booth and being so new, we don't have a strong database of retailers to market to. That list is precisely the reason you do a trade show like this one! Next year we will have the list of attendees and we can market heavily before the show. I'm not worried, between Dave, Mike, and me, we can pull those buyers in and get the orders. After the ABC show in September, we have high expectations. I'll let you know how it goes when we get back that first week in February.
This weekend was a nice mix of uneventful and productive. Saturday, Dave played in a game tournament all day and Mike came up to the house and installed a replacement stove top for us. Thanks Mike, you're the best! Katie came to see us (up visiting from Monterey), and Cris and Taylor came for a visit, too. I had planned to clean, but visiting was just so much more fun! I even had time for a little nap. Sunday found Dave in Mason's room giving it a complete overhaul. Out with the old, broken, and no-longer-loved, and in with the vacuum, dust cloth, and all purpose cleaner. We also gave our closets and drawers the once over, and I easily gathered up two garbage bags of holiday stuff for GoodWill. I feel another round of "Give Away Ten A Day" coming, and it's a welcome feeling. I took Mason to get a haircut and he needed new pants, he's grown an inch and a half and gained six pounds just since October! (Dave's gained 8 pounds and hasn't grown an inch! Dave)
Today Dave and I are starting a local Biggest Loser contest here in Auburn. Dave is doing it more to support me, but I know he wants to get back on the exercise bandwagon, too. It's a twelve week program and the person who loses the biggest percentage of body weight wins. We will meet and weigh in every Monday night and if you gain weight, you have to pay $1.00 per pound. At the end of the twelve weeks, there will be a first, second, and third place loser, or winner. I feel like, here we go again! But I also know that different things motivate us at different times. We work every day to get that hour of exercise in, or eat more healthful foods, but some days we succeed more than others. If nothing else, this will be a fun way to get back in the swing of exercising and being more aware of how and what we are eating. We all plan to ski after the SIA show in Denver, so building some strength and dropping a few pounds can't hurt! I hope you are all off to a great start for the new year and if there is anything I can do to inspire or motivate you, please do speak up! I want us all to have the best year of our wonderful lives!
January is almost half way over, okay a third of the way but today is the 11th and that's darn close to the 15th which to me is half way. Just two weeks until we leave for Denver for the SIA trade show. I can't wait! I just know this is going to be a huge success for us. We will have some challenges this time because we weren't blessed with a corner booth and being so new, we don't have a strong database of retailers to market to. That list is precisely the reason you do a trade show like this one! Next year we will have the list of attendees and we can market heavily before the show. I'm not worried, between Dave, Mike, and me, we can pull those buyers in and get the orders. After the ABC show in September, we have high expectations. I'll let you know how it goes when we get back that first week in February.
This weekend was a nice mix of uneventful and productive. Saturday, Dave played in a game tournament all day and Mike came up to the house and installed a replacement stove top for us. Thanks Mike, you're the best! Katie came to see us (up visiting from Monterey), and Cris and Taylor came for a visit, too. I had planned to clean, but visiting was just so much more fun! I even had time for a little nap. Sunday found Dave in Mason's room giving it a complete overhaul. Out with the old, broken, and no-longer-loved, and in with the vacuum, dust cloth, and all purpose cleaner. We also gave our closets and drawers the once over, and I easily gathered up two garbage bags of holiday stuff for GoodWill. I feel another round of "Give Away Ten A Day" coming, and it's a welcome feeling. I took Mason to get a haircut and he needed new pants, he's grown an inch and a half and gained six pounds just since October! (Dave's gained 8 pounds and hasn't grown an inch! Dave)
Today Dave and I are starting a local Biggest Loser contest here in Auburn. Dave is doing it more to support me, but I know he wants to get back on the exercise bandwagon, too. It's a twelve week program and the person who loses the biggest percentage of body weight wins. We will meet and weigh in every Monday night and if you gain weight, you have to pay $1.00 per pound. At the end of the twelve weeks, there will be a first, second, and third place loser, or winner. I feel like, here we go again! But I also know that different things motivate us at different times. We work every day to get that hour of exercise in, or eat more healthful foods, but some days we succeed more than others. If nothing else, this will be a fun way to get back in the swing of exercising and being more aware of how and what we are eating. We all plan to ski after the SIA show in Denver, so building some strength and dropping a few pounds can't hurt! I hope you are all off to a great start for the new year and if there is anything I can do to inspire or motivate you, please do speak up! I want us all to have the best year of our wonderful lives!
Monday, January 4, 2010
Hope In 2010!
Happy New Year!
I love that I'm writing today's Monday Motivator from the great room in the Anderson's Truckee house. It's Sunday but I have been so inspired being here in the mountains, that now is the time to write. For the first time in months, I'm feeling like I'm finished mourning the loss of my Riley. We talked about what a special dog he was and I found that I can smile. It's not to say a tear won't occasionally fall, but I'm seeing more of the light he left that will always be his memory.
All of you know me and know that the new year fills me with hope. It's been two years since we started our ZipperBack Glove business and this year it will take off. Four of our fifteen retailers sold out and reordered, more than 25%! We have our big snowsports industry trade show coming up the end of this month and have very high hopes for many orders for next season. Dave had a monumental moment while we at a local ice skating rink with Mason. He saw a little girl wearing ZipperBack Gloves and couldn't help blurting out, "She's wearing our gloves!" It's one thing for people we know to have them, but to see someone who made the choice to spend their money on our product, well, that's a moment that stays with you.
I can't think of a nicer way to ring in a new year, in the mountains with David and Lisa, and their friends (and now ours, too!) Peter and Kathy Shea. We played in the snow, took Mason ice skating, Dave and I had an opportunity to go to North Shore for a date where we met up with Rod, and had plenty of time to watch movies and read. True friends and good times, what more could we want? Pictures! You can see pictures below!
I wish for you in 2010, good health, time with friends, peace, and abundance. Happy New Year!
I love that I'm writing today's Monday Motivator from the great room in the Anderson's Truckee house. It's Sunday but I have been so inspired being here in the mountains, that now is the time to write. For the first time in months, I'm feeling like I'm finished mourning the loss of my Riley. We talked about what a special dog he was and I found that I can smile. It's not to say a tear won't occasionally fall, but I'm seeing more of the light he left that will always be his memory.
All of you know me and know that the new year fills me with hope. It's been two years since we started our ZipperBack Glove business and this year it will take off. Four of our fifteen retailers sold out and reordered, more than 25%! We have our big snowsports industry trade show coming up the end of this month and have very high hopes for many orders for next season. Dave had a monumental moment while we at a local ice skating rink with Mason. He saw a little girl wearing ZipperBack Gloves and couldn't help blurting out, "She's wearing our gloves!" It's one thing for people we know to have them, but to see someone who made the choice to spend their money on our product, well, that's a moment that stays with you.
I can't think of a nicer way to ring in a new year, in the mountains with David and Lisa, and their friends (and now ours, too!) Peter and Kathy Shea. We played in the snow, took Mason ice skating, Dave and I had an opportunity to go to North Shore for a date where we met up with Rod, and had plenty of time to watch movies and read. True friends and good times, what more could we want? Pictures! You can see pictures below!
I wish for you in 2010, good health, time with friends, peace, and abundance. Happy New Year!
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