As I read I am hit with questions that I am supposed to have figured out answers to.  As in, “What kind of market do you want to sell to?”  The answer here is so easy it can’t possibly be the right one, I want to sell to whatever markets I can find who will buy my nuts!    And no, that is not the right answer.  The article goes on to elaborate on your pricing structure for selling to a large chain versus specialty food stores.  You are supposed to know this before you start the business!

Give me a break!  If I knew this I wouldn’t be starting a business I’d be in the middle of managing an existing enterprise.   If I had enough facts to calculate my pricing of each unit BEFORE I started then wouldn’t that mean I was already doing it and then…  Forget it I told myself.  These notes on ‘how to be successful’ are written by people who have already been working at some business and now are using that knowledge to try to build another business.  That being the business of selling you info or software or something to help you start.

My 2 cents worth (and probably that is just what it is worth!) is to try to know your cost numbers.  Sell some of your ‘product’ or ideas so you know others will buy it an you make some profit on it.  Enjoy and repeat until you need to get bigger.  So now I am going to go enjoy and repeat!

I will continue to focus on labels.  The most difficult will be the marketing.  I need to expand my markets.  While I have some ideas I do not always know how to accomplish those ideas.  Prioritizing the areas of development and following through is certainly an area I need to be more aware of.  This all sounds fine when I am sitting here writing.  Then the other life realites come into the picture,  like helping out my children with projects, watching my granddaughter (there go two days),  keeping up the house, pursuing more product ideas, research, and spending some time skiing.   And somewhere I need to better manage my online presence to maximize my website business.  A person can start to feel inadequate and panicky!

Take a small step back, breathe deeply, and…quit being so hard on yourself.  Make a list of what you would like to do, star the three things that matter most to you.  Work on those.  Try to fit the rest in but be reasonable.  Now Margo, follow your own directions!

My Dirt Shirt came from listening to a woman voice a need for “an adult bib that does not look like a bib”.   Made from a recycled shirt and looking just like a shirt front,  it really wows everyone.  Another thing that came from listening to comments about it was my decision to trademark the name.  Certainly this was costly and only time will tell if it will be worth the cost.   Now I face the the challenge of trying to market two very different products. While a business professor might not approve, this is where my lack of business knowledge makes me more open!

For about 2 years I have been learning how to present my product and myself.  Of course I have wasted some time and money but I don’t beat myself up too much.  I have not been able to find a mentor and even the experts can’t always tell which things are going to ‘make’ it.  I go to as many markets as my body will allow me to!  The network of  fellow vendors and business people are my best resources.

For $800 and 7 hours of driving I have an opportunity to go to a 3 day training session that will also feature a a 2 day online tutorial.  The question is, do I want to?  I believe the ‘take-off’ point will just be a lot of review.  Will I be able to utilize enough of what they teach me or is it just concepts?  I’ve had enough of those and that is part of why I have begun this blog, to begin to utilize another concept.  I consider what my immediate goals are in terms of bringing up a new package size, the new machine to accomplish this, and the new label system I will need and I think…maybe not.

Anyone have any feedback out there?

I had always gotten rave revues on the fruit spread I made for my family.  Now here, perhaps I should back up.  My Mom never made a traditional jam because none of us would have eaten it.  We found jam to be too sweet.  I suppose it is because living on a farm with a passel of kids we ate so much fruit and most of it was fresh or with minimal amounts of sugar.  I was not a kid who loved sugar on everything.  I clearly remember the best way to eat the “Duplex” sandwich cookies that are still sold today.  Carefully twist them apart, scrape away the frosting, toss it, them eat the cookie halves!  So when I made my fruit spread I used a pectin that did not require sugar to jell, instead it used calcium.

I decided now was the time to give my fruit spread a shot as a business.  I began to organize ideas, fine tune my recipes,  and jumped in.  I found I enjoyed promoting my product.  I also eventually found that I had underestimated a few things.  Selling fruit spread at a farmers’ market in our rural area was hard as many people still make jam.  Most people don’t have the interest in nutrition that I do and don’t realize the  sugar content of jams is over 60%!  (My spreads were 28-31%)  Because our family likes it frozen over heat-sealed  and getting licensed for a frozen product was easier, I chose to market it frozen.  It does taste better but in a cooler at the market, it is not visible enough.  Having to load and unload the cooler got old fast.

So while I gave out lots and lots of samples I watched other vendors make more sales.  I cast around for something else I could sell. Why not make some of those cheese-coated almond slices I made for the kids and had given away to co-workers at Christmas?  I bought a 25 pound box and started baking.  I called my son to make  up some labels and come up with a name for them.   In 8 hours at two markets I sold over seven pounds!

Things went well for about 2 weeks.  Then I stated to get questions.  “These are good but what other flavors do you have?”  Oh-oh.  I didn’t have any but instead of saying this I asked  what they would like to see.  I found out later this is market research tool and a very good thing to do.  I began to formulate Sour Cream and Onion and tried it out by handing out samples and asking for opinions.  It took a few tries and then I found another need, new labels to accommodate different flavors.  Southwest, Honey Maple and Ranch followed.  As you might suppose, a few more needs arose to.

I once had a career as a Medical Technologist and I was good. That is, I worked in a hospital lab and tested blood for heart attacks, low thyroid, diabetes, low hemoglobin, blood typing, crossmatching, and on and on. Maybe too good as the more you can do the more you are asked to do. Burn out set in. After a long ordeal, I was set free. In other words, I was fired. That was in 2007 before getting fired was ‘popular’.

Legal hassles ensued with the hospital and I felt this meant (in a LOUD AUTHORITATIVE VOICE), Margo you are supposed to do something different with your life!