What Seems Like Failure Yields Small Success in This Entrepreneur’s Journey

The guidebook is published.  Our CD is launched for another year.  I have a lot of selling to do these days.  I would love to say that both products are wildly successful and I’m selling  several a day…nope!  I am definately in the tedious process of attracting customers, hustling to gain some market share, or in the case of my guidebook create a market.  (There is no other Legoland guidebook on the market right now.)  Still, I’d like to share some small successes that are rising out of what seemed to be failures.

• We were negotiating with a client about conducting some training classes.  We bid on the high side, made some concessions, but when we checked back in with her…she said she was comparing bids.  My husband and I panicked…should we have gone lower?  How low would the other bid be?  When we compared our class with other offerings we realized that it was still on the high side.  I didn’t hear from the client for a while and had almost given up, but decided to e-mail her to check in and let her know we would match the bid if it was reasonable.  The client asked for one more modest concession and we landed the job!

 

• The postcard fiasco.  Many postcards sent out, a significant number arrived back to us return to sender.  Very sales generated compared to the overhead cost and amount of work  required.  Still, just found out today the we are doing a project for a major client who became aware of our company via the postcard.  (He also purchased a CD!)

 

• This blog has not been my most successful venture.  It gets very few comments, and I don’t know if anyone is actually reading it.  Still, it landed me a huge opportunity to promote myself, my book, and my blog.  A few months ago I wrote a post about Twittermoms,  a social networking site for moms that’s really thriving.  A few weeks later I received a comment from a reporter…she wanted to interview me for a Redbook Article.  The article was published in the March 2009 edition.  Meghan, the founder of Twittermoms was so greatful for the exposure that she featured my blog in one of her weekly newsletters which is read by thousands of moms!

 

• It pays be involved in social networking.  When I first started promoting my book I took advantage of many social networking opportunities.   I became very involved in Twitter and Twittermoms.  I amped up my Facebook involvement.  I reached out to fellow travel bloggers through their blogs and social networking sites.  Well, it is clearly paying off, but not necessarily paying the bills.  I have found that the majority of books that I have sold so far have not been through Amazon,  Barnes and Noble or Target, but rather downloads from my publisher.  Although I run a Google ad, it is shown very infrequently due to circumstances beyond my control.  I’m pretty sure that the majority of those customers found me through my outreach to social media.

What are your failures that turned out to  be successes?  I would love to have some inspiration as I continue my entrepreneurial journey.

Into the Woods…Part 1

In college I took a course on the history of musical theater.  My professor was convinced that Stephen Sondheim was the most important composer ever, so we spent plenty of time studying his work.  Today, the score of his musical “Into the Woods” has been buzzing through my head.    As I comb the score for words that speak to my mood, these pop out:

Though it’s fearful,
  Though it’s deep, though it’s dark
  And though you may lose the path,
  Though you may encounter wolves,
  You can’t just act,
  You have to listen.
  you can’t just act,
  You have to think.
  Though it’s dark,
  There are always wolves,
  There are always spells,
  There are always beans,
  Or a giant dwells there.

As you can see I’m in the midst of a dark point in my entrepreneurial journey.  We have sent out 2,000 postcards for my training business none of which have resulted in an order thus far.  I have made a total of $14.95 on my book.  It is exhausting and frustrating that hours of effort seem to be in vain.  I know I should be hopeful, even optimistic.   I should believe in my future entrepreneurial success.  I should trust this cross pollination of ideas that is constantly revealing new roads of possibility.

Then there are the opportunities that are presenting themselves.  Turns out I’m not the only struggling entrepreneur in the world.  There are people further down the road than I offering me a hand up.  My dilemma, should I devote time and energy to this enterprise that yields, even in the best case scenario, so little profit.  Is it fair to my family, fair to my husband, fair to my training business?  Do these potential angels have my best interest in mind, or am I just another way to promote their brand with fairly low overhead?  I feel a bit lost in the woods, it’s hard to tell the wolves from the woodsman, or perhaps they are one in the same.

I love to write.  I love to share my ideas.  I believe that my words can improve people’s lives.  Still, it is difficult to know if this enterprise is productive or selfish.  Could my energy be better spent?  Is this just a way to escape  the realities of California Mission reports and preschoolers who are so engrossed in their play, that they are disassembling my house piece by piece?

My dream is to create financial security for my family by doing something that I love and am passionate about.  So far, achieving that dream seems a bit impossible.  I’m still lost in the woods.  So I’ll take Sondheim’s advice…do some thinking and some listening.  Try to make my way through the wolves or potential colleagues, the spells cast by my own insecurity, and this evil economic giant  towards my dream of entrepreneurial success.

I’m ready for the journey.

-Bridget

Conundrum: Product vs Service?

So far, I have two businesses with some potential for making money, but very little revenue.  I have two preschoolers and a school age child so getting a “real job” doesn’t feel like a viable option.  My liberal arts degree gives me the marketable skills to earn $20 an hour tops.  The price of full time childcare for even one kid, would pretty much eat that up. 

Deep down, I am convinced that the life of an entrepreneur is for me, but pretty soon I need to start making a significant amount of money in order to stay out of the workforce.  So far, the routes I have chosen require some investment up front (ranging from several hundred to several thousand dollars) and a significant investment of time before I start making a profit.  So far profits have been elusive.  Although I love what I do in both cases, I find myself wonderng if it is in the best interests of my family to switch to a more service oriented business.  If I choose an area like virtual assistant or tutor, the money I make will have a direct correlation to the work that I do.

I plan to explore the possibilities of making the switch to a more service oriented business.  In the mean time, I will identify the skills required to get a “real job”, see which I can use to enhace current or future entrepreneurial ventures and develop those skills through continuing education or self study.  Hopefully this will make me more marketable, whatever I pursue.

Anyone have some thoughts on the product vs services dilemma?  What is the best way to learn about Search Engine Optimizaton?  Everyone wants you to know reflect it in your writing.  I can’t see that there is really a science to it.

Food for thought on this sunny Southern California Morning.

-Bridget

What’s Important

Due to lots of holidays and fieldtrips, I am very short on childcare this month.  The two major projects I am working on are in crisis mode right now.  I had two sets of grandparents lined up to watch my son’s double header baseball game, so I could get something accomplished…housework…proofreading…cd development… who knows? 

Then I found out that Justin would be pitching for the first time this season.   I realized that my butt needed to be in those seats!  I took a five hour hiatus from work…no sneaking in a laptop or a book on business, and sat and watched two baseball games.  I spent the first one watching with my Dad.  My dad is in his eighties, so I treasure having time alone with him to hear stories about his childhood or review current events.  We shared our pride in how Justin is improving in baseball and how his attitude is so much more positive and respectful than it was a year ago.

The second game, I cheered for all the members of Justin’s team, and caught some very good at bats for my kid.  As I took a tired grouchy Justin home at the end of the day, I knew I had made the right decision.  Sometimes you have to leave the laptop at home, put your butt in the chair and take time to savor your kids’ triumphs and failures before they slip away.

Tommorrow, it is back to work.  It is Columbus Day at preschool and I have used up my grandparental goodwill, so I’ll just have to try to squeeze in some work between making snack and mediating disputes.

Wish my luck!

Bridget