Seed for Success | Empowering Women Entreprenuers

The voting phase of the Seeds for Success grant program certainly takes me out of my comfort zone. The process of getting people to vote for me is not natural to my personality. I don’t like to single myself out as more deserving of something than someone else. Both Dana and Karla have done a great job with their companies and if it were up to me, we would all get the additional money and mentoring from Yahoo and fwm. I want every woman entrepreneur to succeed. We must all help each other. However, in this case it unfortunately doesn’t work that way.

I’ve put in too much time, sweat, and probably some tears, over the past six months to now just sit back and not do anything because I’m uncomfortable asking people to vote for me. It took over 4 months to redo my website, and in the past two months I’ve put almost 100 products on it and have retail partners in four states and online. I’ve exhibited at three tradeshows and have built a product catalog. All of this while staying home with three small children and managing a household of five. I’m not going to say I didn’t get any help. My mom and mother-in-law have been amazing. Their constant support and willingness to help out have made all of this possible. However, when it comes to the business, it’s been mostly me making all of the decisions and doing most of the work. I don’t have a partner to split the work with (or even help me gather votes for that matter). As a CEO I must learn to rally people and gain their support. The voting phase has been a good exercise in reaching out to people and asking them to support me and the Red Koala. This is something I should continue to work on even after the voting has subsided. I have learned so much over the past six months and continue to grow in so many ways. The mentors have of course been very helpful. They have given me great direction, but the decisions and the work are still all mine. So if you have just started a new business or are thinking about it, make sure you have a good support system and are willing to leave your comfort zone in order to benefit your company.

Selling art online poses some challenges. Many customers want to see and feel the quality of the art before purchasing it. I am a believer in the school of thought that challenges always present opportunities. So in order to turn this negative into a positive, I decided to approach retailers about selling my products in store. Red Koala products are now being sold in Ohio, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, and in a few online boutiques. These retail outlets increase our reach and provide us an outlet for customers to have a tangible product to view before purchasing.

As a new company, I need a risk free and enticing entry point for retail partners. To accomplish this I offer a free sample for display along with a full catalog of images, background choices, and framing options for customers to flip through. We also provide free shipping to the store and a fee for drop shipping to the customer. With no upfront costs from the retailer and no display space required, the retailer can carry our products risk free. This gives the retailer the advantage of carrying a tangible product and providing no shipping costs to the customer.

However, selling through retailers cuts into our profit margin significantly. I am hopiong that in the long run the volume will compensate for the loss of profit per piece sold. I’m thrilled to go down this road and look forward to the future of the Red Koala.

I am always asking for feedback, so please visit our website at www.RedKoala.com and tell us what you think and don’t forget to vote in the Seeds for Success contest!

I have had several conversations lately with friends and neighbors about the economy and where it’s headed. We all seem to be asking the same thing, “When did I start caring so much?” The consistent answer has been “since having children”. Never, in most of our lives, have we had so much to worry about. What happens to your family if your income is gone and you can’t get a loan or credit? It’s a very scary scenario. Now consider the families that own and operate small businesses that rely on a strong economy and credit to survive. The bar is raised past scary to terrifying! That’s where I am right now. My husband’s business is suffering and my business hasn’t had the chance to take off. So what do you do? My first instinct is to panic, but that won’t get me or my family very far. It’s time to be logical. The economy will turn around, it always does. So it’s a matter of how long can we hang on? My backup plan has always been: “if this doesn’t work, I’ll go back to a full-time job and do this on the side.” With a sports marketing background, this isn’t a very realistic backup plan in the current economic situation. So I’ll stick with the Red Koala and work extra hard to get the word out there about my products; knowing that when the economy starts to rebound I will be there ready to sell to consumers. As the old adage goes, there’s always a silver lining, and in this case it has been the realization of how great my family, friends, and neighbors are… their support and encouragement keep me going when I feel like giving up. I will be forever grateful for each of them. I also have fabulous mentors that remind me almost daily of how much I’ve already accomplished and how much I will continue to accomplish on my path of making the Red Koala a successful family owned business. For anyone else in a similar situation, just keep moving forward and we’ll all come out stronger on the other end!