Seed for Success | Empowering Women Entreprenuers

American consumers desire options and variety in the things they buy. The choice of a particular color, flavor, style, size, power, configuration, and just about any and every aspect of a product, reflects on the consumer’s identity. My preference, for example, is a sugar-free, tall, cinnamon, dolce latte, with no whip and extra cinnamon! We like to choose!

For Supply Chain professionals, variety makes our job incredibly difficult. When products are not manufactured to standard sizes and shapes, then provisions must be made for the endless possible configurations of sizes and weight of shipments.

Abby Port at Red Koala Canvas addresses consumer desire for options by offering flexibility in combinations as well as customization of sizes, shapes, images and colors in custom produced artwork. We love this idea! But…it creates significant complexity in logistics and shipping. Shipping boxes and freight rates are unique for each custom-made piece.

Abby’s artwork is relatively light weight and large (as compared with dense products like ball bearings for example). Therefore, shipping rates will be calculated on the dimensions of the package, not the actual weight. UPS, FedEx, USPS and all other shipping companies use a formula to calculate “dimensional weight” for light and bulky items. Check out www.ups.com and search on “dimensional weight” for detailed calculations. Dimensional freight charges are based on the calculated dimensional weight, and can be 3 or 4 times the ordinary rate.

Armed with this information, Abby still wants to give her customers lots of options. She can handle calculating shipping costs using the dimensional weight rules. The problem will be the variability in shipping costs and significant additional charges passed on to her customers. At what point will Abby’s customers say, “no thanks, the shipping charges are too expensive” ?

Additionally, because sizes will vary based on customer orders, Abby will need many different sizes of shipping cartons. This will make it difficult to negotiate volume discounts on packaging supplies.

I encouraged Abby to research the shipping and packaging costs prior to the launch of her new web site, so that she can provide appropriate shipping estimates at the time a customer places an
order.

Size constraints and logistics costs will be an important factor in the production decisions that Red Koala Canvas makes as the company grows.

Rosemary Coates, Managing Director, Supply Chain
The AKA Group

The FastPivot team is so very excited to be a part of the Yahoo! Seeds for Success program with Finding What Matters” (FWM) and Abby of the Red Koala Canvas Company.

When co-founder Keith Enloe and I started Ydesigns.com in 1988 we recognized the internet as a great ‘leveler’ with the power to help build a business around your lifestyle. When we started Ydesigns.com eBay was only three and Yahoo! hadn’t yet entered the store hosting business. We liked the concept of helping people ‘make money while they slept!’

I remember fondly the days creating AvalonGarden.com. Although Keith and I created it, Avalon was run by a team consisting exclusively of stay-at-home moms led by his wife. Our goals were the following:

Leverage time and the flexibility–what better resource than the internet
Provide fun and fulfilling work for our network of moms and their friends
Help create income while living a balanced life.

The premise was simple: design your life around family, home and things that are important without sacrificing an income. Now, running a larger enterprise, I recognize balance every time I swing past it. This opportunity with Abby and FWM is a great reminder for me personally to continue to ‘return to center.’ Suffice it to say, the online market is more competitive now than it was then. I’m happy to say that, though much has changed, some things do remain the same.

Before we defined what the Red Koala Canvas Company brand or design is all about, I challenged Abby to consider two related but distinct things by asking some simple questions:

“What business is Red Koala in?” Custom printing? Home furnishings? Unique and personalized canvas products?
“What does it do in the market no one else is doing? Why does it exist?”

The first was considerably easier to answer than the second. There are lots of business segments from which to choose from as a startup. However, creating something truly unique, distinctive and memorable relates to a concept called a value proposition.

“A customer value proposition consists of the sum total of benefits which a vendor promises that a customer will receive in return for the customer’s associated payment (or other value-transfer).”

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_proposition

MarketingExperiments.com simply states:

Value Proposition: Why should a customer buy from them rather than from their competitors?

from http://www.marketingexperiments.com/improving-website-conversion/landing-page-assessment.html

So, yes we will help establish and define the Red Koala brand! Yes, we will build a beautiful web-store that will ‘pop!’ Yes it will have cool functionality! But ultimately if we do all those things and neglect the value proposition and product mix, they are all just ‘window dressing.’ So we are working with Abby to help clearly look at her product offering and mix in this early stage to help her gain momentum quickly.

Although I’m writing this initial post, expect to hear more from the women on our designated FastPivot team. I am especially proud of this all female team of uniquely talented programmers, artists and strategists that make a difference every day for our clients. They will be leading Abby and Red Koala through a great process that will help create the Red Koala brand and provide a foundation to build upon for years to come.

More soon!

Matthew Ledford, President & CoFounder FastPivot.com

Finalist Karla Duncan of Head2Toe realized early on that she would benefit greatly from the advice of a logistics, import/export, and manufacturing mentor. Enter Rosemary Coates, a manufacturing and supply chain expert, who will be guiding all three of our finalists through this aspect of their process. Rosemary is perfectly positioned to provide this type of advice, and is a China expert, which is exactly what Karla needs! Get out your pens and notepaper, because this post is chock full of vital information for small business owners!

I have a special interest in helping Karla Duncan with sourcing and manufacturing because that is my professional specialty area and because I have a grandson who is developmentally challenged.

I had a delightful conversation with Karla about Head2Toe Publications. Karla is planning to produce language-themed book boards and toys for developmentally challenged children.

In past jobs, Karla worked with suppliers in the US who were sourcing products from China. I encouraged her to source directly from Chinese manufacturers because of the significant cost savings – up to 70% over retail pricing from US resellers. China has become the world’s low cost manufacturing center and in spite of all the bad press about lead in toys and poor quality, most Chinese manufacturers try hard to follow specifications. In addition, there are certain steps you can take to minimize risk.

If Head 2 Toe Publications was a large manufacturer, I would recommend a Chinese sourcing broker or International Procurement Office that could research, recommend and supervise the production inside of China. This is especially effective, because business in China revolves around personal relationships. This social commitment approach to doing business is known as guanxi. For example, an introduction that is made by someone who personally knows both parties, carries with it a commitment to support the on-going relationship. Typically you have to be introduced by someone trusted before you can seriously talk business. A sourcing broker or IPO can provide this service for you.

For small businesses like Karla’s, I recommend starting with Alibaba (www.alibaba.com) a web site that matches buyers and sellers/manufacturers. Alibaba is well known and widely used throughout China. On Alibaba, you can post a request for information from suppliers. Interested businesses will contact you via email through Alibaba. Karla is likely to get many responses from vendors who produce toys.

Here are some guidelines for posting a sourcing request on Alibaba:

*Write your requirements very clearly and simply
*Provide precise product specifications, including things like fabric weight, material quality, thickness, National Retail Federation standards for colors and sizes, etc.
*Be prepared to answer lots of questions from Chinese suppliers. They are trying to quote and produce the exact product you need. It’s best to correspond via email, again using clear and simple language. Don’t assume they will automatically understand what you want. Your goal should be to help the suppliers understand exactly what you want
*Expect large minimum quantities to be quoted…typically multiples of 1000. While you may not have planned to order in such large quantities, it may be economical to do so. (Chinese manufacturers are very good at producing large quantities with repetitive processes)
*Ask for digital pictures of the kinds of products they produce

Once Karla selects 2 or 3 potential vendors, she should ask for samples to be sent for examination. This should be done before committing to purchase anything. Samples are typically no charge to you, but you will have to pay shipping (typically via UPS or DHL and usually $30-$70for a small box). Samples can be imported into the US duty-free.

Negotiating a final deal, preparing a wire transfer, and importing into the US are subjects for a later blog.

Rosemary Coates, Managing Director, Supply Chain

The AKA Group

It’s great when you love your job.

I certainly love mine. What’s not to love? Even though I have a lot of stuffy responsibilities as president of EYStudios, I still get to design, draw, and talk on the phone all day. It’s always a bonus when we have clients that love their jobs too. When developer and client get into that synergistic zone of creativity, building a website is just plain fun.

And that’s what it’s all about, right? This stuff should be fun! If you’re building a virtual storefront from scratch and you’re not smiling, you may be in the wrong business. Sure, there are difficult moments, but that positivity has to always win out and make it fun again.

We’re having a blast working with Karla Duncan of Head2Toe Publications. I’ll be honest: When I first became involved with Seeds for Success, my first thought was, “Man, I just hope they team us with a nice person.” No problem there! Karla’s a fantastic person who really cares about people. She believes in the necessity of providing a complete resource for therapists, educators and especially parents or caregivers. Head2Toe wants to provide special needs children with the tools they need to truly excel in any kind of environment, which is truly admirable.

In a nutshell, Karla believes in her product.

It’s just a really good fit. Karla’s extremely open to our input and expertise, which is making it easy to guide her through the whole process. Being fellow-southerners, we’re able to overcome any communication gaps with well-placed “y’all’s” and “howdy’s.”

Karla also wants to incorporate hand-drawn illustration into her header design, and that just so happens to be one of EYStudios’ specialties! We’re also going to have cool little illustrated icons to designate different age ranges, which is key to making sure parents find the appropriate product for their child.

I knew Karla and EYStudios would be the perfect match when she uttered three words on a conference call to describe the ultimate effect she wants for her website:

”Make it pop!”

Any EYStudios employee will tell you that I say those three words about fifty times a day. I believe my assistant Whitney thought I paid Karla to say it.

In summary:

Make it fun! Make it pop!

-Eric Yonge, President of EY Studios

Good afternoon fellow entrepreneurs, business-builders, and fantastic individuals everywhere.

My name is Scott Smigler and I am the President of Exclusive Concepts. As an Internet marketing strategist I have been teamed with Dana (and her co-founder, Tamar) from Dapple.

As you may know by now, Dana and Tamar founded Dapple to address the needs of parents who want safe, all natural household cleaners for their babies, and their first marketing move was a wise one. Dana entered and became a finalist in the Yahoo! Seeds for Success competition and now they have a world-wide audience as they strive to meet their potential, achieve their dreams, and improve the lives of babies everywhere. My goal, and their great opportunity, is to leverage the exposure they will get over the next 6 months in order to engage millions of people as they build and promote a great new brand: Dapple.

I used a key word in that last sentence: Brand. A brand is not just about colors and words – it is about how people experience you, your company, and your products. On my first phone call with Dana and Tamar it was clear to me that I was not simply talking to high-potential entrepreneurs; I was also talking to two women who are passionate about the products that they are developing. Dana and Tamar conceived the idea for Dapple because they wanted safe household cleaners for their own babies and they couldn’t find any products to meet their needs.

When I visited the DappleBaby.com website, however, and when I surveyed the marketing materials, I found that their story was NOT being communicated. Not only that, the website didn’t make it immediately clear what they intended to sell. As I instructed Dana and Tamar, your website must answer three questions VERY quickly:

1) Who are you,
2) What can you do for me,
3) What next step do you want me to take?

While the DappleBaby.com has a fun and professional design, I concluded that it was not doing Dana and Tamar justice in its current state and I made some recommendations:

1) Feature the products on the homepage and talk about their benefits
2) Feature YOURSELVES on the homepage and tell your story
3) Leverage a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to associate with one of the most recognizable brands in the world (Yahoo!), as well as top businesswoman Carolyn Kepcher from www.FindingWhatMatters.com and ASK people to support you and help you to win this contest and launch your company.

On the third point, like many of the most successful entrepreneurs, Dana and Tamar have obsessed almost exclusively on creating the best products available on the market today (which I’m sure their customers will appreciate). They spent two years working with experts ranging from pediatricians to chemists to develop the first two products of the Dapple product line. Now that the initial products have been fully tested and are ready to market, it is time to ask those customers whose problems they are solving to support them in this endeavor.

So what are we doing? We are currently working on revamping the Dapple Baby homepage. There will be a video right on the homepage from Dana and Tamar where they will share their story and ask the world for support. We will also be making the products more visible and will be answering the question: What can you do for me? We will also be linking into the blog, sharing customer testimonials, announcing the contest (and telling people like you how you can help). Finally, we will be integrating Yahoo! Merchant Solutions which will allow Dana and Tamar to sell products directly through their website. We also solved another big problem: We realized that when people searched for “Dapple” in search engines the DappleBaby.com website wasn’t coming up – which is unfortunate given all of the exposure they are receiving. Our solution was to quickly purchase sponsored pay-per-click ads which will bring Dapple right to the top. Yahoo! Search Marketing made this easy by giving us a $100 credit to get us started.

The updated website is currently in production and we will be launching it within the next few weeks. Please stay-tuned, and PLEASE share your ideas on how we can inspire YOU to help Dana and Tamar accelerate the growth of their company which will result in new and important choices for parents that care about the well-being of their children and the environment that all of us share.

Regards,
Scott Smigler
Exclusive Concepts, Inc Website / Blog)

If there is one piece of advice I can give people, it is to follow your instincts.

When I first started as a makeup artist in the ’80s I was very frustrated by the makeup on the market. Rather then enhancing a woman’s features, the makeup masked a woman’s features. Foundations made skin look unnaturally pink. Eye, cheek and lip products only seemed to come in garish shades. I loved the healthy, natural, simple look and that became my trademark as a makeup artist. I started my line with 10 brown-based lipsticks that were designed to look good without any blending or mixing. My philosophy that makeup is a way for women to look and feel like themselves only prettier and more confident has remained unchanged since those early days. Beauty is about loving yourself the way you are and making the best of who you are.

Integrity is the word that means a lot to me in my personal and professional life. Throughout my career I always stuck to what I thought was best – regardless of what others were doing. I won’t put something on the market just to put my name on it. When I launch a product, I make sure that it’s something that doesn’t exist, that it fulfills a need and that it’s something I would want.

Success doesn’t happen overnight. It’s something that happens over time and it takes passion and a lot of hard work. My advice to anyone with dreams is to be fearless, always “be who you are,” and surely it will lead you the right way…

By Bobbi Brown, Founder of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics