It was a very very bad day Mr. Blog. First I was so excited and emotionally high at the thought of dropping off my first big order of six games that I was sure I'd vomit on my feet.
I got to the post office and mailed Carol McConnel's game first to Dallas. She ordered it over a month ago on our website with PayPal. Just having one order kept me going for the frustrating weeks that followed as prototype after prototype had folding problems. I will be indebted to her forever for showing me faith first, not just with cheap words, but with cash.
A first sale can make or break the attitude of a new businessperson and she made me believe that I could be a success when I wasn't yet convinced myself. I mailed her game first.
$3.26 postage.
Then Terry came with me to Ostroms and I bought a buffpuff pad and put my box of six games on the counter. I said, "Here are the games you ordered Phyllis and the invoice is right on the box."
She said, "Oh good, they are small." I leaned over and pulled out the display I had made and said, "Would you like the display I made?" She said, "Oh no, that's not necessary."
I leaned down to put it away and she said, "Is it free?"
I pulled it out and stood back up with a big smile and said, "Yes it is. I have a mount for it and a small road and sample cars for the kids to play with."
She was very happy to take it at that point.
Terry and I went outside and high-fived at the first wholesale sale at a retail store.
Not just any store! Ostroms is the crown-jewel gift shop in Kenmore with free gift-wrapping.
We were so excited as we drove home. I felt like I'd won the lottery!
Then the phone rang.
BZ called from Ostroms and said the wholesale was too high that they couldn't sell it for double $19.99 and if we wanted them to carry it we'd have to go down by half. She explained that the wholesale retail cornerstone is 50% mark-up. She was really nice about it and I thanked her.
Terry and I think we should keep a few there for advertising even if we only make a few dollars a game. The brilliant green laminated artwork is such an eye-grabber!
Connie called and she did not want to sell them there for that low a price. I ran out of cash months ago and we are using her small loan now so she is in the driver's seat on this.
It was just hard going from so high to so low in such a short amount of time.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
8/12/09 Success is so Sweet
Connie got her at ten and BAM. She was on fire for production! She whipped out six perfect games in four hours flat. Turns out she likes doing that and hates the packaging work. Turns out I love the packaging work and hate the lamination gluing.
What a team. What fun.
We decided to make a daily plan each time we work so we have our jobs clear.
I got all ten of our sample games ready to mail tomorrow. We are sending them to the governor, mayor of Seattle, heads of the DOL and DOT, my fav radio show KIRO FM and two driving schools. We requested links from their website to our website.
Connie took off and we met later at Lake Forest Park for dinner. I dropped off a sample at Third Place Books for Wending Manning to look at tomorrow.
I got to the restaurant and went in and waited forty-five minutes for Connie. When she came in she said she'd been waiting in her car watching for me forty-five minutes. She said we better learn how to be clear now and not in Chicago or China or Spain! I want to go to those places.
I love to sell sell sell. It is just fun. I like having a product I designed and manufactured to show people and see if they need it. It just tickles me.
So I got home and Connie stopped in to make the last two games of the day so I can go to Ostroms in the morning with their order of six games. I built a cute display for them if they want it.
You know Bloggie, you are a big help. I would never call you Bloggie to your face, just Mr. Blog.
I gave you a nice imaginary office full of old books and antique furniture today. I lay on the imaginary couch and share all my joys and concerns with you and you listen and nod.
You are an older man, like 65, about 5'8" with white hair that is only on the sides, trimmed short and neatly. You are trim with good posture and have an air of authority and wisdom about you. Kind and compassionate without being cloying. Just right for me. Thanks.
What a team. What fun.
We decided to make a daily plan each time we work so we have our jobs clear.
I got all ten of our sample games ready to mail tomorrow. We are sending them to the governor, mayor of Seattle, heads of the DOL and DOT, my fav radio show KIRO FM and two driving schools. We requested links from their website to our website.
Connie took off and we met later at Lake Forest Park for dinner. I dropped off a sample at Third Place Books for Wending Manning to look at tomorrow.
I got to the restaurant and went in and waited forty-five minutes for Connie. When she came in she said she'd been waiting in her car watching for me forty-five minutes. She said we better learn how to be clear now and not in Chicago or China or Spain! I want to go to those places.
I love to sell sell sell. It is just fun. I like having a product I designed and manufactured to show people and see if they need it. It just tickles me.
So I got home and Connie stopped in to make the last two games of the day so I can go to Ostroms in the morning with their order of six games. I built a cute display for them if they want it.
You know Bloggie, you are a big help. I would never call you Bloggie to your face, just Mr. Blog.
I gave you a nice imaginary office full of old books and antique furniture today. I lay on the imaginary couch and share all my joys and concerns with you and you listen and nod.
You are an older man, like 65, about 5'8" with white hair that is only on the sides, trimmed short and neatly. You are trim with good posture and have an air of authority and wisdom about you. Kind and compassionate without being cloying. Just right for me. Thanks.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
8/11/09 Production Problems
Who would have thought that switching from 80 to 100 pound card-stock would create such folding difficulties for the game boards? 100 pound is the heaviest paper that can be run through the giant copy machines at the production facilities.
I just wanted it as strong as possible without going to the heavy traditional game boards. The whole point is to make it lightweight for teens that have backpacks full of heavy textbooks!
Connie got here at ten and we tried over and over and over again to make the boards
line up and not buckle the lamination. It was so frustrating!
The heavier paper kept buckling at the center where the boards connect overlapping a half inch. That made the expensive laminated tops bubble up! Finally we called Steve and he confirmed our suspicions that the heavier paper was the buckle culprit.
The only snag was we ruined a dozen in the process and can't sell them. We tried cutting a tiny triangle off at the very center of the bottom board where it connects and it worked! We were so exhausted after eight hours we couldn't go on.
We do have a long list of dignitaries like the governor and DOL director and the Seattle mayor we are sending samples to along with a few driving schools so we can use the imperfect games for those. I hope that my hero, DOL director Liz Luce, will put a link on her website to us.
We just like our governor, Chrisine Gregoire. I was hopping mad she jumped on Obama's bandwagon instead of Hilary Clinton's last summer but it turned out that she could see the handwriting on the wall and was one smart cookie!
I mean, black men got the vote a few decades before any women so why would I be surprised?
So, Terry and the kids got rained out at the ocean and came home two days early and my house is covered end-to-end with game parts. I was happy to see my little family!
I decided to invite my Roosevelt High School class of 1975 pals out for a bonfire this week-end.
At 52, most of us have parents dead or dying and our perspective is changing.
When you are young it seems like you'll have lots of time to do everything you want.
Your parents seem invincible. Then one day they are all gone. You look at the top of your husband's head and his hair is thinning on top. You lean over and see his expiration date is peeking through at you and realize that time is running out. Running out for time to love.
Running out for time to live. Running out to change the world.
Okay, so maybe I won't be able to end world hunger. Maybe I won't be able to fund free global birth control so no one ever suffers.
At least I will go out knowing that I tried very hard to start a business to help people learn.
I lived my dream to gain the wealth to make the world a better place and had a blast with Connie, the best business partner in the world.
So I'm having my RHS homies for a bonfire. I love them and have known many of them since we moved to North Seattle from South Seattle in 1966. I was ten and was in Girl Scouts and bamboo dancers at Bryant Elementary with some of these people and had a wonderful time in my age of innocence. I miss my mom. I miss my step-dad Lyle.
I just wanted it as strong as possible without going to the heavy traditional game boards. The whole point is to make it lightweight for teens that have backpacks full of heavy textbooks!
Connie got here at ten and we tried over and over and over again to make the boards
line up and not buckle the lamination. It was so frustrating!
The heavier paper kept buckling at the center where the boards connect overlapping a half inch. That made the expensive laminated tops bubble up! Finally we called Steve and he confirmed our suspicions that the heavier paper was the buckle culprit.
The only snag was we ruined a dozen in the process and can't sell them. We tried cutting a tiny triangle off at the very center of the bottom board where it connects and it worked! We were so exhausted after eight hours we couldn't go on.
We do have a long list of dignitaries like the governor and DOL director and the Seattle mayor we are sending samples to along with a few driving schools so we can use the imperfect games for those. I hope that my hero, DOL director Liz Luce, will put a link on her website to us.
We just like our governor, Chrisine Gregoire. I was hopping mad she jumped on Obama's bandwagon instead of Hilary Clinton's last summer but it turned out that she could see the handwriting on the wall and was one smart cookie!
I mean, black men got the vote a few decades before any women so why would I be surprised?
So, Terry and the kids got rained out at the ocean and came home two days early and my house is covered end-to-end with game parts. I was happy to see my little family!
I decided to invite my Roosevelt High School class of 1975 pals out for a bonfire this week-end.
At 52, most of us have parents dead or dying and our perspective is changing.
When you are young it seems like you'll have lots of time to do everything you want.
Your parents seem invincible. Then one day they are all gone. You look at the top of your husband's head and his hair is thinning on top. You lean over and see his expiration date is peeking through at you and realize that time is running out. Running out for time to love.
Running out for time to live. Running out to change the world.
Okay, so maybe I won't be able to end world hunger. Maybe I won't be able to fund free global birth control so no one ever suffers.
At least I will go out knowing that I tried very hard to start a business to help people learn.
I lived my dream to gain the wealth to make the world a better place and had a blast with Connie, the best business partner in the world.
So I'm having my RHS homies for a bonfire. I love them and have known many of them since we moved to North Seattle from South Seattle in 1966. I was ten and was in Girl Scouts and bamboo dancers at Bryant Elementary with some of these people and had a wonderful time in my age of innocence. I miss my mom. I miss my step-dad Lyle.
Monday, August 10, 2009
8/10/09 Costco Bliss
I had terrible insomnia worrying about ten game orders and no completed games. I picked up Connie and we went to the business Costco in Lynnwood. We went past the Lynnwood bowling alley where my mom was a champion bowler in the 50s. She used to leave me in the baby room there in 1956 and '57 while she bowled. My folks moved to Alderwood Manor in 1954 and our house was on Ash Way. We used to ride horses in the pasture where Lowes is now.
My mom was court clerk for Judge James who built the James Center there on highway 99 in the 1950s.
So we get to Costco and I'm grooving on getting ink and paper and a tape dispenser for our business but I didn't see Teyvek artificial paper envelopes. I asked Brian and showed him the game and he said we'd be better with bubble envelopes. They were really expensive! Forty cents each! Yikes! Brian said the spinners might break without those envelopes and Connie and I agreed. It was nerve-wracking spending $140.00 on office supplies but it is impossible to run a business without ink and paper and double-sided tape.
The layering of the game board lends it extra structural integrity and for wild teens that is very important.
I dropped off Connie and went to UPS and my new friend Craig gave me a better print bid than our previous printer by forty cents. Took the sting out of our fancy pants envelopes a little.
I got home and glued twenty bottom game boards correctly and only ruined one!!! :)
One false move with that double-sided sticky tape and it's all over. If you try to lift it off a spot it will shred the paper. It is so strong holding those two sides together-very tough stuff!
I can't believe how much I miss Terry and the kids and I hope they come home early tomorrow!
My mom was court clerk for Judge James who built the James Center there on highway 99 in the 1950s.
So we get to Costco and I'm grooving on getting ink and paper and a tape dispenser for our business but I didn't see Teyvek artificial paper envelopes. I asked Brian and showed him the game and he said we'd be better with bubble envelopes. They were really expensive! Forty cents each! Yikes! Brian said the spinners might break without those envelopes and Connie and I agreed. It was nerve-wracking spending $140.00 on office supplies but it is impossible to run a business without ink and paper and double-sided tape.
The layering of the game board lends it extra structural integrity and for wild teens that is very important.
I dropped off Connie and went to UPS and my new friend Craig gave me a better print bid than our previous printer by forty cents. Took the sting out of our fancy pants envelopes a little.
I got home and glued twenty bottom game boards correctly and only ruined one!!! :)
One false move with that double-sided sticky tape and it's all over. If you try to lift it off a spot it will shred the paper. It is so strong holding those two sides together-very tough stuff!
I can't believe how much I miss Terry and the kids and I hope they come home early tomorrow!
8/9/09 Bad Cuts and Fear
So I picked up the games on the 8th and went straight to Steve's only to have my worst fear realized. The top boards were not cut perfectly. Thank God the bottoms were. Steve stayed calm and was able to use an exacto knife to create one perfect game.
I hadn't slept much after my spamming incident and I really needed a nap before I went to see my high school pals but it took us all day to get that one perfect game done.
Riel and Patty, my high school pals that I have known since grade school, 1966, picked me up for our party at the Duchess Tavern in our old neighborhood. Riel drove past my old house, 5766 27th ave NE Seattle on our way there. It looked so tiny and it was for sale. Uncle Dick paid $16,000.00 for it in 1966 to rent it to us.
We got to the Duchess and Pam was there and then Mimi, Bill, Marta, Louie, Barb, Ann, Wolf, Warren, Cheryl and Mark showed up. We had a swell time and much to my surprise, they loved my game. I had talked about it on Facebook, and were interested in seeing it up close. When we left the party I thought I'd be a little naughty and try one of Patty's cigarettes. Yikes, what a mistake! I got home and puked up everything I had all day and was sick for hours.
Then a funny thing happened this morning. A guy saw my posting to Bob Parsons on Go Daddy and e-mailed me from California that he wanted to buy a set for his driving school!
I e-mailed him back that the USA version would be ready in two weeks.
So now I'm worried sick that I have fifty games to assemble that have bad cuts that I'll need to trim. I'm no Steve Prestek. I can't even slice a tomato or onion straight let alone a game!
Terry took the boys camping so I went to church and prayed about it.
I had a vision of mom and Lyle coming out of the pearly gates and floating down to their house down the street and landing right on their old green couch on either side of me.
My mom said, "It's okay honey. You just be yourself." And Lyle said, "You can do it kid!"
We just sat there and they had their arms around me and it was heaven on earth in my imagination. I felt all comforted like I'll be able to get through this last disaster.
I feel like I'm working against God's clock getting this game done to help people drive better and safer. I can't drive much myself anymore after reading hundreds of articles about car accidents for twenty months in the newspaper. When I made the Don't Do It square with booze and pot and pills on it I wanted to send a strong message to teens not to drink and drive. If you land their you die and put your little car in the graveyard until the next game.
If only one teen makes a good choice from playing the game I'll feel better about scrounging up the $2,000.00 from subbing that it has taken to get this game made.
So after my errands I was all set to assemble the games and Connie called. She was across the street at the store and said she was depressed. I walked over there and we went to Mazatlan and she told me about her latest woes as a wife and mother. Geez I sure could relate to her.
Most of the time I feel totally unappreciated and unwanted by my family myself.
We chatted for an hour over Mexican food until we perked up a bit and then we talked business. We came back to my place and decided on our dates and flights to Chicago for Chitag in November. I have enough Delta Skymiles for one ticket and we found another one cheap on Alaska airlines, but I forgot about the $1,200.00 entry fee. How on earth can I sell enough games to get that much cash by the November 1st deadline for entry?! I'm having a fear I can't do that tonight. I get really down when I'm tired and I'm very tired now.
I hadn't slept much after my spamming incident and I really needed a nap before I went to see my high school pals but it took us all day to get that one perfect game done.
Riel and Patty, my high school pals that I have known since grade school, 1966, picked me up for our party at the Duchess Tavern in our old neighborhood. Riel drove past my old house, 5766 27th ave NE Seattle on our way there. It looked so tiny and it was for sale. Uncle Dick paid $16,000.00 for it in 1966 to rent it to us.
We got to the Duchess and Pam was there and then Mimi, Bill, Marta, Louie, Barb, Ann, Wolf, Warren, Cheryl and Mark showed up. We had a swell time and much to my surprise, they loved my game. I had talked about it on Facebook, and were interested in seeing it up close. When we left the party I thought I'd be a little naughty and try one of Patty's cigarettes. Yikes, what a mistake! I got home and puked up everything I had all day and was sick for hours.
Then a funny thing happened this morning. A guy saw my posting to Bob Parsons on Go Daddy and e-mailed me from California that he wanted to buy a set for his driving school!
I e-mailed him back that the USA version would be ready in two weeks.
So now I'm worried sick that I have fifty games to assemble that have bad cuts that I'll need to trim. I'm no Steve Prestek. I can't even slice a tomato or onion straight let alone a game!
Terry took the boys camping so I went to church and prayed about it.
I had a vision of mom and Lyle coming out of the pearly gates and floating down to their house down the street and landing right on their old green couch on either side of me.
My mom said, "It's okay honey. You just be yourself." And Lyle said, "You can do it kid!"
We just sat there and they had their arms around me and it was heaven on earth in my imagination. I felt all comforted like I'll be able to get through this last disaster.
I feel like I'm working against God's clock getting this game done to help people drive better and safer. I can't drive much myself anymore after reading hundreds of articles about car accidents for twenty months in the newspaper. When I made the Don't Do It square with booze and pot and pills on it I wanted to send a strong message to teens not to drink and drive. If you land their you die and put your little car in the graveyard until the next game.
If only one teen makes a good choice from playing the game I'll feel better about scrounging up the $2,000.00 from subbing that it has taken to get this game made.
So after my errands I was all set to assemble the games and Connie called. She was across the street at the store and said she was depressed. I walked over there and we went to Mazatlan and she told me about her latest woes as a wife and mother. Geez I sure could relate to her.
Most of the time I feel totally unappreciated and unwanted by my family myself.
We chatted for an hour over Mexican food until we perked up a bit and then we talked business. We came back to my place and decided on our dates and flights to Chicago for Chitag in November. I have enough Delta Skymiles for one ticket and we found another one cheap on Alaska airlines, but I forgot about the $1,200.00 entry fee. How on earth can I sell enough games to get that much cash by the November 1st deadline for entry?! I'm having a fear I can't do that tonight. I get really down when I'm tired and I'm very tired now.
Friday, August 7, 2009
8/7/09 Spam is Bad
Connie and I went at five PM and the printers did not have the game parts ready when we got there. We had been told four different times for pick up and I was disappointed.
I had all these visions of delivering Ostroms drugstore their first six games today.
When we checked the game parts on the jig they did not seem to match up perfectly.
Thank God Connie talked me out of ordering one hundred. The limited first run of fifty was a very good idea. I wish I had let her talk me into only printing twenty-five the first run.
Connie has very good gut instincts. She is also more conservative than I am. She is the the perfect cautious match for my impatient manner.
I like to just Go Go Go when I am excited over something.
So. We came home empty-handed.
I started e-mailing driving schools to get appointments next week to demonstrate the game.
I realized that our game would be used for their curriculum enhancement and they could use their purchase as a tax deduction as a business expense.
So after five hours of sending e-mails I got tired and spelled Swerve driving school, Serve.
UGH. I got a nasty e-mail from the owner telling me not to spam them.
I don't even know what spam is for sure. I think it is electronic junk mail.
When I was a kid my mom fried us Spam when we were on welfare. The government gave it to us with bulk powdered milk when we lived in Holly Park housing project.
I was so upset and it was near eleven o'clock at night by then.
I woke up this morning thinking I need to set hours or a schedule for myself.
Working late when I was tired lost me one potential customer. :(
I wish I knew someone that sold products instead of services that I could talk to.
I had all these visions of delivering Ostroms drugstore their first six games today.
When we checked the game parts on the jig they did not seem to match up perfectly.
Thank God Connie talked me out of ordering one hundred. The limited first run of fifty was a very good idea. I wish I had let her talk me into only printing twenty-five the first run.
Connie has very good gut instincts. She is also more conservative than I am. She is the the perfect cautious match for my impatient manner.
I like to just Go Go Go when I am excited over something.
So. We came home empty-handed.
I started e-mailing driving schools to get appointments next week to demonstrate the game.
I realized that our game would be used for their curriculum enhancement and they could use their purchase as a tax deduction as a business expense.
So after five hours of sending e-mails I got tired and spelled Swerve driving school, Serve.
UGH. I got a nasty e-mail from the owner telling me not to spam them.
I don't even know what spam is for sure. I think it is electronic junk mail.
When I was a kid my mom fried us Spam when we were on welfare. The government gave it to us with bulk powdered milk when we lived in Holly Park housing project.
I was so upset and it was near eleven o'clock at night by then.
I woke up this morning thinking I need to set hours or a schedule for myself.
Working late when I was tired lost me one potential customer. :(
I wish I knew someone that sold products instead of services that I could talk to.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
8/5/09 Bag Toppers and Thank-you Notes
The amazing Steve Prestek came through again! He created brilliant bag toppers and packing slip/thank you notes from my pathetic little designs. The bag toppers that go on top of the bags give the games a professional look. Like the games might have been created by a large company with more than one employee.
Not that I want to hide the fact that my manufacturing plant is at my kitchen table, but I would like to be a serious contender in the educational products world someday.
Five years ago I volunteered at the Kenmore Elementary science fair to run a booth. After the fair I got a photocopied thank you note from the fair chair. It made me feel wonderful to be thanked for my efforts. Previously, when I chaired the carnival and arts and crafts fair, I would only send thank you notes to the sub chair people. After that day, no matter how long it took, I wrote thank you notes to every single volunteer. I think I wrote over one hundred thank you notes after the 2008 Kenmore Elementary carnival. I wanted to share that attitude of gratitude and the warm feeling that it puts in a volunteer's heart.
So, thanks to Steve, every person that buys Pass The Test, Rules of the Road will get a cute thank you note and on the back is a little driving tip sheet that I found in a 1966 driving manual with a cute picture of a man and woman enjoying a drive.
The 1966 driving manual had 42 pages and the 2009 manual has 107! Wow!
Not that I want to hide the fact that my manufacturing plant is at my kitchen table, but I would like to be a serious contender in the educational products world someday.
Five years ago I volunteered at the Kenmore Elementary science fair to run a booth. After the fair I got a photocopied thank you note from the fair chair. It made me feel wonderful to be thanked for my efforts. Previously, when I chaired the carnival and arts and crafts fair, I would only send thank you notes to the sub chair people. After that day, no matter how long it took, I wrote thank you notes to every single volunteer. I think I wrote over one hundred thank you notes after the 2008 Kenmore Elementary carnival. I wanted to share that attitude of gratitude and the warm feeling that it puts in a volunteer's heart.
So, thanks to Steve, every person that buys Pass The Test, Rules of the Road will get a cute thank you note and on the back is a little driving tip sheet that I found in a 1966 driving manual with a cute picture of a man and woman enjoying a drive.
The 1966 driving manual had 42 pages and the 2009 manual has 107! Wow!
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