The Good, The Bad And The Nosy

Call it six degrees of separation, a social experiment, the new millenium’s gift to advertisers or my favorite description (coined by my husband): “jewish geography on crack”. If you’ve been living under a rock then you may not know that I’m talking about Facebook - or FB if you’re cool and in the know.

In case you have been under a rock, Facebook is a popular, free-access social networking website that allows users to join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region to connect and interact with other people. People can also add friends, send them messages and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves. It was founded by a guy named Mark Zuckerberg while he was a student at Harvard University. Originally membership was limited to Harvard students but was expanded to other colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy League and Stanford. It has been opened up to now include anyone aged 13 and over. The website (incredibly) has more than 150 million active users worldwide.

I think the history of the site is pretty interesting. I know most people don’t really care how FB got here, all they know is that they can’t imagine their lives without it! In November I attended my 20 year high school reunion. Many of my fellow graduates described the activity on Facebook in the months leading up to the event as the “pre-party”. I wasn’t sure if already having connected as “friends” via the site and having an opportunity to read up on profiles, work activity, marital status, pictures of kids etc. would steal the thunder of the point of the reunion – catching up. In my opinion, that did not prove to be the case. In fact, I think it gave most people (not everyone is on FB after all) a loose familiarity that made it easier to strike up the kind of quick small talk – much like speed dating - that occurs at reunions.

Of course, some of the daily minutiae that people broadcast (“I am watching my daughter poop on the potty for the first time”) can be bit annoying and the pictures and video that others dig up and post (ya know, ones with the 80’s hair, eyeliner and prachute pants or the stupid drunken ones from prom weekend) can be embarrassing and even border on an invasion of privacy. No one minds when they are “tagged” in a photo that they look fabulous in, but the ones that catch you in bad light, with 6 chins or your mouth open while chewing, make you want to morph into one of those people who are living under a rock.

Overall, Facebook is what you make of it. I know some people that are truly addicted. They’ve even added the FB application to their phones so they don’t miss any status updates or friend requests. Others (myself included) find FB a very useful tool for bringing awareness to their business or philanthropic cause. And still others get and stay involved for the voyeuristic thrill of it all. Human beings have a natural desire to feel connected to and involved with one another. Facebook is just a modern day way to accomplish that. I would even go so far to say that it could singlehandedly have a long term sociological effect on the way people communicate and essentially “stay in touch”. I mean, where else can you satisfy a basic human need while seeing if your old college boyfriend who dumped you is fat, balding and friendless?

Garbage In, Garbage Out

I’m new to electronic organization. I’ve always been a pen and paper kind of girl. I never had a PDA or a Trio. I never even kept a contact list in my cell phone. What was the point when I had a school directory and address book on me at all times? I played around with a Palm Pilot for a while but while I was using it I was the most disorganized I’ve ever been in my life. Seriously! It was double work because I never fully committed to it. I would keep my handwritten calendar and then transcribe new entries into the Palm – and not always immediately. And, since this era was pre-LikeWear it wasn’t even as if my computer was on 24/7 (hard to imagine now) so syncing and backing it all up always seemed like a chore. As a result, my Palm was never completely accurate or up to date – and as a result, neither was I.

About 2 years ago, I got a Blackberry. It forever changed my email life. But at that time, I still (to the incredulous, head-scratching, eye rolling wonder of my super-tech husband) didn’t use it for my calendar or phonebook. I didn’t see anything wrong with keeping my life organized in my Month-At-A-Glance – thank you very much! But, as LikeWear and my 3 children evolved and grew, my commitments, plans, meetings and activities, all became too much for my brain, and those small calendar boxes of only 6 lines per day, to handle. It was time for a change. That change had a name… Microsoft Outlook.

Very quickly I felt like I had acquired a personal assistant. Recorded birthdays now repeat every year without me rewriting them annually after waiting to purchase the new year’s paper calendar. Events can be color-coded to stand out or have special emphasis. And talk about bells and whistles – important meetings or events cause my computer and Blackberry to buzz, chime, beep (and practically reach through the monitor to slap me silly) each time it has to remind me to do something.

All that said, mine is still not a perfectly organized world. You see, very quickly I not only learned the joys and highs of Outlook but also its inherent weakness. You see, it is only as good as the information that you put in. Today I missed my daughter’s indoor soccer game. I had the game down for 3pm. My computer chimed at 2:30pm reminding me I needed to leave at that time in order to arrive the required 15 minutes before game time. The only problem was, the game had been changed to 1pm (apparently via an email sent out earlier in the week) and this new information had never been updated in my calendar. Ugh! And then last year there was the pre-camp get together for my son a few weeks before he left to go to sleepaway camp for the first summer. My daughter goes to a different camp and they too had a meet-and-greet the week after his. I reversed the 2 start times and we showed up at my son’s event just as it was ending. Definitely not a moment on my “mom highlight reel”.

So I guess no matter how high tech or sophisticated society gets, we can never fully escape the original governing principles of computers 101 that were taught 20+ years ago… GIGO – garbage in, garbage out. I definitely need to be more careful in the data entry department. And I recognize that mistakes are bound to happen. I just hope the next time I google GIGO, a picture of Lisa Gold doesn’t show up.

Temptation

I’ve got a lot on my plate. In fact, sometimes I feel like I have so much there, that like eating an ice cream cone on a hot day, I’m constantly licking up all the stuff at the edges before they drip to the ground. Of late, I feel like I’m holding a multi-scoop cone. The next flavor is getting piled on top before I can finish the lower ones. Add to that the heat wave environment I’ve been in and it goes without saying that it has been quite challenging to keep my cone neat, so to speak.

I don’t need any new challenges right now. However, Ken and I were approached by a friend with an opportunity that could really help take LikeWear to another level. While I’m not prepared to discuss the specifics of that opportunity (sorry, don’t mean to be mysterious and annoying, I’m just a little superstitious until the ink is dry), the proposal does suggest a business dilemma of sorts for me that I’m trying to flush out.

Should a company remain unwaveringly focused to its core business or should it try to take advantage of potentially fantastic opportunities - even if those opportunities are a bit peripheral to the main focus? And should you go for it even if those opportunities have the potential to spread you even thinner and perhaps divert efforts for a while? Hmmm… I suppose, once pros/cons, downside risks, upside potential and all possible scenarios and factors you can think of can be examined and analyzed, and if you still in your gut feel like the idea is an opportunity as opposed to a distraction, then the decision has already been made.

Of course there are no crystal balls and hindsight is always 20/20 with these things. I’m sure there are several more cliché phrases I could use right now but I think my point has been made. Calculated risks don’t necessarily equate to risky if you’ve done the calculating part. I think I've done my homework on this one. We’re going to move forward with it. Now I just need to work on clearing a space on my plate.

Great Quotes

After spending another workday at home with my kids off from school for Martin Luther King Day, I offer this:

"If there were no schools to take the children away from home part of the time, the insane asylum would be filled with mothers."
-- Edgar Watson Howe

Multi-Tasking Secrets: Watch and Run

There are some shows on TV I just can’t get enough of – Lost, Grey’s Anatomy, So You Think You Can Dance (don’t mock it until you’ve seen it) and okay I admit it, Lipstick Jungle. Can such an inspirational drama that so realistically depicts NY city life for 30/40 somethings really not have been picked up again for another season? I’m being sarcastic but truth be told I will miss it. And not because I’ll miss settling down to watch a little TV after my kids are in bed and the work/school week is completed on Friday nights. You see, I NEVER watch TV at night.

I don’t really have time to watch during the week. I’m too caught up in finishing homework with my kids and making lunches, etc. for the next school day. Plus, my alone time at night has been diminishing as my kids seem to be going to bed later and later – what are they getting older or something? And then there’s the double whammy of 1) my husband (better known around here as the nocturnal night owl) who does his most productive work at night going strong until the wee hours of most mornings (ya know, the only time my house is quiet with no kids screaming, no phones ringing or doorbells chiming) and he and I usually need to confer and strategize together before his work happens, and 2) all of our reps are moms who start sending emails (and some even making phone calls) at night once their kids are asleep and their brains refocus post-mommyness for the day.

So obviously discretionary free time is limited for me these days. That said, I feel it is important to my sanity (not to mention my ass!) to work out and exercise on a regular basis. As of 18 months ago I gave up my local gym membership (time thing again) for the treadmill in my basement. I DVR all my favorite shows and get caught up watching them while I’m huffing and puffing and sweating out all those stress toxins. In fact, there has been many a morning when the draw of a new episode like Entourage has gotten me to drag myself out of bed on a Monday morning and lace up my sneakers! And, when all else has already been watched (or we’re in the dreaded repeat season), there’s always Oprah for a little inspiration, suggestions for a great new book or tips on simply how to dress and look 10 years younger!! I’ve also become very familiar – and I must say feel very current and hip - with new friends named Akon, T.I., Kanye, Paramore and Great American Rejects. I watch them too while obsessively flicking to and from all the MTV channels (I am an 80’s girl after all – MTV was born in my generation and I still think it rocks).

Staying current with popular shows and musicians makes me feel “in the loop” and less like the hermit I sometimes feel I’ve become – holed up in my office working, working, working! The one negative (actually it borders on dangerous) aspect of catching up on shows while running on the treadmill is that when watching the tear-jerker scenes of my favorite dramas, I’ve stumbled a bit because my vision is blurred by my watery eyes!!

But, “watching and running” is a perfect example of where I’m at these days. There’s not enough time to do all the things I want to do – so instead of forgoing or eliminating things I enjoy, I just double-up and do more than one of them at the same time. Humph… and my mom said that all that time I spent perfecting walking and chewing gum at the same time would never come in handy.

139 Days Past Due And Counting

Owning and operating your own business is risky business - I get that. Often you have to jump blindly and simply accept on faith other people’s word – I also get that. And there’s no guarantee that the people you do business with will all conduct themselves in a moral, honest and trustworthy manner – believe me, I get that too. Yet despite all this knowledge, it is still inconceivable to me that a seemingly well-established Upper East Side children’s clothing store can simply choose to not pay their bills.

I am talking about a retail store located on Madison Avenue in Manhattan. They have placed 4 orders with us over the past year or so and we have extended 30 day credit to them on each of the invoices associated with these orders. We struggled a bit with late payments on each of their past bills but this past experience with them has really gone above and beyond moral correctness. But, when dealing with most retailers (not all) 30 days is apparently a loose term. Then again, we have allowed it to be – giving them the benefit of the doubt (of course they are going to pay) and quite frankly not wanting to hound people down for money (we don’t want to present LikeWear as financially aggressive like that – although maybe we need to get over not coming across as “nice”… that’s a whole other topic for another blog post!).

We reminded them when they were 45 days past due with a phone call to the store. The owner gives a “shuck and jive” every time you call saying she can’t talk right now, or she’s on her way running out, or the store is really crowded now, each time promising a call right back which has NEVER happened. When I finally managed to get her on the phone and remind her they were past due (the first time), she told me they were really busy and would be paying it soon. Hmmm… maybe I ought to try that line with the credit card company if I’m ever late with a payment – “Sorry, Visa I’ve been really busy lately at work but I’ll pay that bill soon – really I will”.

At 60 days, after calling a few days in a row to finally get the owner on the phone again, I asked if she wanted to pay over the phone with a credit card to take care of her obligation with us and she asked me to resend the invoice because her accountant would be coming in that week and they would take care of it via check. I knew she was putting me off but decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. That said, another good one to try… next time after receiving goods from one of my vendors and neglecting to pay them for 60 days maybe I ought to justify it by telling them “my accountant should be coming in sometime this week and we’ll get back to them”. Again, I take some responsibility here for not being more assertive, but she didn’t even give me a chance to say good-bye during this conversation, let alone point out how wrong and unfair her procrastination was – not to mention illegal.

At 90 days the store owner actually had the nerve to sound annoyed that I was calling again (ya know, after waiting another 30 days for her accountant to fill out a check and mail it in to us). I told her I would be happy to stop calling and resending (at her request) our invoices each month - which she can’t ever seem to remember where she has put – if she would please just give us a credit card number over the phone so we can settle the account. She then proceeded to tell me that I was rude in telling her saleswoman who had answered the phone the day prior to please make sure that she returned my call this time. She continued to be argumentative and when I told her she was giving me no other choice but to contact a collections agency, she told me I should “do what I needed to do” and hung up. Is she kidding?

How can a business owner (or human being for that matter) blatantly use avoidance and procrastination in her dealings and then be righteous about it? If she had been honest and explained that the store was having some financial issues I would have gladly worked something out with them. But they continue to operate and do business with no sign of insolvency or financial trouble. And, it’s not like they did not do well with our line – not that that would justify not paying anyway. So why exactly are they not paying up?

At 120 days past due, we did in fact contact a collection agency (a first for us) and this store owner is now avoiding their calls. I just don’t know how someone can live their life and conduct their business like that. I believe in karma – enough said here.

I’m so grateful for what I have learned from some businesses and their owners in how to run and manage a business. I guess there is also much to be gained from others in how NOT to behave and how NOT to operate a business. In that regard, I guess this experience has not been a total loss, as it has been an important lesson - albeit an expensive one.

You Know You’re Working Too Hard When…

I’m a hard worker. So is my husband Ken. We wear many hats in our company – and never one at a time. Sometimes I can’t help but laugh at some of the things I have to do, deal with or endure in my day to day. I often feel like I have a Rodney Dangerfield-like comic sitting on my shoulder pointing out these aspects of daily life like a comedy bit – “You Know You’re Working Too Hard When…”. It must be my subconscious’ way of dealing with the stress involved in running a new growing company. So like my Multi-Tasking Secrets, I’m going to throw jokes out there every now and again.

So, for my first entry:

You know you’re working too hard when… You live in the same town that you grew up in. Your sister lives in town too. You have 3 kids in school in town. They participate in a bazillion different sports (of which your husband coaches several) and your youngest is enrolled in the local dance studio, etc., etc. You then take these 3 kids to lunch at the local hot-spot diner and the only person you or your kids recognize in the whole place is the UPS delivery man! Ba dum dum.

But seriously folks….

The Black Hole

I didn’t realize how many people were actually reading my posts until I dropped off the blog planet. Since the end of October I’ve had people asking me, “why no blogging?” Can it really be almost 2 months since I last posted anything!?!?!? I guess that statement alone sums up how our holiday season was… BUSY!

We were hopeful that Holiday ‘08 would be our best season yet. We tried to prepare well – bought an additional heat press, hired and trained more manufacturing help, added a part-time bookkeeper – and made sure my mother was “on call” to pick up any children on a last minute basis. My grandmother even contributed by dropping off “business essentials” from her weekly trips to Costco. I joked that she in fact may have had the single most important job as I’m not sure what business – regardless of industry – can thrive without coffee and toilet paper!! Once the season began (right around my last blog entry!) we hunkered down to make sure our new employees knew what they were doing, small orders didn’t get lost, inventory reorders weren’t forgotten and holiday shipping deadlines were met. In some respects, I felt like I was holding my breath for 6 weeks –ready to extinguish any fires that may have started – sometimes literally!

The preparation paid off. I won’t go so far as to say that it all ran smoothly all the time, but we did our best, got through it and were thrilled at all the last minute retail re-orders despite the fact that each and every one was contingent upon a shipping deadline! When the dust all settled from the holiday tornado, this past season was in fact our best so far. Phew!! I can now take a deep breath.

My New Year’s resolution (one of them anyway) was to start the blog up again (yeah, yeah I’m a few days late on that one). I want to get back to it not just because some of you are actually reading it (and BTW, thanks for continuing to check back to see if anything new has been up - the answer to which has been NO up until now) but even more so – at the expense of sounding selfish – for myself. Life’s busy. This blog has been therapeutic in many respects – a way to take a moment out of each day (or every few days anyway) to focus on what’s going on. What important happened with the business, my kids, my family, my feelings… I know Blog What You Like is rewarding for me now, but I also know that it will be an invaluable diary of sorts as I look back on this hectic, challenging yet incredibly rewarding time in my life. 2009, here I come.