Start my own business

I was very intimidated by cold calling and put it off for months, but today I forced myself to dial the phone (with notes I’d written and re-written and my husband sitting next to me). I made several calls and it wasn’t horrible and I actually sold four items! I am so glad I did it, and know next time will be easier. I was so worked up about it, I was having bad sales dreams last night. Sales is definitely not my career path, but I’m glad to help my husband. I think if I can get it rolling he’ll be able to maintain it. He hugged me and jumped up and down a little and said I did great.

I made one phone call this past week to a guy who wants to be the middle man in getting our product into some retail stores (out of state). I then spent the week preparing for that (bought a upc code, boxes, found an insurance company, etc). He doesn’t have a firm commitment from the stores, so it seems backward to have to get all that in place first. I hope it comes together.

Today I need to prepare for the trade show. I bought fabric for the table cloth that I need to wash and sew, and a few other last minute projects.

I met with my uncle the salesman this afternoon. We came up with my initial sales plan. He refocused me on my goals and the project seems much more manageable and less overwhelming again. If I can get over my fear of talking to these potential customers on the phone, I’ll be okay!

We got the babysitter, the sales permit and application in for the trade show. In the next week or so before the show, I will have memorized the specs and made several sales calls.

Ideally, we’d like to mostly sell wholesale, so I am searching the internet for retailers who sell in this specialized market. I got 2.5 million results from my search (obviously not all relevant!), and am copying contact info from those that look promising.

This could take a couple years! So I’m going to work on it for a week or so, then take the next step with my initial list while continuing to identify more customers as on ongoing background project.

Well, my husband’s already gotten it started, but I’m about to jump in and see if we can get it really going.

He quit his corporate job almost a year ago because the stress on him and our family wasn’t worth it anymore. He loves working in the workshop and he’s gotten quite a bit accomplished.

He needs someone to focus on sales. It’s overwhelming and I know I’m in over my head, but I’m going to break it down into manageable steps. I’ll look at the business side of things like filing a dba, insurance, taxes and such, too.