Things I learned from Victorian Country Christmas

Set Up - Wednesday, November 28 

Show - November 29 - December 1  

Puzzles sold - 152

The show was open from 10am to 9 pm -- so there is no way I could have survived it without the help of a few good friends who helped me set up and run the booth -- not to mention an awesome MIL who came and watched the kids for me so I could be away from home.

All in all the show was a great experience -- I met a lot of people and gave away a huge stack of business cards.  I was even asked to sign the back of a puzzle by one of the dad's who purchased 4 that was a first.  I was also flattered by how many people told me I should be on Shark Tank :)


Some important things I learned:
-Most people who say they will be back -- won't
-The mother's of kids who come and play for the longest time with the puzzles and love them are highly doubtful to purchase a puzzle (grandmas on the other hand just might)
-Dad's got more excited about the puzzles than moms and they actually came back quite frequently
-People rarely understand the product without stopping and hearing an explanation
-People assume the puzzles are for kids 5 and under (so not true -- but I am not sure how to fix that misconception)
-My mood had a direct affect on how well my sales went
-Dressing up in Victorian isn't actually that bad

All in all it was a great learning experience and now that I recognize that Dad's love Flipzles I need to figure out how to better market to them. Any ideas would definitely be appreciated :)

Celebrity Gifting

I know I know -- the words "Celebrity Gifting" sound like so much fluff --  When I first heard about it, I wasn't sure what it even was or how it worked.  It seemed like it might end up being a huge waste of time -- I mean are any of the celebrities even going to open or see what is "gifted" to them?  Are the gifts just going to end up in some agents office with a pile of other stuff, forgotten and unopened?  And besides that -- Isn't it all just a bunch of name dropping and what not? ...  Maybe --- Yet, the celebrities on this gifting list are PARENTS -- and the truth is -- when it comes to my product I value what all parents think.  As I mentioned in the previous post -- You never know who will be your champion.  Just one parent who loves my product and shares it makes a difference.  How much louder of a voice does a parent who is tv personality have?  Maybe one of them will actually have their kids test the puzzles out -- and they will love them -- so they will share the news about this new fun product and more people will know that Flipzles exist and will want to try them for themselves.  {deep breath}  Maybe not -- but either way I had a blast doing it fluff and all.

So -- I heard about Baby Swags in a Mom Entrepreneur Forum that I joined.  I was curious about what it was and how it worked so I looked into it.

I saw that Phyllis (the owner) gifts products from entrepreneurs and small businesses like myself to celebrities.  For the Holiday gifting there was a list of 11 celebrities with kiddos and then the company doing the gifting also got to choose the 12th celebrity.

Since I am just starting I thought this might be worth a shot.  It might help me with the challenge of getting my product out in front of more eyes... and if not I can chalk it up as a fun learning experience.
I submitted Flipzles and was accepted -- so the next step was getting my gifts ready.

This was a long process, because I wanted to know more about the celebrities that I was sending the puzzles to.  Some of them I knew a little about, others not so much.  I focused on learning about them as parents and about what type of charity work they were involved in.  It was fun to see that side of them rather than just the red carpet side.  I hand-wrote unique notes to each person and picked out the puzzles that I thought their children would most enjoy.  Finally I added a bit of information about my company and how Flipzles came to be and shipped them to Phyllis.

The celebrities  selected to receive the Holiday Celebrity Gift Bag included: Tori Spelling, Jessica Alba, Nicole Richie, Alyson Hannigan, Halle Berry, Jennifer Garner, Camila Alves, Mario Lopez, Bethenny Frankel, Katie Holmes, and Josh Sabarra.  

For the celebrity of my choice I wanted to choose an athlete because of my love for sports.  I chose Kerri Walsh.  I think it is amazing that she won an Olympic Gold Medal pregnant with her 3rd child!  She is someone who I think is admirable as a mother, athlete and advocate of people striving to achieve their dreams. 

The gifting went out just before Christmas.  

On the 28th I received a Thank You email from Josh Sabarra (he is Consulting Producer for The Ricki Lake Show) -- so of course he is my new favorite celebrity :)   If you are a twitter-er you should follow him.

What else will come of this?  Who knows?  Maybe nothing --- but if you know me, you know I am a dreamer so .... we will wait and see.

"You never know who will be your CHAMPION"

We spent this Thanksgiving at my in-laws.  My father-in-law being the kind hearted man that he is had heard a woman in his rotary group mention that she would be having Thanksgiving alone this year as both of her children were too far away to come this year (one lives overseas and the other back east).

To be honest at first I wasn't all that excited about having an unfamiliar person joining us in our Thanksgiving feast... but it turned out to be wonderful.  She was extremely knowledgeable and very interesting to talk to.  We exchanged stories about places in the world we have traveled as we enjoyed our dinner.  She was curious to learn about my puzzles and after hearing about different people and ways that have helped me have success she said something that has stuck with me since --

"You never know who will end up being your champion."

So very true.  I have thought about this a lot as different people who I never expected have done wonderful things to promote FLIPZLES without even being asked.  I'd like to share a few of those --

My Mom --
I guess you kind of expect your mom to be your champion, but I can't write this post without mentioning her.  She has made her small town in Wyoming the place where I believe there is the highest percentage of puzzles per capita.  She loves my product and isn't afraid to promote to stores, friends, coworkers -- or anyone else she can get to listen!

My Son's Kindergarten Teacher --
My daughter had the same teacher a couple years ago and since the time I brought in a guinea pig for her show-and-tell I was pretty convinced that this teacher did not like me... The kids have always loved her.. but I must admit I was always a bit nervous to talk to her.  Well -- I feel a bit bad about that now because she definitely has been one of my champions.  She loves the puzzles, and when Thurston brought one in to donate to the school PE toy drive she emailed me right away and wanted one of each for her classroom and told me she thought I should be on Shark Tank.  After that she sent out an email and shared my puzzles and story with all the other teachers and kindergarten parents.  Somehow the email also went to one of the other schools in town and because of it I have had many sales.

A Soccer Mom -
At one of Natasha's soccer games I was discussing work with another mom.  When this mom learned about Flipzles she was so excited to share.  She posted links on Facebook, mentioned me in links and had lots of ideas of shows and other ways I could market.

My Aunt -
With out ever even mentioning it -- my aunt borrowed a Flipzles puzzle that my grandma had at her house and took it to a few schools where she works to show it to people and then collected orders.  The first order she sent me was for 27 puzzles!  the second was nearly as big, and since then I have sent her even more!  I never asked -- she just did it.

A Stranger from The Victorian Country Christmas -
During my 5 days at the VCC I met a lot of people.  Lots of people say they will order online, or call or come back -- but it is rare that anyone every actually does.  One lovely lady who I actually remembered a face with the name called me on my birthday (she didn't know it was my birthday) and put in an order.  I remembered that the day she had been shopping at the VCC her daughter had mentioned it was her birthday and if she wanted to spend her birthday money buying something for her granddaughter that was her prerogative.  Anyway, she took my card and said she would be calling -- When she actually did I decided to toss in another puzzle since it was my birthday and mention what I recalled about her birthday -- so the extra puzzle was to celebrate both.  Just a few days ago she called me to thank me and told me that she was a minister's wife and that she wanted to help me promote my puzzles, so could I please send her some fliers for her to share.  Another unsuspected champion.

There are so many more -- friends taking puzzles to show their family and friends, some even taking them to stores, people I don't even know searching for the puzzles and supporting me via the Internet, or finding the puzzles on facebook and loving them and wanting to share with their friends, siblings making calls on stores in their areas or connecting me with other small businesses, friends helping me get connected with bloggers they know, people hosting parties and on and on.

It is so  true -- You never know who may end up being your champion.
I am so grateful for all of you -- and for the love and support I have felt during these first few months.
Thanks You Thank You Thank You!