Slowly But Surely

I sold more bibs! Mostly to the other parents at my daughter's preschool. I also sent a bunch out to all the moms I know just had their babies. One of them liked them so much, he wanted to buy a few more for his friends! Yay! I also sold a few to my cousin who just launched her very own online company, www.mygreenstart.com, offering green ideas and products. I say green ideas before products because her site is overflowing with useful information on how to live a greener life. She's selling my Bamboo Dribs. Aside from the awesome bib that it already is, she was sold on the fact that it's highly sustainable--major green points.

I also started creating my (retail) website. Who knew building your own website could be so tedious and frustrating. I used Google Apps. It's free so I was limited to the few templates they offered. It was a very good learning experience though.

So what's next on my agenda? I'll be hard at work sewing more bibs of course. Then I'll make a list of some of the baby boutiques in the area. I'll contact them to try and convince them to stock Dribs in their stores.

My First Sales Event

For the past few weeks, I've been working feverishly to get enough bibs done in time for Sammie's Holiday One-Stop-Shop fundraiser. This was my very first sales event where my bibs were put out there for all to scrutinize, take an interest in, and maybe even make a purchase! I was anxious, excited, and most of all, nervous. To save myself from major disappointment, I set my expectations really low. I'd be happy if I sold one. I sold five! It seemed like everyone who approached my table and listened to my spiel thought my product was clever, practical, cute, and wished they had it when their kids were infants.

After talking with and observing the shoppers, I learned a few key points. Color attracts a lot of attention and is an important factor. Duh! The woman across from me was attracting so much attention and sold a ton of stuff. She makes very colorful, vibrant, and funky/retro patterned skirts for toddlers and little girls. I almost bought one (actually two) myself but upon closer inspection, I saw that some of the seams were coming apart and a bunch of other quality related stuff but I won't elaborate because I'm not here to bad-mouth another mompreneur's product. The skirts are obviously just for dress-up fun and probably not meant to withstand the active lifestyle of a toddler. One or two washings and I'm certain it'll start to fall apart. Oops. That was bad-mouthing. Sorry. Still, that didn't matter. They were beautiful and sold like hot cakes. I was truly impressed and totally jealous.

I tried to emphasize the problem-solving aspect of my bib and the quality of the different fabrics (100% cotton terry cloth, micro fiber terry cloth, 100% organic terry cloth, and bamboo terry cloth--my favorite). Most people didn't seem all that impressed or interested in the different fabrics. The only colors I offered were white, beige, and yellow. You know, natural unisex colors. Interestingly, out of the five that I sold, three of them were the bamboo. It's more expensive than the regular cotton and microfiber. I think they chose the bamboo mostly because it felt nice and not necessarily for it's green properties. So I'm going to have to alter my strategy. I think I'll narrow my selection down to just the eco-friendly fabrics and try to offer them in lots of cool colors.

I also learned that I'd be facing some challenges with my target market--parents with infants. New parents won't know to expect the stinky-neck syndrome ahead of time to stock up like they would with things like diapers and bottles. Experienced parents no longer have infants so they just wished that they would've had this bib when their kids were babies. So what would have to happen is that experienced parents buy this as a gift for their new parent friends. Exposing my product to the right people is going to be very challenging!

Overall, I was happy to be able to share the inspiration behind my product to others who could relate. I can only hope that it impacted them enough to share it with their friends. I'm going to take a break from bib making for a few days to clean my house (a little bit) and curl up on the couch with my husband and dog. We've got a couple of Netflix dvds that have been waiting around to be watched for too long. Soon after, I'll scour the internet for color!

Not a whole lot going on

I have to be honest. I've been slacking off. I'm a little disappointed in myself but I have honestly been preoccupied with the demands of motherhood. Sammie started preschool and I decided to serve on the Board so that's eaten up some of my time. But the biggie is that we are transitioning Sammie from her crib to a bed (well, currently just a mattress on the floor). It's been a challenging, uphill battle that we don't think we are winning. Yes. It's still on-going. Nobody has had a good nights rest for over a month. So exhaustion is the other distraction.

But on a positive note, I'll get to work on my bibs again. Her preschool is holding a holiday shopping fundraiser on Nov. 8 and they are having parents with handmade goods sell their wares. That's me! I've been pretty comfortable with the fact that I hadn't set any timelines for myself but maybe this is exactly what I needed to get my butt in gear. The event is only a few short weeks away so somehow, I'm going to have to crank out a decent amount of bibs. I'd better end this entry right here so I can get to work.

Doubts

I hate it when I second-guess myself. Don't we all? As a parent, I've had more moments of self doubt than I've ever experienced in any other stage of my life. Well, Doubting-Tomas, that's what my mother-in-law calls it, has creeped its ugly head into my bibs. It seems, the more research I do, and the more bibs I find that are currently out on the market, I wonder if I should even bother. It's depressing and self sabotaging. But don't worry! I haven't given up. Just sidetracked. I've got to keep my focus and the only way I know how is by keeping my head down and continue making bibs.

Organic cotton terry cloth is available by the way...at a much higher price. Remember my disaster with microfiber suede? Well, I finally found microfiber terry cloth! At Costco, of all places. They only sell it as a package of towels in a dull yellow color and not on a roll of fabric but it'll do for now. And yes. I did test the absorbency ahead of time and it's fabulous. So here's what I'm thinking of as far as my product lineup: 2 sizes (S/M and L/XL), (standard) terry cloth bibs, organic terry cloth bibs, and microfiber terry cloth bibs, in an array of colors hopefully. Woah. Having this image of all these bibs on my future website just got me really excited!

This evening, while Tom was giving Sammie a bath upstairs, I used those few precious moments to cut out a few more bibs. This part takes the longest. I can't wait to contract this part out to a professional fabric cutter. Unfortunately, that was all that I was able to accomplish tonight. We've been holding on to a Netflix rental for days now and I do miss getting cozy on the couch with him and Monger (our doggie).
I still haven't gotten around to formally doing my business plan, by the way.

Research

It's been a couple of weeks since I've been able to sit down at my sewing machine again. Tonight was the first night after a long break and it was nice to start creating again. Laundry was piling (again) and the house was looking really nasty so I had to sacrifice time away from my business to do chores. Ugh.

A few weeks ago, I sent out a bunch of bibs to my testers. I was so anxious to hear what they had to say about them. Unfortunately, only a handful of them responded to my survey. The good thing is, the feedback that I did receive was positive and very insightful. The size that I made fit younger infants (< 6 months) pretty well but it was too small for older babies. So after some modifications, I made a small/medium and a large/x-large size. I'm also experimenting with an alternative closure besides velcro. I won't say what it is yet because friends keep warning me about giving out too much information. I wonder if organic terry cloth is available?

All the research regarding starting your own business consistently encourages you to write a business and marketing plan. My plan is all in my head but I guess I'll go by the book and write a business plan.

The Crazy Vietnamese Fabric Shop

Before making my prototypes, I went on yelp.com to find some local fabric stores. Fabrics R Us in San Jose had really good reviews so I dropped by. I didn't know it was another one of those crazy Vietnamese fabric shops where there are tons and tons of fabric rolls everywhere. I mean everywhere. They even line them up all along the front of the building. The nice thing about these CVFS is that they're less expensive than your chain stores like Hancock's and they have a ton of stuff to choose from. The bad part is the place is an organization freak's (like myself) nightmare. Nothing is labeled. The people who work there don't speak English very well. (Thank goodness I speak elementary Vietnamese!) So you'd better know what you're looking for or you're SOL. Oh and when you've found what you are looking for and you're ready to have it cut, you have to hunt down one of the fabric cutting ladies, interrupt (and this is very important) whatever they are doing or whoever they are helping, to tell them you're ready and waiting. If you don't act aggressively, you'll end up with nothing, except feeling pissed off at the "poor" level of service. There. Just a little bit of insight into the way Vietnamese customer service works.

Let's get back to why I was there. I had called the store ahead of time to confirm if they stock microfiber. To my surprise, they said yes. I kind of had an idea what microfiber looked like and felt like but I decided to do the unimaginable and ASK for help. She had no clue what I was talking about. After 2 more fabric cutter ladies, one finally led the way. She showed me a bunch of fabric that looked and felt like suede. I said, "this is suede." She responded, "same thing." Oookaay. I gave her the benefit of the doubt and bought a couple of yards. At $8/yd it wasn't a big deal. I went home and turned them into bibs. First mistake. I guess I was too excited or too clueless to even bother testing the material first to see how well it would stand up to moisture. 10 beautiful bibs later, something in me told me I should test the fabric. It REPELLED water like car wax! I was mortified. The water just beaded off. Unfortunately, I had already mailed out a handful of bibs to my testers. Luckily, they're friends of mine so I was able to put a stop to them before they handed them out to their friends! Even though I still am just in the test-phase, first impressions are so important and not everyone is forgiving.

So after my microfiber fiasco, I'm back to my original fabric of choice. PREMIUM velour terry cloth. By the way, my friend who had received one of the microfiber bibs told me the fabric was actually microfiber suede. Who knew? Apparently, there is also microfiber terry cloth but I've yet to find those except sold as individual towels so if you know a source, please do share.

This week, I wasn't able to make as many bibs as I would've liked. The week was pretty full of Sammie related activities. By the time evening comes and she's upstairs with her dad, I'm already so tired and I learned that when I'm exhausted, I make mistakes. Alright. No more whining. Sending out this batch of samples is really exciting for me because unlike the first batch of testers, these testers are complete strangers to me. They are the moms who saw my message on their mommy-bulletins and thoughtfully responded to my call for help. And because they are not my friends, I believe they're feedback will be the most valuable and candid. I can't wait to hear what they have to say!

Goal Accomplished

I set out last week to make enough bibs to send out for more testing and I'm proud to say, I did just that. A girlfriend recommended that I make one out of microfiber. I thought that was genius! Microfiber has become such a popular fabric of choice these days, mostly for cleaning I think. Personally, I've never used one and I'm a little skeptical about its absorbency because it's so thin. Apparently, it's supposed to be even more absorbent than terry cloth. It is super soft and supple however. I guess we'll just wait and see.

Another friend brought up a very interesting point. She suggested that I include some sort of safety disclaimer when sending my bibs out for testing. I wonder if all other bibs have disclaimers? I'd better check on my next trip down the baby aisle at Target. It would really suck if I got blamed for some moron who chokes their kid with my bibs so I'd better find out more about this.

2 weeks ago, I posted an announcement on WAHM.com, to basically share the inspiration behind the creation of the bib and to ask for testers. Days went by and nobody responded so I was kind of disappointed but today, I got a response! A mom of twins shares my dilemna and wants samples! I'm so excited! This is progress!

I have 5 more requests for samples and I'm out of supplies so the goal for this week will be to do some shopping, hit the sewing machine and crank out some more bibs by Sunday night!

Working on the prototype still

After I received some really, really great feedback from my girlfriends, I updated my prototype again. I've lost count on how many prototypes I've gone through by now. Oh well. It's a process and I haven't given myself a deadline or any sort of time line. Who needs the added stress?

My friends have been sharing the Sammie Bib with their friends and the response has been good. They'd all like samples and that gets me really excited! I even created a professional survey for them to fill out online through surveymonkey.com. (it's free!)

So I've enlarged the bib quite a bit because it completely didn't even occur to me that terry cloth shrinks...a lot. I did receive good points for absorbancy and strechyness. I'm also experimenting with a different type of fabric. It's supposed to be even more absorbent than terry cloth but a hell of a lot thinner, which will be much easier to work with. After cutting through so much terry cloth and suffering from a cramped hand, I decided to take the plunge and invest in a better pair of scissors. I am in business after all. I think I've been putting up with the same crappy scissors for over 10 years now. So I went out and bought a pretty nice, heavy duty one. It even has a spring so you don't have to exert any energy to open it! I love it.

I was doing more research online and found some companies that will cut fabric for you from your pattern. Autometrix will charge me about $50 for 100 cut outs. Sounds reasonable, I guess. Pinning the pattern down and then cutting it out is the most time consuming part. There are also companies that will customize your label/tag. I guess I'd better come up with a neat logo.

Tonight, I cut out a bunch of bibs so the plan for this week will be to sew them up and send them out for more testing.

Starting Out

When my daughter, Sammie, was an infant, drool and milk would dribble down her chin and collect in the folds of her neck. Unless I was diligent about cleaning it, her neck would smell and sometimes develop into a rash! Traditional bibs didn't work because the collar would merely rest on her chest. So I made my own bib using terry cloth and a bit of elastic, creating a snug fit under her chin. Guess what? It worked! Some of my girlfriends are having babies now and are experiencing the same issues with their babies. So with their encouragement, I decided to try and get my product out to the market place.

I'm making 2 versions of the Sammie Bib. That's what I'm calling it now since Sammie did inspire its creation. It was originally called Dribble Bibble but unfortunately, that's taken. Then I thought of Giggles 'n Bibbles but I think that's too cutesy for my taste personally. One version will be for infants. The other will be for toddlers and will have a longer front, to cover more of the chest area.

The first thing I did was make a prototype. I sent them out to a couple of girlfriends. The feedback was positive. I'll have to tweak my design here and there but I'm pretty happy with my bib. I'm planning on sending out more sample bibs to friends and friends' of friends. The idea is to get them to share this wonderful product with every mom they encounter. As a mom, whenever I come across an awesome gadget, I always share it with my mom friends. So I'm hoping the same goes for everyone else. Another way I'm trying to get the word out is through mommy message boards. I posted on 2 message boards so far, basically putting out feelers and offering free samples but nobody has replied yet. So if you're reading this and want to see if this bib really works ('cuz it really does), let me know and I'll send you one.