the hundred dollar business

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Traction on the Project

Back in August, I started The Cozy Home Spa project and the major things accomplished were:

• Developing the products.
• Setting up the online store at www.thecozyhomespa.com.
• Having a booth at 2 county fairs (6 days total) in order to get some market feedback.
• Creating a database of potential customers to market to.
• Getting photos of the products taken to display on the website.

Taking A Vacation

I did the project from July 28- August 26, and around the end of August, I put it on the shelf. I took a vacation for 10 days (which was awesome!) and when I got back, we started our new semester at the Eastern Idaho Entrepreneurial Center where I work.

At any rate, one of the main reasons I put the project on the shelf was because I’d put several hundred dollars into the development of the products, and wasn’t seeing a return in sales on that cost.

Like many entrepreneurs, I was focusing more on building products that I liked, but not necessarily something that other people (customers) need or want. So I wanted to get a better idea for what the market need/preferences are.

Another reason is that I’ve learned from past projects that when you start to get tired of something, it’s better to put it aside for a while and regroup, take it easy, and then pick it back up later when it makes sense.

Recent Progress On the Project

So, between the end of August and now (6 weeks or so), a few exciting things have happened for The Cozy Home Spa:

• Used, tested, and made adjustments to all of the products, and have a core group of products that are effective and marketable.
• Received some feedback from customers who used the products and know which ones are the favorites.
• A few times I’ve done a couple of “Girls Night Out at the Spa” workshops with friends, and tested the products on other people to know what they like/dislike about using them.
• All of the recipes have been finalized, so the products come out the same every time I make them.
• There have been 6 or so online orders, and I’ve gotten some feedback on what works/doesn’t work about the site.
• Ran an AdWords campaign and have a better idea of what keywords bring people to the site and how much more effort I’m going to need to invest in a web marketing strategy.
• Transitioned from working 5 days a week, to only 4– with Fridays off specifically to work on my own entrepreneurial projects or consulting.

Why You Really Do Need A 30 Second Elevator Pitch On Hand

The best thing that’s happened, is the result of seriously good karma:

One of my new clients at the Entrepreneurial Center does the purchasing for a local grocery store’s organic section, and invited me to pitch to her manager. I was at the store one day, and she called him and asked if he could talk with me about The Cozy Home Spa.

He said he was available, but was on his way to lunch– so I’d only have about 30 seconds.

(The funny thing is, we often talk to entrepreneurs about having a “30 Second Elevator Pitch” ready– a concise, persuasive explanation about the business opportunity in case you ever run into an investor, etc. and have a quick chance to make a pitch).

So, of course, I didn’t have my OWN pitch ready–! I had about 20 seconds between the time the phone call ended, and the time he walked over to where we were– and believe me, I was panicking!

At any rate, the main thing I mentioned was that I had already a database of customers to market to (90 or so I’d gotten contact info from at the fairs), and that I’d be willing to put on a few “Girl’s Night Out at the Organic Section” promotional events at the store, to help bring in customer flow.

I think I framed the pitch in that way because I didn’t want to only ask for a benefit to my business (that they’d provide shelf space for the products), but that I could also provide a benefit to the store as well (helping promote the organic section, which has been a new endeavor for them this past year).

The good news? The pitch was successful, and I got a green light to get some products ready for the shelves!

Big Obstacles, As Usual

Of course, no entrepreneur’s adventure is without huge hurdles that can seem to sap the joy out of the opportunity, and leave you wishing you had more time, money, employees, brainpower, arms, or whatever else would make things run more smoothly.

The big obstacle with getting products in the store was dealing with UPC/barcodes. During the pitch, the manager of the store mentioned that my products would need to be scan-able with barcodes.

“Oh, that’s no problem at all,” I quickly responded, thinking, “What the heck do I know about barcodes??”

As an entrepreneur– if you tell me I have to do A, B, C, then that’s what I’m going to do. The how or why is irrelevant, even if it’s a challenge. This is one of the things I love about entrepreneurship– bulldozing through challenges and things you don’t know, to create and capitalize on new opportunities in the marketplace.

So anyway, it’s taken a couple of weeks to figure out this whole barcode issue. It was discouraging at first was because my initial research showed that the main way to purchase barcodes costs $750. That price is based on companies with $2,000,000 in revenue annually, and obviously is a bit prohibitive for a small Hundred Dollar Biz project!

However, barcodes can also be purchased individually for a cheaper cost, and we just happened to find a local contact in this small town I live in, with experience working with barcode issues, to show me the ropes.

The Sum-Up

So things are rolling forward, and I’ll be taking the first order of products in tomorrow. And that is the long and fun update on The Cozy Home Spa!

Thanks for your comments and feedback on the website– I’ve been a terrible blog comment responder in recent weeks, but I do appreciate your input and implement your suggestions into the project as it goes.