Media Coverage

What an exciting week this week!  The article in Inc. Magazine came out:

http://www.inc.com/magazine/20100501/how-to-manage-your-own-pr.html

Mommy Millionaire interview part II and III http://www.mommymillionaire.com/radio/tag/leslie-haywood went out, the interview with Hybrid Mom http://www.hybridmom.com/articles/work-business/entrepreneur/grill-charms-essential-grilling-accessory-mom-behind-invention is up and I finally made it to Rachael Ray!!!  Okay, so I didn’t get asked to be on the show like I had dreamed of, but Grill Charm™ are in the June/July issue of Everyday With Rachael Ray!  I’m just so excited I can’t stand it!!  It’s very fitting that all this is coming out now, as I’m right in the middle of telling you how I do this stuff.  I’ll continue with more on “how to”.  (The Inc. article goes into some detail as well, but most of it you know, if you’ve been following me) 

 On with more “social media” and the new PR:

 Another trick of the trade in the 2.0 world of PR and marketing is “friend”, “fan”, “tweet” or reply to the blog of the contributors to your favorite shows and magazines.  They are much easier to access then going straight to Matt Lauer or the editor of Bon Appetite Magazine.  

Another true story:  through an urgent HARO tweet I was hooked up with a freelance writer who was working on a story for Health Magazine.  Her story (and subsequently mine) was published in the April issue.  Now she and I have become “friends”.  It’s not necessarily the editors that you want to get buddy buddy with because they work for 1 magazine.  Writers contribute to MANY media outlets (and they are a lot more accessible).  As a matter of fact THIS MORNING, I had an interview with the co reporter who worked on the Inc Magazine story because she was working on another story about podcasts and how to prepare for various media.  She saw that I had so much to say for the Inc. Magazine article, that she kept me in her rolodex and called me last week wanting to set up another interview for another story she was working on (which we did this morning while I was sitting in my minivan, as usual!)  Also, with a polite RT and @ mention on twitter to Food Network Canada, Grill Charms ™ were featured up there as well:

http://community.foodnetwork.ca/blogs/foodnews/archive/2010/04/17/pic-of-the-week-charming-steaks-on-the-grill.aspx

 BEWARE though!  DO NOT STALK!! (or even appear to be stalking!)  I always conduct myself with “charm”, grace (well….my “grace” is variable…., I’ll admit I can be rough around the edges, but that’s only AFTER you get to know me !), and the utmost respect of ones privacy.  I throw out a line or two to a person and if they don’t bite, I can take a hint and move on.  Some people use the “tenacious” approach, but I don’t really agree with that for me personally.  It’s not my style and I think it smells of desperation.  If you have a good story to tell and give them something they can use, if they can use it, they will. 

 Keep track of all your press mentions with Google alerts and post those mentions on your blog or news page with a link to the hit and by all means, Tweet and FB the link.  Press begets press.  It’s truly a snowball effect.  In your pitches to new media (as well as new and potential customers), make sure you mention your successes.  “Grill Charms™ (recently featured in EveryDay with Rachael Ray)……” is a GREAT opener!!  Have a great week folks, and we’ll talk more soon.  

Leslie Haywood, Founder and President of Charmed Life Products, Inventor of Grill Charms™www.grillcharms.com

Here is a podcast I did the other day and in true “Mompreneur” style, I multitasked with the best of them!  To listen, go to http://www.toginet.com/shows/believeinyourfairytale  and find the one for 4/14.  My  segment is around minute 30.  The show was live and the show time was such that I would not have time to pick up my 7 year old from school if I did it from the office, so I went to her school early and sat in the carpool line to do the show.  You do what you’ve got to do right?! 

 I just got back from a cousins wedding in upstate New York and while up there, Canadian TV ran my episode of Shark Tank.  I started getting all these orders and wholesale requests from Canada and couldn’t figure out why!  Thank goodness for Twitter!  A Canadian follower filled me in.  I’m going to keep this blog post a little short because I just got back and have lots of work to do for our wonderful neighbors to the north.  Thanks for the support folks!

Okay, on to a little bit more about social media.  With social media you can immerse yourself in PR and Marketing 24/7!  IMO, The single best free PR tool you can have is HARO.  Help A Reporter Out.  www.helpareporter.com.  For those of you not familiar, it is a free service where 3 times a day you receive information regarding stories that media of all kinds is working on.  The urgent queries are sent out via Twitter, @helpareporter.  I can talk all day about HARO, so if you want to know more about, we can talk after or just sign up and you will be amazed!

Something else I do, once a month I have in my favorites the web addresses for every major television show I want to appear on and just see if there is ANY possible way that I can any topic they are looking for.  They all have little sections on their websites usually entitled “be in the show”. 

Right now, The Bonnie Hunt show is looking for Kid Inventors

Ellen Degenerous wants to know if you have had a crazy hard sale find

Martha Stuart is looking for a guest with a “unique craft” that you can show her on the show.

Oprah is looking for folks to talk about how a past guest has changed their lives.

 The list goes on and on and on.   All of the things I am telling you now are what got me on ABC’s show Shark Tank, which ultimately pushed me into profitably in 2009, my second year on the market (which is almost unheard of)  I’ll tell you how it all came together. 

There was a show a while back called “The big idea with Donny Deutsch” which I watched religiously.  It was all about entrepreneurs and small business success stories.  On the show’s “be on the show” section of the website, it instructed viewers to send in a video about how the show helped you, which of course I did.  They loved the video, called me up and flew me to CNBC studios on two separate occasions to do segments on the show. 

Fast forward to this summer.   Out of the blue, I got an email from a producer with Mark Burnett productions saying they were shooting a new show for ABC.   He had been on the social networking site for small business (Start up nation) and saw that I had won Start up nation’s Home Based business of the year contest.   He went to my website and checkout of my “news page” which had a link to my YouTube account and my appearances on The Big Idea, liked what he saw, and the rest is history. 

 I’ve got more true life stories coming up next week… stay tuned

 Leslie Haywood, Founder and President of Charmed Life Products, Inventor of Grill Charms™www.grillcharms.com

Hello folks!  I hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to take a little break from my social media series that I’m doing because I’ve got other stuff to chat about.  I’ll get back on topic next week.  Well, I’m back from a week in of skiing with the family in Aspen/Snowmass CO and I’m refreshed and ready to work!  One of the reasons why many of us become entrepreneurs become entrepreneurs is because of the illusion of free time.  It’s ironic though, that once you do become an entrepreneur, no time is really “free”.  I’ve got some really good examples of this, both good and not so good.  A lot of work goes into gearing up for a vacation.  Before I got,  I try to tie up any loose ends I have out there so I can “not work” as much as possible.  There are always going to be things however that just can’t wait.  I did a great job of balancing that sometimes this past week, then a really crappy job other times.  You know me… I’m going to give you the good, the bad and the ugly!  

First of all the good.  While out there I received a call from Inc. Magazine saying they wanted to set up a photo shoot.  A few weeks ago I did an interview with a writer for a story on social media and how web 2.0 has somewhat evened the playing field for us small time entrepreneurs who don’t have $10,000 to spend on a fancy PR firm.  As with most media (and I’ve said this a million times) I don’t believe anything until I see it!  So even though we did an hour and ½ long interview, I still didn’t count on the article running.  While in CO, I got an email from the Photo Editor at Inc. wanting to set up a shoot!!  YIPEEE!!!  NOW it seemed like the article might run.  I explained that I was out of town until 11:45 Saturday night so we set it up for Monday morning!  (THIS morning!)  I’m not sure which are bigger… the bags I unpacked from skiing or the ones under my eyes, but regardless, the shoot was fun!  (Come on photo shop!!!)  :) The photographer came to my house and we did shots of me in my little rinky dink office as well as out back with the grill and my Grill Charms apron doing some grillin.  It was great!  I could have done without the gnats though… one actually got stuck in my lip gloss and we had to take a 5 min break to rescue him.  There was no hope.  (not that that bothered me, I had lost a pint of blood by the time it was all over)  The article is supposed to run in the May or June issue.  Keep your fingers crossed. 

Next good thing that happened during vacation was I received a call from a great store / customer of mine called Bibelot in St. Paul Minnesota.  Unbeknownst to me, they submitted some of their grilling gadgets during the appropriate time on the editorial calendar to “Every Day with Rachael Ray”. I think you know where I’m going right?  The buyer called and said that Grill Charms made the final cut for the June / July issue!!  She had already put in her reorder for the season, but now with this new information, she quadrupled it!  So if you live in the St. Paul MN area, be sure to stop by Bibelot and say hi

Now I’m going to give you a real live example of how I DID NOT manage my entrepreneurial duties well.  I know full well that I really shouldn’t be saying this to a gazillion friends and strangers all over the internet, but I haven’t ever held back about mistakes I’ve made in the past and I’m not going to start now.  So…. Out there on the mountain internet service (well…not so much service, but a combination of service and my ancient lap top) made it…. Well…. Let’s just say “not ideal” conditions to work.  I also promise my husband to try not to work too much while we go on family vacations, so I only did what was truly necessary.  (Keep in mind, thanks to my wonderful warehouse and fulfillment center Trending Solutions www.trendingsolutions.com orders ALWAYS go out, so not to worry about that!)  Before I had left, I had been working with a new account.  And I’ll just tell it like it is…. It is FrontGate.  Yep, Frontgate!  HUGE right?!  We’ll… I had been approved as a vendor a while back and had a note to check back with them sometime mid April if I didn’t hear from them.  So… while on vacation I get a fax in my inbox (electronically) and I couldn’t see who it was from, so in trying to keep with my promise to not work to hard, it was one of the emails I ignored until I got back.  When I opened it up, my heart sank!  It was the PO from Frontgate and ALL OVER IT, it said “PLEASE CONFIRM RECIEPT WITHIN 24 HOURS”.  It was even in BOLD!  Aggghhhh!!!!!!!  That was Thursday and OF COURSE, the second I read it, I faxed and emailed confirmation, but that was Sunday.  Today is Monday and I have not heard back as to my fate.  I was/am sooooo mad at myself!!!  So much for juggling business and pleasure well… I apparently SUCK at it!  Lesson learned.  From now on, at least OPEN every message!  The ship date for the PO isn’t until next week, so hopefully my slack @ss confirmation will be forgiven, but I could just kick myself for making such a bad impression on the first PO.  Agggghhhh!!!!  I physically wince when I think about it!  So there you go…. All my dirty laundry for the week.   Hopefully my successes this past week inspire you and my failures help you realize that we are all are human.  Ciao for now!

Leslie Haywood, Founder and President of Charmed Life Products, Inventor of Grill Charms™www.grillcharms.com

Bringing a product to market is one of hardest and most rewarding things I have ever done but like most folks who have never done (or tried to do) something before I had some misconceptions about what to expect.  Now that I have little bit more experience and know so many fellow Mompreneurs® and inventors, I want to share with you a general rule of thumb if you are thinking about taking the plunge.  Now I’m not sharing this with you as any sort of discouragement, but I just feel that if people are more prepared, they won’t be disappointed or be too hard on themselves later when things don’t go the way they THOUGHT they should.  (Because what you thought, is probably wrong!).  Okay… here goes…. This is short and sweet:  The first year on the market, expect to HEMORRHAGE money.  The second year, you are doing well if you break even.  The third year, you should be making a profit.  There are always exceptions, but if you go into it with your eyes wide open, you won’t be nearly as disappointed when your QuickBooks reveals the ugly truth every December 31^st. 

I did turn a modest profit in year two but that was entirely because of Shark Tank.  I was extremely fortunate.  Now again, I’m still standing by what I have always said about media…I CAN NOT rely on that (or any other media hit to come) to carry me through year 3.  This time next year do you think anyone will remember me from that show?  NO.  Sales sales sales is where the money comes from.  What’s a little discouraging to me is that what I really SHOULD be doing right now is hitting the tradeshow circuit hard, but I just can’t.  With my husband’s job as a pilot, he’s only home 15 days a month, and so child care is a HUGE issue.   Last year Pa helped out TREMENDOUSLY because he was retired and he would pick the kids up from school etc… but now what he’s gone, it just puts too much stain on my family.  So now, I need to work on a plan B. 

I’ve got a new sales rep that I have high hopes for and I just signed on with a distributor for the state of Hawaii.  I’m really excited about that!  I’m hoping for great success out there.  They grill all year round and if they do well enough, maybe it will warrant a family / business trip out there to visit J  hee hee.  I grew up on Oahu (Pa was stationed at Pearl Harbor) so I have a very special place in my heart for the island.  Since moving away in 3^rd grade I have been back 3 times, but that was BC.  (Before Children). 

Here’s a short little lesson on Distributor basics: Distributors are companies that buy and store inventory and sell to retailers.  They are “middle men” so to speak.  They buy your product is bulk (for less than wholesale) and are responsible for a certain geographic area. FYI, distributors will usually require a gross margin between 20-40%. When working with a distributor, there are many things to take into consideration.  Most will want exclusivity for their territory.  In my case, it was just Hawaii, so exclusivity was not a problem for me.  I don’t have tons of Hawaiian stores beating down my door right now, so that was fine.  I do feel it is important to put in writing the annual or quarterly sales or purchasing “quota”.  It needs to be reasonable and attainable and something you both come up with together.  If the quota is not met after the specified time period, then the “exclusivity” becomes null and void.  Also the terms should be able to be reevaluated and adjusted as both parties see fit every year or two to insure it is still a win-win for both parties.  That’s the only way a relationship works.  Well, I think that’s all I have for now.  Chat with you soon

Leslie Haywood, Founder and President of Charmed Life Products, Inventor of Grill Charms™  www.grillcharms.com

Hello all! I hope you all have your DVR’s set for 8:00. The hype is pretty cool! They are leaking all kinds of little teasers. On Friday I appeared on a local TV show called LowCountry Live. Here is the clip from that: http://www.grillcharms.com/demovideo.html

Tonight I’ll be on twitter at #sharktank while the show is airing. I’m having my very closest friends and family around me to share in the moment. We are keeping it small because it’s going to be hard watching it. In case you don’t have all the pieces of the puzzle, this was all about Shark Tank and I couldn’t say anything:

/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=20108&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=back&start=0

I’ll be reliving “the event” for the 3^rd time. It will be hard, but in a strange way, I feel closer to Pa when doing Shark Tank stuff. The two events are so intertwined for me that I can’t really separate the two. A physiatrist would have a field day with me!

So I have done all I can do. Every buyer I know has been made aware, every media outlet I can think of has been notified, and now it’s out of my hands. Hopefully my dream of having Grill Charms™ in every home with a BBQ is on its way to fruition! (Okay… so maybe that dream is a TAD bit lofty, but if you’re gonna dream, dream BIG right?!)

Tonight I’m going to try to tweet as much as I can live during the show. To follow I’m www.twitter.com/grillcharmer.

The Sharks are

@TheSharkDaymond
@robertherjavec
@infomercialking
@ BarbaraCorcoran
@kevinolearytv

You can join me tonight at #sharktank. If you don’t know much about twitter (and believe me, I’m no expert) and want to join in on the party, I’ll give you the REAL easy 411.

Sign up for an account at www.twitter.com then go to www.tweetchat.com and you’ll be asked “Hashtag to follow” and simply put sharktank. You will then be in on all conversations “shark tank”.

If I don’t see you tonight, I’ll write when I can REALLY talk about what happens in the tank! Start chumming the waters!

Leslie Haywood, Founder and President of Charmed Life Products, Inventor of Grill Charms™ www.grillcharms.com

It is so ironic…  Last week I was going to post an entry about the biggest lie in business and it related to Press and sales.  I’m going to post it now and hope beyond hope that the biggest lie turns out to in fact be the truth.  Here it goes:

“I’d like to share with you one of the biggest lies about business and a mistake that many new inventors and entrepreneur make. 

I naively thought (as you might too) that Press = sales.  That is simply not the case….unless maybe you get on Oprah.  PR is necessary and gives you the creditability to go GET the sales, but it is not the golden goose that newbie inventors and entrepreneurs think it is.   I thought that a few big newspaper articles, a national cable TV appearance and a few national magazines would mean life on easy street.  NOT SO!  There is no substitute for good ol’ fashion pounding the pavement.  Making sales calls is where my money comes from, not from an article in a magazine or a few appearances on The Big Idea.  Had I understood that sooner, I would have made a lot more sales calls early on and wouldn’t have been so preoccupied with the press.  New entrepreneurs think that there is some ”golden ticket” out there and I’m here to tell you, it’s a lie.  Don’t get me wrong, PR and marketing are important, but you have to understand what it is, what it does and how to use it to increase revenue.   It (in of itself) is NOT instant millions! Press alone does a lot more for your ego then it does for your bottom line. Now I might wind up eating my words someday and lord knows, I sure hope that day comes, but if you are looking for that 1 golden ticket or are basing your business plan on fame and not sales, you are setting yourself up for disappointment.  I do what I do to keep my name in the media to continue to build brand awareness, but I no longer hold out for that “one big break”.  Sales Sales Sales is where my bread gets buttered. “

Since Shark Tank has come along, I have talked with some new friends who have been on the show the past few weeks and the ones I have talked to have said that being on the show (regardless of whether they got a deal or not) has been “life changing”.  Maybe, just maybe Oprah is not the only golden goose.  Regardless, I still stand by my original statement in that basing your business’s success on press is a BIG MISTAKE and in most cases, if you don’t parlay your media attention into something more then your 15 minutes, then you will be no better off a month down the road, then you were before you got your “big break”.  I can’t wait to put this little experiment to the test.  7 more days and counting!!!  Now, in order to maximize my 15 minutes and try to turn into 30, I am trying to do all the “right things” such as notifying other media, current customers, target customers and pie in the sky accounts as well.  The day after the show airs, my press release will go out to the media and I’m already setting up interviews with folks who have been there for me in the past.  I’m trying to do all the right things to make this attention do more then just flood my inbox with people wanting to know if I can get them on the show too or soliciting everything from closeout inventory offers to warehousing.  I do know one thing for sure…..  sitting back on my 15 minutes would be a HUGE mistake and it’s going to be my job to use the attention for what it is… a door to get more sales and not rely on it to bring sales all by itself.  In the days and weeks after the show, I will call every account I possibly can.  24/7 sales baby!  Then and only then, I think it will it be everything I hope it can be.   

Leslie Haywood, Founder and President of Charmed Life Products, Inventor of Grill Charms™  www.grillcharms.com

Here are a few links and stuff for you:

http://www.uberapparatus.com/grill-charms-grilling-accessory/

http://www.toiletpaperentrepreneur.com/blog/how-to-increase-retail-sales-video

If you have a small business or want to help one, here: shinealight.ivillage.com

With October being Breast Cancer awareness month I have been sending out press kits to my “short lead media list” regarding The Pink Collection.  I have my media contacts in two categories.  My long lead which includes most magazines, and my short lead which includes newspapers, TV and radio.  The magazine’s editorial calendar is about 6-9 months out so I submitted my stuff to them around the first of the year for October.

Okay… enough small talk, I’M GOING TO BE ON ABC’S SHARK TANK!!!  OMG, that felt good!!  I have been holding that little secret in for MONTHS.  Well…. Not that I was going to be on, but that I even taped the show.  Up until you see yourself on the screen (which I did in the promo on tonight’s episode) there really is no guarantee that your segment will air.  Now that it’s “public knowledge” well…. It’s public knowledge.  It’s fun to follow the sharks on twitter. Sometimes you get an inside scoop!
@TheSharkDaymond
@robertherjavec
@infomercialking
@ BarbaraCorcoran
@kevinolearytv

Also there is a show on TV LAND called “How’d you get so Rich”.   Joan Rivers is the host and she is HILLARIOUS! There are a few episodes where she features a few of the sharks. Just to get to know them better, check out this one to meet Robert Herjavec
http://www.tvland.com/prime/fullepisodes/howd_you_get_so_rich/season1/

and

This one to meet Kevin O Leary:
http://www.tvland.com/prime/fullepisodes/howd_you_get_so_rich/season1/index.jhtml?episodeId=22365

I’m hoping she’ll do the other sharks too in upcoming episodes.

Now whether I sink or swim in the Shark Tank, you just have to tune in and see.  I am still not 100% certain when my segment will air.  I’ll let you know as soon as I know.  I’ll be back again soon!

Leslie Haywood, Founder and President of Charmed Life Products, Inventor of Grill Charms™  www.grillcharms.com