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