managing inventory

Managing inventory is kind of a scary thing. Sit on too much and you have your cash tied up in unsold golds, not produce enough and you have a lot of backorders and some unhappy customers. We are still learning everyday but have gotten better at it. Producing things JIT (just in time) is a good way to manage cash flow if you can stomach the rush to produce the goods when they are ordered. It's tough too because typically the more you produce the cheaper each item is but that just means a bigger chunk of cash upfront. Or, you could have less produced at first and just make tighter profit margins until you have more volume. Right now the cheapest thing for us to produce is the cards - it's still the core of the business and doesn't neccessarily require too much upfront costs because we can always print them oursleves to see which designs sell well and then outsource the printing if the design is popular enough that we know it will sell. I think all of this is one of the toughest parts of managing a manufacturing business. I've been thinking about taking a business class.

what happens in vegas stays in vegas

We celebrated my husband's 30th birthday in Vegas this past weekend with 4 other friends. We left NYC on Friday and got back Monday evening. That's one of the beauties of having your own business - being able to come and go as you please. We got to check out the Vegas club scene by going to Club Tao which I thought was fun - they played a lot of 80's classics which brought back so many memories! Of course when we got back we had a pile of orders to fill and a bunch of unanswered emails. My husband brought his laptop to Vegas with him but we could not find internet connection anywhere! I think we're going to cave and get a Blackberry although it's something we're still unsure about. We think the Blackberry will be like a ball and chain to our business. When we go away it's nice to really just get away and not check email - ignorance really is bliss sometimes! =P Does anyone out there with a Blackberry feel that way? We will be travelling a lot this year though - we're doing the Atlanta International Gift and Home Furnishings Show next month, SF Gift Show in February, and we may be going to Hong Kong in the Spring to check out some sourcing shows - a Blackberry would come in handy.

Here's one of my favorite quotes - it's actually an old Chinese proverb. I refer to this whenever my business hits a roadblock and I feel like I'm putting so much in but not getting much back. "Be not afraid of going slowly; be afraid only of standing still."