Not my own, Herrington Catalogue's.
And I have to say I am a little upset with them. I was their vendor, I drop shipped a few thousand baseballs for them this past Christmas (2017 xmas). I was only paid for about 200 of them. Why? Because they were in bankruptcy, but know one knew it, not me, and I'm sure not any of the vendors they were about to not pay.
I know it is hard for catalogs, and it is a shame that such a nice one is going belly-up (another product of our times) but I blame the people a little bit. I was working with a few people there who knew I was a 1 person company, had to know how hard it would be if I wasn't paid, yet they encouraged me to continue to drop ship for them. I worked with them daily, I got to know them. They acted like everything was fine, and then once all the orders were out they vanished. Never answered a phone call or a text to say how sorry they were. I know it is silly in business, but a sincere apology can go a long way with me.
]]>So I began my Instagram account a few years ago and I was so excited at having this way to post pictures of my product to people all over the world. I thought, awesome, my product will be a perfect fit for IG b/c all the advice columns were saying have 'interesting content'. Well, painted baseballs are super visual and very interesting content! (I know I am a bit biased) And although that has drawn many viewers to my Instagram page, I think it takes a bit more to keep them there.
I wanted my IG page to be pure, full of only my baseball designs and no other content. But honestly I have found that over the past year, adding photos that show a general love of the game has added much more to my page then just my own cool baseball pics. I have a video of a 3 yr old at his first baseball game, and great sayings about baseball, it adds another element that I think was lacking. Now it is more of a 'for-the-love-of-the-game' page, which is what I was ultimately going for. On IG I am @unforgettaballs it's a great place to see the baseballs in painting progress, come take a look. :)
]]>Wow guys you won't believe this, after 20yrs working out of my house I have finally rented a office space in a shared- office space location called 'Pipeline' in Philly. Can't tell you how strange it is to be in a new place!
I never had anyone else talking but me- and was basically rolling out of bed and into work in t-shirts and shorts. (I might still be doing that, but I fix my hair first) Really loving it. It was great to have a home office, and really convenient- but kinda lonely. When my kids were little, and my dog was little there was more a reason to be home. So until we get a puppy I'm trying out a new locale. Hope that I will be able to paint baseballs here- I haven't started with more then computer work. But I want to paint another baseball stadium soon. I'll report back how it's going!
]]>Small business lessons: So here is what happens- I try very hard to wear my 'big picture hat', but as a one person business I get very easily distracted. I have to look at each day and spend time working on parts of my business that look to the future and the growth of the business, it is so easy for me to get caught up in artwork and then forget that I am suppose to be running and growing a business!
I have to remember that book 'the e-myth' go read it if you haven't yet- will really give you the right perspective on how to run your business.
Big picture, all the way, every day. that is my rhyme of the evening! Good night!
]]>Well as the media maven that I am (read newbie) I am trying my next platform and seeing if snapchat could be good for business.
What I like about it:
What I don't like about it:
I will keep you all posted- meanwhile- go check me out there! @unforgettaballs
]]>So as a one person business I wear all the hats. This can be fun b/c I never get bored only painting all day, or only making sales calls, I get to mix it up a lot. The downside is I can pick and choose what I like and ignore what I don't like to do!
So my latest idea (stolen from someone's online suggestion) is to create an Excel spread sheet- my husband will be so proud he loves when I use Excel for anything- and on this sheet I have organized my work hours for the week. 9-5 and divided up my time so I am making sure to spend time each week on wholesale sales, and painting, and bill paying, etc. My next step is to organize it also by month, b/c some weeks are different then other weeks, but it's a good start. I also made a sheet of all my new projects and what I need to do for each.
Isn't it incredible how light and fluffy you feel when you are organized! I'll keep you guys posted if it works!
]]>I should end the blog right there with the title b/c I actually don't have an answer!
Having worked out of my house for so many years there is a lot to be said for it. I can be around for my kids and dog when needed, my wardrobe is shorts and t-shirts, and I can work anytime of day. But in the age where everyone is moving from office to home-office I find myself pushing against the current.
The advantages of being in an office (even a shared space which is what I would do) are huge- people to see and talk to, the feeling of being out in the world and not home alone at a desk, reasons to wear more then t-shirts...the list goes on and on! I think I am a little people starved! Being an owner of a small business that sells gift baseballs is awesome- but I think I need to take this show on the road. Now I just need to find some really affordable office space...that may be my next blog!
]]>I started in the last few months taking on custom orders for baseballs- it's fun and it keeps me painting which is the part of my business I enjoy the most. But here's the problem- I'm a slow painter. Always have been, it seems the slower I am, the better the result is. Probably b/c my work is meticulous, it needs a lot of careful attention.
But whatever the reason, people who are looking for a baseball gift, for a baseball fan, love the idea of creating a personal baseball design. Which is wonderful, except that to create designs as detailed as what I sell on my site takes about 20 hours. The balls on my site are prints of that original painting, so I can sell them for $25, but the original would cost about $1100. Maybe I will put up a custom orders section where I can explain this on my site!
]]>I think the hardest part of my job, and most artists turned small businesses would feel the same, is stopping myself from sitting around talking to people and creating new designs for them all day. It is very easy for me to get happily lost in the parts of my business that I like the most without staying focused on the big picture.
My greatest discipline is trying to keep the number of designs I offer down so inventory does not get out of control. All of my designs need to be in stock, so the more I offer at once the larger my stock needs to be!
]]>So to be completely honest I really started as a football fan instead of a baseball fan. I went to the Giants and Jets games with my dad on Sundays and really didn't follow baseball. This of course being completely not my fault b/c I'm from NJ and we have no team!
Anyway, I painted this baseball years ago and gave it to my dad. :)
]]>Well it's coming up to that time of a year- every time Valentine's Day gets close I think of 12 new valentine's day designs I want to create and offer- have to stop myself from making too many- but just seems like such a fun ball to make.
Maybe its the girl in me- paint baseballs for a living but still can't stop dreaming of painting hearts on things! :)
]]>So my new concept is to create smaller runs of some specialty baseballs. I have created the Captain ball, and now a SF Giants 3 world series win ball.
Both I painted and posted as I created them on Facebook and Instagram.. It really helps to get fans of the particular teams looking at the baseball and giving suggestions of what's important.
This pictured SF ball I posted as you see here- and I had several people ask why there was the blue on the ball (it actually is the KC Royals crowd b/c that is where the last win took place) but the SF fans wanted their ball to be more orange and black, so I was able to modify this before going to print! Very helpful b/c when you work alone it's hard- sometimes it's nice to step back and get other feedback! So thank you all! And if you don't follow on FB or IG please do- could use your thoughts!
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So every year I struggle with what to offer for Black Friday/ cyber Monday- b/c here's my dilemma- this time of year I sell a lot of baseballs to customers for holiday gifts, etc for the baseball fan. But I have a hard time
offering a big sale for people to get a discount on a certain day when other people have just paid full price the day before. I somehow think that the people who just bought their baseballs will feel badly that they bought at full price, but I can't afford to have a sale all the time- so there is my dilemma. Anyway, I will offer something for cyber Monday- maybe it will be an add on instead of a discount. :)
]]>So here was my first big break- Hammacher Schlemmer put my baseballs on the cover of their catalog in 1995. I think my mom ordered like 10 catalogs! It was my first real lesson in the ways of the world- not 3 months before this happened I had contacted HS myself to see if they were interested in my baseballs...
I got responses from their sales team that they were not interested and going to pass- then I joined with another company that had a salesman who knew people at HS and BAM I'm on the cover! (don't believe anyone who says contacts don't help :)
]]>Ok, so who thought that preordering was such a great idea for my little business?! I have never done it before b/c I didn’t have a good system of holding people’s orders, and didn’t have a way to show people the gift baseball designs I make before they are ready for sale. But that has all changed now for 2 main reasons:
1. By showing people on my instagram/ facebook page the flat artwork for my baseballs, they can see what the ball will look like even though it is out flat.
2. With a wordpress site, I can take a pic of my flat artwork and post it with my baseballs on my site- I don’t have to wait for the finished baseball to come in!
With so many designs of baseballs I sell, this really helps to figure out how many to print at one time! So this pic is my Yankees tribute to ‘The Captain’ a great player, and an inspiration to everyone- even a Philly fan like me.
]]>I was in a mad rush to paint the Royals stadium baseball knowing that they are in the World series- and all the fans would be so excited since the last WS win was 1985. Funny how some stadiums are just a breeze to paint, while others get tricky.
The tricky part of this stadium was that I want to paint the name as it appears on the building, as the 'outer panel' on the ball. But for Kauffman, they just put up a beautiful front to their stadium with all this glass, but it is not where it says 'Kauffman' on the building, so I needed to pick the side that had the name written on it.
So I painted this version a few diff ways- best part about paint- when you change your mind you just paint right over it! Here is a pic of my finished painting. I really hope to have this baseball in stock by early December.
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