Google Adwords 101

I am struggling with Google Adwords. They are so darned picky. First of all, you have to make your ad just exactly the correct number of pixels. Here is my ad: http://www.sobebabies.com/about-us.htm.
I think it came out great. Well, that's not exactly it - the final copy has some text. Anyway, I really like the look and feel of it and I would love feedback. Does this make you want to go find out more?

The adwords thing is a bit overwhelming but I do think after a bit, I am starting to untangle it all. They write like you are some sort of advertising expert and are familiar with all the terminology. It's a crash course. They do have pages of definitions. For me, it would be more helpful to have all the strange worlds clickable so I could get a definition on the fly. Or hover over the word and having the definition pop up. And then there are words that I don't get in context. My ad is slowing. Huh? I have been speaking English, and well, I might add, for, well now, ALL my life. And that' s a new one on me!

Inventory! Little hands! Need I say more?

Every time I have to ship a product, I have to dig out the proper bin, keep my 15 month old angel OUT of all the interesting stuff (heck, for that matter, I have to keep my 5 year old out of all the interesting stuff as well!), get the package, get the label, get the documentation and packing slip, get it all in there, the whole time wrestling with my baby! It's so funny! She wants to get her little paws into everything!

I always feel like I should get some kind of award for successful completion of this task.

Now, getting the packages shipped is, I have to say, a breeze, because then I keep my baby on my back and my 5 year old helps with getting the sticky label from the machine and putting the packages in the bin for mailing. We love the new automated system at the post office!

How is this possible?

Work at home mamas don't sleep. How can we possibly? We're with our kids all day, and the work still has to get done, so at 1am, it's off to work we go! At 2am, it's back to bed to get the baby back to sleep and at 3am, it's off to work we go, again!

I can only hope it will not always be like this. I am glad to say that most of the work is quite interesting or I don't think it could hold my focus at these wee hours.

It is quite refreshing to be doing something that is causing my brain to exercise a bit as I do so much that although it's quite demanding in some ways, it isn't always using much of my brain. My brain sometimes starts to feel a bit floppy in my head from lack of proper exercise. Now, it's like that in-your-face over-zealousness of the newly converted gym rat; agog with ideas and implementations and always on about it any chance I encounter a live one! So sorry in advance to anyone who I've cornered and droned on to! I'll be back to "normal" at some point, I'm sure!

Learning how to run a business (my free MBA!)

I feel like I've hit a lot of hurdles with my business, but I guess the truth is that the universe has been pretty kind to me. Still, having a neighbor rip my inventory out of my hands was a bit irritating (a box was marked delivered days earlier and I didn't have it - on a whim, I asked my neighbor for my box, which indeed was being held hostage and which, in the end, I had to nag UPS for for almost an entire day.) I'm still wondering what the post office has done with a box of baby carriers that I had totally presold. I didn't do that because I wanted to - there was just so much demand that I couldn't keep up. The box has been missing for over a month.

I have done what anyone would. Got myself a business credit card so I can get more inventory in and have what people need!

The shipping continues to elude me. I feel like there is some trick to it. If I just find the right carrier, I can get my baby carriers out 2nd day delivery, insured, for $4 apiece. It isn't so, but I keep hoping!

It's funny. I always sort of envisioned distribution as not very much. Sort of like, what's the added value? So, now that I'm doing it all, I can't believe how little profit I can make on each baby carrier! I am not complaining, but I am surprised at all the overhead. I pay customs on the carriers from overseas. I pay PayPal merchant fees. I pay shipping. I pay for my website and all the associated costs. I pay for advertising. Business cards. Brochures. Wow! Then there is the digital camera for the website photos.

Plus the time that goes into it. The website is a bit addictive and I can be found in the wee hours tweaking and improving. The inventory needs organizing and the accounting needs to be kept track of. All that requires software (I bought QuickBooks but have yet to move out of Excel) and time. Free classes, time on the phone with customers. Time, time, time. And care. I realized I had a few items in inventory that I didn't know about. And also that I thought I had a few items in stock to sell that I was actually sold out of. I see why stores periodically do inventory. I am not sure with 2 small people underfoot how I can physically manage to do inventory! I do have it all organized in bins but little hands do want to get in there when I open them up!

It's been great fun so far, learning all about how to run a business.

Startup Business

So, I'm a business woman now. It's funny; I worked in the high tech industry for 14 years, but I rarely felt I belonged. Even though I was highly successful, I felt a fraud the whole time. I certainly found my niche as an AP stay at home mom, but, as many moms find, after a while, I did need to do something more. Never mind that there already aren't enough hours in the day and that time is picking up speed. My birthday is coming up in a week and I could really swear that I just had one, what, a month or so ago. But I digress. Get used to it; it's fun!

So anyway, I, unbeknownst to me, planned to start my baby carrier business nearly 2 years ago. I know this because I was poking around my Palm Pilot and found a business plan, which, as it turns out, is pretty much as it happened. My plan was to sell some baby carriers while I was pregnant, sell more once the baby came along because then people would want what they saw me wearing, and then as she got older, get more serious about teaching others baby wearing and sell a lot more carriers. It is interesting that I mapped this all out because I don't remember doing it but it's exactly how it played out.

I really have enjoyed sharing the art of babywearing. I love when I see that light bulb go on for people - when they find their carrier - the one that works for them at that moment. It has to do with style, comfort, color, and the size of the baby. There is no one baby carrier for everyone, but there is often a best fit. Price shouldn't enter into it; settling for a baby carrier that you don't really want will only cause you to continue to hanker after the one you really want until you finally break down and get it. Of course, I don't generally tell people this as it sounds rather pushy. I do sometimes tell them what I see in their eyes - that they are not in the right carrier.

All this is a labor of love. As is, it turns out, all the stuff that goes on behind the scenes. I really had no idea. I mean, okay, I knew I'd need a website and an accountant and money to buy inventory and a place to store it, and to advertise. But each step is taking about 100 times as long as I thought it would. I guess I expect too much of myself. I think I should be ahead of where I am at any given point and then I feel guilty. Working on that! The good news is I can definitely recognize that I am successful for only having been incorporated for 3 months or so and for having a website up for less than that. It's a miracle how anyone is even finding me online. I've tried and it's no small feat. It's one thing I'm working very hard on behind the scenes. It's something that I am putting a lot of effort into, on a daily basis, that won't show to the untrained eye at all, but the results will show, now that I know what to look for.

Well, back to it, then!