Last week, I spent (wasted) a lot of time spinning my wheels and thinking about decisions that were irrelevant at the moment. Paralyzed with small details that did not matter and stuck in over-thinking the “what-ifs,” I created a perfect storm for myself. This “time suck” went on for the greater part of the week until Friday afternoon when ironically my kids had a day off of school and were dominating the house. Like a crystal ball, the right choices came to me out of nowhere. It was really great to end the week with such clarity. It was cause for a celebratory burger and fries outing with my boys!
As my bio states, I am sharing my journey that started with a spark of an idea and now is in the prototype phase heading to market soon. I want to be able to show all the down and dirty aspects of being a mompreneur from beginning to end. Last week was one of those rough spots that all too often, nobody talks about.
At the present moment, I am gearing up to conduct test marketing which has me working on a number of points including really fine-tuning the prototypes and revising the NDA for test marketing. Somewhere in this process, I became TOTALLY hung up on creative details (that do not matter right now) AND mass production. You ask, What specifically about mass production? EVERYTHING. Where?, When?, How Many Pieces?, and every other nitty-gritty detail that I could dream up.
I promised in the beginning that I would share my mistakes with you and not only my accomplishments. Well, here you go — last week was a HUGE MISTAKE! I wasted a big chunk of valuable time on everything mass-production-related when all the information that I needed was right under my nose. A few weeks ago, I threw out a question regarding manufacturing overseas to the Nation’s Business Forum. I received some valuable information that I, of course, ignored with my tunnel vision. That was really where the mistake began.
The Nation advised me that I was not ready to think about overseas manufacturing, and it would be unlikely that I would have the minimum numbers to even order from overseas. Now, I know this all to be true! Last week was a different story. I banged down the door of every resource I know with mass production questions. Thankfully, a number of people tore me away from this obsession. I was given the advice to concentrate on the project in front of me, my family, and health leaving out all other distractions. This started the fire in getting me out of this mode of thinking. I also went to yoga (did you read my challenge to myself on clearing my mind at yoga?). Last week there was a substitute teacher at yoga, who was unbelievably hard, so I had to stay focused and stop my reeling thoughts. Thankfully, the fire to stop obsessing continued to burn.
Over the last few months, a group of women, who are in the Women Entrepreneurs Group here at the Nation, and I have formed a support network with each other. This has been the most amazing part of this entire process for me. We are totally different women at various stages in very unique businesses that connect and reflect with one another. Just Awesome! I credit this group directly and indirectly with fully grabbing me out of my state of craziness and extinguishing my crazy thought process. Simply reading their blogs, gathering their information, and feeling their processes snapped me back to reality. Nicole Fende, of http://www.smallbusinessfinanceforum.com/, who in general is an amazing wealth of knowledge, set me on the straight and narrow. Thanks Nicole!
As for the answers to my mass-production questions, I still have none. What I do have is plan for the current moment. A plan to make the prototypes and first-run locally. I like to move fast, but I need to constantly remind myself “slow is fast” in this case. The underlying moral of this long-winded anecdote of my glowing mistake is that I am nowhere near the point of exploring overseas mass production and The Nation works!
There is something to be said for peer-to-peer interactions, and this group of women entrepreneurs that I have linked up with are a built-in sounding board. I was afraid to post my questions or originally join any groups, but now I am so happy that I did….To me, the best help is real-life help from those that have lived it!
Do not be afraid to put yourself out there and ask questions and link up with others in similar situations.
Actually, listen to the answers!
Stay in the moment, and deal with what is in front of you.
Catch up on my real-life adventure at backngroovemom!
