In the Face of Uncertainty

Stay True.

The start of the new decade has not brought the uplifting promise I thought it would. Tragedies in the world, continuing health care challenges and economic uncertainty all seem to bring happiness to a halt. Happiness is . . . well, that is another subject. This is business.

MommyLoves to Chat has been silent this past summer. We have been clinging as best we could to the slippery sides of this current worldwide economic colander. The economy has always represented a colander to me, but now the drainage holes are much larger and there are many more of them, so that it looks more like a very thin cheese cloth with huge holes than a colander.

Yes, I love to cook.

Cheese cloth or colander, it doesn't matter when faced with day to day operations and the way we do business. We don't change our philosophy. We don't change the way we treat our customers. We don't change the quality of our products. When we lose a vendor, admittedly, it is hard to find another of the same quality, but it ultimately works out. When a wholesale customer goes out of business - that one is much more tricky, however we gain more retail business online. Our customers still tell the difference between our products and those of our competition, and our customers still talk to their friends about us. Buying is still personal.

There are many factors that determine whether or not a company stays in business, and stays larger and more solid than the holes in the colander. Integrity and Flexibility are probably the most important. Integrity can't be taught, it must be chosen. Social Media represents flexibility AND integrity to me. The more a company can get its message out to possible customers, the more successful it will become.

Social Media, for many people, is just a many headed gossip column. I won't let MommyLoves simply advertise to our followers in our Facebook page and Twitter feed, and try to hook followers and customers with the celebrities who have enjoyed our products. I want to impart our philosophy, integrity and quality to our current and potential customers, and let our products and customers speak for themselves.

In the face of uncertainty there is fear, yes. Fear then compounds the uncertainty. I must admit that I have cut back on many things because of the fear of slipping through one of those holes, and being sucked down the drain. But, fear will never penetrate my integrity.

What about you?

Are you the owner?

I recently had a customer ask me during a phone conversation if I was the "owner".  "Yes," I replied, "Why do you ask?"

She told me that I "sounded like an owner".  This made me stop and think.

The structure I have created for MommyLoves is very different from the average American small business.  Everyone who works for MommyLoves does so in their own office.  Everyone who works for MommyLoves is self employed.  Everyone who works for MommyLoves is an "owner".

How can we do this you ask?  Well, we hire other businesses to do work for us.  Tina does our graphic design, Laurie does our PR, Angie does our alterations, Annette does our phone work for sales, Lisa makes our diaper bags - just to name a few.  We have people who can help us in our production office during peak seasons, and all these people reside in my neighborhood and across our country.

I created this business when my sons were 18 months and 4 years old, and my goal was to be able to run my business while I stayed home and raised my sons.  It seemed like an insurmountable task trying to design and manufacture clothing in my home office, but I had learned when my second son was born that I could do anything!  (More on that in another blog.)  I never wanted to go to an office away from home, and be in some meeting when my kids got home from school.  Having employees come to my home every day for their jobs would not be feasible, so my solution was to hire other like-minded self-employed people.  With all the technology we have available, those people can be anywhere in the world.

You see it in T.V. commercials, you see it in chat rooms, you see it in blogs - people in their home offices or spare bedrooms conducting business around the world.  Right here in Northern California, in the foothills of the Sierra Mountains, MommyLoves has received orders from such faraway places as The Northern Territories of Canada, Malta and Norway.  My kids get a geography lesson with each new order, and each new order comes right here to my little Mac.   The order then goes across the country to be filled, or stays right here for my UPS driver to pick up.  Either way, an "owner" has filled it.  No one who works for MommyLoves simply puts in a day at the office doing a job!  We all go way beyond that.  Our days are more like "split shifts" where we work maybe 6 hours, then pick up the kids from school or meet them at the bus stop, then get them a snack while they do their homework, then make dinner, then work a few hours more before going to bed.  I can email Tina, Laurie or Angie at midnight, and I usually get an answer back at 12:01 a.m.

Now, I know many businesses like Restaurants or Grocery Stores cannot operate this way, but many others can.    This is not the future of the American Workforce.  This IS the American Workforce.  Wherever you work, can you honestly say you "sound like an owner"?  If not, the customer can hear it and may take their business elsewhere, and in these economic times we all know what happens next!