Overseas Manufacturing

I received one of those form letters that your senator
sends you to update you on all the wonderful things they are fighting for...

Senator Levin was letting me know that he is continuing
his fight for fair trade terms and I felt compelled to answer
his shiny letter with a bit of reality from a small business
owner trying to build a business involving manufacturing.

My reply follows:

Dear Mr. Levin,
Thanks for the update however you are overlooking some major issues as to why American manufacturing cannot compete globally. While the things you mentioned are important, the simple fact that the corrupt health care system in this country makes the overhead too high for the US manufacturer to truly compete. All large companies must offer health care and that is either going to come out of worker's wages or get bumped to the consumer mark-up margin, making the product far more expensive than the competition. Or other cuts will be made by the manufacturer in the quality control or supply quality to offset the expense. That produces a sub-standard product.

A couple other important things I experienced while looking to do my own manufacturing in the US is the fact that there seems to be no such thing as an efficient all-in-one facility in the US. We are not a "factory based" country and that drives up manufacturing costs when you have to outsource every step of the supply chain. The staff you need to hire to baby sit all those suppliers to just to get the simplest item made, adds tremendous cost. Prohibitive costs.

I am in the apparel business which has a much simpler supply chain than the automotive industry and I was driven to an overseas contractor in order to offer a reasonable wholesale to keep the product affordable to the end customer. Fair trade subsidies were not the issue. I struggled for months trying to make my products here, experiencing rude customer service, indifference to my company and lack of desire to produce my product due to the smaller qty requested because I'm a start up. Those experiences versus a warm reception from China wanting to work with me and help grow my company and product (for which they will benefit greatly when my volume increases as I establish distribution channels). That coupled with the fact that I have one contact to deal with in China and she takes care of every aspect of the supply chain to get my product from concept the export. She is not a third party "coordinator." She is employed by the facility that makes the product. Because it is good business. They are efficient, polite, eager for our business, never mind the competitive price. I toured the facility in mainland China and it is not some third world sweatshop full of underpaid child workers. It is a state of the art facility full of happily employed adults. None of which appeared to be sick or dying from lack of adequate health care.

So while fair trade is important, so is the fact that the US is broken on the inside, and virtually impossible to work with (from a small business standpoint) due to what seems to me to be unorganized elitist status.

You most likely have not bothered to read this far, but if you have, you might now have a little insight into why one Michigan small business felt they had no choice but to take their manufacturing needs overseas. Without my relationship with China, I would not have a product, thus not have a growing company. I am not proud to manufacture overseas, it's simply a matter of survival.

Fulfillment

Just when you think you have it all figured out,
something new pops up.

Hey! It's like having kids all over again!

So I toured the new fulfillment facility this morning.
While moving a lot of merchandise right before Christmas
is not a fun thing to think about, I could not be more
thrilled with the prospect of the company I found,
Efulfillment Services.com
Just the level of care the owner took in showing me
around and walking me through the process of how
they do business, was amazing. I can't even post
a testimonial yet and I highly recommend them.
If you go to the testimonial page on their site, I think
it's safe to say I will be satisfied with their service.

Great customer service is so important. That is something
I strive to always offer my customers. Maybe because the
company grew out of a customer based place. I was
just a mom who was looking for a product. I know that
the people who find me (hello people) are like me,
folks looking for a cool new product.
And if you aren't happy,
I'm not happy
so I extend great service to my customers.

Efulfillment Services does the same thing. I appreciate that
and respect their business model.

That's a big thing with me. I am a principal based person.
So it's not always about how cheap you can get something.
It's also about how intact your moral fiber will be
at the end of the day.

I truly believe there can be a balance of cost-effectiveness
and at the same time, doing the right thing, in big business.
Some would call that naive but then,
I can sleep at night I don't have to watch my back.

So that's something.

Jenservation: Don't be afraid to leave your comfort zone
to explore more efficient and cost effective ways to do business.
Even if it inconveniences you enormously at the moment. It is almost
always easier to "stay the course" but you would be foolish to do that
if the situation calls for change.

Holidays

Hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving.

I am faced with moving my inventory
which is bad because I want to move it before Christmas
and that won't work for people who want Stylease
for Christmas.

But it's good for the company because it's long
overdue and finally I was pushed to do it by a few
repeated instances that forced me to draw the line.

It's a colossal thing for me to deal with as I leave
for Los Angeles Dec 21... I would rather be here to
oversee the operation but the timing might not work out...

Next post: More stuff. (I know, promises promises)

Starting Up Part Deux

Ok, I got a little distracted there with that last post.
And had to take a moment to celebrate our change in government.
Oops, sorry, this isn't a political forum but suffice it to say...
I'm a happy person these days. (Gross understatement)

Back to our little discussion.
I miss Jenservations and they've only been missing for one post.

You know, I stated in the Starting Up Part 1 post
that I didn't get help from anyone
that I pretty much did it all myself.
While that is essentially true, I need to qualify it.
I contacted professionals to do certain parts of the process for me, like
Kathlees Shannon small business atty.
and Jason Young patent and trademark atty.
And my manufacturing partner in China,
And my family, who are investors,
several bookkeepers who for some reason seem to keep disappearing...
Hmmm, good thing they are not in charge of my deposits!

So by doing it myself, I meant I didn't consult anyone for how to do stuff...
I figured it out step by step.

Save one. One of the most fabulous people I have had the pleasure of meeting.
Phil Green of the SCORE organization. (See sidebar for a link)

I did not have a clue how to go after financing.
And it wasn't something I was particularly fond of... fund raising.
Patooey!
My Ad guy Brooks Richey over at Adhocracy recommended I contact
Score. "Brooks..." I said. "I'm not looking to get lucky just now... I need financing!"
Not THAT kind of score you dim-wit!

As it turns out the Secret Curry-flavored Organization of Rich Elders
was the best call I could have made! Wow! Yum.

Then I contacted Score. Which also worked out well.
I picked my score consultant for his name and location.
How superficial is that?!
Philip Greene, New York City.
Good thing his name wasn't
Herblemer Dingleplotz, Hell Michigan

Aaanywho. Phil has been absolutely essential in countless ways.
He's a mentor
He's a financial wiz
He knew what a business plan was and how to write one!
And he taught me how!
The fringe benefits are that he has very powerful, influential friends
and an amazing network of professionals who are all top in their field.
He's also a great cook
And a fabulous person.
And now a close friend.

G R E A T Organization, Score.
And free. I know. Hard to believe. But true.

I promise you, next post will be more Q and A
about getting started.

Here I am toiling away. It ain't perty, but it's cozy and cost effective.

The reality is...

When you go into business by accident
flying by the seat of your pants
running with an idea that you think is a good one
tapping an entrepreneurial spirit you didn't know you had
inspired by your kids
an idea that would never have occurred to you
had you not embarked on the journey of trying to raise
reasonably well behaved offspring...

Well, the reality is
you become rather busy.
So busy, apparently that two weeks pass
between blog posts.

Well THAT was fast.

I think prioritizing in one of the most challenging
things in starting a business. For me anyway.
Everything has to be done all the time.
Lists help. I was never a list maker but I think they are important. Just by virtue of writing one, it helps organize your thoughts. In my opinion
(which is pointless to point out, since everything here is my opinion, but I digress)
In my opinion, another essential item is the PDA phone that has a reminder function for tasks you give yourself. My Samsung i730 is quite possibly the most important piece of equipment that I own. The little polite dinging thing just went off. I'm sure it is reminding me of some vitally important thing I must do.

The problem with the way I use it, is that I have so many reminders, that I delay them as needed when other things butt their way in that seem more important, or less time consuming... So when the dinging sound goes off about every 10 minutes, I go, "yeah, whatever".

But an important thing to note is that the PDA alone never worked for me because I was not in the habit of carrying just a PDA. But you always have your cell phone with you, so those incessant reminders can taunt you at all hours. It's terrific!

I'd better go check what is so important, that I need to be reminded about it at 11 pm on a Monday night... I'll bet you 20 bucks it's something I postponed, and will postpone again until tomorrow.

Don't forget to vote!

Cheers -