Donations and Events

Hello all,
I know it's been a while since I last wrote but it's for a very good reason; I've been busy donating tons of time and Paw Pets to good causes! My most recent donation of time and toys went to Paws For Love in Santa Rosa. The event was very well attended and raised a bunch of money for homeless pets and found homes for many pups as well. I met some great new friends, sold some Paw Pets and was very excited to see the enthusiasm of bidders during the silent auction; some of whom had seen Paw Pets before and had great things to say and others who had never seen a Paw Pet but excitedly exclaimed things like "I want to play with one of these with Bruno... can you imagine how much fun?!?!"



It was a great experience to meet all of the dog lovers and enthusiastic members and volunteers for Paws for Love and was quite a nice feeling to know that my Paw Pets and I were helping raise money and find homes for pups in need. It was also very beneficial to go to the silent auction because although I frequently donate Paw Pets for auction, this was only the 2nd one that I have attended. I was shocked to see how different the two silent auction were and learned a great deal about what questions to ask when considering making a donation. Both silent auctions were very successful and I'm definitely going to continue to donate to silent auctions but things like whether or not the toys were bid on separately or bundled together with other products makes a big difference; especially in terms of marketing research and figuring out how much people are willing to bid on a Paw Pet (it's almost always the case that people are willing to pay less at auctions than they would in a store... it's part of the fun of getting a killer deal and doing a good t
hing).
If you are considering donating to a silent auction please contact me as I have some advice that I think could help you a lot and lead vastly improved benefits for you or your company if and when you participate. One piece of advice: See if you can control or have some say as to what your donation is bundled with and try to go to the event (be a fly on the wall) and see what people have to say about your toys when they don't think you are connected to them at all!

2010

Happy New Year!

Hello and happy 2010 to you, my few but always appreciated readers! My last post was December 7th and much has happened since then. Paw Pets recorded our first profitable months (Nov/Dec) and we've had a major increase in online sales (and boutique sales; especially in certain locations where we sold out once or TWICE between December and January 1st).

In addition, we've begun to successfully reach out and develop friendships and partnerships with pet organizations, large and small, local and national, who need donations, are looking for event sponsors, volunteers, participants and suporters. Please contact us with any such organizations that you know of, pet related or not, who could use Paw Pets to raise money for a good cause or make the world a better place for pets and their people. On that note, please contact us and let us know where you do your pet shopping so that we can make sure that Paw Pets are on the shelves.

Special thanks to: The Bark Magazine for their holiday product recommendation, Animal Wellness Magazine for their holiday product recommendation, and to Dogtime Media's secret shopper for trying Paw Pets and telling his/her readers how great he/she thinks they are!

We had our most successful events ever at the end of last year; thanks in part to Paws With A Cause, who set up a present wrapping for donation booth next to ours and whom we donated 10% of proceeds back to in support of their mission to train dogs for the disabled. Other thanks to Bobby of George and Len and Leslie of Nitro Dog for allowing me to set up my booth in front of their stores and talk (and sell) to customers about Paw Pets; it was quite profitable for all parties involved!

There were other wonderful moments for me personally and for Paw Pets but now it's January and it's time to learn from our successes and failures in 2009, focus on the present (today's sales and partnerships), and begin to plan for the future. It is my goal this year to make sure that everyone in the country with a pet has heard of Paw Pets and that every boutique, whether they carry Paw Pets or not, knows that those who have Paw Pets love them! We also expect the launch of the 8th Paw Pet as well as the return of Bamboo Sharkiana (who sold out in 2 months!).

I have other goals related more closely to revenue, brand building, and the future of Paw Pets but right now my head is in the moment and the steps that I must take to reach my lofty goals must be taken one at a time.

On a personal and Napa related note, I would also like to announce that we officially launched the new logo for the Napa Valley Men's Luncheon Club (NVMLC), which is a group comprised of 250 of the most influential men in Napa (and me). We are bringing the club into the new decade with a snazzy new logo, which I had the honor of designing (below), e-newsletters, and an eye towards bringing more youth and more members into the club without outgrowing the banquet halls in which we meet.

Again, happy new year to everyone and if you have any ideas for Paw Pets, are looking to exchange links, want to make some money by helping us sell toys, or don't have a Paw Pet yet please contact us through our website at http://www.getpawpets.com or ian@getpawpets.com and we'll make it happen!

May 2010 grant you love, health and happiness.
I

Event at Geoge Berkeley

I hope you all had a great weekend! I worked most of the day on Saturday but that was actually one of the best parts of a superb weekend. I showed up at George, a wonderful pioneer pet boutique on 4th street in Berkeley, and spent the day selling Paw Pets, chatting with locals about pets, pet toys, dog toys, cat toys, and of course, all the cute things that pets do. Many brought their dogs out with them and it's always great to meet people and pups who love Paw Pets and/or interact together in fun ways like trips to the local pet boutique.

I was also lucky enough to spend a bit of time with "the Dunbars" of Dog Star Daily, who are some of the most influential trainers, dog lovers, and activists in the area... and other areas as well, I must add. They were kind enough to support me by buying a Paw Pet from George and in return I gave them one to try with their pups. I hope that they will write an article or post a video on their website but even knowing that they are about to have a ton of fun with their new Paw Pets is enough to make it all worth while.

As a matter of fact, knowing in general that Paw Pets are making so many people and their pups happier and healthier is all I need to know to make all of my efforts worth while. Don't get me wrong, it would be an amazing way to make some money as well and I hope that some day all of the happiness that Paw Pets bring to pups and their people will turn into a lucrative business but smiles, laughter, training, and fun are all that I need for now.

Thank' you, Bobby, for you kindness, support and for having me at your wonderful boutique for such a fun and successful Saturday! I look forward to my upcoming event at Nitro Dog in Lafayette (a benefit for Paws With A Cause) next weekend and many more (including our next event at George on or around Valentines Day).

Please let me know if you would like to have an event at your store or know any organizations looking for holiday donations!?!?

I hope everyone out there has a GREAT week ahead of them.
I

Incentives and the "free" culture

Happy holidays from Paw Pets!

This year each large Paw Pet (Crocobob, Hippolynne and Sharkiana) comes with a free purple, pink, or green Santa hat as long as supplies last.The hats are not only cute on Paw Pets but are pet-safe and fit comfortably on pup!

It's interesting trying to figure out what kind of incentives really drive customers to your product. Last year I had a few great events at local boutiques with good sales but always had leftover toys at the end of the day... Then on December 22nd of last year my mom bought some small santa hats that fit nicely on the toys to add a little cheer to my holiday display. To our surprise, not only did we get more attention, but people rushed to buy the toys expecting to get that hat too. When I informed them that the hats were just display items excited shoppers began bargaining with me: "what if I bought 2"? or "Throw in a hat and I'll send everyone I know to your website"? Eureka, I thought, we have to make and sell these hats next year!!!


Shortly thereafter I visited one of the wonderful boutiques that carry Paw Pets and found a PILE of little Santa Hats for pups (or children, I imagine) discounted at 75% off... they weren't selling or didn't sell nearly as well as the boutiques expected... And yet, I was upselling from $25.00 to $50.00 simply by including a hat similar to these $5.00 hats that were now piled in the discount bin. What was the difference? Why were people willing to buy an extra Paw Pet just to get a hat that they could buy for $5.00 or less from pet boutiques or other retailers?

Although I have developed lots of theories and intend to test them this year, I believe it really came down to in the end was the idea of "free". People didn't mind buying an extra toy, spending more than they thought they would as long as they got something "extra" or "free". They were making a large purchase decision or bargaining excitedly just to get the little hats based on the idea that they were getting something for free... The idea of our new "free" culture and how to make money on "free" is discussed at lenght by Chris Andersen in his book "FREE". If you are in an industry where you can add value with somthing free, provide a free service and charge for the upgraded service, or are in sales at all, I highly reccomend reading this book. I would suggest, however, sticking to the chapters that most relate to you and your industry.

I'll let you know how my santa hat experiments go this year.
I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving!
I

The Task Tornado

Recently I've been working on "allowing" things to happen instead of "forcing" them. I am preparing to leave for a week and I have so many things that I have to do I could easily turn into a tornado flying through tasks. But today I am focusing on staying calm, relaxed, and focused.

I try to remind myself that I am at my best when I move slowly and deliberately rather than trying to multitask a million things at once and "make" things happen. Rather, everything works better if I move in a calculated way through logical thought processes, identify the problems or solutions, think how best to begin or make changes, and then take action. Although sometimes it's hard to stop the brain form working at a million miles an hour and hard to relax our bodies while we move through the tasks and related stresses of the day, it is counterproductive to tie ourselves in a frenzy of knots. I pride myself on my ability to do many things at once and work my way through almost any situation but today I am allowing myself the space to move at a slower productive pace knowing that everything will work out as it should.

I must also note that I am awaiting a shipment of Paw Pets from my puppet maker, Moe, so that we can distribute them to stores for their holiday purchases. I WANT to make sure that all of the stores get their Paw Pets as soon as possible for holiday sales and I WANT to get this done before I leave on my trip. But there is nothing I can do at this point to expedite the process or FORCE the Paw Pets to arrive. So instead of fighting, stressing, tensing and forcing my way through the day and through this issue, I am going to work hard all day, get done what I can get done, and allow myself the peace of knowing that the Paw Pets will arrive when they do and that they will sell like crazy as soon as they hit the stores (especially since we just got two HUGE features in the holiday issues of THE BARK, pictured above, and Animal Wellness Magazine)!

The Value of Brand Equity

Crocobob is one of our first two Paw Pets, which you probably already know but a re-introduction is always better than none at all. We created cartoons in order to increase the level of product identification for children and adults who care that Paw Pets are more than just a toy. But what is that really worth? How does one judge the value of having a cartoon, or company that goes beyond the obvious to create layers of brand equity? It's tough because you can't track sales or quantify results... so what do you do?

I'm sitting in a coffee shop working on Advanced Financial Management (a class for my MBA) and I can't help but think about my real company and if I'll actually use the formulas... I am now memorizing how to find over and under-applied overhead costs, overhead rates, weighted average process costing method and direct material and labor variances etc. etc. and I can actually see the real world connection to my business.

These are things I WILL be calculating when my business grows, these are things I should be quantifying but will not. Why you ask? My answer is clear and it's because I am in charge of marketing and sales. Once we have figured out that our margin is good enough to keep us in business then making predictions as a young company isn't worth the time; things just change too quickly. Please don't tell my partner I said this because he lives for these things and is constantly reminding me that we aren't out of the red yet... (We've been in business just over a year so this is not only common but if your business is doing well you are probably deeper in debt because you have placed re-orders and are spending on advertising etc. for the next big push.)

I remind him that there are more benefits to our costs than direct sales such as the factors that one must qualify and not quantify; how much have we spent on our branding and how much is it worth to us that countless magazines and trainers now publicly support our brand and mission? How do you quantify things like brand equity that are only based on quality or qualify-able? Until someone makes a cash offer the worth of these things is technically $0, but in reality, aside from the toys themselves, and possibly including them, our brand supported and fortified, is the most valuable part of our company.

Although it's difficult to see the value of qualifyable things, such as a logo or name and the associations attached to them, they are the soul of your business. If a company goes public you can immediately see what this soul is worth because the value of the company must now be judged as a whole, not just as a reflection or balance of assets, sales and the quantifiable. Think of Coca Cola and ask yourself if you think that their logo is worth more than all of their other assets? (I would argue it is, and so much so that it's actually a silly question)

So always make sure that your are weighing in more than just the quantifiable and thinking about the intangible aspects of business. If you are a chart person, make a 3 dimensional chart with 3 axis and plot points for your sales and growth but also plot the value of your brand equity, relationships and the rest of the intangibles that make businesses successful.

Events and Customer Support

What better way to support your sales and local stores than getting out and being part of the community?

When I first started Paw Pets I thought that it would be enough to make an innovative, extremely durable pet toy that pups and their people would enjoy. It was naive, I admit, but it seemed to me that with the economy strong and the pet industry growing, Paw Pets would be a success right off the bat. The excitement that Paw Pets received (and still receives) when pet owners saw them indicated to me that they would be jumping off the shelves and that we had a hit on our hands. Little did I know that excitement does not directly equate to sales. It also didn't help that the economy took a serious turn for the worse and that the pet industry began to see problems as pet owners lost their jobs, houses, and budgets for wonderful interactive pet toys. So my feeling that I would have to do little or no work but rather just sit back and watch the locations that sold Paw Pets make money and watch happy pet owners walk out with Paw Pets dog toys and cat toys was clearly misguided.

I will not get into all the gory details of how I recovered from this misunderstanding as I have written about this in the past; but it was a slow uphill road as I contacted trainers, editors, magazines, pet owners, pet store owners and everyone else I could connect with in the industry. Finally, a year after our initial launch Paw Pets is a brand that people know, respect, and believe in and we are spreading across the states quickly. But even now, with the best pet reps in the business out there making some great sales and customers frequently telling me that Paw Pets are by far their favorite pet toys (dog toys and cat toys), I must still be aware of pulse of the pet community. I must be at ground level, talking to stores, talking to customers and showing people that I care and that I want, need, respect and will act upon their input.

I walked in the St. Helena Pet Parade this weekend as a Jedi and my pup, Leo, was dressed as Yoda. We had a great time, I met a bunch of lovely pups and their people and I gave Paw Pets away as prizes to happy adults and children who eagerly awaited their turn to walk in the pet parade. I also carried a sign that had the Paw Pets logo and the names of the local pet toy boutiques in which Pets are on Sale. I got some great feedback and met some new people and pups (hopefully they will go out and buy Paw Pets) but most of all I was at ground level with my finger directly on the pulse of the local pet community.



What I hope you take away from this blog is that when you start a new company, no matter how great your idea may be, it is going to take hard work, dedication and the ability to become a part of the community that you hope will buy your product or service. And once you are a part of this community there is no sitting back and relaxing, you must continuously grow with the community, keep an eye out for changes and adapt your product and your message to their needs before your competitor beats you to it!

Happy rainy Monday everyone.