"Pansies," from the GraceNotes Greeting Cards collection.
In Part 1 of Starting a Greeting Card Company, I outlined the backstory of starting to form a partnership with a friend to sell our photography greeting cards online. Here in Part 2, I continue with the next steps, or as I sometimes refer to it, the “messy middle.”
Just getting out of the gate, we ran into hurdles. A joint online venture definitely gave us more to consider than we had originally anticipated. Especially because we weren’t living in the same state. To use a third party marketplace, which we originally thought would be the easy-peasy solution, was not so easy for our situation. For a partnership, one person has to act as the primary shop owner, and take full responsibility for the legal and financial stuff. The sales tax has to be calculated based on the zip code of the shop owner. We’d need to open a joint business account to manage the finances. And there was the question of holding inventory and shipping from two different locations. The list goes on, but suffice it to say that the “fun” factor was quickly receding, and with this set-up, there were countless ways our friendship could be put to the test.
It was time to reassess.
At that point it was July 2021. We’d been slowly working our way through the process since about March. There were definitely moments of doubt on my part. What was the right next step? Should we continue? On my side, I knew that if I didn’t try something, I would regret it later on. I really didn’t want this to be added to the (long) list of things I talked about doing, but never pursued.
So, in July of 2021, my friend and I had the chance to meet face-to-face. We sat outside at a picnic table, and hashed everything through.
Long story short, in the end we both decided we wanted to continue, but instead of working on a joint venture, we decided to each pursue individual paths. However - really important to point out here - we would still continue to partner as “accountability buddies” to help each other keep on track. Since our friendship had formed through a photography group, whose objective is to collaborate with like-minded people, this made perfect sense to us. It still does. Collaboration and support are really important parts of the process.
We had each taken an important step, but it also left me thinking -
Now what do I do?
So I took my own advice to start before you’re ready, and just started breaking down the tactical steps. I knew it was important to at least try, and approach the project as both an experiment, and a learning opportunity. I figured out how to set up a website with a shop, how to manage sales tax, and started to stock a modest amount of inventory. I designed a newsletter, built an initial email list (friends and family - I am forever grateful) and talked to a local store about a wholesale arrangement. I was ready to launch at the end of November 2021.
Note: The rest of this article isn’t going to be about tactical steps, or sales tracking, or anything like that. There are so many good articles, blog posts and books out there on these topics. If that is what you came here for, no worries if you stop reading and continue on your journey! I wish you the best!
From here forward, instead, I want to go back to the concept of “accountability buddies” that I mentioned above, and the power of connection.
It has been critical for me on this path to have a strong support network. There is absolutely no way I would have kept going if I didn’t have an inner circle of trusted people to provide advice, encouragement, or just lend an ear when I needed it.
Every couple of weeks I scheduled a phone call with my original business partner to update each other on what we were doing, what we had learned, and review our next steps and timeline for launch and beyond. Then on the next call we would do the same thing, and report on our progress. This provided general deadlines and accountability that I really need.
And then a funny thing happened. About this same time I reconnected with a good friend and former colleague, who is an expert in Marketing. I honestly can’t recall the event that prompted the reconnection, I only know it was meant to be. I started scheduling monthly calls with her as well - which continue to this day. In a nutshell, she has been incredibly patient as I navigate my way, and always provides gentle but tough love when I need it. Which is often. And - bonus - it has rekindled a treasured friendship which had gotten off track only due to the general busyness of life.
So to sum up this section, a critical lesson I’ve learned is the importance of finding your people. A small group of trusted friends and advisors to call on, so you don’t feel like you have to go it alone (which doesn’t really work anyway.)
And - connecting with others makes it much more fun.
Question: Who in your network can you tap on the shoulder to help you think through and implement that business idea you’ve been kicking around in your head?
Part 3, which will be the third and final installment in this series, I will explore the role of Intention in any business project.