This New Year’s Day will be the 2nd anniversary of the launch of my stationery business, The Pet Set.
A person with a healthy sense of self-esteem might look at that personal milestone as an exhilarating acheivement.
How do I view this upcoming date? With utter panic and fear.
Why?
Why would a person who left Corporate America to tackle what many Americans hope for — to become small-business owners — feel anything less than euphoric by what has been accomplished, in a little more than 2 years?
Why does every Pet Set sale give me only a momentary blush of pride — followed …read more

I did not know that the day after Thanksgiving is was known as Black Friday — in other words the busiest shopping day of the year. Maybe that’s because, I wish that Autumn could just be about leaves and tweed. I mean come on. Why don’t we just re-label Autumn: Hallo-giving-ismas!
Anyway, for those of you are not as cynical as I am about this insane time of year (read: more organized) I’m sure you’re already thinking about your shopping lists.
BUT, I have to mention this — as someone who has been closely tied to the pet industry since having …read more

Recently I learned a very important lesson in what NOT to do when trying to drum up business.
Potential customer contacts The Pet Set, asking about our products. She says she loves everything we do, so unique, gorgeous…blah, blah. She is opening a new “luxury” pet boutique and our products would fit in perfectly.
Great! Her new store is close to my house, so I decide to make a visit. I get all dressed up, put together presentation materials and LOTS ‘O SAMPLE PRODUCTS. I could empathize with her — I was in the same spot she’s in now. She’s new …read more

The Pet Set was honored by the International Greeting Card Association with a special award last night. As I got ready to go to the ceremony, I thought — gosh I wish I had a tan — so I applied Jergens’ new Natural Glow lotion as a desperate effort to improve the look of my winter, sallow skin. This product produces a very delicate “tan” after consecutive use.
The aforementioned award particularly recognizes exellence in design and composition — which means that many, many details had to be considered as I developed the cards. For some reason using the Jergens product …read more

Here is an e-mail I received at my Pet Set address recently: r u around this wk? I was insensed, no greeting, no salutation, no details and no etiquette!
I could never send a note like that to someone (especially to her business address!) and expect to be taken seriously.
I’m assuming this person was text messaging me from her cell phone. Text messaging has mutilated our language into an unispired collection of abbreviations and acronyms. You know this is coming, the Motorola Shakespeare series: 2 b or not 2 b.
When I see commercials for text messaging, I always …read more

I was going to write to you about the importance of organizing a structured and efficient meeting….no, seriously I was. But this post is perfect for observing Earth Day because I felt like I was being buried this week.
Remember the words from the John Lennon song: Nobody told me there would be days like this? It turns out that on some days I feel as if nobody told me much of anything.
Sales for Pet Set are off for the month of April, so super genious entrepreneur that I am, I wander over to the StartUpNation.com forums and asked a simple …read more

I wanted to get to this post before it became time to take Trotter out for his walk. I tossed and turned all night, thinking about deadlines, ideas, commitments for both The Pet Set, Family and Blog Fabulous. (I TOATLLY forgot that this Sunday is Easter, that’s how busy I’ve been.)
It dawned on me that much of my worrying and sleeplessness resembled what my condition was like when I worked my “real” jobs in Corporatetown:

Obsessing over marketing strategies
Worrying about looming deadlines
Regrets about something I said to someone
Confusion about how to move forward
Feeling inadequate when sales or contacts slow down
Not eating …read more

Perhaps you’ve sensed that before my life as “stay-at-home Dog mom” and owner of my company, I spent most of my career in corporate America. We’ve all experienced this during our working lifetime…that one monumental moment that initially humiliates you and then subsequently haunts you for the rest of your life.
At my last position, I worked for an abusive, power-mongering, workaholic at a very large company (see my earlier posts about not fitting in). This woman had it out for me the minute she joined our department. Once, she flat out told me, “you don’t act like an executive…” What …read more