Growing Pains - 01/99

We have good news and we have bad news. Regular readers know that we have just introduced a new product and that product was selected for a Christmas catalog. I was in the process of ironing out the assembly details and had not yet trained anyone else on the process.

Catalog sales were slow but that didn't worry me. Because of the varied response I got to the prototypes (most of it positive), I was confident that I only needed to show it to the right people and I would sell a lot. Also I didn't want to get backed up with orders before I was happy with the assembly, packaging and final quality.

Regular readers also know that the Christmas season is our busiest and we never can build Sunchimes fast enough to keep our customers happy.

In the midst of this encouraging chaos, we sent Bob Talbert, the Detroit Free Press columnist, a sample of Candle in the Wind... Oh! and asked for his reaction. We know Bob because years ago he wrote about not being able to enjoy his windchime in the winter so we sent him a Sunchime. He wrote a very nice piece on our product and came out to visit our small factory. We have stayed in touch.

On Wednesday, November 25th, he wrote a great piece on Technacraft's new candle. Boy, did the phones light up! As a result of his column, we are now in touch with a company who wants to buy our product for corporate gifts — estimated volume could be many times our current total sales.

Also, as I was writing this, we heard from Jacobson's who, as a result of the mention in the Free Press as well as requests from customers, decided they want to carry our candle after all. (The buyer who handles our account loved the product but her boss said no.)

So hot dog! Things are popping — the opportunity for a great December coupled with enormous opportunity for the future bodes well for us.

And the bad news? Four weeks ago I managed to herniate a disc in my L2-3joint which eventually resulted in major back surgery (a laminectomy and discectomy) on December 2nd. I'm writing this on December7th from my recliner at home while my wife and employees try to keep the product flowing. I can't leave the house for another 10 days at which time I go back for an exam to see how I'm doing. I can walk as much as I want but for the near future, building candles or teaching someone else to do it, is out of the question. The operation went well and I'll be fine — but once again Murphy's Law rules.

I hope this is my final exam in entrepreneur school. I hope I pass. I hope that Murphy picks on someone else. I hope my customers realize that losing 1 out of 4 full-time employees impacts our ability to ship product. I hope I never have to go through another back operation again.

For anyone thinking I should have taken better care of my back, I injured it while doing stretching exercises prescribed by my physical therapist to alleviate lower back problems!

The future does look bright. We will never give up and we will grow. I will use my recovery time to reflect on the past, plan for the future, read and begin developing our next innovative product.