back in SF

(Began this blog entry Wednesday morning…..January 25th)

I’m sitting in a room at my new printer’s office.  I’ve been sequestered here since yesterday.  I forgot that doing “proofs” for offset is waaaaay different than “proofs” for digital.  Once I “OK” by signing my name and date, to a proof sheet, the printer runs the required amounts on those cards (500 sheets) before we begin the process of evaluating the next sheet.  I find it is taking about 3 to 4 different rounds of “proofs” before I sign the sheet.  It takes skill to know the press and know what colors to add and subtract on the press in order to hit the right color.  It’s definitely a process…so here I sit between “proofs”.  Thankfully can keep busy with my phone, computer and a long “to do” list.

I’m ever so grateful to be back in San Francisco though I did enJOY my travels AND seeing family!! Being able to spend a good 2 days with my Mom (who turns 94 in a few weeks!) was wonderful. She’s my inspiration in life….she always sees the good in everyone and everything.  I got to see both my brothers when home in Lafayette (Indiana) too.  I stayed with my brother Tom and Dennis popped in on his drive from Ann Arbor (where he used to live) to Austin (where he and his family have relocated).  Sadly, I didn’t get to play with my sister Beth as the snow storm last Friday prevented her from driving down to Chicago to meet me (and our cousins) for the weekend.  Nor did I get to see my sister Mary Alice because she and Jim were in Aruba (their daughter is living there).  I feel blessed to have the support and love of my extended family.  We did have a very FUN O’Grady cousins party last Saturday night in Chicago…one of these days planning for an O’Grady cousins party in the wine country!

I absolutely LOVED being in Chicago.  I had so much fun as I walked to the Merchandise Mart in the Snow on Friday afternoon and returned in more snow at 6pm.  I love snow and winter but also love the fact that it is not a daily thing for me to deal with the elements.

It’s now Saturday morning and I’m finally getting back to my blog posting.  I decided I’ll just post a bunch of pics and tell the story of my trip visually!

Also I am in a bit of overwhelm as I’m sitting here with a stack of orders waiting to be inputed into Quick Books then pulled and shipped off.  A process…and I need to be patient with myself and trust it will all get done.

enJOY the pics!

mid trip

More than 1/2 way through my trip, I’m sitting in my brother’s kitchen, contemplating the past week.  Though my booth location was poor in Atlanta, I tried to make the best of it.  I enJOYed talking to my booth mates and made some good connections for potential licensed opportunities for my artwork.  It’s a long marathon sitting in that booth for 5 days.  Thankfully, prior to leaving San Francisco I called on many of the stores who’s business cards I had collected when attending the July show.  My first order at this show was from one of those calls!  Yeah!!!  Also had 2 other people stop by from my phone efforts.  I’m confident that with my diligent follow up, I’ll be able to write enough orders that will help justify the expense of the booth.  One thing I continue to learn is it is all about getting out there and being seen.  The orders may not come immediately but they do come.  Also had fun meeting my new reps that are covering Florida for me.  So there were many positives to the show and that’s what I’m going to focus on (rather than my terrible location and empty walkways).

Best of all was I got to spend the week with my good friend Nancy and her husband Kevin rather than in a hotel.  Better yet, Nancy accompanied me on the first 2 days of the show so I wasn’t completely alone.  As Rusty, from the booth catecorner to ours, told me, “Your friend did a great job passing out your catalogs when you were gone!”.  So though Nancy may not consider herself a salesperson in any sense of the word, I believe she may need to reconsider!!  It was so nice to be able to come home to a home after the show rather than a hotel room.  Not to mention cheese and crackers, wine and home cooked meals!

I decided during this show that I WILL join the Greeting Card Association, Doug in the booth next to me was past president, and I WILL attend the New York Stationery show in New York this May.  One lady plopped down in one of my chairs on Monday.  She asked what other shows I’d be attending.  I told her SF next month.  She asked if I were going to the Stationery show and I responded in the affirmative.  ”Good”, she proclaimed.  ”I’ll write an order there with you there.”  She told me she loved my cards and also reassured me that she lunches each day of that show with 11 of her friends…”I’ll get every one of them to come to your booth!”.  Plus she said I won’t have any trouble finding reps at that show.  ”You’ll be fresh meat and they’ll flock to you”.  Those kinds of comments make me feel this is all worth it.  Nancy met me at the Airport Tuesday with my luggage.  She was also flying out that evening for her work. As we said good-bye, I asked her if she’d like to come to NYC and help me in May.  She said she just might if the dates worked out for her…so it was all worthwhile!

Grateful for 2 down days in between the busy days.  My brother has made me breakfast the past 2 days.  His own heart healthy oatmeal/granola special.  It’s delicious.  I slept in yesterday morning and napped in the afternoon at Mom’s.  I didn’t realize how tired I was…tomorrow morning I’ll be on the train to Chi-town.  More fun awaits!

I’m photo challenged at the moment.  Having problems downloading pics so I’ll just post this and the pics will have to follow…..

on to Atlanta….

I’m on my way to Atlanta…literally on the plane with my laptop open typing away.  The Atlanta Gift Show starts on Friday so I’ll be setting up my booth tomorrow afternoon. Come Friday 9AM I’ll be ready with cards in the racks, catalogs in a basket and order sheets in hand!  Sadly Emily won’t be there with me this time but thankfully my good friend Nancy (best friends in 8th grade)who is not only hosting me also said she’d come help over the weekend.  How lucky can a girl get?!?

The Atlanta show is a grueling 5 day marathon.  It ends on Tuesday the 17th.  From there I’ll be catching a flight to Indiana.  I’m lucky enough to have one of my other best friends from High School, Trudy, pick me up and take me to Lafayette.  I’m looking forward to being “home” and just being with my Mom for 2 days.  From there, I get on the train early Friday morning for the 3 hour trip to Chicago.

I can’t wait to walk back into the Merchandise Mart in Chicago!  Instead of going to the Mart for Neocon (which was/is the biggest event for the Office Furniture/Commercial Carpet Industries each June), I’ll be walking up to the Gift Show floors to hang out with my rep group, Sarm & Nastovski, for the Chicago Gift Show.  I’m going to be doing a watercolor demo on Saturday afternoon which should be fun but more important, I think, is the chance to meet the reps that have helped me gain so much confidence as they have written so many wonderful orders since coming on board last fall.

In addition to all that, this year started out the gate with a BANG!  I called on St. Mary’s Cathedral (Catholic) Gift Shop because of the success I’ve had with Grace Cathedral (Episcopal) Gift Shop.  The Mgr at the Catholic Shop is an entrepreneur himself.  In addition to running the shop, he sells (wholesale) other products to Catholic Churches around the country.  He asked me if I would be wiling to let him represent me to his other accounts!  Yesterday, when I went to deliver the order, he asked about Guam and the Philippines!  He’s got connections overseas…I laughed, turned my brochure over while pointing to my World icon and said, “You are going to help me achieve my dream of getting Words and Watercolors around the world!?!”.  So not only did I get a nice order, I’m getting additional distribution!

I continue to feel the energy of this business GROW.  I have a sense that I’m going to be meeting many wonderful people in ATL/Chicago.  I can’t wait to see what opportunities avail themselves to me over the next 2 weeks….stay tuned!