Change will come...whether you create it or not.

How do you react to change? My husband said that I embrace change. I feel the most comfortable when the world around me is dynamic and things are being created and shifted. I'm always thinking how can I do something different. I was thinking about my husband this morning and other people who don't like change. Does it mean they never have to deal with change if they go about their daily routines keeping everything the same?

In business whether you embrace it or not change is a constant. Your customers change, your environment changes, and the outside world changes around your business even if you keep everything constant. Somethings are under your control but most are not. When your business is very young you are the one that needs to affect the most change. You must constantly be planting seeds for branding, product development, internal structure and procedure, and thousands of other things. Each new day brings multitudes of decisions that you must make in order to grow and with each new decision brings vast change to your business and yourself. As your business begins to solidify as it gets established you begin to notice changes in your environment having a greater affect on your establishment then the changes you make internally each and every day.

When I first made a summer hat for Libby I had no idea it was about to become a new business. I remember showing Bobby the hat and she asked me to make them for some baby showers she was going to. Then I made two hats for Sue Page. One for Harrison's birthday and one for Sydney as a gift. I barely knew Sue at the time and I still hear her saying 'my mom thinks these are good enough to start a business.' Then Bobby told Jodi at G'Willikers about my hats and she purchased 18. I was in shock! Making hats from my dining room was a pure adrenaline rush. I took the money from the sales and purchased fabrics for the next hats.

Change began to happen quickly as I made decisions. I began to contact stores and sell wholesale. That meant larger orders and more fabric. Sue and I decided to open a retail store. That meant inventory, staffing, and bringing a portion of the business out of my dining room. We decided to let more people into the business. That meant an LLC ( red flag number 3) memberships, payroll, more time needed for management and a series of life changing decisions came one after the other.

Whether you are creating change or waiting for it to come with you, a business will need to react to change. It's best to have a game plan. I never believed in having a business plan but now after seeing the unexpected journey of The Little Hat Company I know that in future endeavors I will always begin with one - a map just in case I find myself lost along the way.

Surround yourself with good people - you'll know all too soon if someone isn't a good fit for your small business.

For the first time in my life I can honestly say I know what a true friend is and how valuable it is to my well being and existence on this planet. The Little Hat Company not only brought amazing business opportunities but brought to me my best friends. I know without a doubt that they will be there when I turn forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, and if they live longer till we are in our nineties. We have just been through the high highs and now the low low's of starting a business and there they still are laughing, crying, and moaning (back aches and flo visits). I have never felt as fortunate in my life as I do now. We come clean with each other and we support each other.

In the beginning of Little Hat it was me with the help of my mom and sister to meet orders and deadlines, but it quickly grew beyond my capabilities. Someone from the time Sue and Barb came on board we quickly swelled up to having 19 part time employees. We'll talk about payroll and compenstation/insurance in another chapter. Here was my method of bringing people into the business. Whether it was right or wrong I hope that I can give you an insight of what path you want to take with your business. Work from your gut, that's what I do. The only difference now is that I am going to educate my gut first before making any major decisions.

Word quickly spread about LHC company and I literally had people calling or approaching me in the store that I didn't know wanting to be a part of this new company. I had no capital and no way of paying Sue for all her immense time and energy so I gave her 30% of the company. We formed a partnership LLC with members. She was given sweat equity for all of her endless hours of hard work and good faith. The next people to come in all made some small wages but were also given much smaller pieces of the pie. I said yes basically to anyone who asked. That was red flag #2. The positive piece was that each person that came to the company had their own amazing talent that added to the exciting story of the business. The negative piece that it made it much more difficult to navigate around personality conflicts.

All people are good and all people do good. I believe this with all my heart and Sue thinks that sometimes I get too carried away with this notion. Here is the real piece of knowledge I would like to pass on to you - I paid a lot of money in counseling to not only hear these coming words but to own them. We are not meant to get along and work with everyone. Certain people mix like oil and water - "they were never meant to mix" So do yourself a favor and the people you are considering to bring into the company- if your gut is saying it's not a match than most likely it's not. It's okay to say no in business.

Cherish the people that do work in your business and work with you to grow support and nuture your dream. If it is truly their dream as well let them in to make decisions and grow your business in ways that you didn't know were possible. Sue created our connection with Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, Cathie facilitated our creating hats for the commissioning event of the USSNH, Deb created the most amazing styles and designs of hats for children and adults, Barb was able to sell ice to Eskimos, Amy took magazine quality photos, Kim Frank became a merchandising genius, everyone found a niche and they were able to do what they did best. Kris became the pied piper of music class and families instantly began looking forward to her classes. I'll never forget her first music class when it was her, myself, and another mom waiting for it to begin and I felt bad for Kris that not more people had shown up and then suddenly no joke a line of at least 2o parents and toddlers started filing in in South Berwick, Maine.

When you start a small business you put a lot of seeds out there and you never know which ones are going to take hold and grow. In the famous words of "Woz" - dude everything is going to be okay you have the greatest people surrounding you. Linda was right and I feel so fortunate to have her as one of my closest friends. Did I tell you she has to be the most organized person in the world?

There is a reason for the season.

I had heard the term cottage industry in and around business articles and segments on the Today Show but I had left the e commerce boom feeling a little resentful and confused. Money is something that people grow up developing very strong feelings and beliefs about and for me growing up in a 'blue collar' home, it was almost looked down upon. People who had a lot of money do not have a strong work ethic or everything in life came easy to them. My dad had his own plumbing and heating business and my mom kept his books and managed his calls throughout the day and late into the evening. I rarely saw my dad when I was little.

I accepted a position at a new technology start-up company just feet away from my previous job at a Health and Fitness Portal partnered with USA Today. It had already taken on a life of its own and when I came into the picture there were close to ten vp's and a team of close to sixty employees. The start up was part of a technology incubator on the west coast. Sky Dayton, founder of Earthlink, was one of the originators of the incubator. The energy was amazing and there was an incredible amount of talk about what we were all going to do when the company went public. With 10 million in seed money, the company was destined to be a huge overnight success. Flash forward a little more than a year, I'm now seven months pregnant and our company still has not perfected its product. In fighting between the vp's has reached an all time high and the destiny of the start up is written all over our cute ikea furniture. I remember walking out of my exit interview with the co-founders with my lamp and laptop, belly bulging, thinking I'm never going to work for someone else again. I had survived to the last round of layoffs but hardly felt comforted by the fact it was the first time in my life I had ever been let go from a position at a company.

Steve looked at my severance check and then my belly and said why don't you just stay home with Aaron and the baby and we will see if we can make it. It took me off guard. I had never thought about not working. The idea of being able to stay home with my baby started growing on me and looking back it was the best thing that could have happened. Anna was born and then just a few months later I was nursing her on the couch watching the Today Show, Michael Jordan was coming back to the NBA when news broke about the Twin Towers. Aaron was at Mitchell School and I was truly afraid. I had just been let go from a job where I traveled from Boston to LA, to Florida for the day, and appointments all over the country. I was never so thankful to be out of a job and sitting on my couch holding my baby.

With each of my children, not on purpose I have started a business. I think the creative energy that flows through a mom after experiencing childbirth is nothing short of amazing. Anything is possible - I wrote two childrens' books, started a basket business, a cookie business, and a little hat company. All of which were never intended. One act led to another and before I knew it I had a logo, some business cards, and a website. There were other businesses that I started thrown in between all of this: jellybeans interactive (a self publishing content site), a landscaping business, and a marketing consulting business but none of them seemed to stick for more than a couple of years. That is except for one, The Little Hat Company. I had heard the term Cottage Industry many times, but had not realized that I had been living within the Industry for more than ten years.

Looking back on my career: Forbes Marketing Group, Copier Sales, Swedish Herbal Institute, Franchise Solutions/Be HealthyNow.com, PrimeCare, and eFavorites then sprinkled and mashed with my own start up companies I'm starting to see stepping stones to my future. When I was knee deep in the mix of all these crazy insane little companies I constantly questioned "what am I going to do with my life?". It didn't feel like I was on a path that made sense. As The Little Hat Company began growing at warp speed I was able to take different pieces from all of my experiences and make sense of what was happening to us at LHC. It was often familiar territory in the weirdest sense of the word. Each business is unique like a child but certain experiences and new faces at LHC seemed oddly familiar.

All of this rambling to say when you find yourself in a situation or place in life that you just can't seem to dig in and make sense of try to stay open to all of the experiences it brings. You may not know why or what is the purpose now but believe you me friend there is a reason for the season. Embrace it!

A penny saved is a penny earned.

"In God We Trust" I guess you could say that when The Little Hat Company first started the energy around the growing business was consuming. Our adrenaline was flowing full force and for the first year on any given night you could catch, Sue, Barb, and I painting, schlepping boxes, moving furniture, cutting fabric, sewing, or sending emails to at least 2:00am. Everything was moving at warped speed and just when we thought it couldn't speed up - it did. It was amazing how at first we just rolled up our sleeves and got it done.

Barb has the spirit of a relentless warrior with the most courageous of hearts. She never questioned why, just "what time and where are we getting together."

Sue is our constant comedian to keep the air light and filled with laughter. I can remember painting at our original location one night after midnight, we were exhausted and giddy when a furry little creature scurried across the floor in front of me. I freaked and Sue said "I'm not afraid of a mouse". She instantly took my fear away and I saw the humor in the situation. We were flying blind in the beginning. It was never our intent to open a toy store, nor a second location, and even a third event space but circumstance and serendipity seemed to lead us into some amazing situations.

I believe in business that when someone or some business ask if you can do something the automatic response is 'yes' - Cathie McCoomb will verify how passionately I live by this statement. Here's my first adjustment in creating business - A penny saved is a penny earned. It's not just enough to have faith that everything will work out for the best and the money will come through in sales, or credit. It's important to value your business and believe in its future by setting aside some cash from the very beginning. Don't think of it as keeping cash away from the growing process of your biz. Think of your savings as a way of knowing that the most incredible, unpredictable opportunities WILL be coming your way and you don't want anything to prevent you from saying 'yes' to the good ones.

When you are spending saved money it is a motivating force to spend a little more time evaluating the amazing opportunity and making sure that you are considering whether or not the benefits outweigh the risks. This is your baby. You are mother hen. Don't ever be embarrassed not to be in position to take advantage of a once in a lifetime opportunity. If it is meant for you and your business it will roll back around.

SAVE 10% of monies in when you start selling and collecting from revenue streams. So quickly will it attract new monies and put you in a position of control over the destiny of your business.

What happens when it's time to say Uncle?

There is a picture of a horse in green drawn by my eight year old above my computer. It's a simple outline and below it reads, "Never Give Up". The horse came to me about a year ago when Anna without a lot of commotion or hype simply tacked up the picture of the horse in front of my face. Wow what insight for a little one. It's funny, well ironic, because it's the one thing that my father would say to us over and over again until we were blue in the face. "Don't be a quitter...never give up." I think his actual saying was, "You're not allowed to say can't."

I struggled with this way of life for at least the last year of selling toys and hats. I found myself smack dab in the middle of this company that had basically turned my way of life upside down, inside out, and stretched beyond my wildest imagination. For the first two years of building the business and being open to anything and everything that came down the pike I had the most fun and met the greatest people. There is a huge misconception that I became instantly rich. It's quite the opposite. I'm sure anyone who has started a company "non-capitalized" will understand. Red flag number one - starting a new business with credit cards.

Gathering my thoughts, memories, experiences, and most importantly lessons learned is just as much for me as for others out there starting their very own business adventure. I'm hoping to reach people that may be able to alter their own learning curve slightly as they build their business so that The Little Hat Company was not for not and just maybe will become a case study for the do's and don'ts of building a company around a strong product, service, and or principle. The Little Hat Company was built from pure drive, passion, love, and a lot of serendipity. Now with a few lessons learned, I am learning how I could have protected it from the beginning. Since LHC is not moving forward I am happy to be sharing some of its perspective with you. I'm looking forward and I'm definitely taking everything I've learned with me into the future.

I knew without a doubt when it became time to say "Uncle". What I didn't realize at the time was that I wasn't saying "Uncle" to my way of life, being an entrepreneur/chief story teller, I was saying "Uncle" to a certain chapter in my career. The Little Hat Company had run its purpose and it became time to move on.