Getting down to business
Things have been moving right along for the Schrock corporation! It's been pretty exciting, stressful, busy and so much fun.
My product review site is going well. It does get hard to maintain while trying to work on the store and take care of the family so we're still trying to find the balance but working it out. Here is your invitation to check it out. The name is Urban Baby Runway and you can check it out by clicking here. Just to warn you there may be some adult language thrown in for fun so don't be totally shocked. And FYI I use nicknames for Julian (Cricket) and Bryan (Sloth) because it is such a public forum. Let me know what you think. It's updated pretty much daily so come back every day! And actually my May contest kicks off today so please enter! If you don't have a need for the prize then give it as a gift (to me!)
I still get people contacting me about advertising and to send me free stuff which is flattering. I have a "gift" for Julian in the mail from a cute shop and I can't wait to see what it is. I'm glad they contacted me b/c I'm interested in their wholesale info now. They are also going to sponsor a contest and since I have had more interests in contest sponsorships that I expected I'm actually going to have 2 in May. I also have June's lined up. It's pretty funny b/c Bryan bought me a baby board book called Urban Babies Wear Black for Christmas. I did a review on it and emailed the review to the companies website and also said "if you ever want to sponsor a contest let me know." The author actually responded thanking me and said she was interested in doing the contest. So she sent a signed copy of the book along w/an Urban Babies Wear Black t-shirt. I thought that was pretty cool that a Christmas gift turned into all that.
But the coolest thing just happened last week. I got an email from a guy who is an exec for the company that makes Gwen Stafani's (formerly of No Doubt) shoes for her L.A.M.B line. He works directly with her. Gwen is going to be releasing crib shoes, infant and kid shoes this Summer for her clothing line. The exec wanted to be featured on Urban Baby Runway and I told him what his options are as far as buying an ad or getting a review. He's going to be sending me a pair of crib shoes this week! I feel like such an insider to own a pair before they are even released! They will be too small for Julian but how cool is it that I can say a guy who works w/Gwen Stefani gave me a free pair of their shoes to write a review? Pretty exciting. I can't wait to see them.
Our t-shirt store is doing great, we had an awesome April thanks to Bryan's awesome design skills. Because of this we are getting steam to forge ahead into bigger things such as our very own 100% owned/operated by us online baby boutique. It'll be under the same name as my product review site, Urban Baby Runway. I've been lining up products to sell, working out the wholesale deals and setting up a few drop shippers. You gotta love the drop shippers because it allows you to have a large inventory without upfront costs and having to maintain stock and handle the shipping. We'll eventually want to transition out of drop ship deals because you don't make as much profit and I'll want full control but it's a great start. We're hoping to have it up and running by Julian's first birthday but we're really aiming for the end of May.
We also got a good contact out of our current t-shirt store from a company that has been making large purchases from us, adding their own touches to the shirts and reselling. Bryan did so many custom requests for them too which keeps them coming back. They now want colored shirts but we only offer white. Because they've been such a steady and large customer this is making Bryan's desire to purchase a heat press machine and start printing our own more of a reality. We'll have our own "brand" of clothing, Bryan already has the name picked out. If we already have a client lined up then it makes dishing out the money for the heat press less worrisome.
As you can see we have a million little projects/businesses going on right now but someday they will all merge together. I know this update was more about Bryan and I than Julian but what is good for us is good for the kid. Right? Well here is a little update on Julian, he cut another tooth, his top left I tooth. The right one looks close behind. Today he has his Urology follow up but we're expecting the thumbs up so no worries. He's been quite a handful lately. Last week he had been a whiney, extremely clingy, grumpy boy. I couldn't get anything done like breathing. Even if Bryan was home trying to play with him he'd crawl after me whining Ma-ma, ma-ma and pulling on my leg but then he didn't want me to hold him and didn't want me to set him down. Who knows what he wanted. But Sunday he was an angel and pretty calm and independent. I'm pretty sure the tooth is a big part of the issue. He's so close to walking too! He is getting so big, so quickly. It still amazes me every time I look at him and see how much he's changed. We're so lucky to have such a perfect boy, even when he is acting like a turd.
My product review site is going well. It does get hard to maintain while trying to work on the store and take care of the family so we're still trying to find the balance but working it out. Here is your invitation to check it out. The name is Urban Baby Runway and you can check it out by clicking here. Just to warn you there may be some adult language thrown in for fun so don't be totally shocked. And FYI I use nicknames for Julian (Cricket) and Bryan (Sloth) because it is such a public forum. Let me know what you think. It's updated pretty much daily so come back every day! And actually my May contest kicks off today so please enter! If you don't have a need for the prize then give it as a gift (to me!)
I still get people contacting me about advertising and to send me free stuff which is flattering. I have a "gift" for Julian in the mail from a cute shop and I can't wait to see what it is. I'm glad they contacted me b/c I'm interested in their wholesale info now. They are also going to sponsor a contest and since I have had more interests in contest sponsorships that I expected I'm actually going to have 2 in May. I also have June's lined up. It's pretty funny b/c Bryan bought me a baby board book called Urban Babies Wear Black for Christmas. I did a review on it and emailed the review to the companies website and also said "if you ever want to sponsor a contest let me know." The author actually responded thanking me and said she was interested in doing the contest. So she sent a signed copy of the book along w/an Urban Babies Wear Black t-shirt. I thought that was pretty cool that a Christmas gift turned into all that.
But the coolest thing just happened last week. I got an email from a guy who is an exec for the company that makes Gwen Stafani's (formerly of No Doubt) shoes for her L.A.M.B line. He works directly with her. Gwen is going to be releasing crib shoes, infant and kid shoes this Summer for her clothing line. The exec wanted to be featured on Urban Baby Runway and I told him what his options are as far as buying an ad or getting a review. He's going to be sending me a pair of crib shoes this week! I feel like such an insider to own a pair before they are even released! They will be too small for Julian but how cool is it that I can say a guy who works w/Gwen Stefani gave me a free pair of their shoes to write a review? Pretty exciting. I can't wait to see them.
Our t-shirt store is doing great, we had an awesome April thanks to Bryan's awesome design skills. Because of this we are getting steam to forge ahead into bigger things such as our very own 100% owned/operated by us online baby boutique. It'll be under the same name as my product review site, Urban Baby Runway. I've been lining up products to sell, working out the wholesale deals and setting up a few drop shippers. You gotta love the drop shippers because it allows you to have a large inventory without upfront costs and having to maintain stock and handle the shipping. We'll eventually want to transition out of drop ship deals because you don't make as much profit and I'll want full control but it's a great start. We're hoping to have it up and running by Julian's first birthday but we're really aiming for the end of May.
We also got a good contact out of our current t-shirt store from a company that has been making large purchases from us, adding their own touches to the shirts and reselling. Bryan did so many custom requests for them too which keeps them coming back. They now want colored shirts but we only offer white. Because they've been such a steady and large customer this is making Bryan's desire to purchase a heat press machine and start printing our own more of a reality. We'll have our own "brand" of clothing, Bryan already has the name picked out. If we already have a client lined up then it makes dishing out the money for the heat press less worrisome.
As you can see we have a million little projects/businesses going on right now but someday they will all merge together. I know this update was more about Bryan and I than Julian but what is good for us is good for the kid. Right? Well here is a little update on Julian, he cut another tooth, his top left I tooth. The right one looks close behind. Today he has his Urology follow up but we're expecting the thumbs up so no worries. He's been quite a handful lately. Last week he had been a whiney, extremely clingy, grumpy boy. I couldn't get anything done like breathing. Even if Bryan was home trying to play with him he'd crawl after me whining Ma-ma, ma-ma and pulling on my leg but then he didn't want me to hold him and didn't want me to set him down. Who knows what he wanted. But Sunday he was an angel and pretty calm and independent. I'm pretty sure the tooth is a big part of the issue. He's so close to walking too! He is getting so big, so quickly. It still amazes me every time I look at him and see how much he's changed. We're so lucky to have such a perfect boy, even when he is acting like a turd.
posted by Julian at 8:56 PM
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