15 Jan 5 Business Decisions to Grow Your Brand in 2014: Part I

High Design is the “Juried” section at AltantasMart, where beautiful new products debut, and where we debuted Deborah Main luxury decorative pillows in 2013.

Happy New Year everyone! It’s finally time for some reflection on 2013.  As mentioned in my previous blog (in addition to the fact it’s taken me a little while to get my groove on this year!) I’ll be reflecting on just about everything, because Deborah Main Designs is celebrating TEN YEARS in business!!  (In April, officially)  We are excited as all get out to close the first decade and start a brand new one with you in 2014. What’s it going to look like?  I have no idea! That’s the exciting part!! But through our growth in 2013, we’ve learned a lot and we’ve started this next decade with a sparkling NEW website. So please check it out here and let us know what you think.  Now onto some highlights and LESSONS LEARNED.

For entrepreneurs, and small businesses, we all make important decisions every minute of every day.  Whether it’s ones we’ve planned and worked hard for, that are part of our business plan or not, or ones that spontaneously come up and change the course of our day.  Some decisions work and some don’t, but we still have to make them.

What’s most important in growing a design studio, or any small business, is to learn from the decisions we make, and understand that at times we all have to take leaps of faith.  Stepping out of our comfort zones is almost a requirement. Because without risk, you cannot grow your business. 

Here are 10 decisions (5 in Part II coming soon!) that I made in 2013 that I wouldn’t change for the world! The decisions you’re facing might be very different. But I wanted to share these ten with you as they have provided me with numerous opportunities to learn, grow my brand, and make new connections in so many different industries, that it would never have happened if I hadn’t tried to grow my business.

Our booth 1-502 in High Design at AmericasMart in Atlanta, 2103

#1: EXHIBIT WHEN YOU CAN AT INDUSTRY EVENTS & MARKETS: I had done three years of events with Austin Fashion Week , winning 3 awards for Best Home Accessories Designer, so it was time to try the big league.  I was accepted into High Design and exhibited at The International Gift & Home Furnishings Market, in 2013. After much preparation, we hit the ground running and took our tiny Austin Texas studio, and all of our luxury pillow collections to Atlanta last January and July.  Remember when I first got our crate built and tested out our new custom shelving in Dallas the summer of 2012? Well, this was our chance to make our debut and it was my path that I chose (despite my fears) to showcase my work in front of one of THE largest international buyer’s groups aside from the New York Gift show.  It was a HUGE leap of faith for me! We had to build our own hard-wall booth and, thanks to Brandon Smith’s ( of DcoopMedia) brilliant design, I was able to exhibit with pride and confidence at my very first international market.

It was the hardest event I’ve ever done,  the most costly decision I’ve ever made, but one of the most exhilarating and rewarding experiences I’ve ever had in 10 years of business.

• LESSON LEARNED: I NEVER would have known what it takes to go national if I hadn’t tried. And I felt it was essential to get our luxury decorative pillow line in front of a much wider international audience in order to learn how to effectively grow my business. It taught me what I want, and what I don’t want, for the Deborah Main  brand (and my family) going forward. And I met the most amazing people!!

Here’s part of  our group and new friends in High Design from January2013 : David Goodman our “on-the-spot-advisor”, me, Bestie, Andrea VanHoven and Mark from the Maxiga Group.

The amazing Elizabeth Traub and I in Atlanta at July 2013 market.

#2: VISUAL IS THE NEW BLACK! JOIN PINTEREST AND LEARN ALL YOU CAN ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA NOW!  Due to reaching out on Twitter to complete strangers, my social media skills have improved tremendously.  Because of the savvy social media expertise of Elizabeth Traub, (and many other fabulous Twitter pals that have helped ME along the way this past year – thank you!!), she got our studio all set up on Pinterest in 30 minutes flat…no kidding (Yes, she’s that fast, and yes, she’s that good!). She also  evaluated our social media program so that we could Blog, Pin, and Tweet at the times, and in the quantity needed, to make a difference.  Do I have more to learn?  Absolutely!  In fact, I just signed up for this new Pinterest training yesterday: Power Of Pinning which I’m super excited about. So get started…pick one platform and just start doing it. Trust me, if I can learn this social media stuff, so can you!

Social media has helped me form long-term relationships in the design industry, make many new fantastic friends, and increased awareness about my brand.

• LESSON LEARNED: I NEVER would have connected with hundreds of people in the design world on Twitter and learned Pinterest, If I hadn’t reached out to strangers. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, or hire a consultant if you need to (more on that in my next post!) because there are many people out there that are willing to help you, including me.  All you have to do is ask!

#3: BE PREPARED AND MAKE SURE YOU HAVE AN EXCELLENT AND SIMPLE ORDERING SYSTEM IN PLACE FOR BUYERS.  Let me tell you, revamping our ordering system was like giving birth! This was THE one thing that had always been a challenge for our studio, to make our one-of-a-kind luxury pillows easy to order for wholesale buyers and interior designers.  The process actually started in November of 2012, with the help of two amazing friends Brandi Moore and Patricia Tankey, and was completed just in the nick of time for January market.

Once we learned we were accepted into High Design, we HAD to come up with an easy ordering system, particularly for our Les Bijoux Collections: luxury pillows featuring stunning wearable vintage brooches.

• LESSON LEARNED:I NEVER would have started 2013 with over 50 new qualified leads and Deborah Main Designs having its highest sales growth in the first quarter of the year if I had not developed a simple ordering system and printed order forms.  Buyers at market have about 2 seconds to look at your product and decide to enter your booth. Be ready to answer questions, know your pricing, and be able to write up orders quickly.

Karen and Pat of Pearl Clutch boutique in Haddonfield, New Jersey.

Janice and Cheri of Be On Park, Winter Park, Florida, 2013.

#4: DON’T TRY TO SELL YOUR PRODUCT, FOCUS INSTEAD ON BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS AND TRUST WITH YOUR BUYERS (more on this in Part II). Relationships are really important to me, so it’s kind of embarrassing to admit that I didn’t get this at first…and that it took me taking my product national all the way to Atlanta to finally understand this VERY important point. I think in trying to sell my pillows over the years, I have resisted “selling” them because I just wanted to be the artist and make them.  Somehow that resistance blinded me to the fact that you don’t sell at all….that it’s all about the the relationship and building trust.  I think that’s one reason I really like working with our retail stores and interior designers.  I admit it is still not easy for me with new accounts, but I don’t have to sell, I just instead try to focus on being myself, building a relationship with them, and providing the best customer service experience possible.

I love the connection with a store or interior designer, the chance to collaborate on a project, the opportunity to provide their client with the most amazing pillows they won’t find anywhere else in the world!

• LESSON LEARNED: Trust that you are the best person to talk about your product. Share your passion, and learn how to talk to buyers in their language. Know what the buyers are looking for and understand and practice (in front of a mirror if you have to) demonstrating how your product meets their needs. (Much more on this topic in PartII).

Lisa Kahn of Kahn Design Group. whom we admire greatly for all her fabulous work. We really appreciated her stopping by our booth in July.

Media guests , Ahsley from Atlanta Tidbits, and Laura Van Zeyl, editor of Home Fashion Forecast. We appreciated them taking the time to stop by our booth, 2013.

#5: FIRST IMPRESSIONS ALWAYS COUNT, SO BE PREPARED.  This does really matter, but I had to throw in a fun one here because this all sounds SO serious!!  🙂 Treat yourself to a massage or a girls night out, or something that makes you feel great.   Before I went to Atlanta, and at the urging of a friend, I had a manicure and got Shellac nails for the VERY first time. I know I’m behind the times on this one girls….but WOW,  it’s amazing what a little thing like that can do to boost a gal’s confidence and make her feel fabulous!! (Thank you Dee Covey!!) Did people notice my nails? Well, of course not, cause women have been doing it for years. But they certainly stood out in this video below and just getting a little thing like that done helped me feel more polished and ready for a national audience.

Remember, presentation and first impressions are everything!

• LESSON LEARNED: I NEVER would have known how great it makes one feel to have your nails bright red and PERFECT!!!  (And, frankly darlin, the video would have looked really bad if my nails had all been bitten off due to being so nervous about going national…HA!)

I hope these tips have been helpful.  Watch for the next FIVE decisions I made in 2013 that I learned from, coming up in part II soon. And wait till you see what we’re up to in 2014! So please follow us on Pinterest, Twitter and Google +. Until next time, we at Deborah Main Designs wish you a fabulous new year filled with leaps of faith that take you into exciting adventures. Come along for the ride and sign up for our blog! XO PG

Note: Photography and opinions my own.