February/ March 2006

These past two months have been pretty hectic. I started the Breeze Demonstration Show program, basically home parties a la Pampered Chef. The first one was a huge learning curve, but I had a lot of support with a few of the people who attended and gave me some pointers (people who I asked specifically to come and critique). The next few shows went much smoother, and I am pleased to say these shows a duplicatable! That's very important to be able to "franchise" out this particular concept. We worked on systems and scripts and it's really turned out well.
I have also met with the General Manager of the Atlanta IKEA to work on the pilot program for the chain. We are still working out the logistics (style of window treatment, fabric selection, etc.) and we hope to have our product in IKEA by July. It all takes time.
We set the date for the reseller seminar. April 20th will be the date we unveil the private label program for designers and other resellers. This is such a great product to have on hand to enhance their sales. The private labling will help keep people from trying to shop the Breeze website instead of going through them.

Kathy Keeley has been great supporting me and helping me with all the difficult decisions. She has been with me when I meet with IKEA, and has helped with other parts of the business, too. She's run numbers for us to make sure we're not going to lose money when we sell to whomever we sell. I feel very priveleged to have her on my team.

The Make Mine a Million program has continued to be the catalyst for everything that I have been able to accomplish this year. It's been the "foot in the door" with the local press, from local newspapers to my alma mater's alumni magazine. My marketing person is starting to pitch several magazines to do articles about me, and we've had some interest. Winning this contest has helped me to really know my product is worthwhile to have on the market and that I will succeed.