Abbamart Girl

The Pink Star Game Retires

2011-10-10T15:16:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

Every Monday for the past several months, we've had a lot of fun playing the Pink Star Game on our Facebook page. Too many times, though, the glitches of Facebook have caused confusion and disappointment - disappearing posts, players unable to reply to the game, etc. Yesterday, it was so bad we had to abandon the game altogether to regroup later - it was an awful feeling, knowing some players had found the Star, but couldn't successfully post, and if they did, I couldn't see it appear. Ugh. That's not fun for anyone.

I'm so sorry to say it, but it's high time for the Pink Star Game to retire. The playing board of Facebook is much too unreliable for a race-like game that determines a winner by her real-time answer.

Don't worry! I'll find out new ways to give out some free goodies, but likely more along the lines of random drawings - something that is not as time sensitive. I really appreciate you guys following Abbamart on Facebook, and I'll always make it worth your while!

The Italian (and Mexican) Job

2011-07-25T19:47:00.000-07:00

Despite their rich cultures and beautiful and friendly residents, international relations have been tense between Abbamart and Italy and Mexico in recent months. And it's not because we don't like each other - no! Not at all! I'm blaming it on the postman.

As more and more customers from these countries started making orders, it became painfully obvious that somewhere, something in the system is failing. About 65% of all packages sent to customers in Mexico and Italy were lost altogether or dramatically delayed (Gee, I wonder if she wanted those eyelashes in time for her wedding last January?). Frustrated customers, refunds and replacement packages galore meant each new order coming from either country felt like an omen of trouble on the horizon - which was usually spot-on.

Premium carriers like UPS, DHL or FedEx have much better track records of successful deliveries to Italy and Mexico, but they are prohibitively expensive. Who's going to to be willing to fork out $65 to ship a $5 makeup brush? I suspect not many! And there isn't anything Abbamart can do to improve the US Postal Service we already use. As a result, several weeks ago I made the uncomfortable decision to close Abbamart's doors to Italy and Mexico altogether.

Many of you let me know you weren't happy about it, and I completely understand. I didn't like it, either. At the same time, it wasn't good for business to keep things the way they were. So I've come up with a compromise I hope will be acceptable.

As of today, you'll once again be able to select Italy and Mexico for a shipping address! There will be a difference, though. You'll notice a higher shipping amount because a $11.50 surcharge will be added to each order from either of these countries. This is the exact cost of adding a 'Registered Mail' service to the package. By shipping via Registered Mail, the package will be

1. handled separately from all other mail during transit,

2. be accessible by only certain postal personnel, and

3. be kept by a registry number.

Theoretically, this should mean an overall better chance of your order being delivered safely and on time, the first time!

I value all of your business very much, and I want Abbamart to be able to provide the very best service it can to as many countries in our wide and wonderful world as possible. This is one way we can continue to do so, and hopefully put an end to our international lost package crisis once and for all!

Bottles and Cases

2011-05-14T00:49:00.000-07:00

As loyal customers may have noticed, Abbamart has been sporting two identical shopping categories - Bottles and Cases - in its menu for about the past 3 months. An embarrassment! An eyesore! But no button could fix it, no command could remove it - it was stuck. After too many hours wasted trying to coax it off, I rolled my eyes, threw up my hands and decided to just ignore it and hope it would eventually go away on its own, like a pimple or a stray cat.

But of course it didn't go away.

Tonight, I was working late to get ready for the new brushes coming in (yes, they ARE arriving very soon, I promise!) and that stubborn extra category was still sitting there, as ridiculous-looking as ever. And it occurred to me for the very first time that our web host probably has a support team. A few Googles later, I found in fact they do, and they operate 24 hours a day.

12:47am: I request a phone call from tech support.
12:47am: I receive the phone call.
12:48am: I exasperate to a tired-sounding woman on the other end about this extra category that has plagued our site for the past 3 months and I cannot get rid of it no matter what I do and it's making our store look positively unkempt and ill maintained, just to spite me.
12:48am: The tired-sounding woman gets rid of it in about 12 seconds.

The moral of the story: If you don't know, someone else does. Don't forget to just ASK!

Enjoy the weekend, everyone!

This Item is Out of Stock!

2011-03-07T12:28:00.000-08:00

I am soooooooo tired of saying that! It seems like almost every email I write these days begins with 'I am so sorry, but we have run out of...'.

Abbamart is most definitely having growing pains. Quite simply, right now the customers outnumber the supply of products. Also, once word got out that certain items were running low, there was another surge of orders that has quite completely wiped Abbamart out of several of its best-selling items, namely all the sizes of stippling brushes and Beau-Make brush sets.

Not only did this happen to the USA branch, but in Korea as well, and it happened very quickly. Our manufacturer is working as fast as it can to make a large number of new brushes, and it can't happen fast enough!

It makes me very uncomfortable having a store out of so many products, but there's nothing I can do now except wait for the new stock, which will be here as soon as it possibly can, and use my down time during the move to begin thinking on a larger scale and prepare for a higher volume operation.

So yes, it's been a frustrating time, but I'm not unaware that it is overall a good sign - people like Abbamart's brushes, and want to buy more! The good news is that by summertime, all should be well stocked again, and there will be many new brushes debuting as well, and I can't wait!

Thanks to you all for being so patient with Abbamart while it stretches and grows to become a better company for you!

Big Move for Abbamart

2011-02-15T13:24:00.001-08:00

It's been a busy month for Abbamart! Some days I've worked 15 hours straight just to keep up with orders and customer emails, and also had to enlist the help of a certain reluctant male to pull products and organize them into outgoing packages. It's fun to imagine where we might be in another year - perhaps getting some more paid hands on deck to help out with the volume!

Just a disclaimer now so everyone knows I'm not completely in the weeds, yes, I do know there are two identical 'Bottles and Cases' categories in the storefront. Why the second mirror category manifested itself is a mystery. Maybe it's a miracle? I don't know, but for some reason, it is not an easy fix. Delete one and it deletes both with no recovery. I'd need to build the category again from the ground up, each and every product and all the little nuances linked to it, like quantity available and keywords. So... please enjoy the miraculous appearance of this twin Bottles and Cases until further notice!

Another great bit of news - the taxes have been organized and filed for Abbamart's very first fiscal year (yikes!), and the accountant says my business records weren't nearly as awful as I imagined. One scary milestone conquered and one less anxiety attack for this girl right here.

OK, onto the BIG DEAL! Abbamart is moving! In roughly four weeks, we're packing everything up and shifting over a couple of states. The store may need to close during that time, but if it does, the information will be posted clearly, and all orders in the system will be filled and mailed before the closing date.

The bad news is that we won't be able to restock any of the items that are currently OOS before the move, but the good news is that the next restocking shipment will be able to be gargantuan so that running low on brushes in demand will hopefully become a thing of the past (or at least a lot less frequent).

I am really looking forward to the move, and to expanding Abbamart to serve its amazing customers better and better as the months go by!

The New Stuff!

2011-01-15T17:23:00.000-08:00

It would be a huge understatement to say that I'm glad the inventory shipment arrived yesterday. Abbamart was running out of stuff left and right and with all the different venues and item titles, it was getting really hard to keep my head above water! All the staple brushes are back in stock and that's a huge relief - we're back in the comfort zone as far as supply goes.

And there's some brand new things, too - but, disappointingly, a lot less than I was planning on. I picked out close to 100 new products that were expected to be available to the Abbamart Group several months ago. For whatever reasons, only about 15 out of those were sent to me this time. The communication has been a little fuzzy, but I think they are doing some heavy testing on about a gazillion new products at the headquarters in Korea and gleaning out the most successful ones in terms of quality and popularity. Perhaps it will be all sorted out by the time we can move into a bigger space and order a mega-shipment!

In the meantime, I've got a bunch of new goodies still to put up on the site. I also received a big batch of complimentary sample bags and pouches that I'm not sure what I'll do with just yet, but I'm sure I'll have fun figuring it out.

OK, back to work I go!

You gotta spend money...

2010-12-28T20:30:00.001-08:00

...to make money.

Boy do I know it now.

I'm really only able to brag that Abbamart is a debt-free business because my co-owner graciously left the remaining inventory he had provided in the business when he decided not to continue supporting this branch anymore.

Abbamart has been doing fine on its own this year because of that, but I'm going to have to think bigger if I want it to continue doing fine without dramatically raising product prices.

One cringe-worthy expense Abbamart is suffering right now is SHIPPING. Oh. My. Goodness. DHL does have pretty darn nice customer service reps, but that's probably because they're rolling in dough. MY dough. Every restocking shipment I've received has shipped for a price tag of about 30% the value of its contents. That is one swift kick to the financial knee caps right off the bat.

What I really need to do is go through the dirty business of ocean freight shipping again. It's a scary world of humorless customs brokers and and a guy named John Wu down at the port who keeps x-raying my boxes every 3 days for 2 weeks before letting them through, but my shipping to product value percentage drops to about 7%. Ahhhhh. Even with John Wu and his x-ray machine in the picture, I'm breathing easier already.

The only problem is a freight shipment has to be significantly large with a minimum value of about $5,000. That's a lot of clams. And even if I save up my clams for one mega-shipment, the be-all to end-all is... where am I going to PUT IT?

Which leads us to the next logical step in the 'spend money to make money' equation - more room. It always seems to come down to more room.

More room more room more room. How to get more room? Hm. I bet spending more money would help!

Yep, I definitely know it now.

Messy!

2010-12-20T13:34:00.000-08:00

I haven't checked in for awhile; Abbamart exploded all over me this month. I knew it would be busy before Christmas, but I didn't know it would be so messy!

A snapshot of my workspace right now: three giant reels of bubblewrap unraveling from their post atop the backup case of mailers to my left. Also an open box full of about 100 upgraded powder brushes that have different item numbers than their original versions and haven't been entered into the system yet - I just don't know what to do with them, or where to put them after I do whatever I should do with them. On the floor to my right is a tall stack of four new manicure tools in plastic boxes. Two I have never seen the likes of before in my life and haven't the faintest clue what they do - one looks like a cheese grater and the other like a can opener, but I'm pretty sure we haven't branched into kitchenware yet. Strewn across my keyboard are receipts, pre-cut gift wrap squares, random items I've pulled to take measurements of and more bubblewrap. I can usually see only 45% of the keys on the board at any given time. Luckily I don't need to see them to type. Butting up against my knees under the desk is another drawer unit with packing and office supplies, customs forms, the paper cutter, tape measure and scale. Atop the printer/fax/copier on my right are various sizes of plastic sheaths, markers, extra brush sets I've been industrious enough to prepare ahead but not put away, invoices of orders to be filled and, inexplicably, chopsticks. There is just a me-sized space that I've, at times, hopped the back of the chair to get to.

Besides this, I've got tax season on my mind, and hope I've kept all the records I need as organized (gulp) as I need them. There's also a big shipment in January that can't come soon enough with restocks and also oodles of new items that I am seriously psyched about but can't fathom where they'll go. We're already bursting at the seams. Which brings me to our impending move to another state, where hopefully we'll be able to find and afford more room for Abbamart to function in. But I can't think about that right now.

Lastly and most unfortunately, running Abbamart is not the most physically challenging job I've ever had, and after feeling increasingly uncomfortable in my jeans, I stepped on the scale to discover I've gained 10 pounds! Utter mortification!

So I just wanted to check in, and say a big THANK YOU for all the orders, and let you know that any brushes that may be out of stock will be available again in just a couple of weeks, but I have got to go get my rear end on the treadmill right NOW before I pop a(nother) button. Merry Christmas to you all!!

Different Sorts of Letters

2010-11-23T19:03:00.000-08:00

When I opened up Abbamart's doors, I knew there would letters from customers from time to time. When the post office lost a package, or when an item broke in transit, or if they just plain didn't like what they purchased, they'd let me know.

What I didn't know is that women from all over the globe would also send emails for no other reason than to say, 'Thank you', 'I love it', and, 'I'm so happy I found Abbamart'. Really! When I see these, I am completely overwhelmed by the kindness of them, and the fact that someone would take time just to write something nice to a company. It keeps me smiling all day!

Yesterday, however, there was a different sort of letter altogether. An outraged customer from eBay threatened (with many exclamation marks and caps) to report Abbamart for the 'way we do business' because she didn't receive her package as soon as she'd hoped (5 days). I'm not truly worried that anything would really come of that, but her surprising level of anger and cutting words affected me more than I expected. I care very much about providing quick and meaningful service to each customer - her order shipped less than 24 hours after it was placed - and to have Abbamart's integrity questioned in a virtual smackdown for something beyond its control, well... it sucked. But, as one must in situations like these, I gathered my professional self together, smiled (or grimaced, at least), and wrote sweet and soothing words to her, apologizing for the delay, assuring her the post office is in a busy season, and to please give it a bit more time to arrive. I can't take her sentiments personally, even if it very much felt she intended them to be taken that way. Hopefully in the end she will be appeased and have a change of heart about Abbamart's business practices, but there's a good possibility she might not.

So, feeling only a little downtrodden and wronged - professionally, of course -, I sat down with a strong cup of coffee to handle emails this morning. As fate would have it, right away I found two of those beautiful letters from customers that contained only happy things, just telling me they were delighted with the experience Abbamart provided. What a gift. A refreshing waterfall to my soul. A balm on my professional wounds.

I wondered, do those girls realize how truly encouraging their notes are, or how much it helped me to read them today? I hope they do now. :) Those are some sentiments I am absolutely tickled to take personally!

UPDATE 11-25-10: I checked my unhappy customer's package tracking number today and was incredibly relieved to see that it was delivered the day after she wrote to me. I never heard from her one way or the other, but at least I can rest a little easier knowing that she did in fact receive it. It would have been awful if that one really went MIA! Just another little thing to be thankful for today. Happy Thanksgiving!

Expanding: It's in the Details

2010-11-03T08:53:00.000-07:00

Abbamart finished October with it's highest revenue yet. Hooray! We are gathering more feedback, more word-of-mouth recommendations and reviews of products are popping up here and there on the internet. It's so much fun to see my baby grow!

As the customer base and number of orders filled increases, there are inevitably more issues arising more frequently that require time and attention. There are more questions to customer service, more packages that go missing in transit, and minor shipping price point problems that aren't such a big loss when it's just an order here and there, but start to add up when that product goes out several times a day.

Additionally, smaller situations that I may have put on the back burner, like getting product photo updates from the manufacturer, need to be addressed. In particular, the store has had to use the same pictures for both natural and synthetic brush sets in many cases. With more traffic, and more people ordering, there is more of a chance that this will cause confusion. I need to head that off, even if it means adding 'commercial photographer' to my job description.

Other tasks that I used to be able to do casually on the fly that need to be stepped up:

1. Reordering supplies: I'm flying through packaging envelopes, gift wrap and bubble wrap. If I don't look ahead and take inventory, I could easily end up shorthanded.

2.Planning sales: I've got a really fun idea for Black Friday, but need to solidify the plan and organize how to implement it.

3. Establish Extras: It's no secret to anyone who's ordered that Abbamart loves to give little surprises! Believe it or not, in the beginning, I could remember who got what every time, and that customer's order history (she likes sponges; she likes synthetic hair; she orders a lot of eyelash tools) to determine what little gift I'd include. Now in the interest of equality (and maybe friends comparing what they each received!) I wonder if I had better be more diplomatic and instead set up a common 'extra'. I may even need to order them in special in high volume.

4. Making Use of the Mailing Lists: eBay and Bonanza automatically invite customers to sign up for an Abbamart mailing list. To my surprise, a whole bunch of people voluntarily joined! This is amazing to me! In the past, I have sporadically sent letters out now and then, but with this amount of people, I should definitely be using that tool on a set regular schedule.

5. Reordering Stock: I started out with a huge inventory. At least, it looked huge to me. One friend stood among my truckload of boxes when they first arrived and asked dubiously, "So, you're just going to wait and keep this until someone buys it all?" Now I find myself putting a few items a week on 'Out of Stock' status. It may soon be time to plan a frequent restocking schedule.

Schedule, plan, organize.

Now, I'm not complaining, but you know what else I'd really like to schedule, plan and organize?

This assistant!

Me and My Mature Decisions

2010-10-23T19:08:00.000-07:00

I have to be a grown-up today.

For over a year I've looked forward to the day when Abbamart would add actual cosmetics to its store. I had samples, I mentally chose vivid colors and incisive quantities to line my shelves. It was almost here. A long list of yummy glosses and shimmering shadow duos were on the order sheet and could have been on the website within a matter of weeks. But tonight, with great regret, I'll be crossing them off.

The FDA is a formidable dragon to tangle with. While they do not require special certification or licensing to sell drug-free cosmetics in the U.S., there are very specific labeling guidelines that must be followed and woe be to the one who is found to be out of step. Not to say that I couldn't make sure the product labels were up to code, but this would likely be at my cost (as opposed to my manufacturer's end).

Also, the shipment of these goods is much more expensive because they cannot be sent by air, and there's a good chance Customs would have a heyday examining, re-examining and cutting things open. Charging wildly for each step along the way, of course.

Let's not talk about product insurance.

Lastly, I can't forget that cosmetics are in an even more competitive retail sector than brushes - there is so much to choose from, and many other companies are much larger and can offer them at a better price than I would be able to at this time, considering all these costs. The pricing correlation to our brushes would be noticeably see-sawed.

So it seems my glittery dreams are thus crushed by regulation, government and insurance. What a DRAG!

Below, a photo tribute to a few of the products I'm giving up. I was particularly fond of that shade of gloss...

Mailing the Seven Seas

2010-10-19T18:39:00.000-07:00

Hurdle jumped!

I finally sat down and made what I hope is a better shipping plan for Abbamart's international patrons today. The most recent method (a base amount per order plus a minimal fee-per-item rate) tended to overcharge purchasers of light items, and severely undercharge purchasers of large, heavy items.

Neither case was a good scenario, and it has been a thorn in my side. I am not content with the idea that "it all evens out in the end". It may even out for me and cover my losses from the heavy items, but not for those who were overcharged for the light ones - I have to think about it from their point of view. If I want these people to come back as repeat customers, it has to be equally fair for each order placed, every time.

The store's controls do not make this an easy task at all; they are clumsy and over-generalized, which is why I put it off for so long. Ideally, I'd have liked to assign shipping rates according to the package weight in ounces, but the system is convinced I only ship by the pound. Needless to say, it's a pretty useless measurement when it comes to makeup brushes!

Nevertheless, today I have beat my brow, squinted and figured and wrestled and tweaked and have finally come up with Abbamart's new international shipping policy.

Tada! The two most significant changes are:

International orders will now be assessed shipping charges by a rate table with small increments according to order amount
International customers are eligible for free shipping for orders $100 and over!

I may continue to tweak here and there over the next few weeks, but I am confident these changes will make shopping at Abbamart a more comfortable experience for our lovely customers abroad, and that's a good thing for everyone!

Black, Cream and Bubinga!

2010-09-18T21:55:00.000-07:00

Ever since opening Abbamart, the question I've received the most is:

"What is the difference between the black, cream and wood-handled brushes?"

If it seems to you I've been avoiding answering this definitively, you're very perceptive. Indeed I have.

A little background.

Being Abbamart is an international operation with my co-owner being the manufacturer and controlling majority in the business, I did not research or choose my own inventory. I agreed to take what the boss sent me and put it up for sale. When the semi pulled up 2 months later with seven pallets of makeup brushes and cosmetic tools, I had never laid eyes nor fingers on 99.98% of the products before.

Admittedly, I was provided with the individual products' information blurbs - in Korean. Which were likely written by a man who has never used a powder puff before. Which may be the reason I did not realize until just a few weeks ago when I finally pulled one for testing (I'm slowly but surely aspiring to touch and use each product personally) that most of our hairbrushes are BOAR! That sure would have been a useful product attribute to be advertising...

The point is, until now, I didn't have a clear idea myself of the differences between our 3 main divisions of brushes. But now, I present to you... the answers.

BLACK: These are our Sophie brand brushes, and among the first that Abbamart ever made. Some are prototypes, made in only small quantities (I have as few as five in stock). Some are designs that were commissioned by other cosmetic companies before the Abbamart store was ever born. All in all, they compile the very first series of Abbamart brushes.

BUBINGA: The Bubinga brushes (with the African Rosewood handles), are also Sophie brushes, but are sort of the next level. They reflect what the manufacturer learned from producing the black-handled Sophie brushes, so there are some notable upgrades, the gorgeous curved handles being one. The hair used is also of a higher quality, which is reflected in the pricing of the larger brushes in particular.

CREAM: The cream-handled brushes are the latest evolutionary step of Abbamart brushes, branded "Beau-Make", and they are made for no one else except our own stores. The sheep and goat hair used for the natural brushes is of the highest grade available (as this is the most important element of a brush), but the handles are made from traditional wood again. The shapes and sizes of the brushes are the most varied in this series.

So there you have it! Our ultimate goal is to provide true high quality makeup brushes without making the customer pay an entire day's wages for a single piece. The three different lines reflect our journey in making that happen.

No More Pajama Days

2010-09-05T20:28:00.000-07:00

I went ahead and put one of these on my main vehicle recently:

Seems like it would be great perpetual advertising, right?

Perhaps not!

A word of advice: you may want to think twice about advertising your beauty business on your car if you like popping out to the store to get milk in your pajama bottoms every once in a while, or leaving your makeup off to make a post office run. The minute I exit this car, all eyes in the immediate area slide from me to the decal to my person again, and oh, there is judgment in those moments, I tell you. They are evaluating - does this person look remotely capable of being a proprietor of beauty? And is that really her face on the back window? No, that lady was never intended to look like me in the logo, but try telling the entire supermarket parking lot that!

So, I've resigned myself to putting blush, shadow and mascara on before going anywhere in that thing. Pants without zippers aren't allowed past its automatically sliding doors.

I was promised the decal will stick around for 6 years, barring tornadic weather, forest fires, or someone clawing it off with their fingernails.

I guess I might as well start practicing my sexy scowl.

LOL!

2010-08-19T17:47:00.000-07:00

Usually when I type 'LOL', truth be told, I'm not really laughing out loud. But right now...

LOL! Can you hear me??

Oh, my goodness. Sometimes I feel I'm just along for the ride of life. I might have had an oar at one time, but it broke a few months back when I stepped up to this post.

I just spent all Abbamart's money. All of it. My palm keeps hitting me in the face as I remember it throughout the day. And then I just laugh/cry maniacally.

The lines of communication got crossed somewhere. I asked my contact about possibly re-ordering some of Abbamart's most popular items (namely the duo fiber brushes), as I am selling out at a frightening rate. I threw some numbers out there as to how many pieces I may be interested in.

I also separated the items into two lists - one that I am positively interested in restocking, and one that I may want to purchase if I can afford them.

After five days of crickets from my contact, I received an email telling me my shipment will arrive approximately next Wednesday, along with an invoice that will clean me out down to the peanut shells in my couch cushions.

Still officially a debt-free business, though, so who can complain? A hefty restocking order was due, but whew! That came at me a little faster than I expected. Oh well. There are no other words... LOL!!

Gift Wrap Angst

2010-08-06T19:45:00.000-07:00

I didn't think things would be so different after Abbamart landed in my lap a few weeks ago.

But they are.

My task is essentially the same. I do basically the same things day to day. But the failures hurt more. And the successes are much more delicious.

Example Failure #1: Gift Wrap

I paid good money for some black-and white damask gift wrap. It looked elegant and classy and frilly on the roll - in other words, it screamed, 'ABBAMART!'

As soon as I wrapped the first little brush in it, though, I saw I had a problem. When you fold it over and can't see the entire pattern, it turns out the print screams, 'HOLSTEIN COW!'

Crap.

I'm agonizing over this in a way I never would have before, when I thought I had an endless font of support from my partner. Throw it and waste the money? Or keep it and send subliminal barnyard-related messages to customers for months to come?

On the other hand:

Example Success #1: Sales Volume

Ever had a retail store in July? It's a bummer. Nobody wants to shop in July. 'Christmas in July' sales are an act of wanton desperation before hauling everything to the pawn shop just to keep the electricity on.

Abbamart was no exception. The first two weeks of that cursed month were by far the slowest since opening. But after I inherited Abbamart on July 22nd, I made a few changes that I now felt liberated to make. They worked, and they worked fast. I finished July with the highest monthly sales to date. OK, it was by like $5.00, but WOW did that feel good!

It's definitely a new game, but I think it's one I know how to play.

Now if only I could pick a decent gift wrap...

Birthday Present

2010-07-22T08:27:00.000-07:00

Today is my birthday. I'm 28 years old.

I must not be a savvy business tycoon since I feel compelled to share all these inside workings of my business with whomever has time for a coffee break and a blog post. Maybe it's not sophisticated to be so open about such sensitive matters, but this is me. I'm transparent.

My co-owner has stepped down. He will not be involved with Abbamart anymore, will not send new product, will not help with expenses. He has found more profitable enterprises overseas. He thinks our growth won't accelerate enough to merit more of his money invested.

I have my reasons for believing he's mistaken. There hasn't been enough time. The USA is a huge market, and the potential is huge. I had been waiting with investing in certain ad campaigns until we had a more polished website to introduce to new customers. I think it would have made a big difference. He didn't allow enough time.

All the same, I understand his position and have great respect for him. Abbamart USA is not his only venture or interest. He knows when he wants to cut his losses. Emails shot back and forth between him and I, discussing, dissecting. He was adamant - he won't be involved with Abbamart USA anymore. But in his last correspondence, one short sentence made all the difference: "Do as you like with the account and the inventory."

The ground shifted. No, I don't have a wealthy backer on my side anymore. Any other large purchases we need will have to be my own. But as for the moment, I have a debt-free business at my fingertips.

I've been given Abbamart.

Happy Birthday to me.

Abbamart in Print

2010-07-10T10:48:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking lately of how I would love to make a catalog of Abbamart's products, Avon-style. I often get requests for one when I tell people that I have a beauty supply store. I'm always a little embarrassed to say 'no', because wouldn't a good owner have a stack of order forms, samples, brochures and other slick marketing paraphernalia in her back pocket at all times? Besides, I think it would be great fun to be able to sneakily tuck them into people's shopping bags, drop them accidentally on the sidewalk, inadvertently leave them in toilet stalls, etc..

The problem is I also anticipate it would be wildly expensive to produce the full-color booklet I dream of, so I think I will look into scaling it down, making something more of a one-page flyer with a sampling of Abbamart goodies.

Should be fun! Yes. It's officially my goal for this month. Before July is out, Abbamart will have a sample flyer, lodged securely in my back pocket, prepared to market the heck out of anyone who asks for one. And of course, public restrooms everywhere. :)

The BHOA

2010-06-04T20:39:00.000-07:00

Guess what.

I've found my very own black hole.

I'm not too excited about it though. Pretty much all it does is steadily hoover huge amounts of time, money, creativity and self-esteem into itself, nary offering so much as a 'Neato', 'Hot diggity', or even a '...whatevvv' in return. The Hole has a name, and that name is Online Advertising.

It's like when you're super excited and pumped up about your latest discovery, and you go off into this animated spiel about it in front of a bunch of people, and you're sure they're going to catch the fever and you'll all have to go the ER together for intravenous fluids because you're all running dangerously high temps on this totally life altering news. But then when you stop to gasp in a breath you realize that your entire audience has drifted to the window to look at a bunny in the garden. Except in the Black Hole of Online Advertising you're never quite sure you had an audience in the first place.

So you can understand how performing manic displays to distracted or possibly empty venues can eat away at time and nibble at self-esteem. Money is obvious. Creativity is probably the most difficult resource to replenish after it has been sucked into the BHOA. My creativity thrives on feedback, which is very, very scant online. Whatever images or ideas I send out representing Abbamart to catch people's interest get chewed up by the Hole and never even spit back out so I can analyze the remains.

I have to keep feeding the BHOA its costly diet if I want to continue to build an online presence that people trust, and strangely, I like this challenge so I'll do it with a smile. Still, if you happen to come across an Abbamart ad while you're doing your thing out there, it'd be thrilling to this lone cheerleader in the dark to hear just one little 'Hot diggity' before the bunny charms you away.

Are We a Success?

2010-05-18T09:54:00.000-07:00

I guess the baby days are already over, where everything my fledgling company did was new and adorable and automatically worthy of adulation. I'm now repeatedly being asked, "Do you think Abbamart is successful?" Wow, the pressure's officially on!

Considering my branch of Abbamart just passed its 3-month birthday, the question seems a bit on the premature side (and nosy)! It puts me on the defensive, and I want to protect my baby business just a little longer, let it grow and mature in peace, out of sight and reach of this kind of cold scrutiny. But, maybe it is time for this protective owner to take stock of Abbamart's performance and intrinsic value accrued in our very first quarter.

People are kind of hush-hush with their finance sheets, so I haven't been able to find a solid example of a similar business in their first months to compare with. I can boast that Abbamart hasn't gone a single period of 24 hours without fulfilling an order since it opened. That wouldn't be much of an accomplishment for established beauty stores; for example, Sephora, but I don't think it's too shabby for a brand-new, small outlet in a very competitive retail sector with virtually no reputation or advertising to speak of!

And there's still a long way to go before we recoup our start-up costs (I do hope we get longer than 3 months to do that). Plus, we are currently investing even a bit more in a new website design and shopping system, and following that will be more aggressive advertising. I am convinced that these are proactive, forward-thinking moves that will result in a wider and happier customer base, but until we see those numbers come to life, can we say we're successful yet?

I'm going to say yes.

From my standpoint, watching the orders get steadily larger, noticing repeat customers returning for more, and seeing some high profile names appear on the address labels, I tend to think Abbamart is doing just dandy for being just over 90 days old.

Even more significantly, I can feel people's smiles in their comments and feedback after they receive their orders. Intangible as it may be, that holds a lot of value for me, and it makes me feel like Abbamart is, and will continue to be, successful.

Now, be a love and please give me a year or so before you ask again!

Helpless with Excess

2010-04-24T18:49:00.000-07:00

Oh, this is hard for me.

I'm very frugal at heart. I don't like waste. It kills me to know that Walmart has thrown out literal tons of frozen meat when it is one day past its due date. Or that patio and furniture displays from Target have been instructed to be destroyed beyond usability, rather than sold at a deep discount or even tossed gently into a dumpster so that resourceful people like me could come under the cover of night and spirit it away.

And now I join them.

My supplier/co-owner just deemed 350 of our brushes unsaleable, roughly $1,500 worth. He shipped me improved replacements and instructed me to dump the originals. No discounts. No freebies. Just get rid of them. Some have caps that fit too loose, and a couple shed hair. They have our brand name on them - we can't distribute them.

I understand it, but it still hurts to see these perfectly shiny, devastatingly soft, immaculate-looking brushes still in their original packaging be destined for the garbage bin.

I haven't done the deed yet. I use 2 or 3 new ones every day putting on my makeup but it hasn't made a dent in the doomed supply.

They haunt me.

Lipstick Kisses and Fortune Cookies

2010-04-09T18:49:00.001-07:00

I love people! I love answering customer questions and hearing about their reactions to our products. But 99% of Abbamart's business is conducted online, which means I rarely get to connect personally with the people who buy these puffs and brushes of mine. I never see their faces, and I can only guess at their personalities from the items they choose and the brief feedback they give, if any. This computer is a tough wall to see through. I need to warm up this frigid, sterile experience that is the typical online shopping transaction. For myself, and for them to know I sincerely care about them as human beings. And I need to figure out how to do it without coming across as a creepy weirdo.

I thought I'd start with one of the simplest kind gestures - a handwritten 'Thank you!' on the glossy promotional card that gets sent in each package. But after pre-kind-gesturing a couple dozen of these, I started to feel like I was signing autographs no one asked for. They looked ridiculous, actually. And there was still no warmth or sincerity. Saying 'thank you' to a customer is nothing beyond the expected. I also had the sense to know I wasn't on the right track when I found myself typing 'Fortune Cookie Messages' and 'Sincere Compliment Examples' into Google.

What else, though?

A sort of candy token ala the valentine card tradition? Too gimmicky.

A lipstick-smudged kiss on the package? (A brainstorm is a dangerous place before the lightning strikes.)

So I took a time out and I thought about what I want these girls and women to know I think about them, knowing nothing about where they came from or where they were going or dealing with in their lives, only that they were here at my outlet right now, buying beauty supply. What I would say to them if we were only a counter away from each other. Think, think, think.

It was actually very simple.

You are beautiful.

Strong, sick, carefree, heartbroken, old, young, hopeful or tired, they all are beautiful, with or without my help. Every girl, every woman who shops at Abbamart (or anywhere else) has something beautiful about her. I know it. I believe it. And now I tell them.

On the inside of every piece of gift wrap, I carefully pen the phrase to order. No pre-autographed sheets this time! I'm saying it to her, the one who's getting the retractable powder brush; now to the one who wanted 3 eyeliner brushes; and now to the one who used the free shipping code she stole off the fan page without even becoming a fan! I like her.

Maybe some will think it's bordering on the creepy weirdo scenario - they probably started shopping online to avoid this kind of personal gobbley-guck in the first place. But, it's honest. I mean what I say and I can only hope it comes across that way.

eBay is Imploding - Run to Bonanzle!

2010-03-31T13:24:00.000-07:00

It's a little-known fact that Abbamart holds down a couple of hundred listings at eBay every month. (Don't worry, friends! The prices there are significantly higher to absorb eBay's out of control listing and final value fees. The best prices for all of Abbamart's brushes and beauty goodies will always be at www.abbamart.com!)

eBay, today, has raised insertion and FVF's yet again and streamlined all listings into core. If you don't know what that means, bless your soul and thank your lucky stars; I wish I never had to think about it again. The general consensus among store owners on eBay is that this is pretty much the beginning of the end for sellers that don't reside in China. The competition and cost to come up high enough in eBay searches is now too stiff to achieve any decent level of success using eBay as a selling platform.

Enter... Bonanzle!!

I set up a 'booth' for Abbamart at this new venue. And boy, is it fun! Laying aside the fact Bonanzle charges NO fees unless something is sold, and charges NO monthly membership to have a booth, you can chat with the sellers directly if they are online, attend live auctions, and post in the forums. It's like a social networking site within a shopping mall. This is where it's at, kids. eBay has cut its monstrous, fleshy legs out from underneath it, and within the next few weeks, if you see your favorite eBay store close down, there is a very good chance that it has reopened at Bonanzle.

Anyway, I'd love to hear from anyone who wants to come over and leave me a note in the new Abbamart booth at Bonanzle - "See you at the Ranch!"

We

2010-03-24T08:59:00.000-07:00

This is a silly little thing, but it's something that's caused me an inordinate amount of thought minutes nonetheless.

When writing little notes to the customer, through PayPal shipping or in emails, I'm constantly flummoxed whether to refer to myself as 'we' or 'I'. You might think it's a no-brainer, seeming as I don't regularly split off into multiple personalities, but isn't there something more legitimate-sounding about 'we' rather than a puny little 'I'? Doesn't reading a note from 'we' give you the vision of a business suit-clad, manicured and pedicured team of blow-dried professionals clipping around in their Manolo Blahnik stiletto heels, breezily answering customer emails from their company-issued iPhones in between meetings with international salon CEO's? Well, it does for me.

On the other hand, a note from 'I' dangerously hints of 16 cats, frozen jelly cookies and Judge Judy marathons droning on in the background while I chainsmoke with one hand and stuff packages with the other in front of a flickering Hackintosh.

For this reason, I do rely on 'we' in most of my correspondence. It's not really just me here, after all. There's my co-owner, the other owners of the other Abbamart outlets, my technical support team (husband), the lovely people at Fastpack who provide me with great prices on bulk packing materials, and usually a friend or two will drop by.

So the Abbamart team is pretty fantastic, actually. I couldn't do this for a day without them, and they are the reason I can be more than 'I'!

(Monolo Blahniks optional.)

No, I Don't Sell Yarmulkas

2010-03-21T12:17:00.000-07:00

So the truth is, I wasn't crazy about the name that went along with my new business:

Crikey. Abbamart isn't the name of a chic outlet selling high-end professional cosmetic tools. Abbamart is someone's grandpa's religious goods shop down on Main.

This has been a big challenge for me as I think about where I want this business to go. The name was non-negotiable, as every other outlet in the Abbamart Group uses it as well. But how do I ward off the inevitable barrage of requests for a good gefilte fish recipe and instead portray an image of professionalism and luxury?

In the beginning, I played with alternative pronunciations like

1) "A-ba-marr" (what I hoped would sound French was distinctly more Pirate, and no one would ever conceive to actually read it that way anyway.)

2) "A-BAM-art" (Emeril would have called in a trademark infringement.)

and

3) "Abba" (ever hear of the little known English silent 'mart'? No, me either.)

So, there is really no way around it, but it's growing on me. The more I say it, the less images of dreidels pop into my head, and I've even gotten up the chutzpah to redesign the logo, displaying the word 'Professional' in the same font as 'Abbamart' in an attempt to buffer the 'mart' from lodging too deeply in people's subconscious. It might not quite be there yet, but we're getting closer. Hopefully as I keep working to define our identity as a business, the name will find its way into a comfortable and even flattering fit as well!

What Jim Carrey Got Me Into

2010-03-18T12:19:00.000-07:00

Ever see the movie 'Yes Man'? Jim Carrey goes to a life seminar that teaches him to say yes to every opportunity he is presented with, whether that means a salary reduction, a credit card offer, or giving a bum on the street a $20 bill, so that he won't miss out on any of life's possibilities. It struck me as a significantly more thought-provoking message than the ones I garnished from Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.

. . .

A few months back, a wealthy man sat at my dining room table. He had just flown 7,000 miles to ask me face-to-face if I would help him, as the former brush supplier of designer brands with such initials as B.E., C.D, and E.L. (hey now, I can't divulge too many company secrets in the first post!), market his wares directly to the American consumer.

At first, it sounded like pure, unadulterated fun (Yeah, makeup brushes!). And then as the night wore on it started to sound like FDA regulations, customs brokers, website building, taxes, lawyers, marketing, accountants, partnerships, employees, and 26,000 items to document and put into inventory. And that was just the first stage. The warehouses and forklifts come later, I'm told.

Panic started to run cold in my veins as I thought of how fast I could get buried in over my head. The knee-jerk response, "No, it's too much for us right now," started to rise in my throat. But then something else less reasonable, but more convincing and located closer to the pit of my stomach whispered, "Yes."

My inner Jim Carrey.

I know you don't get amazing life experiences by saying no to an affluent man who has flown across the world to simply to ask if you want what he has. If not now, then just when would be a convenient time to turn my predictable life upside down? So I said yes instead; it's that simple.

I might crash and burn, and then Jim Carrey will owe me one.

But I think it's going to be the other way around.