Very Merry Deals at Vistaprint!

As a business owner, I need multiple items printed for Bum Luxury. My first business purchase from Vistapint was 1000 business cards earlier this year. I didn't originally plan to purchase that many, but they pulled me in with their amazing deals. When I got my cards though, my logo wasn't on them. I could swear that I put the logo on the back, but it was not there. I now just write messages on the back so it has all worked out, but I was a bit sad when my logo was missing. 

I decided to try them again when I realized I needed handouts for all the events I was doing this fall and winter. I created a brochure to pass out for people to easily see at a glance what the pros are to cloth diapering, the types of diapers and what Bum Luxury offers. It was simple to upload my image to Vistaprint and my brochure was created. I got 25 for free and when they arrived I loved the glossy paper! Actually I paid $10 for these  because it's a $4.99 fee to upload a design and I uploaded two-one front and one back. I figured that was okay though since the regular price for these is $39.99 for 25.  I also love that the brochures come folded. Some places I've researched make you pay extra for folding. I am cheap and would rather do it myself!

Vistaprint offered free shipping if I spent $50 or more, so I then decided to add more to my cart. I decided to try 50 rack cards, 25 flyers, 100 post cards, 100 handouts, 1 Tshirt, 2 tote bags, 1 pen, address labels and some product stickers. I think that's everything. I spent just over $50-just so I could get free shipping. All these items were actually free, but I paid to upload my logo to them. I was more than happy when my order arrived in less than a week! The tote bags are sturdy and hold a ton! All my print handouts go with me to each show in them. I have only worn the shirt once so far and my logo looks very professional on it. 

I was running out of brochures, so just last week I made another purchase. I just couldn't pass up their Black Friday-Cyber Monday deals! I got 25 more brochures for free, 100% free since I didn't have to pay to upload my logo! I then needed to purchase lawn signs because I'm hosting an event on Sunday and I will be posting them around the neighborhood to point people in the right direction. The smalls were free and the mediums were $5. Love them! Vistaprint has 100's of designs to choose from so I picked 4 different holiday related designs to use.

I also ordered 250 postcards free and then paid $10 for 250 more to advertise my event. I thought about paying for the mailing list and having Vistaprint mail them for me, but then decided to pass. The price for the postage alone is what made me rethink it. Yesterday as I went around spamming the parking lots of local businesses and putting them on cars, I realized it was probably worth the money! At least I got some exercise! 

After many months of waiting, I finally ordered a banner for my event booths. I had received my logo on a disk about a week before my recent move and was waiting to use the larger file size for my banner as my current size said it might be grainy. Unfortunately, after waiting all this time, the file was too large and I couldn't use it anyway! I still need to figure out how to resize it. I ended up trying the photo I already have since the banner was free and am so happy I did. The banner is a great size for my table and very sturdy. I ordered the banner holders, but when my package arrived, it came with some. Now I have a spare in case anything happens to them! 

With my last order, I also got free address labels for the holidays. It was something Vistaprint offered at the last minute. Why not? They're free and I need some new ones since I just moved! Perfect! 

Again, Vistaprint offered free shipping after $50 so I spent $56 and received so much more! I could not be happier with the service I have gotten. The prices are unbeatable-I've checked! 

For a small business owner, Vistaprint is an amazing resource to have for all of your printing needs. 

Click here to try out Vistaprint for yourself!

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Why shipping isn't free

As a consumer, I love getting free shipping. As a retailer though, free shipping is no where near free. 

When I add up the costs of shipping, it can be really astounding. Let's just talk diapers. If a person buys one diaper from me, I can use a 6x9 polymailer. They are .0739 cents each. Seven cents doesn't seem too bad. These polymailers have adhesive, so I can skip the tape to close it. 

Next, I need to label my package. I can buy the self adhesive labels that average about .0359 cents each. 

To print these labels, I also will need ink for my printer. The average cost to print one page varies, but it looks like the mean is around seven cents. Printer style/brand and ink costs has such a wide range, so we needed to find an average.

Right now, my package is costing about eighteen cents to mail. Not bad. I do need to add the cost of shipping though. If I am just mailing one diaper, the cost is a minimum of $1.75 and can go up to $3.41 (I believe that's the highest if mailing first class which would be anything under 13oz.) This is for a package mailed in the US. International shipping is much more expensive. I paid $5 and change to mail one diaper to Canada. 

Since I like to make sure my customers get their orders as soon as possible, I usually mail same day instead of getting a pick up from my mailman which would delay mailing until the next day. This means I have to drive to the post office, using my gas money and cause wear and tear on my vehicle. Fortunately, the post office is about 10 minutes from my house so it's not a huge burden; however, time is money and it takes time to do this! This is not something I will calculate into the cost though. It's also difficult to estimate the cost of gas since everyone's car is different and gas prices fluctuate from corner to corner. We all know that gas isn't free though, so why should shipping be? 

With the expenses we were able to calculate, our one diaper package would cost between $1.93 and $3.59. If we were shipping more than one diaper, and it was over 13 oz. the price jumps exponentially. The best way to mail larger packages, is to try to fit them into a Flat Rate Box (FRB) or Envelope (FRE.) Sometimes, you can select Parcel Post when mailing USPS and it will be cheaper than the Flat Rate. The FRE is $4.75 and you can stuff that baby as full as you want as long as the little flap will close. You might have to use extra tape though, and that will cost you more. 

If I'm mailing anything that could break or leak, I will need to add expenses to make sure that doesn't happen-bubble wrap, plastic bags, separate packaging, etc. It all adds up. 

So the next time you are looking for free shipping, think about all these costs. Someone has to pay for them. 

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Bending the Rules

When it comes to business, many people will do anything for a sale. 

Stay at home moms that want to be able to be at home with their children often will begin a home based business in today's world of party planners and online shopping. Most cloth diaper retailers are parents like myself. I chose to start a business because I'm passionate about my products and I love meeting new people and helping others choose a greener lifestyle. 

I have learned a lot in the past 6 months of owning Bum Luxury. First, it's not nearly as simple as one might think to have an online store. Second, I can't be everything to everyone. I have a lot of work to do to make my way to the top so I need to focus on what's important to me. Is it the cheapest price, best customer service, largest selection, etc.? To me, customer service is the most important. Like I've said in the past, I'm a cheapskate, but I would rather pay for great service than get a deal from someone who knows nothing about the product or could care less about me as a customer. 

Also, in the world of retail, there are MSRPs: Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price. I have to sign a contract that says I will maintain MSRP and can only have sales at a maximum percentage off. Advertised sales must also be approved by the manufacturer. I can always mark the product up, but to keep the product at a fair market value, retailers are all on the same page. 

In the last six months, I've only come across three people that are obviously marking products below MSRP to gain a sale. Not too bad when you consider how many people sell cloth diapers. The first time, I nicely emailed the girl and let her know that she was breaking the manufacturer's contract. This was on Facebook and she decided to block me. That didn't go so well. So, with the advice of more seasoned retailers, the next time I saw this happening, I just contacted the manufacturer. I received an email back that the situation had been taken care of. The girl was warned-maybe it was an honest mistake. 

I have mentioned before that I'm a part of some great swapping groups for cloth diapers on Facebook. There's a girl in my favorite group that constantly marks products under MSRP and sells them openly at her prices to the over 1000 members. I do not share any products with her, so I am not familiar with her contracts. Apparently, other people were aware and reported her. Those manufacturers decided to cut her as a retailer-she broke her contract. 

WOW! The retaliation began. Everyone couldn't believe someone would report her to the companies for marking her products a few dollars lower than she was allowed. It didn't matter that she signed a contract, that she was potentially taking business from honest retailers that support their families with the business, or that she was sharing information about the wholesale pricing with non retailers. People actually said it's okay to 'bend' the rules.

Of course I spoke up. I explained why MSRPs are set and that as a retailer, she had to sign a contract, blah blah blah. I stated the facts and got booted. Kicked to the curb. I'm swimming with the fishes. 

My feelings were hurt at first, but I am so glad that I have the guts and courage to speak my mind when I know people are being dishonest. I would rather keep my values and know I did the right thing, than sit on the sidelines and watch the drama unfold and pretend these people are right. 

I believe everything happens for a reason and hopefully I will have more time to blog now that I won't be on my favorite swap group. Oh, and karma is a B. 

 

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If you want something done right...

We've all heard the saying: If you want something done right, do it  yourself. Usually I do, but when I started Bum Luxury, I realized I had no clue what I was doing trying to design a website. 

First, I selected a host. I did some Googling and went with Vendio, which was supposedly a very easy to use eCommerce solution. Not easy, and not user friendly. Within 24 hours, Lee, my husband, decided he would choose who I would use and after some Googling, he chose JustHost. I already had my site name through Vendio and we weren't able to change it over to JustHost for 60 days, although I could still use JustHost for my site building. Are you confused yet? 

To save money, we went with a 6 month plan. It came out to just under $50. Then I had to actually try to design a site. I selected a template and played around a bit adding photos and information. After adding my products to Google Checkout I used the HTML code to add them to my site. It wasn't very pretty, and when you are like me, you want things to look nice and neat. (People who have been to my house may not agree, but I really am a very organized person on the inside.) 

Next, I tried to use PayPal. Both of these were a PITA because I would have to add a product individually (without a color/size option) for it to keep inventory. Plus, with PayPal, they only allowed ten options for a product. Well, with diapers that come in fourteen different colors, this was not working out. 

I decided to bring in an expert. Holy moly! Website building is not cheap. I should have gone to school for that instead of teaching! That's where the money is. (Like I went into teaching for the money...)

I spoke with a very nice guy (I have notes from him somewhere around here...really-they are on a file on this computer! :) ) who opened my eyes-his prices started at $2500 and went up from there. He told me that to get a reasonable ecommerce site with the products I was describing (cloth diapers) I would need to pay more like $6000 and up. I about had a heart attack right there. I thanked him for his time, but explained that right now (which was in March/April 2011) I just could not afford that. Not that I can now either...

I tried to make JustHost and my PayPal buttons work for the time being. However, I couldn't offer discount codes either, and that annoyed me more. With the move coming up though, I didn't have any time to research other solutions in depth. 

In May, I had an offer from another WAHM (work at home mom) to do free copy writing work for my site. We met online, and she needed more variety of work for her portfolio. We have chatted back and forth a lot through email and I enjoy working with her. I asked her if she knew anyone willing to do pro bono website design and she said I should just ask around the site where we met. So I did. 

I contacted a designer and she said she would be willing to do it and we got started. I explained what I was looking for and she said she could do it all. The work would be free, but I needed to pay for the hosting. I explained that I already had hosting and a domain, but she said hers was better and had more options. I paid for a year up front-going through her to get her designer discount since she used the same company again and again. 

About a week later, she had a sample done for me with the home page. It was really cute and I was happy she was coming through. Then I didn't hear from her for a couple of weeks, and I was getting worried. I had heard that if you were to file a PayPal dispute, you needed to do it within 45 days. I had close to two weeks before those 45 days were up. I contacted her a few times and asked what was going on since I needed my site to be working and ready for customers. I hadn't been updating my old site since I didn't want to do the work twice. She finally contacted me back and said she had had a terrible cold and she was working on the site again. 

I should have known then that things were not going to work out. Who can't return emails when they have a cold? Really? If you own a business, you need to keep up with those types of things. 

She did send me more pages and we were looking good to go. We tried to switch my hosting over, but whatever happened, it didn't work. I was the middle man between her and Vendio and I couldn't figure out what was going wrong, so she said for now, we would just switch something else over, (I have no idea at this point what it was) and it would be easiest if I gave her my password and she would just do it. So glad I never did that! I didn't feel comfortable with that so I was waiting for the site to be done and she could walk me through whatever steps needed to be taken. 

Well, all of a sudden she said she was going through another company and had a different site for me-not nearly as cute and, honestly, I felt like it was work I could have done. 

Meanwhile, I had been talking to other retailers and learning about other eCommerce site cart options. I looked into 3DCart and began my free trial.

3DCart has been so easy to use and I love it. It has a ton of options for my products, and even though it seems to cost more, I got a great deal and it isn't anymore than I've paid in the past for regular hosting. I got 15% off and 3 months free! I love free stuff. Plus, I can offer discount codes and reward points to my customers. Woo hoo!

The down side is, I haven't received a refund for the money I paid to get new hosting, but I think I'm just going to write it off as a loss and move on. :)

Oh, and let's not forget the promo codes for Bum Luxury! Free shipping: FSNEWSITE and 10% off: NEWSITE10 These can be used together for this month, but I may decide to change that in the future, just because now I have the option! Happy shopping!

www.bumluxury.com

Going downtown turned my frown upside down!

I hate waiting. I think most people do. That's why the internet, email and texting is so successful-we no longer have to wait. 

That's what I thought when I applied for my state tax license over two months ago. The Arizona Department of Revenue has a site that guides you step by step through the process of applying for a business license. Then, all you have to do is print out the signature card and either mail it in via snail mail, or go downtown to do it in person. 

Well, like any rational person, I just mailed it in. I figured it would take a week, maybe two, for the envelope to get there, be opened, processed, mailed back and I'd be in business. So I waited. And waited. And waited. As I'm waiting, I am also applying to be a wholesaler to multiple companies. However, I need my tax license for most of them. It is a very frustrating process. 

I decided to call in April and see what the hold up was. Of course, it was right before tax time, so when I was told it was a 6-8 week wait on mail in orders I understood. They said if I came down in person, it would take about a week. I figured it had already been five weeks, so really, it should be here any day now and I wouldn't waste the gas, time and risk Baby J being a not so happy girl in the car. 

Now it's late May and I still never received my license. I decided to just head down there yesterday because I was tired of waiting and there are companies I really want to do business with. I did call on my way-my wait time on the phone was only thirty minutes! This time they said if I came down in person, I would get my license right away. Awesome! Totally worth the drive.

Downtown Phoenix is about 30-40 minutes from our home depending on traffic. I went in the middle of the day so I wouldn't have to worry about rush hour at all. My lovely husband came with me too, so I didn't have to worry about running after Baby J by myself. There was no wait in line at all. The person that served me was very cordial and helpful. In less than ten minutes I finally had my long anticipated tax license. Plus, he wished me luck in my endeavor! That was very nice. 

I think they honor their seal well.

I must say I am super glad I made the drive downtown to get my license. It was worth the time and now I feel official. :)

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Building the Biz

I finally did it. Today at Target, I approached a new mom and offered her a business card! 

As I was roaming aimlessly around Target today w/ my good friend and our two daughters, I saw many people with little babies. I saw even more people buying gifts for upcoming baby showers or sporting a baby bump. I wanted to approach them all and ask if they had ever considered trying cloth, but I am not a weirdo-well, maybe I'm a little strange-but I really didn't want to annoy anyone. I also didn't want to embarrass my friend, who might think I'm crazy, but is too nice to tell me.

After scouring the store for anything awesome I never knew I needed, we were ready to check out. The girl in front of us had a young son and was with her mother. The mother is what gave me courage. I thought to myself, "Maybe she cloth diapered her kids and would be more likely to support it." Anything to convince myself it's okay to randomly walk up to a stranger and solicit business, right? Also, they were buying Huggies, and that gave me an in. I got my business card ready, handed it over and casually mentioned cloth diapers. It was quick and painless, and they actually seemed a bit excited, or maybe it was just me being overly optimistic. I did just happen to flash my daughter's cute bum at them to show her cloth off trying to seal the deal. She was wearing a pink minky Envibum diaper at the time, in case you were wondering. :)

After I was done, I wished I had approached all the people I was too nervous to talk to only moments before. I felt invigorated and powerful; like I could accomplish anything I wanted. What an amazing feeling!

One mom down, hundreds of thousands to go. Watch out, you could be next!

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Lessons Learned

After a good cry with a great friend, a couple of hours cooling off, and some feedback from some CD friends, I feel that I can write this post without using bad words and/or crying again. 

As a cloth diapering mother, I have been looking forward to attending The Great Cloth Diaper Change for a couple of months. As a new business owner, I looked into hosting a location in my area, but unfortunately, I wasn't able to find a venue within my price range (free.)

I contacted another local company asking if they were interested in letting me co-host the event. After a few emails and a Facebook message with no response, I figured I would just attend.

Today, I received a phone call from the company. After she let me know that the company only worked with companies that had already established a relationship with them, she decided to lecture me on establishing a business reputation and explaining to me how the cloth diaper community works together. 

Apparently, one of their customers saw a response I had put on a post about the GCDC that mentioned I had contacted them and never heard back. This was my message:

I have tried contacting company name here, but I never heard back:( Very disappointing. I was hoping to co host or do a raffle or something, but they didn't return my messages. Do you know if they are still doing it?

I feel that my message was to the point, honest and not bad mouthing them at all, as we were discussing that specific location for the event. The owner didn't read the post I had written, but was certain I was negatively affecting my own company by saying bad things about hers. I tried to explain multiple times what my post had said and was cut off. I also tried to explain that if I wasn't satisfied with a diaper, I would share that with other people as well. I don't know if she heard me because she never responded to that.

It is interesting to me that weeks after I originally contacted this company, I only received a call when they were not happy with me. I mentioned this to her on the phone and was told, "Although technology is great, it's not the only way to contact people. I should have called." No apology.

I've learned a valuable lesson today. There will always be someone out there that isn't happy with the way you do business, no matter how honest you are. This has just made me more determined to always have great customer service and reminds me to always respond to people's requests. 

I believe everything happens for a reason. I am glad I am not co-hosting this event because I don't want to do business with people who don't have the same respect for others as I do. 


**As I was looking up my post to quote it here, I saw another response from someone that mentioned this company and how she hasn't had good experience with their service. She prefers to drive to Zoolikins, which is a good 30 minutes to 1 hour drive from our side of town, because the people there are friendly and helpful. I agree 100% and I hope to model my business after theirs.

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Hurry Up and Wait!

Starting out my new business adventure has been a time consuming task. From designing a website, which I know nothing about so I find it very discouraging, to learning all about the world of blogging and Twitter, I feel that I am on the computer all the time. My husband probably only recognizes me from my eyes and above lately because the rest of my face is behind this laptop screen. When Baby J is awake, she thinks the laptop is a toy, so I don't get any work done during those hours.  

The most frustrating part for me, however, is waiting for my tax ID number from the state of Arizona. As I sit on hold on my phone as I type, I do realize that we are approaching April 15th and that may be the reason for the delay.

Everyday I feel like a little kid waiting for the mail to arrive and get so disappointed when that envelope from the AZ Dept. of Revenue is still not there. I have checked the mail more in the last three weeks than I probably have the entire time I've lived in my house-over three years. 

My eagerness to receive this number is so that I can start applying to different wholesale companies to become a retailer of their diapers. Most companies want the tax ID number before doing business-I assume to be sure that you are actually a reputable business owner and not just trying to get a great deal on some diapers! 

Wish me luck in receiving this oh so important number! My business is small, but ready to grow! 

So I will listen to what my husband always says about the government: Hurry up and wait!

**As I finished typing, the phone stopped playing music and rang. Then hung up. Grrrr!! I will have to try again.

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The beginning of Bum Luxury

After eight months of cloth diapering my baby and sharing all about cloth diapers online and to friends at parties, gatherings and mom’s groups, I finally decided to get paid for these advertisements.

When I first got pregnant I had many questions, and like many people who have questions, I turned to Google. Through my wanderings and wonderings (yes, I know it’s not a real word) I came across Babycenter, a website that became a close friend of mine and stuck with me even after I ventured into the world of motherhood.

Who knew there were so many debates on parenting? I always thought you tried your best and that was that. Boy, was I wrong! Breastfeeding vs. formula, co-sleeping, cry it out, vaccinations, circumcision, inducing labor, epidural vs. natural childbirth, and on and on. I have my own opinions on these topics of course, but the debate that I was undecided about for most of my pregnancy was the disposable vs. cloth diaper argument.

Cloth diapers? Who used those? Nobody I knew had used cloth in the last, well, since I was a baby. Why would people use cloth now? What had changed since I was a child to fuel such a debate?

Now, I must tell you, I consider myself quite the environmentalist. Reducing my carbon footprint is a huge factor in how I live my life so finding the answers to the questions was a huge priority during my pregnancy. How could I, the Green Team teacher, be a hypocrite and use disposable diapers if there were cloth options available?

My research began on the Babycenter Cloth Diaper Board. And then I was lost. Completely lost. What in the world was a BG, FB, BSRB, HH, OS, AIO, AI2, fitted, flat, etc? It still seems a bit foreign to me. So I started at the beginning and asked a ton of questions. When I finally started to understand what all the acronyms meant, another woman I worked with started talking about using cloth with her baby! I was so amazed. Someone in real life knew about cloth diapers!

She introduced me to a local store and my husband and I took a cloth diaper class. It was so important that my husband went because he looked at me with the same look everyone else gave me when I mentioned that I was thinking about using cloth on my baby. He thought I was crazy. That all my years of making him recycle had really turned me into some crazy environmentalist lunatic. Well, he sure has changed his tune now!

Not only was he impressed that we would save hundreds if not thousands of dollars using cloth, he was glad he wouldn’t have to ever go to the store and buy diapers again. After learning about all the types of diapers, he was the one in the store trying the diapers on their teddy bear. He loved how soft the Fuzzibunz diapers were and we were both amazed at the adjustable elastic in the legs and waist. We were sold. I had finally committed to using cloth with my child.

I could not be happier with my choice. My husband is an advocate now too. I love that he defends our choice to his coworkers and comes home to tell me about it. The lack of blowouts and last minute rushes to the store are his favorite points to make. I think with a little more encouragement, we will have some friends in cloth soon!

Bum Luxury was created to share the love of cloth diapers and show people that they can be just as convenient, if not more, as today’s disposable diapers. We hope to educate others about the choices available today and convert more homes to cloth.

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