10 Things Lady Ga Ga Taught Me About Business

Lady Ga Ga Inspired Soap Necklace and Soap Ring

I will admit I am very out of the loop in the genre of music these days.  I am busy working, being a mom, and taking care of all the boring stuff adults have to do.  My background is art and design so I tend to like the "unusual" in pretty much everything.  The first time I watched Lady Ga Ga in a music video I was riveted to put it mildly.  The costumes, the makeup, the "look" was fascinating to watch.  I then grew to like her music as well, most likely because she is "unusual".  I read an article in The Star Ledger a few months ago, and much to my surprise she got her start in New Jersey just 30 minutes from my home.  The article talked about how she found her style of music and how her then manager was too embarrassed to walk around in public with her because she always dressed odd.  It was then that I realized that there is a savvy business woman lurking beneath all that glitter and mirror.  I followed her on Twitter and read her tweets, discovering her messages are kind and appreciative.  She refers to her fans as "little monsters", and also uses this term in TV interviews.  Learning about someone else's journey can shed light on your own circumstances.  I try to draw conclusions from successful concepts to inspire me in business.  Here is what Lady Ga Ga taught me about business.

1. Always be unique
2.Talent is always most important
3. Art and business need shaking up
4. Don't listen to the haters
5. If you can dream it you can do it
6. Do what is in your heart and others will catch on
7. Drama and pain are un avoidable, funnel it into progress
8. Always value your supporters
9. Say thank you
10. LIVE YOUR BRAND

Explosions

This blog post is a section from the book I am writing about how I started SweetSoaps 12 years ago and all the of the crazy things that have happened to me.


Remember what I said about over night successes and how that is not the best thing that can happen? I want to tell you about my experience with this very topic. In 2003 monogramming started popping up on everything, so I created Gold Monogram Soap http://www.sweetsoaps.com/store.html . I then made samples and sent them to The Horchow Catalog. A few weeks later, I got a phone call from Neiman Marcus. I was a bit baffled because I did not send soap to Nieman Marcus, well it turns out Horchow is Neiman Marcus. (who knew?) They were interested in my product (for both catalogs) and wanted to see it packaged as a gift set. I was in shock, scared out of my mind but I then quickly had some sample boxes made and shipped. It was approved quickly and my first shipment was shipping for The Nieman Marucs 2003 Christmas Catalog! My first order pre catalog mailing was for 75 pieces. This was manageable and I was so excited to be a part of such a historic luxury catalog. First week of October the Holiday Catalog went out, I got a call the first week from the buyers. We have a purchase order for you turn on your fax, so I did. I stood waiting with anticipation, folks the moment we’ve all been waiting for- Ellen’s validation. 750 sets (x6 = 4600 bars of handmade soap by me) , HOLY SOAP Batman! I then got a congratulatory email from their head buyer, that is a moment and a half. After I was able to breathe, I totally freaked out crying. The moment was surreal and overwhelming, fear grabbed a hold of me and I wanted to run far away. I wanted to escape to an unknown island where they would never find me. I called my sister Heather and she was very excited for me. My response was more like I can’t do this what was I thinking? She talked me down off of the entrepreneurial cliff. I went to bed, woke up rested and laid out a plan. I asked them to please divide the PO into 2 PO’s so that I could better manage my work flow. They agreed and we made beautiful soap together for quite some time. There are always workable solutions to problems that arise. You just need to be quick on your feet, feel the fear and harness it to move you forward. One of the big lessons I walked away with from this was not to let fear and doubt lock you up. There will be more fear based moments that you can imagine, having a mentor would be great help. Over the years, my sense of humor got me through some very rough times. If you don’t have one, hurry up and get one because it just might save you from extinction. Doing business with Neiman Marcus was a dream come true, and confirmation that anything is possible!

Branding With Branding

I had my friends the Cooney's over for a BBQ for Memorial Day Weekend.  I bought this really cool BBQ branding tool from http://www.inspirationsgiftgallery.com/ in Virginia Beach.  I have been helping Gerry set up his Blog and Twitter page so I thought we could do something fun and create a blog post as well as a party.  You can put any custom message on this branding tool.  I might have to do a SweetSoaps BBQ meat and greet next weekend?  Its all about the branding in business and now food too.  Happy Holiday!

Stop by and MEAT Gerry Cooney http://gerrycooney.blogspot.com/ Read this heart warming story about Mark and Louie on his blog.  I am sad to say that Mark passed away the other day but Louie brought great happiness to this sick little boy.  Gerry and Louie are good friends!  Follow Gerry on Twitter @gerrycooney

Cag's and Cooney's pork tenderloin on left chicken breast on right.