Category: Weekly Accommplishments

Vivid Vision 2017

So, now that we are clear that I’m going to make $3MM USD in the next 10 months, with $1MM USD in profit, it’s time to figure out the road map.

How do I make $3MM USD this year? What are some ways?

  1. Really grow Knot Theory (KOR)
  2. Grow existing products
  3. Find new products and sell them
  4. Systemize all of the above!
  5. Open to new opportunities
  1. Grow Knot Theory (KOR)
    1. Innovation
      1. Better rings
        1. More durable
        2. Provide very prices silicone info (soft, hard, Newton etc.)
        3. Non fading metallic in singles
        4. Option to flip ring inside out
      2. More styles
        1. Rounded
          1. comfort fit, with engraving on inside and can flip inside out
        2. Different widths
        3. Stackables
        4. Ask “the voices” for ideas! Call them “experts”
        5. More colours
      3. Customization
        1. Custom engrazing
      4. Explore subscription model
      5. Better packaging
        1. Includes ring measure tool? Makes sizing easy for customer’s friends and family
        2. Inspires customers to refer a friend, and makes it easy, fun
        3. Makes educating the gift recipient very easy
        4. Email us for more than 30 days warranty
        5. Eco-friendly recycled plastic and paper for packaging
      6. Include 3 sizes, making it easier to find the right size. Make this version slightly more expensive. Ask to gift the other 2 to friends.
    2. Marketing
      1. Better website
        1. Better SEO
          1. Regular blog content update
            1. Hiremymoms.com
            2. Info for each niche
        2. Better conversion rate
          1. What can we do to “help” people buy?
            1. Better FAQ page (see Warby Parker and other ring sites)
            2. Each to reach us by email (chat later on?)
          2. Who is our ideal customer?
          3. Better lifestyle images to inspire
          4. Videos of the rings to affirm the customers
          5. Lots of customer reviews (first grab from Etsy and Amazon)
          6. Design customer end-to-end buying experience – give more than we promise
          7. Appear as experts
            1. write extensively on each niche
            2. go into details about our rings
        3. Grow mailing list
          1. Need to start paying for over 2k people, or start a new list for KOR
        4. Email loop for customers
        5. Email loop for mailing list audience
        6. Gather customer data
          1. e.g. Survey contests. “Not because we want to pry, but because we want to serve you better! All info is anonymous. (should it be??)”
          2. Right after customer buys, send an email to ask them questions and give them gifts for next time they purchase, or coupons to another product, or ebook, or something they want (maybe a choice)
            1. Why do you need a silicone ring?
            2. Ask them how they learned about silicone wedding rings
            3. How they found us?
            4. Why do they chose us?
            5. For self or gift?
            6. Is there an industry that we haven’t thought of?
          3. Also gather their input on what they want
      2. More traffic to our website, Amazon, and Etsy
        1. Social Media
          1. Give out more rings to right people
          2. Instagram
            1. Reach out to influencers for free or paid promotion or kickbacks
            2. When we become an influencer (5K followers) we can co-promote with other brands
            3. Ongoing contests
          3. FB
            1. Currently our largest referer! Need to cultivate this.
          4. Pinterest
            1. Also a large referer.
        2. Collaborations with the voices / experts (and give kickbacks if applicable!)
          1. gym owners
          2. personal trainers
          3. fire fighters
          4. military
          5. charity
          6. …..
        3. Ads
          1. FB
          2. Google Shopify
          3. Pinterest
          4. Instagram
          5. Google Display Ads – retargetting
          6. Ad agency
          7. Trade something with Cyndi?
        4. Build funnel to improve Amazon ranking
        5. More PR
          1. Newsjacking
          2. Maybe hire Summer or similar? for local sales
          3. Maybe a PR for US sales
        6. Collaborate with more people and companies, creatively
          1. Subscription gift box companies (include one with 5 sizes. This is ideal for gifting to complete unknowns)
            1. Need to include size circles so people can figure out which ring is which size (since the sizes are not engraved).
          2. A variety of niches
            1. e.g. shooters, fishermen, sawmill workers
          3. Unions
          4. Companies who offer insurance to staff and want their fingers protected
          5. AirBnb – travellers need these!
          6. Travel agencies
          7. What other industries have lots of married couples
        7. Wholesale
        8. Tradeshows
        9. Sales people to call up stores and prepare orders
          1. Set up warehouse first
      3. More profits
        1. Upsell
        2. More volume
        3. Store in warehouses not Amazon
        4. Custom
      4. Study leaders from different industries
        1. Nike
        2. Qalo
        3. Warby Parker
        4. Weekly brainstorm of ideas and keeping up with the trend (and technology) – e.g. Watch the laser engraving of your ring! Robot to engrave it!
      5. Reward my team
      6. Weekly:
        1. Where are we at in sales? Where do we need to be? What’s to do? Brainstorm.
          1. Customer list growth
          2. Sales number
          3. Profit margin
          4. New wholesale customers
        2. Where are we at in marketing? Where do we need to be? What’s to do? Brainstorm.
          1. Conversion rate
          2. Mailing list growth
          3. New relationships with companies and influencers
          4. New product placements
          5. New PR mentions and impact
          6. What is the upcoming season? How do we prepare?
        3. Where are we at in product innovation? What else can we add to the list? Prioritize.
          1. Delivery Timeline
          2. Test results
        4. What are our competitors doing? How does it impact our roadmap?

Priority:

  1. Schedule time for weekly evaluation
  2. Schedule time for top priority tasks
  3. What are top priority tasks?
    1. Urgent and important
    2. In terms of short term and long term sales

Top Priority Tasks:

  1. Grow website traffic – learn from Extractafy course – 3 days
    1. Facebook Ads
  2. Improve website conversion by building new site – 2 weeks
    1. Build new site using Extractafy, shopify (with discount)
    2. Once we have all important pieces in place, direct to new rings site from old site
  3. Move old products, reduce inventory
    1. Now is a good time to have giveaways
    2. Replenish after Feb 15
  4. Page 1 Amazon ranking – ok for now, keep observing
    1. Prices
    2. Sponsored Ads
    3. Facebook Ads
    4. Click Funnel
    5. Enhanced listing

Tasks Accomplished Last Week Jan 11th ~ Jan 18th

Let’s see….so this past week I did go to library everyday, workout, and drink 7 glasses of water a day. That’s good.

  • SEOD: get round 1 started, more course. DONE
  • ASM: get production started, listing ready, go through more modules. NOPE. But got shipping more figured out.
  • KT: get the production done (duel 1, hustle), do more automation, do more online SEO. JUST GOT THE NECKTIE AND KNOTS DONE.

Basically, not a productive week. I did an analysis on why. Need to be more focused. Also, just getting into working out….so I guess it’s possible that affected things. I like drinking 7 glasses of water a day though. I think it helps make me smarter and younger.

Jan 11th ~ Jan 17th

Theme:

  • Go to library everyday, workout, and drink 7 glasses of water a day.
  • SEOD: get round 1 started, more course. ASM: get production started, listing ready, go through more modules. KT: get the production done (duel 1, hustle), do more automation, do more online SEO.

———————————————————————————————————

Other

  1.  Buy stuff for mom – waiting for Kuo Hua about pork blood rice cake availability.
  2. v Get some vitamin and silicone tongues by Jan 18th
  3. Arrange to see Mom’s friends to deliver squash
  4. v Set up alopecia meeting
  5. v Find an eyeglasses place

ASM

  1. v Have drawings ready for Maggie
  2. v Contact Zoe. Maybe find another print supplier.
  3. Have Amazon listing ready 3h
  4. Listen to more of the course (Module 4 and 5) 
  5. Go through Ezra’s notes again

SEOD

  1. v Send out my DSSL letters to 100 prospects
  2. v Listen to Rob’s course
  3. What to do for Regency next?
  4. See if anything can be automated more
  5. try out free classified ads for Regency and for Knot Theory
  6. try out CNN iReport too

KT

  1. v Email Erica blog directions
  2. v Bring Alice the blue fabrics when get a chance
  3. v Pick up ties from Alice
  4. v Email ppl who want Duel 1
  5. $40 for Alice and bring 3 logos
  6. Pick up Embroidered ties from Susan
  7. Bring embroidered bow tie to Patrick
  8. Look into sending youtubers bow ties
  9. Think about how to automate some KT stuff so I don’t spend so much time on it.
  10. Add Knot combos to website
  11.  G+ biz page set up and put blog on there
  12. Minimize overhead
  13. What to do with KT from here on?
  14. Research on bridal boutiques – how many in North America?
  15. Put the menswear mailing list in mail chimp (the list I got from Elancer)
  16. Quickly set up a website? Not until I have 2 more clients.

Tasks Accomplished Last Week Jan 5th ~ Jan 10th

I’m not on Facebook as much and I spending as much time eating this week, so that’s good. I’m in Vancouver (Burnaby) now, and that helps.

Moving here cost a lot of time. Packing, unpacking, driving, and adjusting to things – funny how it still takes time to adjust. But being here is so much better for me and my business and health.

I got some stuff done but next week I’ll get more done. I’m just getting into the groove of being here. No one cooks for me. I exercise more, etc.

I’m starting, just two days ago, to document my workout. Starting yesterday, I aim to drink 7 glasses of water a day. I’m starting to notice that I have puffy eyes, like Dad! Oh no!! At nearing 35, age is creeping up on me. I wish I’m ok with it but I’m not. I want to look young forever. I want to sleep with young boys forever.

This coming week I’ll go to the library everyday, like going to work. There’s internet there. I’ll get lots done that way. I’ll try to not have to work on the weekend. It’s more crowded then.

SEOD – I’m starting on it again. Gathered some contacts. Wrote a really good (I think) DSSL of my own. I just can’t do it the cheesy way that Rob does it.

ASM – The first sample ring looks pretty good! Finally. Of the three suppliers, 1 worked out, 1 didn’t, the other didn’t even produce anything yet. Now we need to produce the 2nd sample. That’s another 15 days. Sigh. But at least I have a promising supplier. Ring backing – designed. Shipping – got it pretty much understood by chatting with Amazon. Contacted L+.  Now I need to make sure that as a Canadian my stuff will come across the border ok. I’ll also have the 4 other sizes of ring drawings ready for Maggie so they can start as soon as the sample is ready. When production has begun and the shipping is sorted out, I’ll start on the card printing, complete the listings, go through the modules, and when the sample arrives, take pictures, build digital artifacts (web as part of knotheory.com, social media, emails for asking reviews, ). Once the production is done, I’ll have to remember to ask for 100 to 200 rings to ship to Canada so I can give them away here. There will be lots of tasks from the modules too I’m sure.

KT – This past week I was able to finally get Alice to make Duel 1 and some knots. Now all the ties will have knots. I still need to figure out what to do with KT to automate it more.

—

Jan 5th ~ Jan 10th

Think about how to automate some KT stuff so I don’t spend so much time on it.

Other

  1. Buy stuff for mom – waiting for Kuo Hua about pork blood rice cake availability.

  1. v Buy blueberries
  2. v Download workout youtube videos
  3. Get some vitamin and silicone tongues by Jan 18th
  4. Arrange to see Mom’s friends to deliver squash

ASM

  1. Have Amazon listing ready 3h
  2. v Decide on a supplier and finalize ring design
  3. v Filled out logistics form (Jan 10) – now wait to hear back!
  4. v ASM is top priority – figure out the 150 units per box thing- try start a shipping plan,and chat with help if avail.
    1. No limit. Only need to ship 3 boxes to 3 locations!

ASM – school work

  1. Listen to more of the course (Module 4? Module 5?) 4h (Fri)
  2. Get as much done as possible
  3. Go through Ezra’s notes again

SEOD

  1. v Make sure I get paid by Regency.
  2. Get one more blog post written
  3. See if anything can be automated more
  4. v Research on what field (in Victoria, Vancouver) to get more clients in 2h
  5. Listen to Rob’s course
  6. v Idea: Use catchy headline and content instead of DSSL!

KT

  1. v Email Kirk!
  2. v Email Patrick about embroidered bow tie taking a while
  3. Email ppl who want Duel 1
  4. v Alice – bring patterns, tie parts (green stripe, labels, fabrics), knot links
    1. make 25 black knots, 25 white knots, 5 royal blue knots, 5 duel one tie
  5. Bring Alice the blue fabrics when get a chance
  6. v Elena – bring Xmas fabrics, get bow tie boxes, pick up more bow ties, pick up more black tie cutouts, drop off bow tie boxes
  7. v Mail 2 orders
  8. v See Susan for Embroidery – Patrick’s bow tie
  9. v Update colour options for Hustle collection (next week)
  10. Add Knot combos to website
  11. Email Erica blog directions
  12.  G+ biz page set up and put blog on there
  13. Minimize overhead 
  14. What to do with KT from here on?
  15. v Sort out payment with Erica – she will let me know
  16. Research on bridal boutiques – how many in North America?
  17. Put the menswear mailing list in mail chimp (the list I got from Elancer)

Tasks Accomplished Last Week Dec 29th ~ Jan 4th

I did a fair bit. Here are some thoughts:

  1. I let eating take up a lot of time because that’s time I socialize with Mom.  I’m glad that I’ll get to be in Burnaby next week. I should be more productive there.
  2. I do have the habit of perfecting. Yesterday, the business card – I spent all day, about 12 hours creating it. I’m glad I got it done…I can’t imagine spending less time….unless I outsource it.  Today, I spent all day creating the product listing headline. Just 1 product. I read lots of stuff and I wrote 30+ headlines. I dunno…maybe it’s ok since it’s my first time. I know it’s a problem I have. Over-thinking and over perfecting
  3. I spend a lot of time on Facebook and getting distracted. I need to be more aware of this bad habit.

Dec 29th ~ Jan 4th

Other:

  1. v Call Bank of America
  2. Call Capitol One about currency conversion fees and foreign transaction fees.

http://www.capitalone.ca/credit-cards/costco/

  1. Diary – Dad wants to travel in Xin Jiang, Xi An, by high speed train.
  2. V Deposit my cheque and Aunt Jane’s cheque (Mom will take care of this one)

ASM – homework

  1. Have Amazon listing ready 3h
  2. v Buy UPC codes (bought 50)
  3. v Get FNSKU codes
  4. v Convert FNSKU to barcodes 1h
  5. v Have business card artwork ready to go (5 kinds)  2h
  6. Call Logistics+ to find out about shipping – need unit weight (next week)
  7. v Request ring quote from Amazing Wristbands (I did, but need to reach to them again)

ASM – school work

  1. Listen to more of the course (Module 4? Module 5?) 4h (Fri)
  2. Get as much done as possible

Las Vegas Event

  1. v Design business card 6h (Fri)
  2. v Get quotes
  3. v Order business card either from Print100 or from Jukebox

SEOD

  1. vRSS Submit Regency (after: publish blog)
  2. v Post their blog (not published yet)
  3. v Post blog on G+ and Web2.0
  4. v Set up forwarding from regencyrenos@gmail.com to tanya.huang.seo@gmail.com
  5. v Citation Burst 3
  6. v Improved page urls
  7. Get one more blog post written
  8. See if anything can be automated more
  9. Research on what field (in Victoria, Vancouver) to get more clients in 2h
  10. Listen to Rob’s course

KT

  1. v More blogging – Erica is on it
  2. v post Erica’s blog post
  3. v Let Erica know that she can pick up the other bow tie
  4. v Let Erica know about the PayPal money already sent. We can meet to figure it out.
  5. Get Patrick’s bow tie embroidered (Vancouver)
  6. Prepare Erica’s necktie (Pack it for Vancouver trip) – also the additional pink knotted tie
  7. Update colour options for Hustle collection (next week)
  8. Research on bridal boutiques – how many in North America?
  9. Put the menswear mailing list in mail chimp (the list I got from Elancer)