Carley’s Having a Baby!

Carley, our Purchasing Agent, is getting close to her due date (early September), and we are all so excited for her and her husband Caleb.  It has been great to follow her along in the process, see the Ultrasound photos, and find out it’s a girl!

A couple of weeks ago, Silvia (you know her, she is a contributor to this blog) threw a baby shower at her home for Carley, and we had a great time.  Check out Carley opening baby gifts:

Silvia made some great food for the shower (love those potato tacos!), and Violet brought some darling ladybug cupcakes – yum!

Now, we are all waiting with bated breath for the big day (and waiting to find out the new baby’s name).  We are going to miss Carley a lot while she is out on maternity leave (could happen any day now), but we are so excited for her and Caleb to be welcoming their first child.

Congrats to Carley, Caleb, and their entire extended family!

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Megan on Blog Talk Radio

As a result of her trip to Shanghai in June, Megan was introduced to Angie Strader, host of “What’s Your Bottom Line?” on Diva Toolbox Radio Network, and was asked by Angie to appear on the show.  The show aired live last Tuesday, and it was a really interesting experience, both for Megan and the rest of us here in the office.

Megan was asked to call into the show, as well as go onto the show’s webpage, a few minutes the show went live at 2:00 pm Central Time (noon here on the West Coast).  Angie had another guest for the first 15 minutes of the show and then went live to Megan as that day’s featured guest.

It was really a fun experience here.  Megan sent out a company-wide e-mail asking that she not be disturbed during the live radio interview, and even put a warning sign on her closed door (it reminded me of those red lights at TV studios – “Silence – Taping in Progress). 

Meanwhile, we all logged onto the Internet to listen to the interview while we worked.  It was a great interview, but a little surreal to be sitting in our offices a few feet away from Megan and yet hear her being interviewed on Blog Talk Radio!

If you want to hear more from Angie Strader, you can listen to “What’s Your Bottom Line?” live each Tuesday at 2:00 pm Central Time (3:00 pm Eastern, 12:00 noon Pacific), and there are also a number of previous shows available.  I’ve also just checked out her blog, and I found her posts quite interesting.  I especially liked the post titled, “Why the heck are you going it alone?”

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Sew What? plants a garden

A few months ago, Violet Rangel (Sew What? Sales) got a great idea to plant a vegetable and herb garden in a little patch of unused ground here at Sew What?  So, she went out and bought everything we needed – plants, potting mix, fertilizer – and a bunch of us spent a Saturday morning planting a garden.  We named it “Sow What?” and even put up a little wooden sign.

Fast forward to last week, and the garden is doing great.  We’ve got lots of herbs, tomatoes are riping on the vine, and we have even been able to pick some zucchini.  Violet decided to make zucchini bread, so that we could all have a taste of the fruits of our labor.  It was a nice sized zucchini, but she was afraid she wouldn’t have enough, so she also bought zucchini from the supermarket to supplement.

Well, it turned out she didn’t need the supermarket zucchini after all – the one zucchini from our garden yielded enough for the entire loaf of zucchini bread. 

Check it out.  The one on the left is from our garden; the one on the right is from the supermarket.

And the zucchini bread was delicious!  Thanks, Violet, for the great idea and all your hard work in creating this little garden in the middle of the city!

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May Anniversaries

This month we have three anniversaries, for a combined total of nineteen years at Sew What?

It really is a source of pride to have so many long-term staff members – they are one of our greatest assets!

Sara, Sewing Machine Operator – 7 years

Raul, Shipping & Receiving Coordinator – 7 years

Roberto, Sewing Machine Operator – 5 years

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Photos from “Take Your Own Path”

Back in September, I posted on Dell Computer’s “Take Your Own Path” campaign, which featured inspiring entrepreneurs from small and medium sized businesses around the world, including our own Megan Duckett.

Well, recently we came upon a photostream from the campaign press conference in New York City, and I thought I’d pass it on.  Here’s a preview of one of the photos in the photostream (Megan is on the far right):

 Want to see more?  Go to the flickr photostream, or check out Dell’s “Take Your Own Path” webpage.  The entrepreneur stories are really inspiring! 

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What’s in a Name? Thinking about Job Titles

I was thinking today about the notion of job titles. Account Manager, Purchasing Agent, Human Resources…how well do these titles really reflect what we do on a daily basis? In today’s fast-moving business world, it seems that, for the majority of us working in small business, our titles don’t really reflect all the roles that we fill.

Take Sew What? as an example.

Silvia Soler’s “official” title is Human Resources / Sales Support. But the roles she fills include: party planner, safety coordinator, receptionist, banking coordinator, conflict resolution specialist, trainer, inquiry coordinator, fabric sample coordinator, customer service representative, and so much more.

Our Account Managers/Sales Representatives (Shane, Gwen, and Violet) sell our products, but they also function (in varying degrees) as project managers, advisors, designers, graphic artists, freight quote specialist, and, again, much more.

Tammy’s title is Bookkeeper, but she is really accounts receivable bookkeeper, accounts payable bookkeeper, payroll specialist, credit manager, collections agent, backup receptionist…

Carley is our Purchasing Agent, but she could also hold the titles of dispatcher, researcher, supervisor, inventory coordinator, job material specialist, and so on.

Michelle is the Director of Operations, but she is also production scheduler, mediator, trainer, supervisor, translator…

Megan is the President of Sew What?, but she also wears many hats, including account manager, designer, marketing specialist, website developer , stategic planner – the list goes on and on.

Adam is the CFO, but he is also functions as COO, technical draftsman, graphic artist, printing specialist, IT specialist…

And myself? Well, my title is General Manager, but to me that just means that, like everyone else here at Sew What?, my role is to do whatever it takes to support our customers, the staff here at Sew What?, and the company itself. That might mean answering an incoming call, helping to track down a missing shipment, figuring out why our computer system suddenly went down, processing a flame certificate for a customer, researching a new product, completing our quarterly sales tax report, requesting insurance certificates, meeting with consultants, preparing a performance review, signing checks, or writing a post for this blog.

Occasionally, people ask me why no title is listed on our business cards. The reason is that, though we all have titles that give a general idea of our function within the company, the reality is that these titles do not truly reflect the scope of what each of us does here. Regardless of title, each of us here at Sew What? does whatever needs to be done to satisfy our customer, produce a high quality product, support our co-workers, and continue to improve the company as a whole.

In a large company, maybe you can get away with each person doing one thing, and one thing only. The Purchasing Agent purchases, the Account Manager sells, the Receptionist answers the phones and the A/R person sends out invoices. But in a small business like Sew What? that just doesn’t make sense – so why should we limit ourselves based on a title?

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April Anniversaries

April was another busy month for hiring staff – just like last month, I have a long list of anniversaries, including a couple of people who are not far from celebrating ten years at Sew What?

Congratulations, everyone!  We really appreciate your hard work and loyalty to Sew What?

Lola, Project Manager – 9 years

Alberto, Sewing Machine Operator – 8 years

Carley, Purchasing Agent – 2 years

Violet, Account Manager – 1 year

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Evolution of a Website

Have you ever heard of  The Internet Archive Wayback Machine?  (Yes – named after Mr. Peabody’s Wayback Machine on the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show).  We have just discovered it, and it is seriously cool – it crawls through the Internet and grabs snapshots of websites and then archives them for future reference. 

For example, if a website started in 2006, you might see a list of numerous “snapshots” of the site throughout 2006, 2007, 2008, and up until the present.  Click on one of the links, and up pops the website as of the date listed.  We looked up www.sewwhatinc.com, and the results brought back a lot of memories and reflections on the evolution of the website. 

Prior to 2002, Megan had not even considered having a website.  Most of her business had been built by word of mouth.  However, one day she lost a bid on a large order, despite offering the lowest bid and highest quality.  The potential client told her that, without a website, Sew What? did not have credibility in the marketplace.  It was then that Megan bought a book on basic website design, went home, and over a single weekend built our first website.   Take a look at an August 2002 version:

By September 2004, the website had grown and improved.  Megan had taken a class in web design and had purchased more advanced web design software.  The design was a little more polished, and we even had flash photos, fabric eSwatches, and a greater variety of content.  

Despite the improvements to the website, it was still a “homegrown” product with a stock design template – and the design didn’t really capture the spirit of Sew What?  Enter Chris Sandberg and his marvelously creative team at Star Marketing, who, after many meetings and discussions with Megan, developed a branding strategy for Sew What? that included, among many other things, a logo (the familiar yellow and black question mark) and a brand new website.  Pretty snazzy, don’t ya think?

At first glance, our website today doesn’t look much different from the December 2005 version, but in reality, we have added quite a bit.  In 2007, we added a video portfolio, giving viewers a chance to see our custom stage drapes “in action” without navigating to an outside website, and as you know, in 2009, we added this blog.

We are continually looking for ways to improve the way we reach people via the Internet.  We utilize SEO (Search Engine Optimization) techniques to make it easier for our clients (and potential clients) to find us and the information they are looking for (thanks to Cindy McMahen at Search Marketing Pros for her continuing help with these efforts).  We are continually adding new content to the site and removing any content that we find is no longer relevant to our clients.  As with any good website, www.sewwhatinc.com is, and always will be, a work in progress – and it really is amazing to see how it has progressed in the last eight years!

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Happy First Anniversary

I just took a look, and yesterday marked the one year anniversary of this blog.  I can’t believe an entire year has gone by since that first post day.

In looking back on the 130+ entries we have post in that year – from myself, Megan Duckett, and Silvia Soler, I am proud of the content we have offered.  We have provided educational information on custom stage curtains and other theatrical and special event products, we have described (and provided pictures) some amazing projects that we have been fortunate to work on, we have given insight into the evolution of the company and its founder, and we have introduced you to many of our exceptional staff members.

Here are just a few of my personal favorites:

Projects

Rent What? does the Mark and Brian Christmas Show (great photos of a Silver Satin Series Austrian)

Check out this Metal Mesh photo!  (the drape looks like a painting at the Decemberists show)

Mixed Media Backdrop.  What’s that?  (examples of mixed media backdrops we made for Lady Gaga, Motley Crue, and Soulja Boy)

Education

Focus On: Top Finishes (really, I like all of the “Focus On” posts – they are geared toward helping the novice navigate the world of theatrical drapery)

Exhibit Booths (an overview of how pipe and drape is used to create trade show booths)

Interested in Theatre Lighting? (a brief guide to educational resources online and in print)

Anything on the subject of Flame Retardancy (my pet topic)

Company

Lucky Break: From Coffins to Concerts… (Megan describes the events that lead to the founding of Sew What? Inc.)

Sew What? Rockin’ T-Shirt (I loved showing off the incredible graphics by John Rios)

Sew What? Star of the Month – Nov 09 (actually, I am proud to post on all of our monthly “stars”, as well as our staff anniversaries)

We hope that you have enjoyed reading this blog as much as we have enjoyed writing it – if you’ll keep reading, we’ll keep writing!

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March Anniversaries

As it turned out, we didn’t have any anniversaries in February, but I am back with a long list of March anniversaries. 

It really is amazing to note the longevity of many Sew What? employees, as you will see from this list.  Maria is the very first employee that Megan hired, and she is still with us today!

Maria, Sewing Machine Operator – 12 years

Raul, Shipping & Receiving Coordinator – 7 years

Lynda, General Manager – 6 years

Gwen, Account Manager – 1 year

Please join me in wishing a Happy Anniverary to all!

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