Great Photo!

Shortly after Megan returned from her trip to Australia as a Dell Computers “Take Your Own Path” Trailblazer, her father (who still lives in Australia) was flipping through the October 20th edition of  Australian Financial Review.

He was surprised and delight to come upon a great Dell Computers ad featuring Megan.  He couldn’t wait to send us photos of himself reading the ad.  Take a look!

With making custom stage drapes and theatrical backdrops for major artists such as Green Day and Lady Gaga, we have become (somewhat) used to seeing our drapes in a variety of magazines and videos.  But seeing Megan’s photo in a full-page ad in a magazine in Australia is almost surreal!  And so fun to see the photo of her dad reading the ad.

Creativity in Business

I just read a terrific article titled “Can you be creative and still make money in Australia?,” which was published last week in the Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald online edition.  Yes, I admit that I started reading it because the author, Valerie Khoo, had interviewed Megan for the article (during her trip to Australia).  But I kept reading because it was a fascinating subject.

Ms. Khoo makes some very good points.  It’s great to be creative, but you can’t build a successful business based solely on creativity (that’s a hobby, not a business!).  And that is what Megan learned.  She was great at making custom stage curtains and theatrical backdrops.  But if all she had focused on were making drapes, and had not also tried to work on the business itself, I don’t know if Sew What? would be as successful as it is today. 

Through the years, Megan and Adam have consistently tried to find ways to improve the business as a whole – yes, to offer better, more innovative stage drapes, but also to make our company more efficient, our business practices more “business-like.”  We bought our own building, we contracted with a marketing agency for a new brand and website, we bought sophisticated integrated Enterprise Resource software, we worked with a programmer to develop our own software application to standardize our sewing plans…the list goes on and on.

And Megan and Adam have been right there, every step of the way.  Megan didn’t say, “Oh, I just want to be creative – find someone else to take care of this business stuff.”  Of course, as Sew What? grew, we began to hire people to take care of some of the day to day operations (such as accounting and purchasing), but Megan remains focused on the company and continues to look for ways to improve Sew What? Inc., both from a creative standpoint and from a business standpoint.  So great that Ms. Khoo recognized this and included Megan as the main example in her article.

Trailblazers

Right now, Megan is in the midst of a long plane ride, returning to Sew What? after a productive trip that included Washington D.C. (for Inc 500/5000) and Australia (for Dell Computer’s “Take Your Own Path”).  We are so looking forward to having her back, and I’m sure once she settles back in, she’ll be posting about her trip. 

In the meantime, I thought you might be interested in content that Dell Computers has posted regarding the Australia Trailblazers (including Megan).  Check it out!  Yes, the focus is on technology, but I find it quite interesting to learn how people in various aspects of business utilize technology to improve their businesses.

Megan in Australia

As you may know if you are a regular reader of this blog, Megan is currently in Australia as part of Dell Computer’s “Take Your Own Path” launch.  It has been a whirlwind trip for Megan – first to Washington D.C. for the Inc 500/5000 Conference, and then directly from there to Australia.

It has worked out well for Megan – the first part of the trip was to Melbourne (her hometown), and so in addition to participating in a variety of activities as one of the TYOP Trailblazers, she has also had time to spend with family and friends.  Next up is Sydney, where more activities are planned for the Trailblazers.

On a related note, you may remember back in July I told you about an article about Megan and Sew What? that was published in the Sydney Morning Herald (the author, Lia Timson, met Megan at the DWEN Conference in Shanghai).  Well, Ms. Timson has an article out in My Business magazine in which she mentions Megan and Sew What?  Nice that the article should appear while Megan is there in Australia!  Click here to view the article.

Meet the Australia TYOP Trailblazers

Last week, I posted about Megan travelling to Australia to participate in Dell’s “Take Your Own Path” launch in Australia.  I thought today I’d tell you about the other entrepreneurs who will be a part of “Take Your Own Path” in Australia.   These entrepreneurs include:

Martin Port, Managing Director, Masternaut Three X

Based in the UK, Masternaut Three X provides tracking and related mobile applications for vehicles and other assets.  The company recently opened facilities in Sydney, Australia.

Kym Houden, Founder, Task Retail

Task Retail is one of the leading providers of Point of Sale (POS) technology in Australia.  The company was award the Dell Computers Small Business Excellence Award in 2008 (the same award granted to Sew What? in 2006), along with numerous other awards.

Tony Wheeler, Co-Founder, Lonely Planet

Founded more than thirty years ago, Lonely Planet now publishes more than 500 titles of guidebooks for locations throughout the globe.  Based in Melbourne, Australia, for much of that time, the company now also has offices in London and Oakland.

Inc 500/5000 Conference

You may remember Megan mentioning, in a post back in March, that one of the awards that Sew What? was been given over the years is the Inc 500/5000 award.  To tell you a little bit about it, it is an award presented each year by Inc. Magazine to the 500 and 5000 fastest growing private companies in the United States.

This year is particularly exciting, because Megan was invited to participate in the Inc 500/5000 Conference and Awards Ceremony as one of the Mainstage speakers!  She will be supporting Steve D. Felice, President of  Consumer, Small and Medium Business at Dell Computers, in a presentation on technology in small business, with Megan discussing the ways in which technology has helped Sew What? to grow dramatically over the last ten years.

The conference takes place in Washington D.C. from September 30th to October 2nd.

TYOP Heads to Australia

As you may recall, last year about this time, Megan was selected by Dell Computers as a “Trailblazer” for its “Take Your Own Path” Campaign.  It was a real honor for Megan and Sew What? to be selected, and Megan enjoyed participating in various events related to “Take Your Own Path.”

Recently, Megan was contacted again by Dell Computers.  They were launching the “Take Your Own Path” Campaign in Australia, and they wanted Megan to be a part of it.  As a native of Australia who is now a US citizen and resident, Megan was delighted to return to Australia to share her story about the many ways that technology has enabled Sew What? to grow and develop over the years.

In a few weeks, Megan will be heading over to Australia to meet her fellow trailblazers and share her story.  I’m sure she’ll have lots of stories to share on this blog – I’ll keep you posted!

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!

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?”

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!