Double Growing Pains

A lot has happen since my last post.  We are no longer Cody Brown, we are now Cooper Brown Art, we hope that our former artist Cody Brown all the best.  Over the past few weeks we weren't getting all that we needed to get done. As you can read in my last post I had picked up a lot of the administrative work.  It isn't the most glamors work but it needs to be done.  Cody looked very disengaged and so we all sat down and asked if this is what he wanted.  He replied that it wasn't and wanted out.  My lesson learned was that any partnership must be equally distributed in responsibility. I am first to say our partnership failed because a large part of inexperience.  I felt like the old veteran whose time is past but has a wealth of knowledge and the young rookie quarterback who thinks he can do it all by himself.  My biggest disappointment is not seeing this through, a lot of time was put into establishing Cody Brown and just like that it's gone.  That's business, you need to regroup and see if your idea has the merit it did when you started.

Well it does and is why we had all the artist on the previous website resign with Cooper Brown Art with one exception.  A huge reason is why this business will move forward is Jeff Zindel, my business partner.  He is the veteran and I am the rookie. I know small business and social media but art, well I have some learning to do.  I have the business side down and with Jeff the other pieces will fall into place.  Now we may had to push a few things back but first of the year we will be up and running. Expect more stories from me and I wish you all a safe and Happy New Year!  May 2010 be your year to see your passion come into full bloom.

Here is the link to my first You Tube Video describing Cooper Brown Art and yes that is the furnace making that noise.  Link: YouTube Cooper Brown Art

Growing Pains

Well it's been quite busy since my last post.  I feel it has been more administrative than anything.  We have been going over again and again the processes with the flow of the website Cody Brown.  We also have been doing more hand holding with the artist than I first expected.  It has actually been good to know the artist have questions and concerns, it feels like they want the website and our vision to be successful and succeed. This week I am hoping to spend more time with the artist. I believe our biggest selling point is that we are giving information back to the artist on how to learn and understand the business side of it.  I hope we can reach our goal for the month of December, it's all now up to press releases and social media. Please feel free to visit Cody Brown

Now if we build it will they come. . .

Well our website is up and we are about ready to load 3 more emerging artist to Cody Brown website.  Our goal is to get 10 or 15 more artist signed up by the end of next week.  One reoccurring challenge that I have experienced is how guarded our potential artist are. I don't know if our offer is too good or it sounds too good.  I feel once we explain the big picture and show how we are just not putting their paintings/photos on the web they relax a bit.  Our goal is an extension of them, which is the business side but we don't just to do it, we show them how it is done.  After they understand the business/social media aspect of it and if they decide they can do it, we achieved what we wanted, if not we will be happy to do it for them. 

No one can do everything and if they are, they have no life.  What happens to small businesses and entrepreneurs is they gamble on one aspect of business and get swallowed by them.  Weather it be accounting, marketing, technical or whatever but because of their lack of knowledge it can end up costing them.  Because of their lack of knowledge they end up spending all their revenue on one facet.  So to come full circle it is my hope that Cody Brown will approached with open arms and not arms crossed, we like to feel we have a lot to offer and want to be viewed as a teaching partner to an emerging artist. 

Up and Running on the Web . . . I hope

Well we just went live, kind of. We hope to do a soft opening by the end of the week or by the latest, Monday.  We have the consumer side up and going at www.codybrownart.com. It looks great, now comes the back end stuff.  The inventory is my next battle to figure out the correct process.  Our biggest obstacle now is making sure the shopping cart is good to go and working w/ Paypal.  Then on to phase two, the designer side.  I hope this will only take a couple of weeks.  Now I am getting the Social Network pages going, facebook, twitter, myspace and so on.  That will be a big help to drive traffic. 

One note on doing the website we did get hung up on more cosmetic things and not as much on functionality.  You need both but for instance if you think you don't like the color of something, you can always come back and fix it but make sure you make a list of things you want to come back and fix. The biggest thing on what works is having someone to run things by and to be open to constructive criticism. Jeff, Cody and I may not agreed to everything but we understood what the other was wanting.  For me it's hard to have someone tell you what they want when it's been your baby.  Well that's basically what Jeff and I did to Cody but he totally understood we are mentoring him as we go.  For myself this project has rejuvenated me from just wanting to get up and get to work, it makes me feel good that we are hoping and sharing our knowledge to others who may not know or have not experienced what Jeff and I have learned.  Lets keep our fingers crossed and I hope this is one of many.   

Our Office is Now On Top of Other Offices

Well website is almost done and one thing not to get hung up on is cosmetic things.  The old saying 100% of zero is still zero.  We started getting caught in cosmetic things and little changes.  You can always go back and update/change or remove.  Still have big picture and functionality of your website but remember it does not have to be perfect.  We are getting ready to sign our first few artist, we have meetings with them the first part of this week.  Over the weekend Cody prepared our offices, they are on top of the offices in the front.  Imagine this, open area, offices built and there is 9 feet left from ceiling of offices to actual ceiling of building, we are now on top.  It fits us well, I can't believe we are moving as fast as we are.  Website almost done, office space is going, art space to show and work on art was more or less donated space.  It's good to know friends and family can be a part of this.  It's hard not to bring emotions in any business but be careful.  You pour your heart and soul and when someone critics it, you take it to heart. You must be open to open criticism and rise above it.  This is the part you can't be too emotional about, nothing wrong with being passionate about your business, just don't become obsessed.

The next day. . .

Well we are excited about our new venture and we are hitting the ground running.  Our biggest goal now is to organize our priorities.  We knew Cody Brown Art needed a new website, I was actually talking to the web designer 2 weeks ago preparing them so some initial layout was already done.  We saw our first draft and it looked great.  Now we need to organize what emerging artist we want to bring aboard.  Cody is working with a list of candidates.  Also Cody needs to develop more new art pieces for the website.  He needed a place to do that and thank god for good friends.  Mike Moylan who is a commercial developer, has a cool vacant building in downtown omaha, it was perfect.  Cody is going to begin to make new piece this weekend.  I love it when things come together.  Knock on wood, I have been blessed with a great business partner.  Jeff Zindel has been a blessing, we compliment each other, yes a business partner not a domestic partner, "not that there is anything wrong with that" (Sienfield).  Jeff knows more of the financial pieces and I am more operations but his trust in me has been incredibly refreshing.  I have gone through the corporate way and working with and being a small business is harder but way more rewarding, well at least for me it is.  Well hope this helps some aspiring new and emerging business or artist. More to come.  .  .

When it comes together go with your gut

I feel I need to document this new business that we acquired and the hills and valley that myself and Jeff Zindel, my business partner had experienced.  It's been about a week but been working on this for about 1 month.  We would of never known about this if it was not for our connections.  Social networking and face to face networking is really the way business is.  It is becoming more viral but it is a great way to get your business out there.  Jeff and I acquired an art business, I don't know who was more excited Jeff and I or Cody Brown.  Cody is an artist and an young entrepreneur.  He started Cody Brown Art but like any new business owner, didn't realize all the tedious task that were all involved.  I wanted to do daily diary notes on this particular process.  We have been so lucky but that's business.  I have so much to share, please look forward to more these next few weeks.  I hope we grow the business, as well as, grow my knowledge on blogging and social networking, I hope someone can learn from what we have, may it be good or bad experiences.  It's not my nature to hold back, so be prepared.  More to come.  .  .  .

How to Help the Small Business / Home Office

Being the owner of a small business can be very fulfilling, exciting, gratifying and most of the time lucrative. It also can be burdensome when you face difficult decisions that you must make. It can be frustrating because you have no idea how to get to the next step. You start to doubt your own abilities. You have that innate instinct that tells you what your business needs, but you don’t have the experience to accomplish the goals you want. We say this everyday at The Small Business Group, if only we had us around when we started our businesses. How helpful would it be to have someone you can ask questions that then would answer it with your entire business in mind. Too many time you get advice but it's for a specific area of your business. It may be an accounting question, marketing or sales. They advice you get specific to those areas will only help you in those areas. Save and spend wisely, in these times it helps when you have someone on your team. Too many times we run into clients who try to do everything themselves, don't be afraid of advice.

Divorce with kids - first blog post

I don't think I am the only one who has to deal with their former spouse. I have been divorced for three years and everyday I wake up and say "How did I marry that!" The only good thing is our four kids and that's it. I am sure we all deal with these everyday trials but I am to the point that I when I frustrate the situation it brings a smile.

I wanted to find a place to post these frustrating situations because they have now become funny and I want to share them. Let me first explain how I got here. Our marriage failed because we both gave up, we are both to blame. She ended up cheating on me but she was checked out before that, what is funny and what I have learned no matter how much you try to talk to them, I was better talking to the wall. What fueled the fire is when we separated after the original cheat, she met someone else, that isn't my problem it was when he would sleep over when my kids were with her. Let me make this clear, this person she met, she married 6 months after our divorce was final and they are still together, so all I asked was for her to upfront with me so we could co-parent. Even being joint custody it almost makes things more difficult but here is my biggest advice. It is the hardest part to do and honestly it takes a lot to do it. Once the divorce is in high gear, you need to try and take the emotional part out of it and look at as a business deal gone wrong. I was about 90% good with this but it was hard. Well more to come and thanks for stopping by and reading my blog.