Cute Sheep

Delay in Shipping

We are attending a funeral today and tomorrow.  We will send out all orders on Friday October 30.  Thank you for understanding!

Retail Distribution

A sample of the new design for the headphones should be arrive to our retailers soon. One of our retailers is in Manhattan, the Sleepy's on 86th street in the Upper East Side. We also have retailers in North Carolina at the mall chain, Sleep to Live. We have one retailer in Canada now. We would like to establish distributors in the UK, Australia, and Germany. It is very important to us that our distributors have excellent customer service records and are reliable shippers. We strive to maintain our superb customer service reputation.

Grammar Girl and SleepPhones

Grammar Girl's Book Tour Schedule:

10/27 San Francisco, Books, Inc. in the Marina, 7:30 p.m.
10/29 Washington, D.C., Borders, 7:00 p.m.
11/4 Lake Forest, Lovell's of Lake Forest, noon (luncheon with entrance fee)
11/12 Denver, Denver Woman's Press Club, 12:30 p.m. (members only)
11/12 Boulder, Boulder Book Store, 7:30 p.m
11/19 Cincinnati, Joseph-Beth Bookstore, 7:00 p.m.
11/20 Tempe, Changing Hands, 7:00
12/5 Reno, Sundance Bookstore, 11:00 a.m.
12/13 Reno, Grassroots Bookstore, 2:00 p.m.

She's giving away SleepPhones on the tour! Here's her YouTube video with the tour schedule.

Extensive SleepPhones Work This Weekend

Website Changes

Over the past 36 hours, many changes have been made to the behind-the-scenes SleepPhones website and marketing technology.

Our brand new SleepPhones System page has been created and launched.  It has many more choices than previously available. You can choose the color (midnight black or deep blue), music (none, CD, or digital player), and packaging (with lavender, in a nice storage tin box, or in a gift box).

The original design of SleepPhones has been discontinued from our website.  We are sending the rest of that inventory to Amazon. There, they will continue to sell the original design in Gray and Lavender colors, but with limited sizing options. A few other miscellaneous products have been discontinued as well.

I updated the Contact Us page to include our social networking connections.

Due to all of the changes, especially in the Products section, I ran some link checkers to make sure we didn't have any dead links in the website.

First Email Newsletter
We reached 50 mailing list subscribers on AWeber yesterday! So I wrote the first email newsletter for AWeber. Included in that newsletter are a Halloween Coupon and a way to get a $10 rebate on a previous order. The Halloween Coupon webpage launched yesterday will be up for 1 week. It was advertised on Facebook, Twitter, this Blog, and the Newsletter.

Statistics for Marketing

Updated AdWords Campaign Management for better tracking statistics, including view of the SleepPhones System page and the Mailing List Subscription Confirmation page. No major AdWords keywords or ads have been changed this weekend. In Google Analytics, I set goals to track views of the SleepPhones System page and shopping cart page.

Social Marketing
We are up to 570 Twitter Followers today. The Twitter Giveaway continues. Jason found the search function in Twitter, which saves us lots of work. Facebook is now linked with Twitter, so posting on Facebook for SleepPhones now automatically posts a Tweet. I also invited nearly all of my friends to be a fan in Facebook. Hey, some friends are customers too. As for this blog, I've been posting nearly daily for 3 weeks now! I don't know how long I can keep that up, but I do have 2 more posts already written and scheduled to be posted. Maybe this habit will last longer than previous attempts with exercise, yoga, swimming, and vegetarianism.... Now I have to figure out if there is a way to automatically put these blog posts to Facebook and Twitter. Marketing is dominating my time lately, which really feeds my internet addiction.

Drupal

Jason is upgrading the SleepPhones website content management from Drupal 5.0 to Drupal 6.0. That will include a new Ubercart, which will hopefully make shipping calculations and coupons be more straightforward, before reaching Google Checkout. Right now we're just using a hack to do priority shipping by making it a product.  And the survey discount is also a product, just with a negative dollar value.  Theoretically one could completely negate any charges with an order by adding lots of survey discounts. You can't place an order for a negative amount and get money from us - I did test that. No one has deliberately abused the discount so far, probably because people are generally good. (I actually still believe that, despite handling all of the customer service emails and phone calls.)

He's appropriating Dreamhost settings, loading Drupal modules, and copying over the content to a test server here at home. Once the testing passes, he'll roll it into production. We hope to have that available in the next few weeks.

Halloween

Midnight Black SleepPhones available now with a limited time Halloween Coupon.

Use of Technology in Business

Our beautiful styrofoam head models the new Blue SleepPhones.

I took some macro pictures of the new SleepPhones^TM design in a homemade light box with my Canon® digital camera and digitally modified them with Photoshop® on my Windows 98® Dell® machine. Then I made a brochure of how the speakers are inserted using Word® on my MacBook®. Now that I'm finally done with all of that, I can print them out on our HP® laser color double-sided printer. During all of that, I listened to Pandora® online radio set to my own Ethereal Beats station. Now, I am using my Google^TM Blogger^TM account to update this blog.

As you can see, it is imperative to be technologically-savvy in a wide variety of devices and software in order to expedite the business process. It is actually not difficult to learn these technologies, but fear or laziness impedes many people from just doing it. I believe an entrepreneur needs not be afraid of learning and trying. Failure is just the pessimistic word for a learning experience. Some people ask how I learned to run a business. It's not like anyone taught me every step of the way. While I've sought out advice from mentors and advisers, I've actually learned much more by discovering things for myself, using as much common sense as possible, the internet, and books.

Here is the brochure processed through Gimp.

Lavender SleepPhones Coming Back

We have been almost completely out of lavender SleepPhones for a few months now. We tried a few different colors, but couldn't find one that we liked as much as the original. So we are now placing an order with Polartec® to make our special lavender in recycled plastic bottles. It takes months to produce, so we won't have any lavender-colored SleepPhones until 2010, but we are bring it back eventually! Our sheep have approved the color sample.

New Design SleepPhones

Our pretty recycled blue SleepPhones have arrived! They will be available for sale by this weekend. I'm still designing the instructional brochures for these.

This is the newest design of SleepPhones with a velcro closure, completely adjustable and removable speakers, and super soft and stretchy. The black and blue fabrics are 88% recycled plastic bottles, 12% spandex, from Polartec®, a fabric manufacturer in Massachusettes. The fabric can be tossed in the washing machine when the speakers have been removed. To keep its antistatic, wicking properties, we advise not using fabric softener.

We are very excited about these new SleepPhones. They will eventually replace all other models. For now, we will continue to sell the older models until they are gone because some people may like them more. This new model will be the ones going to retail stores in the next few months.

Pictures from the Entrepreneurial Women's Expo.

About 2 weeks ago, SleepPhones attended a local women-owned business expo.  It was there that I decided to start keeping a blog for SleepPhones.

Here, Gina and I set up our expo booth.

Gina, one of our employees visiting a photography booth.

Carrie, another employee (and avid SleepPhones user), talks to her mother Linda, who happens to be our small business advisor.

Kerri Smith, in her wedding dress, of Nittany Weddings has been very helpful for our marketing efforts.  

The MC (left) and the organizer (right) of the Expo.
So who is London Wolfe? It's these 2 talented photography gals in Altoona. Their apprentice took most of the pictures on this page.   

Third Prototype

We tried a variety of designs before settling with the prototype version we ended up with.  This picture shows the first headband headphones.  I didn't own a sewing machine at the time, so I was hand-sewing everything with a needle and thread.  It was quite tedious, so I soon got a sewing machine for my birthday!  That's when we were able to get more serious with the product design.  I learned what a bobbin was finally and started to sew.  I made many, with many materials, in many sizes, and with many tweaks.  Finally I had a  design I was happy with, and it's still being sold today!  Here, one of our stuffed animal sheep is wearing its SleepPhones.  It's sleeping comfortably while listening to an iPod filled with sleep tracks!  (It seems that it's always sleeping for some reason...)

Second Prototype

Here are a few more initial prototype pictures.  More headband configurations.

Here is the top of the head band.

This is the sleeping cap configuration.  I just wasn't used to wearing a night cap to bed, so it didn't work out for me.  And it causes a bad case of hat hair in the morning.

The sheep on the night cap design here was the logo I initially drew.  It wasn't quite as cute as the professional logo we eventually had made. 

First Prototype

Hehe... this is the first prototype for SleepPhones.  Nothing like it actually looks now.  It was made with flannel sewn down around a plastic headband.  We used some giant speakers we bought from American Science and Surplus and some wires we wrapped with black electrical tape. (We love American Science and Surplus. They've got really cool toys for do-it-yourself type people.) It didn't stay on at all, and it was quite uncomfortable. But the concept of using fabric over speakers was there. And so was the idea of an atypical exit for the wire - closer to the top of the head.  Since SleepPhones are meant to be used in bed, the wire needed to be as unobtrusive as possible.  We figured that while sleeping, the top of the head is the area least likely to move as much.  So if the wire came out there, then it would be less likely yanked.

Local weather: Record breaking early season snow falls

It started snowing October 15th and will continue to snow until October 17th.  We've had 6 inches already, and many people around town are out of power.  When the trees still have lots of leaves, they are much heavier, so they will break and take down power lines more quickly.  So far, we still have power, but I'm not sure how much longer that will last. Over 10,000 local residents have lost power (20% of the region). If it goes out, or if the cable goes out, we may have delays in sending out orders. Here's a picture from our deck. It's beautiful and quiet outside. It's the earliest snow fall on record for Centre County PA! (The previous record was set on Oct. 18, 1901.)

Malta, English-Speaking Vacation Spot in Mediterranea Sea

Malta? Where in the world is that? I've only heard of the Maltese Cross. Apparently, Malta is in the Mediterranean, near Italy, Sicily, and Northern Africa, and it speaks English!

View Larger Map
Well, SleepPhones has now shipped its third order to Malta now! I guess we've got a following there. It looks like a beautiful place.  We might have to take a vacation there one day.... We haven't actually been out of the country for 5 years, so I don't know when we'll get around to it, but I've love to see the Mediterranean! And I love Northern African food.

Grammar Girl and SleepPhones

Grammar Girl Mignon Fogarty, author of Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing and her new book The Grammar Devotional: Daily Tips for Successful Writing from Grammar Girl, is going on a book signing tour! She is currently in Las Vegas and will be visiting many bookstores around the country. She will be bringing SleepPhones with her and will give some away on her tour!  She's a big fan of SleepPhones, which she uses for listening to audiobooks. Her book tour schedule is in Facebook Events. You can also find her on Twitter @GrammarGirl.

RANA-Medical: Our First Distributor in Canada!

RANA-Medical is a sleep apnea clinic service in Canada. They will be selling SleepPhones alongside  sleep apnea equipment! I guess when the sleep apnea person wears all sorts of noisy contraptions, it's nice for the bed partner to have something else to listen to. Here's a funny testimonial from one of our customers. Both husband and wife wear SleepPhones to sleep because they both snore.

"I must admit I was skeptical when my wife ordered your sleep phones. But we were desperate to find a solution for her not sleeping do to my loud snoring. I do not have apnea, I just snore loud so doctors do not want to prescribe a cpap machine and frankly, I don't want one. But, back to my point.. My wife couldn't sleep and tried several products, ear plugs, white noise generators, etc etc. A friend of ours found your product on google and we ordered one set. The first night was great! My wife slept all night long. The problem came the second night and beyond. My wife began sleeping so well that SHE started snoring. Payback I guess. Well, After a few nights of this, I order your sleepphones for me. Last night was my first night with them and I slept like a baby.
Thanks for a great product.
I look forward to many peaceful nights"
       - F. Fields, Lawrenceburg, KY

Emma Jean just made a comment about our sheep logo.  It is simply adorable, isn't it?  We've been very happy with it.  It was designed by The Logo Loft in Alabama.  Because it's so cute, and this company is like our baby, we decided to make it into a stuffed animal! We're now working with Mary Meyer in Vermont to design our sheep.  It will have an opening large enough in its back to fit an iPod and most other MP3 players, including ours.  You can also stuff the SleepPhones in there when you aren't using them.  Here are some preliminary sketches from Mary Meyer.

I had sent them these sketches of what I wanted.

We should receive our sample in a month.  We're very excited!

Listen and Learn

Award-Winning Blogger Rachel Rambach from Listen and Learn Music just posted her review of SleepPhones!  They are great headphones for school-age kids with hypersensitivity to pressure or certain materials, such as autistic kids.  Warning: people with seizure disorders should not listen to binaural beats due to possible risk of inducing a seizure.  However, the SleepPhones themselves are perfectly safe to wear.

Automated Email Services

We have now signed up for an email service called AWeber Communications.  It is a tool to collect and organize email lists from website visitors.  It will send auto-responses when someone signs up.  And users can automatically unsubscribe.  It was strongly recommended to me by Kerri Smith, a local marketing expert at Nittany Weddings I met at the Entrepreneurial Women's Expo.  Constant Contact is another service that many people use, but because of our business model, AWeber was our choice.  I've installed the sign up box on 2 pages of our website.  Many people arrive on the Free MP3 Download page, where they are encouraged to sign up for a free download.  Hopefully that will translate eventually to sales. Most of the people looking for free stuff never end up buying anything right now.   They just download the free music and never come back.   If they land on the Home page and read far enough down, they are encouraged to sign up for valuable announcements in the future.  Hopefully this is be an easy way to recruit new customers who are not immediately ready to buy at this time.

crowdeye

Apparently there is a twitter monitoring service out there called crowdeye.  SleepPhones is now ranked on there as something to follow! Google Alerts told me about it.  It's interesting the number of layers of meta-information organizers out there.  It's like a nice virtual grapevine or a nosey aunt in a small town.

Twitter Giveaway, Magpie, and RevTwt

We set up a Twitter Giveaway in August to draw more attention to us. It has worked out okay from a business point of view. We have 497 Twitter followers right now, most of whom are people who participate in many giveaways to win prizes. We do have many followers who actually are interested in SleepPhones. Some of those people have bought SleepPhones. Since Twitter is a free service, only requiring my time to update, this social media outlet has been a fine marketing strategy after all for giveaways.

But I would really like to make it more valuable. We tried Magpie previously. It's a service that a person could sign up for to make money with their twitter account. Whenever they tweet about a particular topic that an advertiser has signed up for, the service will tweet through their account a ad that pertains to the previous tweet. It was expensive and really didn't bring much traffic at all. And I'm sure at this point, people have figured out how to exploit any loopholes to make the service less valuable for advertisers.

I've just signed up for RevTwt, another Twitter service that is supposed to help bring traffic. I'm going to do a pay-per-click ad. The only gripe I have with it so far is that the money paid in doesn't immediately go into the account. I guess it has to be first moderated by someone. And the ads are also moderated, so I have to wait on that too. We'll see what happens!

Entrepreneurial Women's Expo

We had a great time at the Entrepreneurial Women's Expo in State College, PA on October 7, 2009! Here's a picture of our display.

Here is a picture of the whole table, which we shared with our friends, the Knuetes clothing line and Eifrig Publishing.

Looks like we'll be having another Expo in 2010! See EWE Website for more info।

The show motivated me to finally do some things to ramp up our marketing and gave me many tips on how to do it - easily and cheaply! Thanks EWE! For example, I'm starting this blog. I plan for this blog to be more business-oriented and less customer-oriented. For customers, we have Twitter and Facebook pages.