Pamela Buttikofer
Van Nuy, CA
Browsing For Business Success
Holly and I had been friends for over 10 years and together watched our sons grow up, succeed in school, participate in sports and much to any mother’s mixed emotions saw our sons off to college. Both college graduates, we found our careers of over 25 years (Holly’s in sales and mine in nursing) lacking in the creativity and excitement we desired. Because we appreciated the friendship that had developed over the years and enjoyed each other’s company, we decided to explore a business venture together.
Holly had noticed over the years that there were very few items on the market that were advertised specifically as “gifts for fathers”. It was especially difficult to find something unique to give the new father at the birth of his child. We both found this a problem on Father’s Day, birthdays, and other special occasions when our boys wanted to honor their fathers or grandfathers. Holly and I decided to try to fill this void and after considerable brainstorming, we selected the name “Proud Papa”. With help from my father, we designed our unique retro logo and our company, Proud Papa Gifts, was born.
Although ideas came faster than we could write and the opportunities seemed limitless, common sense kept rearing its ugly head with a ton of nagging questions. How do we create a partnership? Do we need to trademark our logo and how do we do it? Do we need insurance and if so, how much? How do we determine what products to sell and which ones will turn a profit? What is the most effective way to advertise and market our products? What is the most efficient and cost effective way to ship our products? The questions seemed endless and we found that the answers did not come easy. It became apparent that in order for our company to succeed, we would have to study and learn everything we could about good, sound business practice. However, where do we start?
Internet searches answered some of our questions but more often than not asked us to pay for services, buy a book or subscribe to a magazine. In fact, most of this information was very expensive. With no budget for this expense, we turned to the wealth of information we could find in our local public library. With the help of my husband, who is an avid reader and frequent user of the library, we were able to discover most of what we needed to know and at just the right price... free!
My nephew Gabe agreed to create our web site, www.proudpapagifts.com, and I was in charge of taking the photos of our products. With limited knowledge on uploading photos, I checked out “Adobe Photoshop for Dummies”. It was an invaluable resource and saved us the cost of a professional photographer. My husband and I, who oversee the daily business aspects of the company, were able to write successfully a partnership agreement, apply for our trademark and set up bookkeeping with the help of various books checked out from the library. To this date, we have not needed to pay for advice from an attorney or an accountant.
Holly and her husband constantly browse the libraries seeking books that relate to sales, marketing and successful business practices. With the help of several different library books, they were able to write a professional press release. When the time came to send out the press releases, we were astounded by the cost of “Bacon’s Magazine Directory”. It was over $400. However, after calling several different libraries we were able to find a 2006 edition and press releases were successfully distributed across the United States.
Although success is open to interpretation, Holly and I are extremely happy with how far we have come. We have a successful Internet retail site, offer a variety of products, are trademarked, and have our products selling in stores in several different states. We have accomplished all this with hard work and a limited budget. Proud Papa Gifts owe a great deal of gratitude to the public library system. I am convinced that utilizing the public library enhanced the success of our company.