Weekend Reading,“North America through the eyes of a European”

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Episode 8: Whose a control freak...?

Our past experience with building concepts was around existing products.

I'd had some “bones” to work with: an existing product, a working store, distribution channels up and running, previous sales performance to compare against. So although building the design at distance concept was inside my comfort zone, starting from ground zero was going to be new experience!

One thing I'd learnt to recognize was my own limitations. I had many aspects to build, and I knew exactly which ones would challenge me the most, given my skill set and experience to date...

I decided that I would serve the Brand better by turning over one main area that was pivotal to our future success: the introduction of our Brand to Retailers. So I contacted the world leader in the distribution of pre-paid products and started talking.

In the meantime: I analyzed, tested, and discovered. I contacted, talked, presented, chased. I advanced, fell back, fell down, got back up and advanced again. I had to replace all those “behind the scenes” experts that I'd so taken for granted in Europe: the guys that worked with me to get graphics, web sites and advertizing spots ready in the way I wanted them. What I'd forgotten about was the time it had taken to navigate the “teething period” before starting to work together like a well-oiled wheel.


The problem was that time was a luxury that I didn't have here, the clock was ticking!
Our supporting experts had been found, but I had to get them on my creative page from word go. Not an easy task! In fact, if someone asked me today what my definition of a “Diva” was, I'd have to say that it's an entrepreneur on a deadline! (Sorry Guys!)

But, Diva, or not, we were getting there: Our services were defined, the web site programming had begun and the technical tools chosen (Good job Sylvain!), the brochure layout had emerged and been sent off for translation (Thanks Odile), the Gift Boxes were being manufactured (we were lucky to find you Mark). No small feat in such a short timescale! We were on track. Now we had to concentrate on servicing...our services! We had our Designers to recruit, our procedures to create, and our training programs to write. We were gearing up for stage 2.