SO TIRED

Here's where we stand this week. This is the check-in counter at the front of the store. I'm still happy every time I see the rounded edge.

And here's where our fabulous lotions will be displayed. We're going to have:

"Refresh" Citrus-Mint Moisturizer (with healing aloe vera)
"Nourish" Lavender-Vanilla Moisturizer (with softening shea butter)
"Quench" Pomegranate Moisturizer (with hydrating hemp seed oil). We'll going to display these according to size: "For my home" (8oz bottles on top shelf), "For my tote" (4oz bottles on middle shelf), and "For my purse" (2oz bottles on bottom shelf).

All these developments are exciting, but today I am tired beyond the reach of all legally available stimulants. Coffee, green tea, chocolate, sugar, all consumed in large quantities, in rapid succession, but to little avail.

Yesterday we had an amazing recruiting event – about twenty people throughout the course of the evening, and it was so humbling and thrilling to be in a room full of people who were considering joining Julep. Not to mention a huge relief. We’ve passed another milestone, and look at us! We’re still standing!

But just barely today. After getting home at 11 last night, I spent a couple of hours sending out urgent e-mails to everyone I work with to see if we could get everything done faster, since Mitch and Kirk (my contractors) now think we’ll finish construction a week early (go figure!). Then documents to print out to get ready for the Early Stage Investment Forum today, which went from 6:30am to 6:30pm. I really got my money’s worth out of the downtown flat fee parking lot.

I have to say, since I’ve never “closed the deal” with an investor at one of these functions (it usually takes several progressive conversations for us to get to know each other), the most fun part of these events for me is bonding with the other, particularly female, entrepreneurs. I loved meeting with the women who are building O Eco Textiles, and The Local Vine (wine bar concept).

I tried not to be insulted as many investors referred to Julep as a “low tech company” throughout the day. I never thought of myself as particularly “low tech” until now. If it means I’m not burning through millions of dollars of cash in the quest for the holy grail of the “software as a service” subscription-based business model, then I’ll take the label.

Hanging out with Diane

Shari and I spent a couple of hours on Monday afternoon creating party favors for some lucky guests of today's Nordstrom fashion show, which featured Diane von Furstenberg's spring collection (fabulous) and benefited the Seattle Repertory Theater (also fabulous).

I mixed and filled jars of organic shea and mango butter lotion ("hand-crafted", right?), and then Shari made labels and gift cards that we creatively attached to the jars using scruncci ponytail holders (the only thing Shari could find at the local QFC at 10:30pm). Heady, strategic stuff.

When I called Shari after the show to tell her how great our party favors had looked on the table, she asked me whether I thought it had been worth doing. I realized that there are several different ways to think about this question:

- Most importantly: Will it be successful in bringing new guests into Julep? (Hopefully! It was definitely the right target audience.)

- But also: Did we learn anything from the experience? (YES! Even simple ideas - let's give away some lotion! - can take a lot of time to execute, and time is becoming even more of a precious commodity).

- And not insignificant: Was it fun? (YES! YES! YES! How great was it to be doing something with my hands, sitting on Shari's couch while talking about toddler shoes. It was such a welcome break from being joined at the wrist to my laptop).

So thank you Marisa for thinking of Julep and sharing us with your friends and fellow supporters of "the Rep".