Bottoms Up! The blog that celebrates life, business & fabulous undies!

One of the hardest things about being an entrepreneur is figuring out how to do all the things that fall outside your traditional area of expertise. In our case, the Smart Ass Gals are marketers at heart but every day we find ourselves doing accounting, shipping, importing, manufacturing, sales, PR, finance – you name it, we do it! If you are considering lauching your own business you need to wrap your head around the fact that you will become a “Jill of All Trades”.

So what do you do when you don’t know how to do everything (and sometimes don’t even know what needs to be done!).

We’ve found three solutions.

1. Rely on each other. Even though our background is similar we both bring different strengths and ideas to the table. We joke that our business is one continuous conversation between the two of us. We talk it out until we figure it out. Having a partner means you’ll always have someone to talk to about your business when everyone else really has had enough of hearing about it. And trust us, they will have had enough long before you’re finished talking about it.

2. Hire experts. Ok, we could have spent days figuring out the ins and outs of Simply Accounting but instead we hired an expert. Someone who teaches Simply Accounting to others to set it up for us. Yes, it cost more but was it worth it? You betcha!

3. Find a mentor. This is new ground for us but already it is proving very valuable. Alix’s dog Henry helped us find our mentor. Alix met her at the park while taking Henry out one morning and they got to chatting about Smart Ass (a great name always opens doors). Our new mentor launched and grew a successful clothing business which she eventually sold to a large multinational. Sounds like the perfect model to us! When we meet she asks us great questions. We know we’ve come along way since we produced our first Smart Ass thong but her questions make us realize we still have a long way to go. We think working with a mentor will help us get there faster.

So there you have it 3 thoughts on how to do it all when you don’t know what the heck all of it is. Just remember too, it’s like eating an elephant, or in our case a donkey, you just have to take it one bite at a time!

It’s that time of year again. I’m not sure exactly how it’s crept up on us, but it has. And, even though we thought we were ready, we’re actually not. And I’m not talking about being “bikini-ready” (though, that too!), I’m talking about hitting the bi-annual trade show circuit. We leave for New York in just over 3 weeks and we have no hotel room! We have spent the better part of today on Google and Trip Advisor figuring out where to stay and how much to spend. Did you know that in NYC $300/night is MODERATE? Yikes! We thought about staying at the YMCA, afterall it would be an adventure …?! However, we’re really complete Princesses when it comes right down to it. So where are we staying? How much will we pay? Will we share our loo? And worst of all, will there be bed bugs? Stay tuned!