A collection is born

Why do some people live for collecting and others just see them as clutter?

Out of my four sisters, 2 of us are die hard collector's, (never met a collection we didn't want to start and master) while my other two sisters seem very happy to take or leave them, ...preferable probably to leave them. Now part of this came from necessity, my youngest sister moved several times in a row, so it seemed optimal not to have too much to move. And my oldest sister, having been to her house recently, seems to have mastered living the clutter free life- but the other two of us find such meaning in our pursuit of perfect collections, that you can hardly walk into our houses without finding one in each room- from dolls from the 70's, to PVC plastic figurines, and everything in between.

Maybe it is genetic. We got the gene from my dad who loves to collect with such a passion, that he has dozens of unopened VHS movies in his collection. He does not keep them unopened b/c of collector value, but just b/c he enjoys owning a full collection! My mother on the other hand, has a certain glee about organizing, alphabetizing, shrinking, and then hopefully removing his collections!

I think there is a pure, and possibly unexplainable, joy to some people in collecting things they love. I myself get an undefined pleasure out of looking through my collections. They have meaning to me in so many different ways. Most of them begin b/c they represented some memory to me of childhood. But other collections having meaning in my current life of something that I love to look at, making me smile every time I see them. I think that all people have these possessions that they drag with them from house to house, and apartment to apartment, not quite being able to let go of them. Even though they don't look at them often, there is some comfort in knowing they still own them.

It is a meaning I hope people find with my baseballs. My latest line that I have created really speaks to this idea. It is centered around great moments in baseball that will have such special meaning to people who were at these events, or are fans of these teams. Seeing them will bring back that joy, because we all have a soft spot for collections that remind us of something we loved.

Small business advice for the day:
If you create a product that is purely decorative, be sure that it speaks to people, that it touches some part of them that when they look at it they smile and think, I'm glad I still have that.

And by the way, I just remembered that in my parent's front hall, on a small wood table, stands a collection of a half a dozen little penguin statues that have been there for years, a favorite animal of my mother's.

http://www.unforgettaballs.com/

Licensing, does it help or hurt?

I met with a buyer today for a large company. We had a very interesting discussion about licensing. My decorative baseballs are a well selling item for this company, and the buyer brought up the question of licensing. Do I think that my designs would be better with the team logos on the baseballs?

It is a concept that has come up a lot in my years of business; it usually sounds like 'why don't you use team names? A big logo of the team would really be a big selling point.'

But I was never asked the question I was asked today:

Did I think the baseballs would sell better if their team logo was on them?

I truly believe the answer is no. The licensing world is a powerful, huge business, and nothing can deny the pull of seeing a familiar logo on something. But from the collector stand point, I think that leaving the big logo out makes our pieces unique, and in an interesting way, even more collectible. Baseball memorabilia has a powerful pull towards licensing and big team names, but artwork that is talking about the town, the stadium, and the feeling of the game from that city, transcends any logo. I think these baseball designs provide that.

Logos are on everything, and although I do think they appeal to the fan, I think there is something deep felt about the memento that captures the spirit of a team's city, stadium, and feel that makes it special. The true fan knows without a doubt that the piece speaks to them, they don't need to turn it in their hand to make sure they have the right team.

Small business advice for the day:
There are more then one way to do things successfully; licensing is not always better. Be true to your vision- and the sales will follow.

The Power of the Underdog

Watching the Super bowl last night, which was won in the last few moments by the Steelers, makes me wonder about the power of the Underdog. Last night, I would say that the Cardinals, never having won a Super bowl before, were clearly the Underdogs. They rallied a few times, but ultimately the clock defeated them and they did not have time to rally again.

I wonder which team would have won if the game was permitted to go on indefinitely until one team just conceded defeat. I often have the feeling that the Underdog (or my analogy, the small company, which is how I see them) has the power of persistence far more then the bigger, possibly more skilled, competition does. It would have to be true by the shear nature that the Underdog has made it to that position- the position of being able to compete in the same arena as its 'better' competition.

The success of my gift baseball company, Unforgettaballs, is without question do to my Underdog mentality of never giving up, and that anything is possible. I find it all a matter of finding many solutions to solve problems, if one doesn't work try another, and don't give up until you find the one that does work. If we could put a monkey in a spaceship on the way to the moon, I refuse to believe that most of my small business problems can't be solved without some creative thinking.

So... if just the Superbowl game could have gone on a few more hours, maybe the Cardinals could have rallied a few more times to show they had what it takes to stick with it... I actually like the Steelers, but I guess I am just a true believer in the Underdog...