| Monday, August 29, 2005 |
| you win some, you lose some |
I am completely floored - first by the generosity of Jeffrey Silverman, Founder/CEO of Preschoolians, and secondly by the interest and participation by you all in this contest. Sometimes you post something simple because you value the opinions of others and frankly have nothing to write because the star of your blog is imbibing the sweet nectar of spoiled rotten grandparently love 80 miles away.
And then someone pops out of nowhere and offers you free goodies. But that's not the best part of this story. You see, I've emailed Jeff a couple of times. His response time was no more than an hour or two, if that. I've never even seen that in any of the companies I've worked for. Grace commented that she was interested in the product line and contacted the company. They said that they would be able to produce non-leather footwear for her little Vegan, Rose. C'mon, how cool is that? (Pssst! I'm down with the purple!)
I'm an industrial engineer by trade. I've been taught to streamline processes, cut waste, and listen to the customer and your fellow employees. On Preschoolians About Us page, they list their priorities as "providing you with extraordinary customer service" followed by "creating the world's best footwear." Extraordinary is not the word, people, because it hasn't been invented yet. If the footwear is anything like their customer service, Lauren will be able to walk through the Sahara Desert followed by hot coals, and her precious piggies won't flinch a bit. THIS is the way a business should be run.
Preschoolians truly values their customer's opinions. How would I know? Because Jeff has a blog where he posts new styles and responds to feedback. What a novel idea: actually listening to your customers.
So why do I even care about all this, you ask? Because this is our dream. Rancito and I have a small construction side business that we would like to see grow into a large side business. It's our second baby, and we hope that it turns into the business we know it can be. It will take a lot of time and sweat equity, but we know we'll get there some day. As long as we remember that business is about establishing customer relationships instead of searching for the next quick buck, we'll be just fine. Jeff reminded me that it does indeed work.
Okay, enough blah, blah, blah. I know you've already scrolled past my life's lesson to try and find out if you've won. With out further ado, THIS is the winner, chosen by THIS blogger. Congratulations! It was also chosen by another very special photographer, albeit a TAD late. ;) And yes, Kalki, I'm giving you props to the shoe picking as well! Stupid rules. Parents have all the fun, huh? ;P
For my second pair, I'm going to have to don the bulletproof vest to avoid the daggers jutting from your eyes. Yes, they are EXTREMELY close to another pair chosen by many. I've got to tell you, me and Lycra don't get along at all. We snag like you wouldn't believe. It's like some bad teenage prom movie where all the girls get into bad girl fights and all the guys do is slip cheap liquor into the punch bowl. Which, oddly enough is quite an appropriate analogy for the second pair I chose. Um, y'all still like me right? Hello? For those that are interested in getting a pair, I signed up to get their Accu-Fit checker, and they sent me a claim code for 15% off your first purchase, and it's good for two weeks. (No, I didn't use it. I'm not about to look this gift horse in the mouth thankyouverymuch.)
Just so you know, I read and valued all of your comments. I printed off all 19 pages and wrote your name next to the shoe and circled it. I really poured over the mommy "been there, done that" advice and tried to keep it simple. After all, she's only going to be in these shoes for about 3 months, right? When you said it was okay to break the "white after Labor Day" rule, I knew it was okay to stop looking for a simple black and go straight for the white. I'm telling you though, I'm a little disappointed I didn't get the sport mary jane because those were AWESOME. So little time, even less money.
I do have one confession to make. At one point during the 4,357 times I changed my mind, I chose shoes that no one had picked. That's because they were for boys. I liked the black and the tan pair of tennis shoes, but then my mommy voice finally chimed in. "Lauren is a girl, she needs pink. She's not you. You choose to shop in the men's athletic shoe section." What can I say? I like men's Adidas better than women's. In my defense, the orange Nike pair are women's.
Although these shoes were not in the running for the Preschoolians contest, I hope to see similar designs in the adult Preschoolian line. Right Kalki? |
| posted by ieatcrayonz @ 8/29/2005 |
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