What's in a name?

A lot actually. Anne has never trademarked the name 'Green Eyed Monster'. There is actually a company with the same name in the UK (but with dashes between the words) who do organic kids clothes.

We'd discussed trademarking when I came on board. I think it's something you should get onto early if you can afford it. We've now spent the past two years being known in Australia as Green Eyed Monster with me doing a concerted PR effort these last 6 months...there's also the cost of having to change artwork, labels and tags to take into account if we change names.

I've just spent the past few days getting media releases out on our Spring Summer range and Anne's also sent our e-newsletter out to all our customers. I'll talk about traditional PR vs social media in my next instalment.

Tip of the Day: Protect your property! Trademark as soon as you can and make sure you can also get the website address (domain name) of your choice.

Keepin' it local

Yesterday I submitted our application to the Heide Design Square being held at Heide Museum of Modern Art next month in Bulleen where I grew up (which is around the corner from where Anne and I live now). We would so love to be considered for it or the Heide store. Heide is one of the best things about living around here.

One of the things I've discovered with running a business from home is that it's best to start off with those people closest to you. For me, it means telling my friends and family what I'm doing. Anne feels it's a bit Amway and isn't comfortable with the idea of 'selling' to her friends and family but for me, a lot of my nearest and dearest are into fashion and independent design and want to support what we do (you know who you are). I don't believe in shoving things down people's throats either - people will either like our stuff or not but with my PR hat on - at least give people the information so they're aware of what we do and can make their own decision.

The other thing we've recently realised is that it's simply too hard for us to get out and about and as working mothers, it's easier to concentrate on our online business and stay in the local area which is the City of Banyule. One of the things we've done more recently is join our local business association and this has given us access to a free business advisory service.

Tip of the Day: Check out your local city council website and find out what services are available to you

Let's start at the very beginning...

Green Eyed Monster's vision is to be a leading socially and environmentally responsible fashion label designed and manufactured in Australia.

This blog is all about the journey behind the scenes of our start up label and while we're not claiming to be the experts on sustainable fashion, we are one of the few brands giving it a go. From here on in, I am going to share our tips with you as a fledgling label and let you know from our experience what works and what doesn't.

I also want to share with you some of my past career experience. I have a B.A. in Public Relations from RMIT and have spent over 15 years working in marketing communications both as a consultant and in-house in industries including fashion, beauty, retail, food & wine, utilities and media communications. My desire to work for a values-based company also began a long time ago in my second job as PR for global environmental beauty company Aveda.

My first tip of the day: A good media release will include the 5 W's and one H - who, what, where, when, how & why. Start with answering these questions when writing your release.

C'mon!

It's been a while since I last wrote. I got really sick over the school holidays and Anne now has a sore knee that requires surgery. If it's not one thing, it's another. We ended up postponing our meeting with Bhakti from So Ethic and our business mentor.

We have made some decisions regarding our ongoing partnership and business direction. Thinking of concentrating more on the online business until our kids are a bit older. This means overhauling the website and spending more time on the social media side of things - Twitter anyone? Stuff we can do in our own time from home rather than trying hitting the streets of Melbourne...

We've had some good stuff happen too - Julia Zemiro's got back in touch with us so we've supplied some T-shirts for a doco she's filming and we're applying to exhibit at the Heide Design Square at Heide Museum of Modern Art in Bulleen where I grew up. Just got to keep trying to move forward.

Slowly, slowly...

It's school holiday time and I'm not getting much done. Entertaining my two boys and organising play dates. Anne's in the same boat with her two girls. We're still in production mode getting orders out and updating our site with the new Spring Summer range.

It's hard to be patient. We're meeting Bhakti Talreja from So Ethic - a new eco-fashion retailer in Melbourne after the holiday break as well as our new business mentor. I'm looking forward to both meetings. Have also had some dealings with Peppermint Mag - the only green fashion magazine in Australia. Got the latest issue last week and find it very inspiring to up and comers like us.

Keep going...

This is my mantra at the moment. Met with Anne on Wednesday to discuss our partnership which we are still working out. We also updated our business plan and put together a 12 month calendar.

When you have your own business, it's about taking a long-term view. It's definitely not for the faint-hearted knowing many businesses fail in the first three years and that it may take up to 6 years to even make a profit. Green Eyed Monster has just clocked up two years. Both Anne and I are pretty tenacious (we are Cancerians after all) and one of my other favourite sayings is 'persistance beats resistance' - we are in this together for the long haul.

The Power of Two

Well I'm back from up north and back to business (almost). Anne and I met on Wednesday to talk about us and has given me some things to think about in terms of our partnership moving forward.

I've mentioned it's been a journey being partners - it's not dissimilar from having a life partner because of how closely you work and the need for constant communication. In fact, I often speak to or email Anne more than I do my own hubby.

It's been great to work as a team with complementary skills and roles and bounce ideas off each other. That's not to say we always agree and that there haven't been lows to match the highs - it is a rollercoaster ride. What I will say though is that I love working with Anne and in our case, two heads (and hearts) are definitely better than one.