lots of great advice here, thank you.
The Net-Net is I won't be bringing on a partner.
Rob, you are dead on. I would love an organized, bean-counter type as a partner. Certainly someone to hire when I can. Good advice on profits. I could write a book on the emotional rollercoaster you go through coming out of a 6-figure career, losing it all in a failure, then clawing back with slow and steady success. It's sometimes too easy to make excuses.
Sapporo, I'm glad we are already doing a lot of things you suggest! Little Traveler is a manufacturer of boy's clothing (12M to size 12) sold to better boutiques in the U.S. and this Russian department store placed a healthy order for this Spring.
http://www.nvozrast.ru/index.php?section=9 We may be in Mitsukoshi in the Fall, they have shown good interest in us in the past.
The website is just a splash screen for now, that will change in February-March when a fellow Pelican Kroggers in Sweden creates a nice site for us.
Operations: Myself and two-three other Pelicans (deanp, targa florio, gostraight) create fall and spring collections which are then sampled in India. We have showrooms (sales reps) in NY, LA, New England and Toronto. We'd like to get sales representation in Europe as well as the Southern U.S. After orders are placed, everything is made in India, shipped to us and we fulfill orders.
We produce several kinds of t-shirts (I've just created a whole new style not seen in the market), polos, poplin button downs, jeans, cords, twill pants, cargos, linen, vintage leather motorcycle racing jackets (distressed Italian lambskin), etc.
Here is our spring 08 linesheet:
http://www.littletravelerusa.com/LTSpring08.pdf
Fall 07:
http://www.littletravelerusa.com/Little_Traveler_Fall07.pdf
I'll be posting some of the Fall 08 designs this weekend. And one of the lines has a Japan motif. I'll let you know when I post them.
I appreciate your offer of help! Let me know if you'd like to see a sample package. I can put one together for you and we can go from there.
Wayne, your input is very much appreciated, thank you. I'll look into this kind of person. If I were in NYC, I think they'd be easy to find. Wonder about Boston.
KaptKaos: late 2006 - 2007 was Little Traveler's first year of operations which rose like a phoenix from the death of my previous venture, G9Girl. In one year we went from 0 to 114 stores carrying our clothing.
I need a partner to help develop opportunities more than anything else.
MT930: If and when I bring anyone on board, I need someone who is grounded, conservative, a real bean-counter. I have more ideas than time and money typically and need someone to offer focus, reign me in at times, make me prove a case for going forward with a new product, etc.
Good advice Hugh. I tend to put too much of myself into a venture, so it's always difficult to find someone who is as committed (pun intended).
David, so I should let those prisoners go?
Thanks again everyone, your good thoughts and support are really appreciated!
BTW, good news is out of nowhere my book author showed up. I worked with a technical writer/consultant while at Network World magazine back in 04 and he pinged me on Tuesday via LinkedIn. We talked for a bit about old times and caught up and while this guy writes about enterprise level networking solutions, I asked him if he knew of anyone who could write children's books. He was very interested, we discussed the project and he brainstormed with his 5-year-old daughter and came back to me today with some great stuff. And a friend of ours, an art director, was recently laid off, so it could be a good thing. Serendipity!