Looking Forward to 2012

Wow, 2011 was another outstanding year for Paperly - thanks to an amazing team of employees, Consultants, Hostesses and customers.  I truly appreciate everything you do for Paperly.

A few qualitatively highlights of 2011 include:

• Dozens and dozens of new, personalized products including coasters, bag tags, design kits, dry erase boards, note cubes, tri-fold photo cards, picture frames and water bottles.
• A new preview technology.  (Feel free to test a sample of our preview capabilities.)
• Graduating our first 2 classes from Paperly's Future Leaders Program.
• Conducting our inaugural President's Council in Chicago in June.
• Significantly enhancing Paperly's marketing efforts, including launching Paperly's Marketing Portal, creating a Paperly YouTube channel and being recognized by the Direct Selling Association for ethical business practices.

Quantitatively, Paperly had another blockbuster year in 2011, including:

• 142% jump in new Consultants. Paperly now has 170+ Consultants located in 34 states coast-to-coast.
• 47% increase in commissionable sales. We love bigger and bigger payouts to our Consultants!
• ~$440 in average commissionable sales per Paperly party.

However, Paperly is NOT resting on our laurels.  We know we have a TON of additional work to do to become the world-class organization we're aiming to be.  Our 2012 initiatives can be broken down into 5 key categories: team building, Starter Kit, Fast Start program, marketing & promotion, and training & development.  I plan to discuss each of these initiatives in my next blog post.

Until then, thank you again for the successes of 2011, and I wish you and yours a happy, healthy holiday season.

Regards,

Jay Rudman, CEO, Paperly

Exciting Summer Ahead

Summertime can be tough on direct sellers. The heat, the vacations, the kids’ baseball games... all contribute to a general ambivalence towards at-home parties in the summertime. Recognizing this, we have developed a series of compelling reasons why 2011 will be a summer to remember at Paperly.

• In June, all of Paperly’s party Hostesses will receive a FREE self-inking stamp (a $42.95 value) in addition to Paperly’s standard Hostess Rewards. Better yet, if given just a bit of notice, it’s likely that the Hostess will receive her stamp even before her party occurs! You can learn more about Paperly’s June promotion at www.Paperly.com/pdf/Paperly_Free_Self-Inking_Stamp_June2011.pdf
• In July, Paperly plans to offer its first-ever "Christmas in July" promotion. More specifically, if you order 50 or more of Paperly’s photo cards in July, you’ll receive 25 additional photo cards for FREE (up to a $47.95 value)! The flyer for this promotion has yet to be released, but it will be soon... and the buzz amongst the Consultants has been incredibly positive.
• Although we have not yet announced our August promotion, I promise it’ll be a doozy. Stay tuned!

Last, but not least, we cannot forget Paperly’s Consultants! They too deserve a compelling summertime offer. So, we are offering a free Kindle to both of Paperly’s top 2 summertime performers! You can learn more about Paperly’s Summertime Promotion at www.Paperly.com/pdf/Paperly_Summer_Incentive_2011.pdf

We are confident the summer of 2011 is going to be a great one at Paperly. I hope you decide to join us either as a Consultant, a Hostess or a Customer. We’d love to work with you!

Regards,

Jay Rudman, CEO, Paperly

So Many Reasons to be Thankful

With Thanksgiving arriving tomorrow, I’d like to take a moment to send a "thank you" to everyone that has made 2010 an amazing year at Paperly:

To Paperly’s Consultants: Thank you for sharing Paperly with your friends and family members. You're the ones "out in the field". You're the ones doing the day-to-day to make Paperly successful. Without you, Paperly wouldn't exist. So thank you for being the best team I could have ever asked for.

To Paperly’s Staff: Thank you to Cindy, Jenny, Kristin, Susan, Jenna and the others who answer the phones, submit orders, manage our books, and do everything possible to make the Paperly experience a smooth (and hopefully, fun) one. I am very lucky to have such an amazing staff to work with.

To Paperly’s Customers: Your ideas, feedback and – of course – purchases, drive Paperly forward. Thank you for making Paperly better every single day.

To Paperly’s Hostesses: Thank you for inviting your friends, family members, neighbors and colleagues into your home so they too can fall in love with Paperly’s products. True, the free and discounted products you earn are a nice perk, but not a moment goes by without me wishing to thank you for your efforts.

And finally, thank you to all the printers, designers, software developers, service providers and others who have helped make Paperly’s future appear so bright.

I wish you and yours a very happy Thanksgiving.

Sincerely, Jay Rudman, CEO * Co-Owner, Paperly

Anatomy of a Launch

My apologies for the delay in posting this latest blog entry.  Although it’s not an excuse, we are in the midst of launching 2 new catalogs next week: Everyday Collection 2010-11 and Holiday 2010.  The entire Paperly community – Consultants, Customers, Hostesses and employees – is very excited about the launch.  That said, I thought you might find it interesting to read the basic steps that occur prior to such a massive unveiling.  Please note, I’ve grossly simplified each step below, but I’m hoping to give you an idea as to what occurs “behind the curtain” at Paperly.

• 6 months prior: Paperly aggregates all the feedback it has received from its Consultants, Customers and Hostesses about its designs.  By mapping strengths and weaknesses, Paperly is able to identify what direction its future designs might head.
• 5 months prior: Paperly begins to marry its new design ideas with its team of designers.  For example, one designer might be a better illustrator while another might be better at geometric patterns.
• 4 months prior: Initial design ideas are reviewed and feedback is given to designers.
• 3 months prior: Final designs are agreed upon, and then, designs are carried through all product types (i.e. gift stickers, address labels, etc.)
• 2 months prior: The design of the catalog begins.
• 1 month prior: Loose samples are printed and quality checked.  Photos are taken of the loose samples.
• 2 weeks prior to launch: Catalogs go to the printer, e-catalogs are created and the website begins to be populated with products.
• 1 week prior to launch: Boxes are packed full of catalogs/sample sets and shipped.  At times, it’s hard to find a square inch of Paperly’s office that isn’t covered in boxes!
• Launch!

Of course, this series of events completely skips over the marketing, promotion and training that needs to occur in parallel.  As you can tell, a catalog launch is a Herculean effort.  But boy, is it worth it when the positive feedback starts pouring in from Consultants, Customers and Hostesses.  Of course, by then, we can’t bask in our success, because we are already behind in started on our next catalog!

Regards,

Jay Rudman, CEO * Co-Owner, Paperly

A Note to Husbands

Not all of Paperly’s Consultants are wives, but many are.  And near the top of the list of things I inevitably hear from potential female Consultants is, "Let me discuss this with my husband."

As a husband myself, I completely agree.  After all, I too would want to discuss Paperly before my wife became a Consultant.  (Hypothetically, of course, since my wife, Cindy, is a co-owner of Paperly already!)  The wife-husband conversation makes perfect sense.

However, I NEVER hear from the husband directly.  I only get his thoughts through the wife.  And so, I thought I’d write this blog entry as a note to all the husbands out there.

(Potential Consultants: Feel free to print this out and hand it to your husband prior to your conversation with him.)

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Dear Husband of Potential Paperly Consultant,

My name is Jay Rudman and I’m the CEO and Co-Owner of Paperly.  Because I know you have questions prior to your wife joining our remarkable team of Consultants, I thought I’d try to answer some of your most common questions up-front.

1. Happy to answer all of your questions!  The very first thing I want you to know is, “please don’t be shy.”  This is a *big* decision, a family decision, and I’m happy to answer all of your questions.  Simply call or email me (773.661.1357 or jay@paperly.com) and I’ll reply directly and honestly.  It’s important for you to know that Paperly is a family-based business, and therefore, we try to be as open and honest as possible. So please call/email and ask.  We’re happy to answer.

2. No, Paperly is not going to steal your money.  I can say this, because I’m a husband too… husbands can be a bit cynical.  We husbands believe that all *big business* is out to steal money from *regular folks*.  Maybe other businesses (although I’m a bit more optimistic than most), but certainly NOT Paperly.  We’re in business to ensure our Consultants are successful.  When they’re successful, Paperly will be successful too.  Honestly, our Consultants, Hostesses and Customers come first.  So bluntly, no – we’re not going to steal your money!

3. Yes, Paperly does offer a real earning opportunity.  It would be ridiculous for us to say, "join Paperly and earn $1 gazillion in 1 week."  Anyone can see through that sham.  But Paperly does offer a real earning opportunity.  Commissions can be significant on both personal and team sales.  Candidly, Paperly is too young to have $100,000+ Consultants yet, but I see no reason why that couldn’t happen someday soon.  And wouldn’t it be nice to say your wife was the first?

4. What happens if it doesn’t work out?  Paperly has worked very hard to be a member of the Direct Selling Association (dsa.org) which requires a very stringent buyback policy. Please read Paperly’s at www.Paperly.com/policy-statement.asp.  In short, Paperly will repurchase re-sellable contents of your wife’s Starter Kit within the first 12 months at 90% of the price paid by her.  Of course, this completely glosses over the fact that the Starter Kit is such a minimal investment to start with, especially the potentially unlimited upside.  Nevertheless, Paperly's buyback policy does remove some uncertainty.

Of course, there are many, many more questions that you may have, and again, I’m happy to answer them one-on-one (773.661.1357 or jay@paperly.com).  But before concluding this letter, please appreciate the passion, the enthusiasm and the desire your wife has towards wanting to be successful with Paperly.  I humbly request that you let her try; she’ll likely erase all your doubts within days.

Regards,

Jay Rudman, CEO * Co-Owner, Paperly

How I Plan to Grow my Paperly Business

If you were to ask me earlier this year about how I would grow my future business, I would have looked at you sideways!  I had no idea I would be selling Paperly products.  I stumbled onto Paperly because someone approached me about selling a different product line but I was not passionate about the product assortment.  It got me thinking, “What am I passionate about?”  One of the things I am very passionate about is staying in touch with people in a meaningful way.  I love to send birthday cards, thank you notes, anniversary cards, and handwritten notes of any kind.  On that same note, I also keep a personal blog, Facebook page, and chat via AOL Instant Messenger/Gmail Chat/Facebook constantly.  I feel like I do a pretty good job of staying in touch with the people in my life while putting my personal touch on everything.  I stumbled onto Paperly’s website during all of this soul searching and had a "light bulb moment"!  I already use 90% of the items Paperly sells and could easily find a use for the other 10%.  Getting set-up as a Paperly Consultant was very easy and quick.  Paperly’s staff was extremely helpful along the way.  So the next thing I knew I was a Paperly Consultant!

One of the things I spent some time thinking about was how to promote my new business venture.  I have a huge network of family and friends many states away and a medium sized network where I currently live and then a few smaller groups of people in other states.  How was I going to promote my business to my entire network, spread out across the U.S.?  The best way for me to do that is to really promote and push my Paperly online business.  I knew right away that I would be using the personal online website that Paperly offers.  Along with hosting parties, the website offers an alternative to the response, “I don’t have time to throw a party.”  You can now set-up Online Paperly Parties where the Hostess earns credit towards Paperly merchandise for every item sold at her Online Party.  How great is that!?

But I wanted to take that one step further and try to reach beyond my network.  I wanted to reach the masses and communicate my passion for staying connected.  I started a blog, www.SavvySentiment.com.  This blog will give tips, ideas, and product suggestions to help people stay connected and stand out.  Savvy Sentiment features a “Paperly Pick” item to correspond with the most recent blog post and has a “Shop Now” link to direct people to my Paperly website. I also set up a Facebook and Twitter pages for Savvy Sentiment to reach even further beyond my network.  In today’s world of social networking, the sky’s the limit when it comes to promotion of online sales.  I am excited to see where my blog and my Paperly business takes me!

AlanaK, Paperly Consultant (http://mypaperly.com/alana)

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Alana's current "Paperly Pick"