Bridget’s Paperly Party

Recently, I asked BridgetG - a Paperly Consultant who was traveling to her hometown to conduct two Paperly parties – to document her parties using Paperly’s Flip video camera. Below are a few video segments, taken by Bridget (although disappointedly we never see her in any of the shots!), intended to show how fun and easy a Paperly party is. Thank you Bridget for allowing us to peek into your parties.

Sample Table

I love this shot of Bridget’s sample table. It is so densely displayed… you certainly get the feel that Paperly offers tons of options from personalized stationery (e.g. flat notes, folded notes, memo sheets, note pads, etc.) to personalized gifts (e.g. clipboards, placemats, wine tags, etc.). I especially love the creative use of the tennis ball as a sample holder. Wish I had thought of that!

By the way, I’ve heard from Paperly Consultants that they love that Paperly’s samples are easy to tote from one party to the next. Guess that’s one of the beautiful things about paper: it’s lightweight!

Customers

Below, I’ve included video of customers from both of Bridget’s parties. Why? Because I love that one party takes place around the kitchen table and the other takes place in the living room. The two scenes prove that there is no “perfect” or “right” party. Instead, it’s whatever works for the Consultant and Hostesses. Equally as important, both of these videos provide a brief glimpse at the energy inherent in a Paperly party. Yea!

Hostess Rewards

I must admit, this is my favorite of Bridget’s videos. I love hearing what the Hostess plans to spend her Rewards on: personalized stationery (the blue Grecian Band folded note is one of my favorites too!), a self-inking stamp and luggage/bag tags. Furthermore, I couldn’t have said it better: This has been "definitely the most fun and the most successful" party the Hostess has been a part of. I’m so happy to hear it!

Thank you, thank you, thank you Bridget for sharing your Paperly parties with us. If you're interested in hosting a party for Bridget, you can find her at http://www.mypaperly.com/Bridget.

And of course, like all good movies, we’re already preparing the sequel. The Flip recorder is on its way to another Paperly Consultant. I can’t wait to see what her party is like!

Regards,

Jay Rudman, CEO, Paperly

A Retrospective: Everyday Collection 2007

As we prepare to release Paperly’s Special Occasions catalog for 2011-12 (available on April 1, 2011), I thought it would be fun to start a retrospective series on catalogs from Paperly’s past. So let’s dial the time machine way, way, way back to Paperly’s very first catalog, Everyday Collection 2007.

Being our very first catalog, boy did we make a lot of mistakes with it! Here are just a few key learnings we discovered:

• The catalog had no pricing! How is that possible, you ask? Well, we envisioned the catalog to be a mere complement to a 3-ring album we had put together, so we put pricing in the album but not in the catalog. Big mistake! We quickly learned that the catalog needed to stand on its own… and soon, we ditched the album altogether.
• There were no exclusive products! Instead, Paperly used other company’s designs and passed along orders to those companies. Big mistake! Without exclusive designs, customers asked why purchase from Paperly as opposed to the designers directly. Plus, without owning the designs, there isn’t enough margin to pay our Consultants the commissions they deserve.
• We showcased the designs, but not the product! For example, we’d show an icon of ballet shoes, but we wouldn’t show that icon on a flat note, folded note, luggage tag, address label, etc. We learned that customers need to see the product in use, as a flat note – for example – and preferably in a photo, so depth, contrast and scale were all readily evident.

I could probably go on and on about other mistakes we made with this first catalog, but the important thing is we quickly learned from our mistakes and our catalogs have continued to get better and better.

My next blog entry will discuss Paperly’s first Special Occasions catalog!

Until then, 

Jay Rudman, CEO * Co-Owner, Paperly

Ins and Outs of Stationery

Without question, Paperly is committed to delivering a quality product.  However, because Paperly’s brand is relatively unknown (even though we’ve been in the stationery business for 10+ years), I feel it’s important to spend a few minutes highlighting the “ins and outs” of Paperly’s stationery.

Paper Weight

·         To be honest, paper weight is more about “how it feels” than “cover weight, pounds, text weight or points”.  Suffice it to say, Paperly’s exclusively-designed stationery is the “right” weight: our flat notes are 80# and our folded notes are 60#.  (Folded notes need to be less weighty so the page can fold easily.)   Of course, memo sheets and notepads are thinner, since memo sheets are sold by the hundreds and notepad sheets by the dozens.

Printing

·         Paperly’s exclusive designs are printed using flat ink – i.e. think laser or digital printing.  Some of our outsourced products are printed with raised ink (called thermography) or are embossed.  Paperly carefully balances the cost/benefit of each print style to determine if it’s something that fits our product line.  For example, letterpress is beautiful, but expensive, and so we’ve decided it doesn’t fit our “social stationery” demographic.

Stationery Type

·         Paperly offers folded notes, flat notes (large and small), memo sheets, notepads, enclosure cards... well, you get the idea; there’s lot to choose from.  So how do you pick the “right” stationery?  Some say folded notes are for formal occasions.  Others say folded notes are best for kids because they provide extra room to write.  To be honest, we believe you pick the style you like best.  There’s no “right”, it’s simply what you love.

Personalization

·         Paperly is a BIG believer in personalization.  There’s something special about a product with your name on it.  A note with a generic “thank you” printed on it just isn’t the same as one with your name on it, especially when they’re priced similarly.  It doesn’t matter if you put your first name, your first & last name, your family’s name, your initials or your monogram – whatever works for you is perfectly fine with us, as long as it’s personalized.

As you can sense, I (and hence, Paperly) am passionate about stationery and proud of the products we offer.  In fact, I’m happy to mail loose samples to anyone interested in feeling the quality of our products firsthand.  Simply email your mailing address to info@paperly.com and we mail you a packet ASAP.  I’m confident you’ll LOVE what you receive.

Regards,

Jay Rudman, CEO * Co-Owner, Paperly

P.S. Since I’ve spent so much time discussing stationery, I wanted to at least mention the following.  One of the most common mistakes I see is misspelling the word “stationery”.  Stationery (with an “e”) is what Paperly offers.  Stationary (with an “a”) means not moving.