Emily Rose Update

...the other Emily Rose. Lisa is taking a break from work today and pondering 2007. We realize that it is February and most folks are well past 2007 pondering but unfortunately we just had no time to ponder until now.

Emily Rose was officially a success - and for those of you who are reading who have never visited Emily Rose, go now and see. Thanks to the much needed assistance of the Owens, our new and indispensable Partners, our Holiday season exceeded our forecasts by nearly doubling our expected revenues. The important point being that we were profitable in our first year of business... wow! What a year it was.

As Lisa gets back in to work-mode she is reflecting on what made 2007 so productive - the conclusion? Hard-work and creativity. When you get right down to it nothing beats getting stuck in and working your bum off when trying for success - and that is just what we did. There were too many 14 hour work days to count - going back down in to the office after Emily was fed and in bed to pack and inventory and clean up work from the hectic day. We can't tell you how many mistakes we made or how many overgrown paths of entrepreneurship we wandered down only to get stuck and have to hack our way back out. Creativity saved us. We tried everything that we thought of, sometimes it didn't work, but eventually something did.

We are still a very long way from where we want to be but we are getting there. Our confidence is boosted by finding some great people to join us in our adventure and by the fact that we think we have figured out the formula. Keep going, never stop thinking and exploring and experimenting and above all - take care of your customers as you would like someone to take care of you.

Lisa is thinking of ways to get back in to her very creative mode - she's a little out of practice. It's funny how you have to be very disciplined to be creative. It seems a little contradictory. But some early morning yoga practice, disciplined reading and research (away from the every day business operations) and quiet brainstorming must be scheduled and adhered to.

To segue - our evening drink time would be a good thinking time... if only the weather will cooperate. There was no snorkeling going on during Emily's play date yesterday and the evening drink was a bit of a challenge. We took some photos of us and the angry sea but couldn't quite capture the scene so we tried for video - hmmmmm...all you can hear is the wind.