Acts of Awesome – customer reply

A few months ago I mentioned that some random “Acts of Awesome” were going to be shared or given away. The idea is to find someone at random who need’s help with something or who you’d just like to surprise with some goodies. Knapsac’s been in the middle of some major drama and obstacles the past few months, it felt like a good time to start having a little fun with folks on the interwebs

During the back to school madness we were seeing lots of folks complaining about the cost of books for college (surprise surprise) on twitter, one young lady in particular asked for some help. So we replied to her tweet and offered to take care of her book needs this semester. Making her day in turn made me feel amazing too – doing good feels good. Woot!

So a few days after getting everything all set up and shipped off we realized we’d found one of our first raving fans. Yayyy! A mention alert popped up on my phone(one of several she’s been sharing with her own army of twitter followers btw) but i noticed a link to youtube attached… @RoyaltyVixen actually took the time to make a video about her experience Check it out below:

Until Next Week
CO Out

Lessons Learned from Reality TV

By nature, determination and drive are major components of my personally. It’s allowed me to continue being successful and make my way up the ranks (at least in my head – which is really what counts right?!?). But there are always times when feelings of discouragement overshadow everything outstanding that a person’s achieved. Some folks turn to inspirational books, prayer, friends and family (and sure I do too), but sometimes you need something … engaging and entertaining. So why not turn to reality TV? I know I know – it’s partially scripted and over the top at times, but there’s a thing or two to be learned from a few of the all mighty reality TV stars, well at least the smart ones. The past few years I’ve become more and more obsessed with BravoTV. They’ve done an amazing job at finding folks and showing that their lives aren’t always as smoothly choreographed and glossy as we’d like to believe. My favorite shows/characters are of course the quick witted and always hilarious entrepreneurs: the Jeff Lewises, the Patty Sangers, the Rachel Zoes, the Tabitha Coffees, for example; they’re guru’s in their fields and slightly neurotic but they own it. Why else would we all be so fascinated with them.

One of my favorite personalities hails from NYC and is known as one of the most sarcastic women around… Bethany Frankel, of Real Housewives of NY, is INC Magzine’s covergirl for the month! She’s definitely a hustler when it comes to business (the decision to begin a Reality TV career was ultimately to help build her personal brand – which would in the end translate to her other businesses) and appears to be a genuinely good person. I would love to hang out with her any day of the week. I think I learned the most about resilience in business from this awesome lady. Aside from her “nothing phases me” attitude we got to see her struggle in balancing her work, love, friends, and normal life. But it was always back to business as usual no matter what. It’s all paid off for her too She upgraded from being a co-star on Real Housewives, to having her own show, to most recently selling her business Skinny Girl Margarita for a very very nice little bit of change LOVE IT! Keep hustling Bethany! Woot

A Mid Summer Night’s Progress (Act 1)

This past couple weeks has been fairly hectic in terms of preparing for the back to school season. In past years I’ve kinda waited until a month out to get things rolling but found that this caused 1) a horrible amount of stress 2) not my best work and 3) horrible results/no fun for my team. This BTS season my team we’ll be ready.

First up the site needs a few tweeks here and there to better engage potential customers. But to do that in the correct way the entire site has to be moved from the current platform to a much more forgiving and less regid platform. Let’s just say it’s taking a much longer time than expected. In conjunction with that, the inventory on the site needs to be like quadrupled. However this is going to require some real mind ninja-ing on my part and open mindedness on student owners and independent bookstore owners. Keep the fingers crossed.

Next is all about getting out and touching customers… well not actually feeling folks up or anything, but getting to know potential customers a bit more and giving them a chance to know the brand (and the people behind it). I’ve started tweeting, a lot, randomly asking folks if we can help them find things or providing encouragement for exams or just laughing at some of the hilarious tweets. At first I was afraid that I’d be marked as a sketchy marketer or blocked from twitter, but people have really responded positively - yayyy! The campus reps are doing an amazing job too - especially brainstorming ideas for creative campaigns. We’ve got a few events, random acts of awesomeness, and really interesting contests coming down the pipes.

That’s about it for now (my broken thumb – don’t ask – is realllyyyy bothering me today and typing is proving a bit difficult). Keep your eyes peeled for a few more small nuggets over the course of the week.

Until Next Time,
CO Out

Ditch college for $100K

I’d heard little whispers about this group/foundation offering folks $100k to drop of school and become full time entrepreneurs for a while but didn’t really know how to feel about it. And we all know how the media likes to sensationalize things, so naturally I did a bit of research; there wasn’t much available here’s what I found:

Who: 20 people under the age of 20 selected 
What: cash grants of $100,000 to further their innovative scientific and technical ideas & mentorship from the Foundation’s network of tech entrepreneurs.
Where: Theil Foundation is running things (based in San Fran)
When: 2 Year long fellowship
Why: “… America’s long term economic prospects are uncertain without radical innovation in technology, Peter Thiel this week launched the Thiel Fellowship to foster the next generation of tech visionaries. The new program will support 20 entrepreneurs under 20 years old with grants of up to $100,000.” (sounds like a reasonable solution to me).

I was raised to believe that education is a fundamental key to success – skipping out on college was kinda like throwing yourself off a cliff and praying that by some divine act you’d make it out ok. So at first glance, yea I thought … who would do that. College isn’t just about knowledge gleaned from the classroom, but also about gaining interpersonal knowledge. It’s a place where you learn more about yourself, other people, managing the social interactions required to become a well adjusted member of society.

Then I thought, I went to college, got a degree (in Neuroscience & Behavioral Biology which I most likely won’t ever use), and saw myself transform into a real life adult. It was scary, eye-opening, exhilarating; I wouldn’t take my college experience back for anything, but I can’t help to wonder where I would have been had I been given the type of opportunity the Theil Fellowship provides. I’ve got drive and am pretty resourceful, so I’ve always know I’d be successful regardless, but having a boost like this definitely wouldn’t hurt. Besides school will always be there after you’re done changing the world.

Check out this article for more information about the Theil Fellowship

Until Next Week
CO Out

Sobe Birthday (Dang I’m getting old)

This week I’m taking a bit of time out to say thanks for all the love. It was definitely one of the best birthdays ever!! My awesome buddies and I slipped away to South Beach to celebrate for the weekend, but of course being the clumsy fool I am… the day we planned on heading out a little accident happened (aka breaking a thumb – goooo mee). But that didn’t stop us from having a blast.

Annndd you are ….?

Guesss whattt? Last week I had my first official interview as Knapsac’s founder by blogger Dolly Dag. After getting taking a breath and realizing this was a great opportunity to let current customers & potential customers get to know more about me as well as what Knapsac stands for, it was a piece of cake. Check out the full interview HERE.

(PS less than 2 weeks until my bday… woot woot).

Until later this week (more stuff I’d like to share is coming down the pipes soon)…
CO Out

Countdown to 24

Every year the best day of the year rolls around. Although it’s not a national holiday it should be lauded by everyone … at least everyone in the south – south eastern states… What is this amazing day you ask? It’s my birthday, June 6th, and this year the girls and I are heading down to South Beach to celebrate. I lovvveee celebrating my bday, in case you couldn’t tell. It feels like the one day a year when I can pretty much do anything I’d like and be well queen for a day. However, now that my 24th year on earth almost is here, more grown up thoughts towards my future and the things I’d like to do before settling down are surfacing. So here’s my list, hopefully writing this down will force me to make it all happen

- Living in Australia. This has been one of my dreams since ehhhh sophomore year in high school. I love the water, the sun, and let’s face it who’s ever been to Australia and said they hated it? No one on my count. Ideally, Knapsac will be at the point financially where I can take a salary. Then the thought is to head down under for about 2 months at first, in a condo on the beach and work on completing the book I’m writing. And of course exploring and doing all sorts of water sports will be on the list of things to get done too.

- Creating a scholarship fund. I remember back in the way back that finding scholarships for kids in the middle class and just above average was almost as hard as finding a sober student at spring break. Then when you did find some, you were either too “well off” (aka both of your parents work a decent full time job) orrrr you had to be some sort of mini genius. The kids who typically got these scholarships either already had like 124 scholarships or their parent’s worked at the school they were going to so they got free tuition. … ‘Why can’t us normals get some money for college too’ I thought. My vision to help solve this issue is to create a scholarship fund for the average student. Those kids that are rigghhhtt in the middle and typically get screwed on just about everything academically. Not only will these kids get some fat checks to pay for college, but also they’ll be paired up with mentors from their prospective fields of study. I’m sooo excited about doing this one day.

- Owning a Bugatti Veyron. I love love love love cars. Maybe it’s the fact that I have 4 brothers or the tomboy in me is trying to show herself again. I dunno. But I do remember seeing this car out on the road for the first time and nearly passed out, and then again from sticker shock – it’s $1.5 million dollars. Yes it’s that awesome and beautiful of a car. I love thrills and driving fast annddd I’d look sooo sexy in this. That’s downright nasty isnt’ it. Anywho one day the keys to this piece of art will be sitting in my purse -  I hope that one day comes b4 I have kids cuz there is no way I’m putting my baby in this

Until next week…
CO Out

Easter Misadventures

This past weekend the Oyedeji clan, minus 2 of my older brothers & their families, cruised over to San Fran for some good ‘ol fashioned Easter fun. All of us have been to this city sooo many times that the better part of our trip was spent indulging in local yummieness; we made all the normal stops – ya know the non touristy ones like the movies, church, Trader Joes, Brenda’s, Baker Beach (I think), Bi-Rite ice cream, Crepevine, the list goes on and on. Like my younger brother Andrew says, “Eating makes [us] happy”.

But the real fun didn’t start until Monday on my way back to the airport. A last minute In-N-Out run had us a bit behind schedule. Actually my flight was in about eehhhh 40 minutes. But I’d checked in online and only had a carry on so everything should be ok right ? WRONG. For some unGodly reason the airport was packed… and in the middle of the day. I veered towards the elite access line armed with my mobile boarding pass and calmed down a bit. At least this line was moving quickly. After a few minutes I made it to the front and guess what… this line didn’t have the machine to read mobile boarding passes. How does it make sense that the Elite access line was the only one without that stupid black box? I was told to head over to the end of the super long line but argued my way to the very front. Thank goodness my mom taught me how to get what I want .  By this time there was about 20 ish minutes left to get through the scanners and to the gate. But it seemed like the line I’d been directed to wasn’t moving… at all. After about 10 minutes at a standstill people began to move, and I finally made it through. Dodging my way between folks with strollers, elderly people, and those guys who just randomly stop in the middle of walkways, while at a full sprint. I made it with 3 minutes to until push-back. Apparently there was a bit of a delay and the majority of the passengers were still boarding. Thank God! I took a seat to catch my breath and boarded when my row was called.

Almost 4 hours later we landed at IAH, well rested. The next leg of the flight wasn’t for another 2 hours or so – plenty of time to go grab some coffee, hunker down at the gate, and get some work done. A hour later balancing a white chocolate mocha on my lap and an typing away at an email on my iPhone I heard the following message “Ladies and Gentlemen (nothing good ever starts with those 3 words) our inbound plane is running a bit behind schedule so we’ll be boarding a little later than expected”. It wasn’t really that big of a deal since the plane was able to land, deplane, and be cleaned in less than 30 minutes. However, take off was a different story. We sat for about 20 minutes when the PA system crackled “This is your captain speaking, there is a major repair that needs to be done on the plane prior to air traffic control allowing us to take off. In about 30 minutes we’ll be back to give you a status update”. Now don’t you think if a plane needs major repair, it’s safe to say we just need a new plane? Right…. me too, but apparently Continental didn’t. Anywho 45 minutes later we got yet another message “Our engineers are consulting  the manual and are determining if they’re using the correct parts…” WHAT. Consulting the manual, IF they’re using the correct parts. OHHHH HELLL NO. The thing I didn’t understand is that IAH  is Continental’s hub. There had to be another plane in the hanger that we can swap into. Then thankfully, after my not so internal monologue made it’s debut, the captain let us know that we’d be switching planes.

Everyone rushed off of the plane and raced towards the electrical outlets at our new gate. After another hour of waiting we boarded the plane and took off. Oh and by the way our 8pm flight to Atlanta was now an 11pm flight to Atlanta. We landed at 1:34am and learned via that trusty PA system that the “people movers” had all been shut down for the evening and no personnel were still on site to operate things. So we had to use an emergency exit, slowing climb down stairs, and load 3 buses that patiently waited off to the left of the plane to take us to baggage claim.

Looking back at it a few days later the whole situation seems hilarious, but at the time. I really just wanted to throw something. Buttttt I would have most likely been detained had that happened. The total travel time for Monday was a whopping 11 hours plus 3 hours worth of time zone changes.  So finally getting home and passing out felt like the best reward ever.

Until next week…
CO Out

Big girls don’t cry

You know those days were everything starts out horribly. Well mine definitely started out in the crapper – literally. Apparently my puppy, Linden’s stomach wasn’t soo thrilled about the food she had yesterday and decided hey… let’s have some fun. Surprise, surprise for me. I woke up to the refreshing aroma of soft butt fruit aka diarrhea yesterday. It was all over the puppy, all over the carpet under and around the crate, even on the drapes about 2 feet behind her. And the smell.. ohhh the smell. But as a proud puppy parent I had deal with it. Strapping on some gloves and moving Linden into the tub for a bath without her dripping doo-doo on me was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. The poor thing wasn’t feeling well and just wanted some comfort, but there was no way she was cuddling up to me with that runny brown stuff all over her. It took about 2 hours to get the poop all cleaned up and the smell out of the house, but it finally got done.

Now it was time to get some work done. For the past week or so I’ve been putting together a giveaway for Knapsac’s Facebook fans (you should really go like our page and tell everyone you know even strangers … like right now ). I decided to try our designing the shirt myself and ideas just weren’t cementing as they usually do for me. On top of that I still had to figure out how to get folks to give a crap about listing their books and stuff on the site, deal with all the social media stuff, contact potential partners, get packaging all sorted, negotiate new shipping rates, file taxes,  continue working on the site redesign, respond to emails, fill some random mid semester orders…. Oh and somewhere find a time to eat, exercise, and work at my full time job – hey someone’s gotta pay the bills right; the upside is that I’m learning a ton about customer service and how successful small businesses are run.

Its just a lot to do especially for one person. I’m the type who can typically plow through huge lists of crap, but lately it’s been wearing on me. And you know what happens when just one too many items are piled on top of one another … the whole stack eventually crumbles. So in the short I had a minor break down yesterday. One second I was typing away, helping a customer at work and the next my eyes glossed over, my breathing shallowed, rage stated bubbling inside me, and ya know that pain (the one that materializes when you’re on the brink of tears but are fighting to hold it all together) started to build in my chest. No I didn’t start bawling in the middle of the office, but I’m not going to lie – this sudden burst of emotion really freaked me out. My older brother suggested taking a breather, so I went up to the roof to pray, relax, and regroup. With this as my view (pretty awesome!!):

Then I remembered talking to one of my big bosses (the CEO of the company and such a nice guy) one day about life as a startup owner. He said,

“There will be times when you feel like it’s too much or that you just want to give up. DON’T EVER DO IT. Most of the time things get crazy riiigghhttt before a major breakthrough is about to happen. And the folks that give up not only miss out on the payoff but have also wasted all the time and effort they’ve put in”.

Success is like a boxing match… not the ones with TKO in the first round, but more like the ones where you’re the underdog and getting your butt handed to you. It takes every bit of willpower to pull yourself back up after being knocked to the ground, over and over. But soon enough… you’re able to gather all your strength, come back from near defeat, and lay that sucker out.  So now whenever things are a bit overwhelming, justtake a sec breath and keep swinging.

Until next week…
CO Out

No really… take it.

If ya didn’t make it out to Primal on the 17th… you definitely missed out on a good time. The place was packed, the music was amazing, and the drinks (for those of us who were over 21) rivaled any other St. Patty’s day party out there. I took 3 of my closest friends we all had a blast. Oh and did I mention Ryan Cabrera popped up? How random is that. Aside from this event being a great party, it was an awesome opportunity for branding and even a bit of market research. Also, the traffic to www.knapsac.com from the party album (check it out here to see just how much fun we had) was more than I could have hoped for. Needless to say we’ll be partnering up with ATeL events again in the near future. Parties are fun and everything but… I want to make a connection with folks and make a lasting impression. There’s only one way I know of to do this

Two things that give me the biggest sense of fulfillment are: finding solutions to problems and random acts of kindness. You can even ask my mom, I use to gave my toys away to other kids at school when they were having a rough day. Making them smile made getting in trouble at home later totally worth it (thanks for understanding Mom & Dad!!). Sadly, as I got older my own random acts of kindess became less and less frequent, but I became more efficient and creative at solving problems. Knapsac my largest scale attempt at joining these two concepts. Incorporating a random act of kindness into the mix isn’t the hard part, it’s getting folks to accept the freebies. I guess hard wired suspicions towards any form of kindness are difficult to overcome. But I do know the more you reach out and the more that you show you care (not just about making money, but about the people you’re wanting to help) folks tend to drop their guards. After a while they’re more than happy to listen to and sometimes even join your mission.  I just picked up Gary Vaynerchuk’s new book Thank You Economy and he definitely validates my thoughts in saying:

“Learn how to implement a culture of caring and communication into your business, scale your one-to-one relationships, and watch your customers reward your efforts by using their new and massively powerful word of mouth to market you business and brand for you.”

With finals coming up on campuses across the country. I know students are really stressed out (I sure was at this time of the year)… so why not surprise a few of them with care-packages? I have a feeling this is going to be ohh so fun!

Until next week…
CO Out