The day started at 8 am driving to Wilkes-Barre, Pa for an exporting event sponsored by North East Pa Alliance (NEPA). It was terribly foggy for driving but the end results were worth it! Don came along and his aide. I met with representatives from Canada, South Africa and Australia, to discuss the possibility of marketing my Bed Sled in their countries. These countries speak English so I would not have to change my packaging to accommodate their language as I would in Germany or France.
I haven’t scratched the surface of the American market but I gathered lots of information for future projects. The information encouraged me to relook at my website first, to ship overseas. So in the next few months I will be looking into how to make that happen. In the meantime these representatives will be researching my market in their countries and will send me whatever information they uncover.
We had a sit down lunch with 8 other attendees of the event. Don ate a full meal, pretty much without assistance. And was able to converse somewhat with those sitting at the table. Who knew we would sit with a company that exports native Penna. hardwoods to China? Mention “wood” and Don is in another world. The gentleman he was trying to converse with was patient and with my translation attempts they were able to hold a conversation of sorts.
And I sat next to two women representing a company that exports medical items to Brazil. We traded business cards. The one woman who said she was from Brazil, said she would pass my flier on to her distributor in Brazil. Who knows where that might lead?
We resumed the afternoon meetings and left at 2 pm to get home in time for the aide to leave at her normal quitting time at 4 pm. We made it by 5 minutes, pulling into the drive at 3:55. Fog was still on the road but not nearly as bad as the am drive.
I checked my email messages and found an order from my website! In the middle of the week! Usually I get orders over the weekend.
I prepared dinner, and we ate, the telephone rang. It was a Caregivers Aide customer. Usually a call from a customer is placing an order or requesting to return an item. This was NOT that kind of phone call…
This lady was calling from California and raved all kind of praises for the Bed Sled. Her husband has dementia and she has had difficulty moving him in bed. She received the Bed Sled and was so thrilled with the product and how it works… she went on and on! I asked if she would be willing to put her thoughts in writing so I can post it in the testimonial page. She said she would gladly do that.
So… what a day! It makes up for the days, and there are many, when I wonder if this business is going anywhere. Actually too many days like this would go to my head, so it’s probably best they are few and far between. But what a day to remember!
I am a woman owned small business in Pennsylvania, USA. You may visit my website to see the articles I design and manufacture: www.caregiversaide.com.
