As I am sitting here on my lunch break at work, I am working on our product descriptions/directions that we send out in each package that someone buys off of Amazon.  It seems that, when you are starting your own company, there is never a point where you can sit back and just let the company work.  You are continually striving to improve your products, your connection with the customers, your customer service, your advertising, your (as it is in this case) descriptions and directions for product use.  Well, I don’t know about everyone else, but that’s how I am.  I get obsessive about things.  I know it.  When I decide to do something, I get into this mode where everything I do is about that thing (or those things).  I was also told this week that my blog posts are a little long…I know that too, but I don’t care.  I’m a long winded, obsessive, freak.  I’ve learned to love my strengths as well as my quirks.

As our first product, this simple bee fondant is where we are cutting our teeth with Amazon.  It has been an interesting few days since the sudden upturn in orders for this particular product has caused a frenzy of activity around our house.  This product is made with very simple ingredients, which are put through a natural chemical reaction which converts the less digestible sugars into something the bees can more easily digest. Trying to explain all of this in a factual and easily understandable way isn’t easy when you consider that the use of certain words may invoke feelings which don’t accurately portray the product.  For example, the word “chemical”, while syntactically accurate, conveys feelings of “unnaturalness” (even though it is a completely natural process) so I have avoided using it.  So far, there have been three versions of the description/directions for this product alone.  Then there is the shipping, which tends to be one of the more expensive part of this ordeal.

For our first couple of orders, we were spending an inordinate amount of money on the physical shipping of the product.  Due to Michelle’s magic working ability, we have acquired some software and are getting the shipping process streamlined for the benefit of us and our customers.  In addition to the normal things to worry about, especially as a small operation, you have to consider other issues that come up.

When you sell on Amazon, they decide when you SHOULD ship the product.  This is both great and cumbersome at the same time.  For example, when our recent orders came in on the weekend, Michelle had to spend all day making the products, packaging them, and getting them ready to ship.  Inconveniently, the shipping software was running into some setup issues that had to be worked out and we had to get the packages to the post office by Monday night. There is no way to tell Amazon to chill for a day while we work out the bugs.  Furthermore, when you go on vacation, Amazon has a way to set your shop to ‘go on vacation’ while you are out, but I don’t know how that setting comes across to the buyers.  Does it just not show up in their search or does it tell them that we are out until a certain date?  That distinction is very important, especially for people who are returning customers that are specifically looking for us.  These are just a few of the things that need to be dealt with when you first start selling on Amazon.

The process of learning the ropes and running your own consumer product based business is rife with struggle.  I only hope that the end result is happy customers and happy us here at Priddy Acres. We are still working on bringing more products to Amazon and to this page as our business grows. Please let us know if there is something specific (natural product) that you would like to see us bring to market and we will see what we can do.  We appreciate each person who has decided to support this endeavor and I especially appreciate Michelle’s hard work.