Parenity Brand Startup Journal | Entry #9 | Month of September&October, 2024

Parenity is a solopreneur brand that aims to bring serenity into the lives of exhausted parents, and it is (read about it here) being built from the ground up by me, Rob Bond. For other entries in this startup journal, check out the startup journal category on this site, or if you want to just check out the previous post, you can find it here.

And if you don’t feel like reading every single thought, here’s the blog post condensed into a short video:

First, Sorry for the wait!

Apologies if I don’t sound with it. I’m a little under the weather, but I’ve finally carved out this time, so I’m using it and record this video!

Well, it’s been a lot wait since the last edition of the Parenity Startup Journal. I was finding that all the time put into video editing was feeling less and less like a good investment when there were so many things to get done!

Update: we have a launch date!

I won’t bury the lead. We have a tentative launch date! November 15th is what I’m aiming for! Our Flagship, Adulting Done Bright product should arrive at our warehouse by November 6th, and some of our add-on items will arrive sometime around Nov 12th.

Now, you might be wondering, where are my marketing dollars and efforts going to go at launch?

Many would jump straight to Meta ads, but my perception of this route is that it’s made for people and businesses who have money to waste. I don’t doubt I could see some success through Meta or Google advertising, but I need my launch to be profitable and can’t afford to test for a month and receive potentially horrendous CAC’s!

I’m actually going to go a bit old school for this launch. I’m doing a direct mail postcard campaign through a local direct mail agency, and I’m also planning to flyer some local mailboxes with some help from some young friends of the family. Perhaps one day I’ll be a postpilot client, but I don’t think I’m quite there yet. I’ll also be talking to our family’s daycare to see what they’d let me get away with, and I found an affordable method of applying perforated graphics to our vehicles’ windows. I’ll also be making proposals to influencers through social snowball, which I’ve been able to secure an extended trial with (which I really appreiciate), including free initial access to their AI influencer matching platform, Icebreaker. Lastly, I’ve done a gmail export of every single person I’ve ever contacted through my main account, and will send out a “please help/tell a friend” email to them all on the day of launch. I will be doing this through a simple ESP that is not Klaviyo and will not use my main .com domain for sending; this is just in case anyone does not appreciate hearing from me and decides to mark me as spam. I do not want to harm my sender rating!

That’s it, Back to Klaviyo!

I’d stated in a past edition of the startup journal that I plan use use Shopify Email instead of paying for Klaviyo. I’m still open to using Shopify Email for some things, but welcome flow setup and standard email campaigns are just way easier setup in Klaviyo, and, well, everything integrates with it, including Social Snowball :) When you’re a solopreneur who must wear every hat, there’s no time for tail-chasing!

Standards: When to Compromise

I finished editing a brand intro video, and in the process, the audio quality and the lighting of the intro, and then my speaking in the main part were bugging me. I did made some fixes in Davinci, and after sinking that time into it, was seriously considering re-shooting the whole thing. I think it was the right decision to run with what I had, given all the other things i still have to address. It’s great to have standards, but it’s equally important to be able to determine when they’re about to drag you down.

The Down Side of Local Grands and Programs

There’s a program here in MB called Elevate IP which offers funding and education for small businesses around intellectual property and trademarking considerations for their brand. I applaud this program, and they were quite receptive of my pitch deck. HOWEVER – I was encouraged by them to put my attention towards IP protection on pause until I was clear on my brand, my message, and had solidified a launch date.
Well, much of that was already in place, and the remainder is in place now, and I expect to launch in mid-November. But I’m now told that funding is closed until April, and nobody will tell me if I have to go through the whole application process again.

So, how risky is it to launch with no trademark protection? Is it ill-advised to wait until April to protect my brand? And are the savings worth all of this time spent chasing my tail? My hunch is I can wait, but in the meantime I put a query out to goodlawyer.ca to get their advice. I may just move forward with their suggested lawyer when time and funds permit.

My Biggest Limitations: Cashflow and Introversion

Being a successful business owner requires a number important things, but some of the most important are: communication and cash.

Cash is a problem for me. This business is coming 100% out of my own wallet. I’ve been able to budget enough for inventory, warehouse expenses, ecom-related platforms, and a bit of marketing, but let me tell you, things are tight. And I have no choice but to fly by the seat of my pants and see how my strategies pan out! If I can get to the point of needing to replenish my stock, I’ll feel a little more confident about taking out a loan or asking friends/family for an investment. But for now, this is all me, and debt is a 4-letter word.

Communication, oh yikes! I actually feel like I’m pretty good at communicating effectively and efficiently when I have time to organize my thoughts. But on the spot, remembering to maintain eye contact, and keep the energy level up, and arranging my thoughts effectively… These are not skills that most introverts have, and I am most certainly an introvert. Not a creepy one, not an socially inept one (those are some very harmful and inaccurate prejudices by the way), but I do not EVER default to WANTING to speak in person or in public. My strengths do not live here.

Ways this could hurt me: if I decide to sell my product wholesale to other businesses, I may have a hard time selling them on the concepts effectively. And if I plan to drum up buzz through any local events or interviews, I may end up shitting my pants and not chasing these opportunities hard enough. Also, I’m going to have to fight the urge to do everything myself forever (see illustration below). I’m pretty proud that I’ve already outsourced a few tasks at Parenity, and have looked into outsourcing others, but I may have to re-read “The E-Myth” a few times to really engrain in my mind that I have to be smart about my time.

See you at launch!

Well, let’s see how this goes, everyone. It’s very likely that Parenity’s Shopify website will soft launch before the 15th, since many last configurations require a paid shopify account, and I didn’t want to start that until the month of launch had arrived. But any time after November 1st, I plan to get on a plan, install the rest of the apps, and complete the rest of my configurations like my free Google merchant center listing, and my “Shop” listing, not to mention learning what I need to learn about social snowball. Wish me luck, everyone! Until next time!