Another Day, Another Rainfall

This is what it looks like outside my window this morning:

Gllloooommy. Now the sun is out and I feel slightly better.

I hate the rain, I really do. I live in entirely the wrong part of the country. I often have dreams about living in California. Maybe if they elect Obama and straighten out their country, I'll be able to move down there. Sunshine and Disneyland. What more could I ask for?

I've decided that my blog will be partly about the life lessons I've been taught over the past few years. Maybe my pitfalls will help others avoid them?

Life lesson #1: Not everyone is an entrepreneur
Part 1: CBC's Dragons Den

I had to learn this lesson the hard way; through the rapid emptying of my bank account. How you may ask? Let me explain.

I have a web site called kidswap.ca (http://www.kidswap.ca) . It's just a buy and sell for kid's stuff, both new and used, as well as toddler items, toys, anything baby, maternity wear, and more. I started it in 2003. It had some pretty good traffic. I enjoyed playing with it, and it turned from a hobby into a small (and I mean small) business. I was ok with this. My goal was to help other moms make money through it, but I never could quite figure out how to do that? I had some good ideas, I just didn't have the follow through or the knowledge to enact them. Now that I look back, I'm not surprised because I had 3 small kids and a husband who traveled all the time.

In July of 2006 I was asked to fly to Toronto and pitch my business to CBC's Dragon's Den.
Yes, this is reality TV for Canadians. I was shocked, and even more shocked when they told me I was their #1 choice out of all of the auditions to come and pitch. They were sure I would get at least $100,000 to grow Kidswap.

I left my two older children with Grandma and took my 9 month old baby and my husband along. I do not fly well. I have a great story about how I started screaming and crying when we hit turbulence and they had to pull out the oxygen tank, but I'll leave that for another time.

When I got there the morning of the pitch, I was prepped by Sean Wise, one of the people who works on the show (actually I'm not clear on that, but he was some sort of advisor). He threw some questions at me and told me I could easily value the site at $100,000. Once again, I was blown away.

I don't remember much after that. I went in front of the dragons pitched the site, and was told that it would never cut it. Robert Herjavec asked me why a mom in Newmarket, Ontario would sell anything on Kidswap. I held up a sweater I bought from Marg and said "I bought this from a mom in Newmarket, Ontario. She sells great stuff." Zing!! He shut up, it was wonderful.

I had almost convinced Kevin O'Leary from Squeeze Play (also the person who invented The Learning Company software for kids) that it was a good idea, but he had been burnt by too many other web companies so he was out as well. I walked back to the cameras in shock, and they asked my husband and baby to come in so they could gauge my reaction. I didn't give an inch, I basically said "Oh Well", but inside I was really upset. We sat outside for an hour after and I did cry. It was such a let down, to be built up so high and then dropped like that. I can see now that is how reality TV works, it would not be interesting if there was no let down or drama.

They called me back to the studio that day to profile me for the show, and the producers said it was pretty crappy they didn't fund me, but at least they would give me extra exposure so that I could succeed on my own. They were great people.

I couldn't say anything about what had happened, because I signed a confidentiality agreement.

Overall, I'm glad I went. I can tell my kids about it someday. Unfortunately I won't be able to show them the clip because they NEVER AIRED MY SEGMENT!! lol Unbelievable.

We went back to BC. My self confidence had taken quite a tumble, but now I had a sort of panic button in the back of my head because they were going to get me great exposure (I had no idea it wasn't going to air) and I had a site that needed work.

Anyway, that was the Dragons Den experience. I know other people had it worse than I did. I was there on the same day as the Job Loft guys and the Bikini Weenie girl. They made her wait all day long, and I'm pretty sure she was in tears when I was walking out of my profile.

Back to laundry. There never seems to be a day when I am not folding or putting away laundry.