The G2 Summit

Barack Obama has blazed through his first 100 days as President of the United States accomplishing many "firsts" along the way. This summer, Obama will experience another 'first' as he heads to Italy for the annual G8 summit. The G8 began as an informal way for eight of the world's most powerful leaders to get together. Today the goal of the G8 summit is not about quick fixes for complex problems, rather it is an opportunity to raise issues and plan how to tackle them.

While on a much smaller scale, businesses also have complex problems that require thought and planning. When you own your own business, planning is key. Without planning you are liable to drift off course, at best by being reactive to the minutiae of daily business life, or at worst – whiling away hours on facebook or with Oprah.

After starting our business, Danielle and I spent much of our early years mired in the weeds. Sure, we had done a comprehensive business plan when we started the company (you can’t take the MBA out of the girl!), but there is a big difference between a business plan and ongoing business planning. Although a helpful exercise, your business plan pretty much becomes obsolete the minute you finish it. Businesses are organic creatures, changing all the time. For us, there was so much initially to learn just to get a blanket out the door – how to make one, how to ship one, where to find our customers. Planning definitely took a back seat. Then, about two years in, we had what we called the G2 Summit. (That would be Danielle. And me.) We sat down and talked about our priorities for the business and began to look at our business in a new way. We made a plan and then executed it. A year later we had another G2 Summit and made up a whole new "to do" list for the year ahead. Annual planning was a huge change for us. Up until then, business planning meant looking, at most, three months down the road. Now we understand that by clarifying our goals for the year ahead we are better prepared to deal with issues that arise.

Now we have monthly planning meetings. We set goals. We assign responsibility. And we move forward. Even if you're a solo-preneur, there is so much value in planning. It helps you learn about your business, how the various parts work together, and how it might evolve. I find a lot of comfort in having a road map. All you need to do is follow it.

Now, if we could only plan our next summit in Italy.

Admiral Road has been making personalized blankets since 2002.

Selling joy

As long-time mom entrepreneurs, we are routinely approached by women who want to pick our brains as they get their own mom entrepreneur businesses off the ground. We love to hear what other women are doing and really like the exercise of thinking about someone else’s business. (Nothing easier to solve than someone else’s problems!)

There are many things to consider, of course, when coming up with the big idea – but here’s a little something we learned the easy way: It’s a whole lot nicer to sell joy than pain. Here’s what I mean: When we were in the process of leaping out of corporate life and into entrepreneurship we considered many different business ideas. We were downright methodical about it – we had a list of criteria and a list of ideas and we connected the dots to see what worked. Baby blankets worked. Throw in some money, sleepless nights and a whole lot of work and presto! A business was born. Something noticeably missing from our criteria were the intangible questions, "what is the ‘feel’ of this business?" "What state of mind will my customers be in?" "Is this a joyful product/experience/service or something that our customers enjoy about as much as they do gingivitis?"

We’ve been on the right side of the happy equation for seven years now. Every time a customer contacts us, something lovely is happening in his or her life – a baby has been born, a birthday has arrived, a holiday approaches. Our customers come to us with joy. As a business owner, this makes a whole lot of difference to your day. Have you ever called the phone company joyfully? Of course not. (Not that they deserve it, but don’t get me started on that subject.) The tax office? Uh uh. We can’t believe how many lovely e-mails we’ve received over the years from gracious customers, not to mention photos for our gallery and kind referrals. We’d like to believe that a good product and solid customer service have a lot to do with that, but we know that state of mind goes a long way toward a positive experience.

Can you base your business concept on a warm fuzzy feeling? Probably not. But all other things being equal, we’d definitely recommend it.

Admiral Road has been making personalized blankets since 2002.

excuse me sweetheart, won't you please PUT YOUR SHOES ON!!!

There was a time when I fantasized about travelling the world – meeting adventure and intrigue along the way. Now I fantasize about walking into any bathroom in my house and finding a flushed toilet. (This is followed closely in the rankings by finding that a dish has made it to the dishwasher without the mandatory stop in the sink – but that’s a marital, not a parenting issue.) Believe me, it’s not like I’ve never pointed out the importance of flushing to my children…it’s only one of long list of things that get said but somehow never heard. I can just hear the parenting experts now saying that we shouldn’t nag our children and we need to hone our messages, etc. etc. The question is – how do we refrain from nagging our children while setting expectations for behaviour – or getting through the day for that matter. Are we meant to settle for the bathroom surprise?

Recently a career mom that I know and love told me with exasperation that her son never puts his shoes on when asked. With a heavy heart she told me that she is sure this is because she works out of the home and isn’t able to manage discipline during the work week. I laughed. Hard. I’m a mom who gets her kids off to school each morning and I assured her that the sentence ‘please put your shoes on’ has never been uttered fewer than 8 times before working in my house – each time with increasing volume and exasperation. I’ve been asking around – and apparently there are legions of children who won’t put their shoes on when asked – I’m beginning to wonder if this is even a global phenomenon (my mind is drifting to children in Fiji refusing to put their flip flops on…).

So what is a beleaguered mom to do? I’m of the firm belief that we moms are hardest on ourselves. I am trying to learn to be kinder to myself and more accepting of the many imperfections of life. Maybe I don’t need to accept that my kids don’t flush or put their shoes on when asked – but maybe I can try to accept that I’m going to have to keep reminding them. Again. And Again.

Admiral Road has been making personalized blankets since 2002.

Is cheap the new green?

If you had asked us a year ago what the most important trend for businesses was, and for children-related businesses in particular, we wouldn’t have hesitated for a nano-second – GREEN, GREEN, GREEN. An amazing variety of products and services all aimed at consumers with an appetite for all-things environmentally responsible cropped up and inspired us all to do a little better. But the shaky global economy has changed things. It’s been a while since I heard a company talking about how green they are…

Here’s a story I found interesting. Amy recently popped into a posh grocer in midtown Toronto. This store is one of a row of shops wryly known for their steep pricing as ‘The Five Robbers’. I don’t want to give you the wrong idea about Amy’s spending habits – it’s just that one of these Robbers carries a chocolate cake that you would practically mortgage your house for (and you almost have to). Amy noticed that a whole handful of products in the store had special packaging pointing out their recession pricing – about 10% off.

Now we could all use a break in these tough economic times – but I’m willing to guess that if you do your groceries at The Five Robbers, then 10% isn’t going to make or break you. So what gives? I think that cheap just may be the new green. I’ll bet a year ago that same store would have been touting eco-friendly products or packaging. I’m afraid that recession pricing at the toniest grocer in the city may be just another marketing gimmick. I think it’s designed to make the customer feel virtuous and responsible, much like a lot of the green marketing did. Does it work? I’m not sure. Ten percent off the world’s best chocolate cake is certainly a nice pick-me-up, but I’m hard pressed to think that sales are way up at that shop as a result. If cheap is the new green, what will be the new cheap? I wish I could predict it – but it’s no piece of cake.

Admiral Road has been making personalized blankets since 2002.

Is imitation flattering?

Where do original ideas come from? Aren’t all new ideas inspired by something? At Admiral Road we have always prided ourselves on our original blanket designs. There is something very satisfying about putting something out into the world that was never there before you made it. Sure, we’re influenced by external factors: The success of the films ‘March of the Penguins’ and ‘Happy Feet’ led us to consider a penguin-themed blanket. But we’ve always put our own stamp on our ideas.

In the world of mompreneurs, we’ve seen imitation run rampant. You wouldn’t believe the things we’ve seen women do to one another. We ourselves have been imitated by other small businesses more times than I can count. (I know! The cut-throat world of baby blankets – who knew?) Our designs have been imitated. We’ve also had content from our web site knocked off many times. Heck, we’ve had to take legal action against a competitor!

But what happens when a big fish gets into the small pond? We recently learned of mass-market retailer who ripped off a mompreneur friend of ours – a children’s dress design. Same unique fabric, same style, same cut. The mass retailer was selling the dress for one-sixth of her retail price.

Where does the mass retailer get its ideas from? Aren’t there teams of designers sitting around designing new things?

I’ve always been a total cheapskate when it comes to my kids’ bibs. Drooling infants can necessitate a staggering number of bib changes in a single day. Five bibs for $1.99 at Ikea – that’s right up my alley. Not all the Ikea bibs lasted for the third kid, however, so I was thrilled when I recently found the good, wipeable kind at this same dress-design-ripping-off mass retailer (3 for $10!) It wasn’t until I got home and took apart the packaging that one of the bibs caught my eye. It looked…familiar. Why, that reminds me an awful lot of our sheep blanket! The sheep, the grass, the fence – those are the same three elements on our blanket. Now that sheep looks a little different, but the grass is a similar green. And my, the shape of that fence is….

Did a big fish imitate a little fish? Maybe not. But maybe….

You be the judge.

Admiral Road has been making personalized blankets since 2002.

Sister Act?

You know how they say that old married couples begin to resemble one another? If this is true, I’ve always thought it had something to do with the fact that we all get wrinkly, gray and smaller as we age. Then there’s the Fido campaign, where dog owners and their dogs share similar traits… But can you start to look like your best friend if you hang out long enough?

Amy and I have been hanging out in a fairly exclusive club of two for the past 19 years – exactly half our lives, in fact. We’ve noticed that ever increasingly, people are starting to think we look alike. For years at craft shows people have asked if we are sisters, and even twins a couple of times! This may not sound unusual to you – but perhaps if you saw us you’d know why this is funny. Amy is a petite brunette with straight hair. She’s 5’ 2” and 100 pounds soaking wet. I’m a 5’ 8” curly-haired redhead who is – ahem – more than 100 pounds bone dry. So how could it be that we are beginning to look alike? Even our kids are weirdly interchangeable in appearance. Amy’s oldest and my youngest could easily pass for sisters much more easily than they could with their actual siblings. Same for my oldest and Amy’s middle child.

We certainly do sound alike, who wouldn’t after a 19 year-long conversation? But it appears to be more than voice and mannerisms. At a recent social gathering a new friend walked into a room full of women, most of whom she didn’t know – paused, and looked at Amy saying, ‘you must be Danielle’s sister’. It’s definitely a strange phenomenon…I wonder if we’ll be identical twins in another 19 years?

Admiral Road has been making personalized blankets since 2002.

Pet Names a.k.a The Dog Blog

We're not all about babies at Admiral Road. Admiral Road fans include kids, adults and .... well... see for yourself!

I grew up with dogs starting when I was 5 years old. My dad and brother came to pick me up at summer camp, and my brother tortured me (as he often did) with the surprise that was awaiting me at home. Much to my delight, my much older brother had gone to work one day at the gas station and come home with a dog! Several years later we added a second dog to the family. Needless to say that I love dogs. But I never loved my dogs enough to buy them a present more expensive than a $3 chew toy. Luckily for us, our customers feel differently.


Earlier this year we had a customer call from Vancouver to tell us that her dog LOVED the blanket that she bought for him last Christmas and now she needed a blanket for her new dog so dog #2 wouldn't feel left out.

Ethel's owner finally gave in and bought her this blanket as a Christmas present at the One of a Kind show this year. This blanket is roomy enough for Ethel and her little friend!


We were a little confused when we opened this picture that was submitted for our photo gallery contest. Lots of times pets make their way into pictures of new babies - it's usually quite endearing. And we do get some great pictures of dogs on our dog-themed blanket. But this pup is on a baby monkey blanket.... that says Ethan. His owner got this blanket as a part of one of our recent Facebook group giveaways where we give away free or marked down items that are taking up too much room in our warehouse. As it turns out, there is no baby and there is no Ethan. This dog is Benji and he apparently sleeps with this blanket every night. Good thing he can't read.

Admiral Road has been making personalized blankets since 2002.

Welcome to our blog

Technologically speaking, we’re not exactly early-adopters over here at Admiral Road. It took one of us (I’m not naming names) a heck of a lot of effort to convince the other of us that we really did need a web site way back when we first started. Granted, it was 2002 and it was far from the case that every company had a web site, let alone a functioning e-commerce web site, but the writing was certainly on the wall. Thank goodness we got admiralroad.com up and running – it’s been our beloved ‘store’ for the past seven years.

In the spirit of self-improvement we’ve been working on our technological know-how. Several months ago we retired our dinosaur of a desktop computer in favour of laptops. We’ve synched up our hard-drives and, with the help of Lizz, our 23-year-old computer whiz employee, are moving, sluggishly, into the new millennium – better late than never. We’ve read with interest for some time the blogs of other companies and individuals we admire, and we thought it was high time we threw our literary hats into the ring.

Blanket Statements (cute name, don’t you think?) is a blog about balancing motherhood and entrepreneurship. (We’ve got five kids between us, aged six and under.) It’s also a forum for us to tell you about products and companies we like as well as a little about some of our amazing customers. Finally, we’ll keep you posted on what’s happening at your favourite source for personalized blankets and other great gifts. We hope you enjoy reading our blog and let us know what you think. Who knows? If this works out, Blackberries might even be in our future….

Admiral Road has been making personalized blankets since 2002.