Girl Scout Cookie Time 2

Ok - we are in full Girl Scout Cookie mode right now as lamented here......

And while I am feeling a little soothed by the Cookie Sales Tracker and all of its Excel glory, my marketing background is itching to come out!

Now before everyone jumps all over me - this is Rose's business.  She is extremely involved in every step.  For instance, while I may have created the Cookie Sales Tracker she and her brother have logged 90% of the orders.

This morning at church, she patiently waited for a conversation to end in order to ask for business. She wanted me to go with her but I reminded her that this is her business not mine.  She went and she asked and she received another order.....then came bounding back to me with the biggest smile on her face and a sense of pride for a job well done.

I remind her that people are going to say no (something I hate to hear myself and struggle with the fear failure in my own business), but am there to support her when they do and help her move on to the next customer graciously.

So cookies will make their way to our town tomorrow for the first round of disbursement and Rose is at about 350 of her 900 box goal.  Sorting and separating and preparing for delivery have my Six Sigma skills tingling!  (#nerdalert!)  So in order to do so, I have tried to think of what the flow will look like (big believer in setting something up right from the beginning if possible!).

Step 1 - Using the second column of the Cookie Sales Tracker we've got the sales broken down into different groups - church, friends, mom's work, etc. so that we can easily group the cookies.

Step 2 - We've gotten bags donated from a friend's husband who is a local State Farm Agent - you might remember Ann Kelly from Recipes We Love, she coordinates our monthly cooking nights that are being revitalized from the dead.  Anyways, this will make for easy grouping of cookies sold since they are generally 2-4 boxes.

Step 3 - I've made a Girl Scout Cookie Thank You card to help keep up with names, varieties purchased, amount owed (or can write "Previous" in the amount field if already paid), and number to purchase more cookies at if desired!  I searched Pintrest for one that I didn't have to buy and came up empty handed when looking for everything I wanted so I just made my own!  I hope that it may help you as well!  My thoughts were to write the name of the customer up top, then the Troop number in the blank.  You can indicate varieties ordered and amount total in the spaces provided.  Rose will sign everyone one of these below the "Thank You-" and then included my phone number for additional orders in the space provided.

Step 4 - The cookies will be sorted, grouped and a Thank You Card placed with it for delivery!

Step 5 - Rose will call all customers to let them know cookies have arrived and to step up a time for delivery!

Step 6 - Cookies will be delivered!

Good luck Girl Scouts!  And may the cookies be ever in your flavor! #cookieboss

Girl Scout Cookie Time!

In case you are living in a dark hole somewhere you have undoubtedly experienced Girl Scout cookies at some point in your life, and they are good.

Well it's that time of year that my girl and her troop are selling them again.

I will be honest last year, we sold a little here and there and participated in the booth sales as required but nothing major.

This year I have been volunteering as the co-leader and Rose really got involved and excited in the Fall Product Sales.  So when it came to Cookie Sales, she set her goal and we are helping her work towards it.

Now the thing I like, and am encouraging with her and all the girls, is that this is their business.  So her Dad and I will help her, as every business has employees, but it is her business and she has to do the brunt of the work.

Her goal this year is 900 boxes.  For some of you that might be chump change but for us, it's a lot! Plus it will allow her to earn a free week at camp - and when your momma just quit her job that's a big deal!

So I've got a Pintrest board going with Girl Scout Cookie ideas, and some she will probably elect to do - especially some form of the thank you cards for future business.

But my business background left me feeling a little lacking as we tried to track sales via the sales paper we were given.  So I created this Cookie Sales Tracker file (linked here to Google Docs - feel free to copy and use!) and Rose entered all of the sales so far!

		Total Boxes	0	Total Dollars	$0.00	Troop Dollars	$0.00			0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2015 Girl Scout Cookie Sales									$3.50	Cookie Share	Thanks-A-Lot	Cranberry Citrus Crunch	Lemonades	Shortbread	Thin Mints	Peanut Butter Patties	Caramel Delights	Peanut Butter Sandwiches	Total Packages	Amont Due	Paid
Sort	Group	First Name	Last Name	Address	City	State	Zip	Phone	Email										0	$0.00
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4

Already I love it because it quickly allows us to quickly add totals, check dollar amounts, see counts on cases, etc. and for an Excel nerd like me it makes my heart smile.  It also made me very proud to see both of my kids want to type and enter the information and happy to see them learning to type!

I hope that it helps someone else and as I figure out some more I will add them! #cookieboss

Where are you going?

I'll be honest I struggle with setting goals, and therefore struggle with meeting them. I think for me personally, I sometimes try to bite of more than I can chew and end up trying without doing. Which is why I think over the past couple of months, we've just started "doing" things without necessarily an end goal in mind. One of the great cop-outs, er I mean benefits, of doing that is it's kind of like "trying" right? I mean if you don't really have an established goal, then you can never fail.....however can you really succeed?

My day job is working for a large Fortune 500 company that has a "pay for performance" plan for salary increases - much to the dismay of many of the new leaders within the company.  Employees set goals, or commitments, work towards those commitments throughout the year and then measured against the benchmark that they set in the end to determine their salary increase.  It's a similar plan across many businesses. 

One thing that I have seen my team members struggle with is setting SMART goals, and quite honestly this is one of the main areas where I struggle in setting personal goals.  I want to skip right over the moon and stars and go straight to another galaxy.  But that is the thing about setting SMART goals, when thought about and done correctly this technique doesn't allow you to skip the stars and you don't give up flying to the moon.

So what are SMART goals? 

S – Specific (or Significant).
M – Measurable (or Meaningful)
A – Attainable (or Action-Oriented)
R – Relevant (or Rewarding)
T – Time-bound (or Trackable)

So to say that my goal for my family is to eat healthier in 2014....if you look at it that is not really a goal - it's a lifestyle change, my dream or an end result.  The goal is the steps along the way to get there. 

So my goal might be "I will read food labels for each pre-packaged item that I bring into my home, every time I go shopping in 2014 to ensure that it is a healthy choice for my family."

Is it specific? Pretty daggone if you ask me :)
Is it measurable?  Every time I go shopping for each item - yep.
Is it attainable?  It might be a little big at first if I eat a lot of packaged items, and this is where it could be broken down to smaller goals may be helpful.
Is it relevant?  This is something I'm becoming very passionate and educated on so yes, very relevant to me!
Is it time-bound? Every time I go shopping in 2014 - check!

The other part of goal setting that I struggle with personally, (anyone else out there - come on I can't be by myself on this one) is sharing my goal so that others can help me along the way (and hold me accountable).  I guess, I almost feel like if I keep it to myself, once again no one can know if I fail (gee, can you see a reoccurring theme of fear of failure here?).  But any good support system will cheer you on in your goal when it is one to make you or the world around you better (I mean, I would really have to question your support system if your goal was to rob so many banks, or fart so many times a day - this should be the time they should step up and lovingly remind you that those are SMART goals - in any way, shape or form).

Some of my personal goals for 2014 (so you aren't getting the specific version - sorry that's reserved for the ones who actually know all of my innermost secrets!):

*Establish and maintain a monthly household budget and review it weekly
*Work out for 20-30 minutes 2-3 times a week
*Read to my munchkins at least 4 nights a week
*Remove the toxic chemicals from my home and convert to greener products
*Eat 2 fruits a day (seems silly I know, but seeing as how I don't do it daily it probably should be a goal)
*Have 1 date night a month with my hubby (no one said we had to spend money - maybe I just cook for him at home while the kids spend the night elsewhere - that counts as a date right?)

There they are published - now you can hold me accountable or cheer me along, however you best motivate!

What are your goals?  Where are you going?  How do you plan to get there?

Monthly Cooking Night - MIA!

So it's been over a month since our last "cooking night" as my hubby calls it and I have to tell you I am missing it something awful!  We were supposed to get together last month and with Thanksgiving and prep it all got a little too crazy.  Then we were supposed to get together this Friday, however the Christmas parade has been rescheduled until then - so now we are pushed off until Jan. - boo.

What is our cooking night you might ask?  Check out my friend Kelly's blog at
Recipes We Love - Freezer Cooking with Friends #4 and as usual she does an amazing job laying it all out.

Short story is a group of us girls (okay my kids and hubby tag along for play dates with her child and hubby if I'm being honest) get together once a month and for about $50 pre-cook/prepare 8-12 different meals/sides/desserts to take back to our own homes.  It is usually enough food to last dinner wise (or sharing with others) for a good week or two. 

Now one of the best benefits for this working mom is the Martha Stewart amazing efforts of my friend Kelly who preps everything for us so that we can just come, cook, and enjoy!

Bodie was doubtful at first, but even he looks forward to our monthly girls night and has been asking when the next one is!  And when you have someone who double fists food like my munchkin does - it's a good thing to have a freezer full!