Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Bird-E Towels (tm)

Lots of changes have been happening at Athena Creates! I'll have to summarize.

I am now president of a newly formed corporation, Riverserge, Inc DBA Athena Creates. yah! I have a brand new name for my eco-friendly paper towel replacement product.... Bird-E Towels (tm) (I can't figure out how to get the tm with a circle symbol in here. hmph! ) Hurray! This means that I have a name that is unique to my product. I can build my customer following on my product and not worry so much about the copycats.

And speaking of copycats, I have now had to deal with a few sellers who lifted my photos and/or my exact words to plop on their copycat product. It makes me sick to my stomach to know that others would do that. There are others that are copying the idea and you can tell they modified my words just enough to fly under the radar. And they are copying my pricing structure which is annoying. It all makes me a wee bit upset, but not nearly as bad as the photo and word lifters. It is outright theft. I'm trying so hard to not let it upset me. I am learning about copyright, trademarks and patents. And I am taking steps to protect my work.

Mainly, I try to remember that I am an important part of the equation here, too. And that comes in the form of my enthusiasm, my belief in the product, my high level of workmanship and my customer service. My business is still growing but at a pace that I can keep up with.

Other exciting news...I have a new logo for my Bird-E Towels! I love it! So the significance is that Bird-E Towels are an eco-friendly paper towel replacement. Paper towels come from trees. Birds live in the trees that are harvested for paper towels. Using an owl is a nod to my business namesake, the Greek goddess Athena. She is often depicted with an owl...and of course, she would want to save trees for her feathered friends!

My logo was created by Morningstar Artistry on etsy. I really liked some of her logo samples and I'm happy with the final product that we ended up with. She was really easy to work with and I think her prices were quite reasonable.



4 out of my 5 kids are back in school as of Monday. One more week before my wildly curious and adorable toddler will start pre-school and that's when the party starts in my sewing studio! LOL I'll have 3 days a week to focus on my business without distractions from the children. Hurray! I miss my kids but it is increasingly hard to set business goals and meet them with a constant stream of interruptions. My 8th grader is loving school so far. And my 3 elementary aged kids each hit the teacher jackpot. They each got fantabulous teachers!! Makes it easier to send them to school, knowing that they are having a pleasant day.

I have to take the little one to her school orientation so I'll cut this off now. Thanks for reading!

2 comments:

Jackie's Stitches said...

Congrats on becoming incorporated, the new name, and the new logo! And remember - copycats are never as good (or as successful) as the original!

Ann said...

I bought two of your precious dresses in Jacksonville at the Art Market on Saturday. I live near New Orleans and am back home now. Please let me know how I can order more things and see what else you have. Thanks so much. Ann Laperouse Mandeville, LA