About a year ago, I got a call from my apartment that there was a package waiting for me in the office. Literally, a package. Sorry to the majority of you that clicked this because you thought I was talking about a penis – but I promise, it’s a funny story…. but not as funny as a penis story would be.
Anyway. It was the 8th time I told myself I’m dedicating myself to building my brand (I’ll explain that further in another blog), and I wanted to start having merch. Yeah, I know I could have went the traditional clothing route, but I wanted my first product to be something very meaningful and had me in it – which is where I came up with the idea for notebooks.
I use notebooks for EVERYTHING: Prayers, goals, dreams, thoughts, quotes, to-do lists, stats… you name it, I write it. I then save all of the notebooks because one of the best feelings in the world is flipping through old ones and seeing the progress I’ve made. I wanted these notebooks to inspire others to do the same. On top of people using them to write and keep track of their progress, I personalize each one with advice. Basically when someone orders the notebook, they get an automated email that says if they have a question they’d like to ask me or advice they need, reply to that email and I hand write each message before I ship it out. Yes, it takes a lot of time, but I genuinely enjoy doing it.
Well, that was the end of it (so I thought) until I went to pick up the package. I ordered 125 of them – I asked my friend David to walk with me from our office to my apartment because I wouldn’t be able to carry a box of 125 damn notebooks. When the lady gave me the box, it was tiny. Tiny enough where I could just hold it with one hand. I thought, maybe it was only a partial of the order, while holding in the mixture of excitement of my first product that I couldn’t even wait to get into my apartment – I had to open it in the elevator. I’ll never forget the disappointment and shock I felt when I opened the box and they were literally 5 inches. I mean, it had the ruler on the side when I ordered, but when you think notebook, you don’t think that tiny. So, I was sad, but then I immediately snapped out of it and tried to find the good in it. There’s a reason outside of me being stupid and not paying attention and rushing to want to get my first product that this happened – so I came up with branding them as “Jen-Sized.” If you’ve met me in person, you know how small I am, and I made the notebooks the same exact way. Small, can fit in your pocket and you can bring it everywhere…. and that’s what they’re for.
They’re actually pretty cute when you see them, but I mean the next round I’m going to make sure they’re normal sized.
So… if you need advice, or if this post made you laugh – order your personalized notebook here lol. They’re $10, free shipping, handwritten personalized notes in each one and ship within 2-3 business days.
Oh and sidenote, the advice people have been asking me for are things that I know everyone can relate to so I will be posting extended advice based off of their advice on my blog.