At a recent un-conference at the Kickstarter HQ a few weeks back I was invited to give an Ignite talk. Here it is! And if you’d like to see the other presenters as well, you can see them all here! Enjoy!
(In case you’re wondering why I am talking so fast and am out of breath at the end. It’s the format of Ignite: Presenters get 20 slides, which automatically advance every 15 seconds. The result is a fast and fun presentation which lasts just 5 minutes.)
I want to stay current with the news. But reading it gives me serious anxiety. What's the solution?
— Tina Roth Eisenberg (@swissmiss) November 21, 2016
Tips for Human Interactions:
1. Be kind.
2. Be kind.
3. Be kind.— Tina Roth Eisenberg (@swissmiss) November 15, 2016
I have been doing a lot of controlled breathing exercises in the past 48h.
If only more people would realize that being kind and generous is the biggest lifehack of all.
— Tina Roth Eisenberg (@swissmiss) October 20, 2016
Yesterday Yng and I were invited to be on Tamron Hall’s live show over at MSNBC to talk about Tattly. What an incredible experience and honor for our company. I have become a person that talks about temporary tattoos on national tv. Someone please pinch me!
The Invisible Dog is my work home. I am lucky to be part of this wonderful community of artists and creators. (My businesses run out of the ‘office space’ side of the building) Every year Lucien, the director of this cultural hub, runs a Kickstarter to help keep the lights on.
In a city where everything is making room for shiny new condo buildings, the Invisible Dog is a refreshing reminder on how important is to create an affordable studio space for artists.
If you, just like me, appreciate what Lucien is doing on Bergen street, help me support his Invisible Dog Kickstarter Campaign!
I recently purchased The Know Yourself Cards for Self-Exploration by The School Of Life and they sure keep me on my toes. I am currently trying to answer one question a night. This one in particular has hit home. I might have to rethink how I prioritize the things that are seemingly important to me.
The bar for the “most creative job application” ever received has been raised. Last week, Ryan Beller dropped off a white box with a beautifully arranged ViewMaster inside. Clicking through it revealed his resume and cover letter. Consider me (and the rest of team Tattly) impressed!
Update: We offered him the job. And, he accepted. So, YAY!
I recently started keeping a list of “Things I Didn’t Buy“. It’s refreshing to look back at it and realize how much money I saved and how many of these items would have just become “stuff” in a very short time. Marie Kondo-ing my life last year was one of the best things I have done in a long time and it keeps having a positive effect on my life (and finances). If you are not familiar with her book “The life-changing magic of tiding up“, look it up. But be warned, you might start talking to your socks.
We had the pleasure to spend this week in the Appenzeller mountains, where I grew up. Luckily we have one more week of fresh-air-vacation ahead of us. Can you believe this view?
I am on a mission to push myself out of my comfort zone more often. Last week that resulted in taking an African Dance Class.
At some point, I want to do what the gentleman is doing above. Boy, that would sure make me uncomfortable.
What do you do to push yourself out of your comfort zone?
I recently started keeping a list of things I didn’t buy. I look back at it often and it fills me with all the good feels. The list reminds me that many of the things I think I NEED TO HAVE would end up very quickly just becoming STUFF. Marie Kondo’s approach, by simply asking “does this bring me joy” has changed the way I look at anything I own. But best of all, my “I didnt’ buy this list” is a great reminder of money I saved.
For the last two months I have been wearing this “watch” and it has quickly become my favorite accessory. As someone who constantly worries about what’s ahead, it’s been a successful way for me to remind myself to stay in the moment! And, the personal reminder on the back of the watch, which is customizable, reminds me be kind to myself.
So much respect to Micah Davis, the founder of Matters for coming up with this beauty. It’s not only beautiful and useful, but also a huge conversation starter.
Tilo (6) would like to take a poll: Would you rather burp glitter or fart confetti?
— Tina Roth Eisenberg (@swissmiss) August 5, 2016
Right now is a great time to register to vote: https://t.co/n9RAGsJlME #iamwithher
— Tina Roth Eisenberg (@swissmiss) July 29, 2016
Business is not just business. Business is *relationships*. Real humans! Real feelings!
— Tina Roth Eisenberg (@swissmiss) July 19, 2016
Today’s a big day! It’s been exactly 5 years since I announced the birth of Tattly. My team made me look back and share 5 things I’ve learned:
It takes a small village to run a physical product company.
When I started Tattly I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Being a User Interface Designer, I knew nothing about selling physical goods. I assumed that at the most I would end up with a company that I could feed with two pizzas, meaning 6 people max. False. We are currently 12 full-timers and 4 part-time helpers. We could easily hire 4 more folks but have to hold out until our sales allow us to. Tattly is an entirely bootstrapped company and every new hire is a milestone. Just like raising kids, it takes a small village to run a company like Tattly.
Trust breeds magic.
From the beginning days of Tattly I hired young, motivated smart folks, that were as excited as I am about developing a physical product company. None of them had any prior experience. But they had some serious HUSTLE. We all learned as we went along. I trusted them with building Tattly, sometimes with things I probably shouldn’t have trusted them with. But that’s ok, because trust is the biggest compliment of all. Over the past few years, this theory of mine has proven successful: Hire young folks that thrive when asked to figure stuff out, that are motivated and self-driven. Then, simply step out of their way. Let them know you trust them and watch them embrace the challenges and watch them over deliver. Trust breeds magic!
You have to embrace inventory tracking. And sales.
When you sell a physical good you need to know how many you have in stock. At all times. Seems trivial? Well, it took me a few years to finally implement a inventory management system (Netsuite). Best thing we’ve ever done. And, then just this year, I finally embraced selling as an art form. Guess what, your product doesn’t sell itself. You have to tell people about it. I had to learn that you can do see in really elegant, tasteful and fun ways.
The extra layer of love gives the product soul.
At Tattly we try to sprinkle a possibility of a smile into everything we do. How? If you subscribe to our newsletter, you might have noticed our love for puns! Ever ordered something online? Then you might have come across the messenger pigeon coordinates on our invoice! Did you ever stumble upon our Error 404 page? You should! Or my favorite: A few years ago, when we launched an invisible Tattly on April Fools day, designed by Mario The Magician. Just thinking about it still makes me laugh! I believe that these little possibilities of a chuckle are what give our brand soul.
Never underestimate the power of confetti.
I firmly believe that every business needs a confetti drawer. When you order on Tattly.com you have the option to add confetti during the check-out process. And sometimes we randomly add some to orders, because we think the customers would appreciate it. But don’t worry, when we do add confetti, we do it respectfully, and include a “CAUTION CONFETTI INSIDE” sticker on the package. Because, you know, messy.
I am excited to be celebrating this 5 year milestone with my team. They are a fantastic, fun, hardworking group. Let me raise my confetti canon and say: Happy our Tattly birthday to you!
If you have followed my blog for a while, you might know that we have a birthday tradition at Tattly: We celebrate our birthday by giving our customers 50% off. Use discount code TATTLYTURNS5 for 50% off your order, this week only.* This only happens once a year so be sure to place your order before 11:59pm EDT 7/15/2016.
11 years ago today I started this blog, not knowing it would become the catalyst for so much good in my life. Here’s my first post ever. All the feels. Happy my 11th blog-iversary to you! And, thank you for reading!
The lovely Kelly Hoey interviewed me for Broad Mic a few weeks ago. The podcast just went live!
Note to self: Must talk slower!
Woman deletes all of her email accounts. Instantly feels great. The end.
— Tina Roth Eisenberg (@swissmiss) May 6, 2016
A few weeks ago I got a call from my friend Mark at MailChimp in which he asked: “What would you say if we made a commercial on Tattly for Viceland TV?” Needless to say, I nearly fell off my chair. Sure enough, a few weeks later, Vice and their huge crew showed up at Tattly HQ and filmed a day straight. And above is the end product, which you can also see here. How cool is MailChimp? For a small bootstrapped company like Tattly, generous PR gestures like this one are a big deal.
MailChimp was part of Tattly from the very beginning. In fact, when I started the project, almost five years ago, I ran out of money and didn’t have the funds to print the first batch of tattoos. Rusty who helped me at the time had the idea to add a sponsored bonus Tattly in every order. We pitched the idea to MailChimp and they said yes, which allowed us to get production going. Interesting fact: MailChimp knows the pain of being a bootstrapped company. They are still, years later, privately held, which I think you can sense when you pay a bit of attention. They are and have been generously supporting creative projects around the world. (I myself fall into this category also with CreativeMornings. MailChimp was our first global partner) I consider them a “angel investor of the creative world” not just with Tattly but with many other conferences, magazines, experimental-creative-you-name-it-proejcts. Their generous support is making a real difference.
Thank you MailChimp. Tattly (and the rest of the creative world) loves and appreciates you.
In this same series, Vice and MailChimp also made one on FLO+THEO, Jane’s Motorcycles and Heatonist. You can see them all here.
Come work with my team and me at Tattly! We are hiring a Sales Manager.
What an absolute honor to have been featured on The Today Show! NATIONAL TV EVERYONE! My heart! I am having all the feels! For a small bootstrapped company like Tattly, this is huge! I want to thank all the people involved in making this happen! I wish I could hug you all! Watching the segment made me tear up, here’s why.