Laura Schmidt, founder of Notes to Self
The Concept
On the pursuit to provide a daily dose of positivity to the world, Notes to Self sells positive affirmation socks and other affirmation products to clients across the United States.
Plan the Strategy
After reading a book on positive thinking, Laura Schmidt learned that the subconscious mind is most open early in the morning or late at night. Upon seeing her white socks, the idea of adding positive affirmations on them came to be. As she explored the concept, Laura conducted preliminary research on sock processing and retail prices. Early in the development stage, Notes to Self received the opportunity to display and sell merchandise at a local salon, providing an insight into the retail market. With the new exposure, sock sales increased dramatically and ultimately led Laura to focus on retail sales as opposed to direct sales.
Grow the Revenue
To ensure that she could continue to grow without future setbacks, Laura says that the company decided to invest in trademarking their products early on. “I think it’s really important to protect the things that are really important for you to protect as soon as you possibly can,” Laura said. Taking the step to “protect the intellectual property” allowed the company to feel confident in its next steps as it increased its employees, prices and partners.
Expand the Market
Through her network, Laura was able to connect with Hallmark and began to sell merchandise at their corporate stores. Understanding the importance of words and their impact, Hallmark was a good partner, Laura said, as Notes to Self was all about the words. Soon after, the gift shop in Children’s Mercy Hospital began to sell the items as well. The growth led to Notes to Self to increase its market beyond Kansas City, shipping domestically produced socks across the country ordering right from their website.
Insight/Hindsight
As Notes to Self continues to expand, Laura hopes to continue improving flow and operation of the business. “My vision is that world would know about our socks, not because of notoriety or anything like that, more so because then they’d be wearing our socks and they’d be training their minds to think better thoughts, more positive thoughts,” Laura said.