An example of a Thermo Plaque.

A huge shout out to Luke at Thermo Plaques, who was chosen by our staff as Trophies2Go's 2017 'Vendor of the Year'!  Based in California, they have been in business for over 46  years!

The Thermo Plaque Company creates custom laminated wall plaques from diplomas, certificates, news articles, magazine articles and much more.  The plaque edges are sanded, sealed and painted to finish the display.  It's a great way to celebrate and acknowledge any accomplishment!

Our customers that order special plaques from Thermo Plaques include Tiger Oak, who does the many Seattle Business Awards, and The Scotsman Guides.

Here is what our staff says about working with Luke:

An example of a Thermo Plaque made by Luke, our 2017 Customer of the Year!

Mike says that Luke is "very helpful, responsive and knowledgeable"

Mika says "Luke gets back to us right away when we request an order, and it super nice and easy to work with.  Also really creative.  Great products."

Janice says "Like is very responsive, he gets back to me quickly.  He is quick, he gets the covers done fast for our customers".

Our vendors create the components that allow us to assemble and customize the best quality trophies and awards in the industry.  Thank you to Luke at Thermo Plaques and all of our awesome vendors for great products to offer our customers!

Cheers!

Jessica

Our 2017 Product of the Year, the Hole in One Golf Plaque!

For the 2017 Product of the Year, our staff chose a golf award, the Hole-In-One Golf Plaque!  This extremely popular golf award has sold over 75 times so far this year!  Wow, who knew so many lucky folks made holes in one on the golf course!

This golf plaque features a #1 figure that can hold the lucky golf ball that made the once-in-a-lifetime shot.  To the right is customized etching with the golfer's name, golf course name, hole name, yardage, golf club used, and date.

At an affordable price of $38.00 each, this golf plaque makes a great gift to acknowledge a special moment in time!  Country clubs can give it to members, golfing buddies can commemorate the epic shot!

Thank you to our supplier Plastic Dress Up (PDU) for creating the components for this awesome award.  Also, a shout out to Paul, our rotary engraver, for the beautiful etching on each and every one of these special golf plaques.

A great product choice for 2017, check it out here!  Cheers!

Jessica

Sometimes I feel like a fish out of water with business tasks!

In college, a long time ago, I studied Fisheries at the University of Washington and learned about salmon spawning habitat, riparian corridors, water quality, and other environmental-related topics.  You may think this was a random major of study, but it came in handy when my girls were in elementary school and also when gardening (I have been a Master Gardener since 2003).  However, around two years ago, when I started transitioning into running Trophies2Go.

As Jeff spent more time on his new business venture, I began slowly taking over Jeff's tasks at Trophies2Go.  I started by completing the KPIs each week, including accessing Google Analytics.  Next I began writing business checks out of our accounting software, being aware of GL codes, credits and debits (huh?). But phrases like Costs of Goods Sold, Balance Sheet, P&L were still completely foreign to me.

For existing business owners, these financial terms are probably no big deal.  But for someone without any business knowledge, it's a challenge.  There's so much to learn, but I couldn't do it without key people.

5 Key People who help me run my business

1. A great business coach.  My coach Curt LeMaster at Key Business Solutions started the process with teaching me how to define my core values and how to write a business plan.  He also taught me about inventory management, inventory turns, and Cost of Goods Sold.  A very solid beginning.

2.  A patient bookkeeper.  When I don't know how to use our software, our bookkeeper Jeanine patiently teaches me what to do.  And when I mess up (which is often) she makes it right without complaint.

2.  An even more patient business partner.  Tom's background is in banking and management (he used to run bank branches for goodness sake!) so he has a much better handle on financial matters than me.  He monitors our checking account multiple times a day, does the cash flow dance, and seems quite confident when I haven't a clue.  I'm grateful for his skills, especially since I lack them!

4. A business smarty pants husband.  Jeff knows his stuff, is an extremely talented entrepreneur and has a million resources when I get into a bind.  I guess 23 years of running a business has it's perks, which is extremely helpful to a newbie like me.

5. Understanding staff.  They get that I'm new at running a business and when I don't have the answers, they either help me or are patient while I figure it out.

At some point the shit got real and I realized this is MY business and it has gotta start with me.  I have to put myself out there to learn new things, which is really uncomfortable, humbling and challenging.  But I can feel myself growing which is extremely exciting!

If you are considering starting/buying/running a business and don't know what you are doing, you aren't going to learn unless you go for it.  You gotta dive into the deep end and learn to swim.  What are you waiting for?  Good Luck!

Cheers!

Jessica

Our new promotional products website, check it out!

We had a big summer, closing our Issaquah showroom and consolidating in our Renton production facility.  Now that we are all settled in our space, it's time to focus on growing our business!

Tom and I decided to launch a new website for promotional products, full of great personalized items for businesses, schools, and organizations.  To get to our new site, just click the top box on our navigation banner that says "Promo Products" and you'll be directed there!

We recently completed an order of these beautiful journals for EO Seattle.

There are so many fun items on the site, all from the best vendors in the country.  Reusable bags for shopping, drawstring sports bags for schools or teams, every kind of personalized pen imaginable for your staff or customers, team spirit stuff for schools such as rally towels and pompoms, office supplies from notepads to mouse pads, lanyards for trade shows, and drink ware such as coffee mugs to BPA free water bottles are all on the site, plus so much more!

If you already order awards from us and need personalized products, please think of us. our same outstanding customer service team of Janice, Mika and Mike can help you choose the perfect product for your need, all within your budget.  We would love the opportunity to work with you.  Browse our new promo products site, there's so many fun things to see!

Cheers

Jessica

Save

Save

Save

Save

Once upon a time, in 2000, Trophies2Go was one of the first trophy & awards companies to market on the web.  It began as a child of Jeff’s imagination during the Dot.com boom, right as we were having our first baby.  It was a crazy time, starting a business AND having a baby (I would not recommend).  However in the long run, both grew and grew and now 17 years later, both are healthy and happy.

Trophy and award orders are packed and ready to ship to customers across the US.

Two years ago, Jeff and I decided to again move with the times and launch our existing Trophies2Go website on a new platform called Magento.  And unfortunately it was really really hard.  The website looked fantastic, our products were outstanding, but we had a number of issues with customers placing orders, training staff on a new system, and bugs throughout the site.  At the same time, Jeff, our leader, had started a new business and wasn’t around to right the ship.  So I stepped in, Tom also became a partner and over the past two years, Tom and I have grown our sales and improved our site to the point where it’s one of the best in the awards industry.

At the same time as all this online growth was happening, our retail presence was shrinking.  Being in the Issaquah community since 1987 (30 years!!!) we had a number of loyal customers, but unfortunately, many of our long time customers had “graduated” out of buying trophy and awards for their teams, school, or companies.  Whether their kids grew up and they were no longer coaching, they moved on to different jobs, they retired, or moved away, our repeat local customers were diminishing.  All the while we had a beautiful showroom with lots of space, but not many customers to help pay the rent.

And then there’s Amazon…they sell everything and have changed the ecommerce landscape with their large product offerings and quick 2-day Prime shipping on most items.  Their products sell for cheap, are reviewed by other customers, and are delivered quickly, which is the new standard expected by savvy online shoppers.

Looking toward the future, the Internet is where it’s at, there’s no doubt.  With how much everyone lives on their phones, especially millennials, this is where growth will occur in retail.  This past June we decided to bite the bullet and close our showroom to be an exclusively online award retailer.  Bold move, but innovation is one of our company’s core values and we must be ahead of the times.  We can still help our local customers with placing orders and they can pick up at our Renton warehouse, but we no longer have a large showroom with shelves of products for customers to touch and feel in person.  Instead now everything is virtual!

What I have learned through this process is it’s scary to put all of your eggs in one basket.  I’m depending on my website and my development team to keep our virtual doors open and so far it’s worked well.  I’ve also learned that it’s awesome to have great team who’s got your back during a big transition such as this.  Everyone pitched in to help with our move and transition, with moving furniture and equipment, changing hours, installing shelves, and dealing with new phones and internet issues.  I am truly grateful to work with such outstanding people.  Also a special thank you to Gary Tinker from National Engravers, Inc for mentoring me through this process.

This recent article in our Awards and Personalization trade magazine, ’The World is Changing – Are You?’ , sums up how important it is to remain relevant during these dynamic times. It’s hard to make a change, but I’m confident it will be the right decision for our company, our staff and our customers in the long run.

Cheers! Jessica

Save