It was the middle of summer and time to head back to Pennsylvania for QVC guest host training. Once again QVC showed why they dominate the cable TV selling channels. Before you ever step in front of a live camera you need to pass through their certification program. Three hours of class room training followed by several takes in front of the camera and critiques in between, it was very exciting. I got to work with David Venable, a total professional and a really nice guy. By the end of the day I was a certified guest host and ready to be scheduled to appear on air.

Like most big companies, QVC has very strict inventory requirements. Which means when they give you a purchase order they also give you a specific delivery window when your product needs to arrive. For the first time I was trying to manufacture my product in China and ship it across the ocean. Then import it into the US, truck it from the west coast to the east coast and have it arrive at QVC's warehouse no earlier than August 5th and no later than August 12th, piece of cake right... NOT! Stacy, my importer from Sun Products Ltd, was great. She followed the progress of my order every step of the way. Everything was right on track and then 10 days before delivery, US customs selected our container at random for "an intensive examination". In laymen terms that meant customs was going to go through our shipment with a fine tooth comb and at their discretion delay it for up to 30 days. Its not the first time I got a sinking feeling in my gut and it won't be the last. Lucky for me, my QVC buyer was more accommodating than then the new vendor rule book said they would be. My shipping delay turned out to be not a big deal and soon I had my first airing date.

My first QVC on air appearance was scheduled for Wednesday August 26th. I was so excited to plan my trip from Atlanta to West Chester, Pennsylvania, I couldn't wait to get in front of a camera and start selling my product. QVC had ordered 3200 units and my goal was to sell out in 5 minutes, that way they would re-order and have me back on. I reviewed what I was going to say and practiced my cooking  demonstrations over and over again. QVC has two full size gourmet kitchens and a dozen top rated chefs on staff, standing by to help prepare the best looking food for the cameras. Its not a free service but well worth it. These chefs really know how to make the demonstration food look so good for the camera and for me it was one less thing I had to worry about. That morning as I was getting ready for my first QVC appearance, the news reports starting coming in that Senator Ted Kennedy had died. At the time I didn’t give it much thought, I was way too preoccupied thinking about going on TV to give it much thought, after all my dreams were within my grasp. I knew that if I could sell out or at the very least sell a couple thousand units I would be well on my way.

Arriving at the QVC studios two hours before my air time I had enough time to meet with the chef preparing my food for the show; wow, did she know how to make food look great!. After seeing the food she had prepared I was even more confident than ever. With twenty minutes to go, I was getting mic'd up and led into the standby area. Inside the studio its easy to see the organization that has made  QVC the number one selling TV channel, these people really know what they're doing. I wasn't nervous, but before I knew it I was in front of the camera and it was show time. Working with the host was fun and it seemed like things were going well and then, in a flash it was over. I was so excited leaving the studio, it felt like things went well, but at the time I didn't know if we had sold 2,000 units or if we sold out. Imagine how I felt when I found out that we had only sold a couple of hundred units, a far cry from my goal or even my minimum expectations. I was devastated... I stuck around in the green room, numb and watching the results of the products that followed me. As the afternoon went on I saw that most of the other products were also struggling. Could it be that America was watching the news coverage regarding Kennedy's death and not the shopping channels? Either way, that sinking feeling in my gut was back, the results were less than one third of what I imagined could have been the worse case scenario. What was I going to do if QVC decided to ship the remaining units back? What was I going to tell my investors? My head was spinning as I waited for my flight to board. What now?