We have happily accepted a nomination for the CP Voice/Community Council/Ralph in the Quality category. Voting will begin soon, I assume. We’ll keep you posted.

Audrie/peonproductions from the awesome CP Layouts asked all the known candidates to fill out a survey to allow the community to get to know the nominees better. You can see all the responses on her site. I have reposted my rather verbose answers below. Like I told Audrie, I tend to write like I talk, drive and walk - all over the place. I hope it makes sense. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

1. What is your name?
My screen name is Lekker Jen. My real name is Jennifer Funderburk, but I still answer to Jen Lekker, since people think that’s my last name. You can call me Jen.

2. What category have you been nominated for?
I was nominated for the Quality category.

3. How long have you been a CafePress Shopkeeper?
We opened our first shop in January of 2004.

4. What do you think makes you a qualified candidate for the council?
I am an opinionated woman. I am an analytical person with insane organizational skills. I also value my ability to see both sides of an issue. I am not afraid to say I love CafePress and the life our partnership affords, but I am also vocal when they are not meeting my expectations or those of the community.

I have over been a shopkeeper with CafePress for over 3 years. I believe that my extended experience as a shopkeeper would be invaluable to the council, as I have already had to deal with many of the growing pains that newer shop keepers have yet to face - many times with tools that were not as adequate as those we have available to us now. I would be able to devote a large portion of my time to the council and the community as well, since being a CafePress shopkeeper is my full time job. The shops I manage range in size and revenue, which broadens my perspective.

Outside of CafePress, I have had many jobs where the knowledge and experiences gained would be beneficial to the community and the council. I worked at all the major Orlando theme parks (Disney – Attractions Hostess, Universal – Tour Guide & SeaWorld – Tour Guide/Educator) where I learned a lot about customer service, customer expectations, quality, efficiency and management. I was an Office Manager for the St. Petersburg Times, where I was able to learn a great deal about marketing, management & accounting.

Much like Hillary, when you vote for me, you also get the experiences and insight of a great partner. My husband Jason is an Art Director at the University of South Florida. He has over 10 years of experience in 3D modeling, graphic design, wed design & development, instructional design and web education. He plays a vital part in the success of the Lekker Shops, and will hopefully become a full time shopkeeper next year. If and when it’s allowed, I would likely discuss things with Jason, to get yet another point of view.

5. What would you consider to be some of CafePress’s strengths? What are you hoping will NOT be changed in the future?
By far, the best thing about CafePress is the ability for me to work in my jammies and eat bonbons all day long I love the community we have here. I have made some great friends with people who are my direct competitors. Where else can you find that kind of dynamic?

On the business side of things, I like the low cost associated with the service. I would hate to see a change in the volume bonus. I would not like to see additional fees unless it’s for an optional tool or service. I am sure there are more, but I just can’t think right now. If anyone wants to know my opinion on something specific, please feel free to ask.

If we still had it, I’d say I would hate to see the affiliate program change, because it has huge potential. Oh well.

6. What would you consider to be some of CafePress’s weaknesses? What are you hoping WILL change in the future?
The quality of the communication between CafePress and the shopkeeper community is better than it has been in the past, but there is room for a lot of improvement. When I worked at Walt Disney World and other theme parks, there were about 25,000 employees to communicate with. While working at the St. Petersburg Times, I had to come up with new and creative ways to keep in touch with often absent advertising executives. I would hope that experiences such as these would allow us to work on a way to improve the communication between CafePress and the community.

Quality on the production line needs to be addressed as well. I have received several orders in the last few months that have had multiple issues. I believe there is a lot of waste on the production line, which eventually cuts into our bottom line. I like to solve problems and make things as efficient as possible, and I think that those traits would come in very handy when evaluating the issues many in the community have experienced with production.

Shop management has been a pet peeve of mine for a long time, and I know that CafePress is committed to making things more manageable for larger shops, while still being manageable for newer shopkeepers. I would love to be able to offer even more input on the subject.

There needs to be more support for new shopkeepers. There was a discussion at a chat recently of a mentoring program – I love that idea. I have a lot of ideas on ways to make the learning curve for new shopkeepers not quite so steep.

Many in the community believe that tag abuse has become a big problem in the Marketplace. I believe that we need to find a way to curb the use or irrelevant image tags. The more relevant the search is, the better the shopper experience is, encouraging repeat sales.

More on my wish list: trendier, more fashion forward merchandise, branding options (tags, invoices, etc), a wider product range, detailed reporting, custom pricing tiers, ability to add new products across shop… and so much more.

7. Is there anything else you would like to say to the CafePress community?
Work Hard. Be Nice. Vote Lekker!