Women of Gwinnett Business Networking Group

Can I deduct my home office?

2010-04-05T09:18:00.002-04:00

"Your home office can be a good place to start. Put together a map that outlines your work space in your home including the restroom. You can not deduct your entire home but just the part you work in. Things like a portion of mortgage, utilities, home insurance, property tax and maintenance done that year can all be a self employment tax deduction based on how much of a percent of your home is for work."

Learn about more self employed tax deductions here.

Making money versus making a mark

2010-03-13T17:43:00.004-05:00

This is the line we walk as small business owners. We start our businesses hoping to do both. Somewhere, however the bottom line... the ability to support ourseves becomes more important than our professional aspirations.

It's not the end of the world if we forget our way for a while in order to put food on the table and clothes on our backs. At some point however, as the financial aspect of business ownership improves we need to find our way back to making the work meaningful, otherwise, we will quickly tire of it.

The funny thing, is that once you get to the point where you can make work meaningful, in many cases, it also becomes more profitable. Go figure.

This article focuses on helping employers make work meaningful for employers, but I think it applies well to business owners too. Here's an excerpt:

According to research by Adam Grant, an associate professor of management at the Wharton School, making this connection doesn’t just improve morale. It also has a huge impact on the bottom line. Grant has discovered that when people get to meet a living, breathing person who benefits from their work, their job performance skyrockets. In one study, Grant found that university fund-raisers who listened to a scholarship recipient tell how the assistance had benefited him increased by 200% the number of weekly calls they made to potential donors. The average amount of funds they brought in jumped 500%, from $400 per week to more than $2,000 per week.

read full article

Danger of losing friends through social media

2009-12-14T10:45:00.006-05:00

While social media can have a positive impact on business, it is very important for us to use social media wisely so that we are not actually chasing business away:

Here's an excerpt: Social Media to me and my business is an integral part of building SOCIAL EQUITY ….It allows me to become part of a community … to contribute to the community … Giving back to others allows me to experience sheer joy and a feeling of satisfaction and gratitude that comes from knowing I make a DIFFERENCE in other people's lives… Talk about a heaping helping of SOUL FOOD…. Truthfully….this wasn't always the case with my Social Networking efforts…. I had always heard "The Money Is In Your List"….(Read full article)

Offering Gift Cards This Christmas?

2009-11-08T08:16:00.004-05:00

According to blogger Rieva Lesonsky, every business should be offering gift cards.

Buying gift cards is not a casual consumer purchase. The stats show that in 2008 Americans bought more than six cards (on average), spending an average of $52 per card.

Even better for entrepreneurs is the fact that, according to Contardi, there is generally a "15 to 30 percent uptick" in what Contardi calls the "basket ring" (amount purchased) when consumers shop with their gift cards. In fact, the survey reported that 69 percent of gift card recipients spent more than the value of the card when they shopped.

This sounds like an excellent idea, but I offered gift cards one year and don't know that I want to offer them again. Granted, I did make quite a bit on the gift card sales, much of which was never redeemed. This really ate at my conscience. To top it off, two or three years later, I was still getting random calls from people who wanted to redeem the old gift cards... usually at times when it was a financial strain for me to honor the cards.

If you are thinking about offering gift cards, I urge you to do the following:

Put an expiration date on the gift card. A small business should be comfortable putting a one year expiration date on the card. I would do 18 months at the most.
Put a portion of the gift card income in a separate account to use when people want to redeem the cards.
Get over the guilt of making easy money for unredeemed cards.

Business Cards that Make Them CALL

2009-10-21T12:10:00.001-04:00

By: Bette Daoust, Ph.D.
How would you use business cards for gift certificates?

I asked once "How many business cards do you need?" and answered that you only need one. Even though this is true when you are trying to form business relationships, it is not true when it comes to promoting your business. Promotion can come in many forms, but using business cards to represent a gift certificate will make it easier for your potential customer not to lose it. You can issue gift certificates for a two-for-one dinner, a discount when coming into your store, or for time at the driving range. Whatever it is that you decide to use it for, you will find that usage will climb considerably if they are in a format that can be readily tucked into a wallet.

When you go to most grocery stores or retail stores, they sell gift certificates in the form of "credit cards". This allows them to swipe at the register when a purchase is made and to have the amount left loaded on the card. This is a very expensive method for most small businesses. You can use the same principle, but in paper format. Business cards can range in thickness from paper-thin to fairly heavy stock. The heavier the stock, the more likely the card will not be lost.

I once helped a small grocery store promote their business and gain new customers in their neighborhood by having "gift certificates" for a free jug of milk. We decided on a jug because most people do not purchase just a quart if they have a family. This promotion drew in almost all the neighborhood and the store gained new customers through the attention. You do not need to give away the farm, or in this case the cow, you just need to use a format that will work for you. Once a customer is in your store, then you can start working on the business relationship.

Your gift certificate, invitation, announcement, etc., should also contain your web information.

Article Source:
http://www.bestmanagementarticles.com
http://advertising-and-promotion.bestmanagementarticles.com
About the Author:
Bette Daoust, Ph.D. decided to find the best ways to get people's attention, be creative in how she presented herself and products, getting people to know who she was, and being visible all the time. Her friends and colleagues have often dubbed her the “Networking Queen”. Blueprint for Networking Success: 150 ways to promote yourself is the first in this series. Blueprint for Branding Yourself: Another 150 ways to promote yourself. For more information visit http://www.BlueprintBooks.com

What you DON'T want to advertise on your vehicle

2009-09-29T18:34:00.008-04:00

I was driving along today and noticed a truck with very large writing on the back window. It said "Don't Spread My Wealth Spread My Work Ethic". It seemed like a fair enough comment. The truck was covered with writing, and we were at a stoplight, so I kept reading.

I saw an Obama style bumper sticker that said "Buck Fama". Nice I thought. I kept reading. Under the political bumper stickers, was a business logo. In fact the entire side of the truck was covered with a business logo. But it doesn't really matter to me what the truck was advertising... it could have been selling ice cream from heaven, I was turned off by the vulgar bumper sticker.

This business man made several fatal errors when advertising politics on his business van.

1. The size of the political advertisement distracted from the business logos, thereby making people focus on it and not his adverstising.

2. One of the advertisements was (slyly) vulgar and thereby off putting.

3. He should have save politics for his personal car. By putting this strong statement on his car, he has sent a good amount of potential customers to the competition. People will work with you until you start discussing politics. As soon as they realize your politics might differ, well, you could lose customers.

It is hard to see the most offensive bumper sticker, but see the picture below to see how the political statement takes away from the other advertisment. At a stop light, you only have so much time to read the truck in front of you... Mine was taken up by the bumper sticker and lettering on the window. Fortunately I took a picture.

Finding the Right Bloggers to Promote Your Business

2009-09-15T10:49:00.001-04:00

Using Bloggers to Promote Your Business

Getting paid to blog can be seen as selling out to many bloggers, but for others, it is a way to cover the expenses of the blog which is often a labor of love. As someone who has been reading and writing blogs for many years, I definitely see both sides of the fence. No one wants to follow a blog that includes far too many obvious commercials. Still a blogger spends a lot of time creating the blog, and it is nice to get a little monetary compensation from time to time.

Read full article here

Suggested reading: Blog Marketing: The Revolutionary New Way to Increase Sales, Build Your Brand, and Get Exceptional Results

Tips for Using Twitter for Business

2009-09-12T10:42:00.004-04:00

Twitter is a website that users can use to find out what their friends are doing right now... or at least the last thing they reported. People announce that they have just woken up. They tell you about their meals. They say nighty-night. And frankly, I could care less.

Twitter certainly has it's value, especially if your family lives across the miles. You can let your parents know what you are up to. You can keep tabs on your best friends. You can get updates from classmates if you are a student. For many people it is just plain fun. Personally, I like to use twitter to promote my business.

Read full article here

Book Suggestion: Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time

Back to school tips for Work at Home moms

2009-09-02T18:54:00.006-04:00

For many work at home moms it means more time to work. For others, like me, it means more work because you either homeschool or volunteer at school during the school year.

Here are some things to keep in mind in the coming month.

1. Christmas will be here before you know it. Plan a few open houses and Christmas sale events now. Decide what your Holiday specials will be.

2. Schedule time to work on your business. Don't just let life happen and try to work around it. You will find you have accomplished nothing.

3. Enjoy your kids while you can and remember why you are working from home in the first place.

Encouragement for home businesses

2009-07-23T14:24:00.002-04:00

As once thriving businesses struggle to stay afloat in a tough economy, businesses are surviving by relocating to the home. Renting office space in a high traffic area can cost as much as $4000 a month. If you are not making your rent, It would behoove you regroup and work from home. Here is a story of a couple who did it.

Think you've built a killer website? Think again

2009-07-19T10:20:00.000-04:00

Here is an excellent article of 20 things you don't want on your website. I.e. 20 ways to scare customers away.

I have done several of these in the past, and will be doing an audit to make sure I am not doing any of them now.

Excerpt:

Hello Everyone, many website owners make schoolboy errors, that makes their website, well, crap. These errors can cause an annoyance to a large percentage of visitors, and can actually drive traffic away. If you avoid all the reasons I have listed below, you are sure to have an outstanding annoying free website!

Just remember value. If you provide that on your website, your visitors will keep coming back time and time again for more. Read full article

WOG recommendation: Darla Dixon

2009-07-17T13:17:00.005-04:00

Dear Group,

My dad died about a year and a half ago. They say time heals but I still miss him so much. Darla was running a special on her pencil portraits. (I think she was trying to do a certain number of portraits in a certain time frame) I emailed her and asked her if she could do a portrait of my dad for me and my mom. The portraits were fantastic and mean so much to me and my mom. Darla, again thank you. I would highly recommend Darla's work to anyone. I can't wait till I have grandchildren so I can have her do another portrait for me.

Sue Keppel

(Darla's Website)

Sue Keppel Group Manager-Discovery Toys
3439 Rosecliff Trace Buford, GA 30519
phone # (770) 271-5757
shop 24/7 www.discoverytoyslink.com/suekeppel
Play with your Children...It's The Best Investment
You'll Ever Make!
Start your own business right now for only $125.00! Valued over $350.00
Call me for free information!

WOG Recommendation: Jan Pepe

2009-07-15T13:13:00.006-04:00

Since I'm a stay-at-home mom, there's not a lot of extra money for vacations in our budget (we're usually pretty content with a week at the beach). So this year, when we found ourselves with a little extra in the vacation budget, we decided to take the kids to Disney World. We'd went to the Magic Kingdom for one day seven years when the kids were 2 and 5, and we'd been planning to take them back and "do it right" as soon as we could swing it financially. Since we were already thinking about taking a trip to Disney this summer, Jan Pepe's ad back in April caught my attention. I contacted Jan, asked a few questions and then put it on the back burner for a few weeks. Jan answered all my questions, but didn't pressure me at all about booking a vacation.

A few weeks later, I got back in touch with her and told her we had decided to go to Disney this year, so she and I started a dialogue about my budget,what we wanted to do while we were there and the many options available from Disney. Over the next two weeks, Jan and I emailed back and forth and got all the details worked out. She took care of everything!! Even though everything Disney is expensive, we got a good deal and Jan's services are absolutely free!

Jan booked our rooms, our tickets, our travel insurance and our dining plan. She even made all our dining reservations for us and they were great! She shared tons of tips about things she's learned in her Disney travels and we had a great, stress-free week at Disney World! No matter where you're headed, call Jan and let her take care of your travel plans; you won't be sorry!

Susan Boswell

You can contact Jan at: Jan Pepe
janp@mei-travel.com

Affiliated w/ MEI & Mouse Fan TravelR
http://www.mousefantravel.com/

direct: 770-676-0828
fax: 815-301-8288
toll free: 866-679-4708

This is not a spam blog

2009-07-11T12:56:00.000-04:00

Because I made post today with all of the WOG members website links, this blog was classified as an automated spam blog. It is currently being reviewd and the spam warning should be removed soon.

The fact I put a request for review should prove to them that the blog is not automated.

Andrea

What is Women of Gwinnett?

2009-07-11T10:59:00.019-04:00

Women Of Gwinnett (WOG)is a women's networking group for women in the Gwinnett County GA/ Atlanta GA area. Our group was founded by work at home women, run by work at home women and for women to exchange business information among each other to help promote and advertise each other's businesses on and offline. If you are working from home, AND LIVE IN GWINNETT COUNTY GA, please join us, so that we may build our businesses together.

Current members of Women of Gwinnett is listed below (and can be found in the side blogroll)

Advertising, Marketing, Promotional

Lynn, Robyn - Creative Inc Promotions

Sandberg, Rosane - Embroidery

Sandberg, Rosane - Promos & LogoWear

Animals and Pets

Bieniek, Randy - Pet Crazy Portraits

Dixon, Darla - Pencil Portraits of Cats, Dogs

Edwards, Terri - Pet Natural Solutions

Jeanne's Pet Sitting - 404-291-3617

Russell, Teresa - Pet Parties Plus

Art, Artists, Photographers

Bieniek, Randy - Pet Crazy Portraits

Brown, Andrea - Photography

Dixon, Darla - Pencil Portraits

Harrison, Mechelle - Mechelle Designs

Hermitt, Andrea

Norris, Melissa - Digital Heirlooms

Reynolds, Cindy - 770-314-9120

Business & Financial

Boswell, Susan - Dylan & Co.

Cavanaugh, Kris - Life & Business Coach - Begin to Shift

Cockrell, Soshana - Find In GA

Dill, Jennifer - B-Support Solutions

Elkins, Tina - T.A.M.A. Investigations

Flowers, Andrea - Send Out Cards (If you have a new link, please forward it to site manager)

Harwell, Pam - Ol Hometown Gazette

770-831-9092

Jones, Alice - Brand New Line

Maxwell, Nadene P. CPA MBA

Sims, Valencia (V-Source) Please contact site manager if you have a new link

Taylor, Michelle - Virtual Assistant & MTTS

Medical Transcription

Thomas, Toni - Astrologer

Collectibles & Gifts

Angell, Frances - Wacky WAHM

Bloom, Shelly - Crystal Collection

Brooke, Leigh - PartyLite Candles-

770-554-2673

Brown, Crystal - Crystal's Creations (F)

Keppel, Sue - Discovery Toys

Larkins, Rosanne -

Cookie Lee Jewelry Ind. Consult.

Pasquini, Anne - Cloud 9 Tea

Watson, Natalie - Thirty One Gifts

Computers-repair maintenance, networks

Noel, Rochelle - The PC Link

Crafts

Boswell, Susan - Stampin' Up!

Clifton, Wendy - Heritage/Legacy Makers

Dyer, Linda - Creative Memories

Pepe, Jan - Making Scrapbooks (TLC)

Sollenberger, Jen - Scrappin Gap (If you have a new website url, please forward it to website manager)

Educational

Moon, Alice C. - Author

Newton, Allison - Usborne Books(if you have a new website link, please forward to site manager)

Williams, Debra, JD -

Educational Consulting Service

Event Planning

Abraham, Shupan - Cakes

Brown, Andrea - Photographer

Gordian, Heather -

Office Suites Plus - Venues

Johnson, Jamilia Ervin - Event Planning

Milner, TeresaKay - Errand Svc

Pillert, Yvonne - Catering - 404-787-4699

Russell, Theresa - Pet Parties Plus

Wace, Alfie - Photographer

Fashion

Brawner, Harriett - Lia Sophia Jewelry

Coats, Nelda - Silpada Design Jewelry (if you have a new website url, please forward to site manager)

Health & Beauty

Boatman, Antonina - Arbonne

Combs, Estelle - Zuris Pride Naturals

Edwards, Terri - Organic Connection

Flaherty, Nancy - A Reiki Experience

Fournerat, Denise -

Attuned Hearts Wellness

Halstead, Ann - Hair Stylist , Haircuts

770-713-1341

Hayes, Tracy - Mary Kay

Hendrix, Melissa - Mary Kay (Please contact site manager if you have a new link)

McDermott, Debbie - Serenity Lakes

McTaggart, Lori - Arbonne

Mehal, Iram - BeautiControl

Newton, Allison - AVON

Owens, Patti - Scrubbles Soap

Peterson, Lois - Mary Kay

Plott, Becky - Juice Plus

Rodriguez, Tracy

Smith, Beckie - Arbonne

770-601-9644

Yarbrough, Roxanne -

Hair Stylist, Hair Cuts

House & Home

Coughlin, Chana -

Tupperware 770-279-2957

Davies, Angela - Tupperware

Jones, Alice- Tupperware

Larkins, Rosanne -

Organizing Consultant

Lissemore, Christie - Tupperware

Majoris, Rebecca - House Cleaning

Newton, Allison - Tupperware

Parsons, Cheryl -

Chem Pro Carpet Cleaning

Pillert, Yvonne - Carpet Cleaning

Qamar, Karen -

Expert Blinds & Shutters

Roberson, Dawn -

Southern Living at Home

Sanders, Laura - Longaberger

Shands, Deborah - House Cleaning -

999-999-9999

Smith, Traci - PC 404-797-1193

Taylor, Michelle - Oil painting,

floral arranging, and custom scrapbooking 706-557-9764

Insurance

Coats, Nelda - Allied Asset Protection, Inc.

Perryman, Melissa - Perryman Insurance

Waddell, Jennifer - AmeriPlan

Other

Caudell, Rhonda - Ignite

Real Estate

Bloom, Shelly - Advance Realty

(Senior Real Estate Specialist)

Maxwell, Nadene P., CPA MBA

- Mortgage Loans

Mitchell, Donna - A-Plus Mortgage

Williams, Debra, JD - Realtor

Support Groups

Gwinnett Area Mommies -

Rodriguez, Tracy

Travel:

Miller, Cristal - Cristal Clear Travel

Jan Pepe-Making Travel

Gift Certificates

BeautiControl (Email for Gift Cert.)

Crystal's Creations

Organic Connection

Pencil Portrait Gift Certificates

Pet Naturals Solutions

V-Source Virtual Assistant Services

Member blogs

Ashley's Random Blog

Crystal Creates

Dixon, Darla - Artist's Life

Making Scrapbooks - Jan Pepe

Medical & Dental Blog -

Jennifer Waddell

My Snellville Blog

Notes from A Homeschooling Mom

Quick n Easy Recipes

Creative Ideas for new businesses

2009-07-10T09:06:00.000-04:00

How do you open a new business in a bad economy?

You can consider sharing a space with an existing business to cut costs

A food preparation business can hold a kids summer camp where the kids prepare meals for their family dinners.

These are just a few ideas utilized in Tallahasee FL this past year.

See video

If you have a business that is suffering in the recession, you should take a look at what you can do to cut costs. If you have a Sports Academy or Martial Arts Studio that is closed on the Sunday, consider leasing space for a day to a fledgling church.

If you are a Mary Kay consultant, you can do wedding and special event makeup.

If you sell kitchen items and do lots of food demonstrations, maybe you should consider catering parties.

Let's brainstorm! If you run a business and could use some ideas to expand your niche, leave a comment and maybe we can come up with some ideas together.

Read: The Girls Guide to Building a Million-Dollar Business

2009-07-08T16:03:00.005-04:00

"Women are starting businesses at twice the rate of men because Corporate American just doesn't get it."

We have to raise young children and event take care of our parents and our jobs need to be flexible enough to allow that. In addition, because we are so smart and saavy, we can recognize problems in business and come up with solutions... these solutions often turn into our own businesses.

Our only obstable is ourselves. You need to admit you want to create a million dollar business and to be able to find resources.

Author interview here:

www.ahermitt.com

Are you blogging

2009-07-06T21:00:00.004-04:00

Blogging is a very important part of the at home business. It is a way to step out into the world and interact with potential customers. It is a way of gettin business to come to you.

"Moms have always had a lot of power in the marketplace, and now the so-called mommy bloggers are really getting noticed. AP Personal Finance Editor Trevor Delaney explains. "

Two years ago, I wrote an article entitled "Why blog for business?". It is still quite valid today.

Years ago, it seemed that having a journal connected to a business would be way too personal. Who would read your journal and purchase something from you? Well times have changed.

Full article here:

How's Business?

2009-07-03T00:14:00.002-04:00

"Business has been tough for many companies, but recent reports have shown that businesses may be turning the corner... The worst may be over"

How is business going for you?

Personally, I have had to adapt and adjust and even change gears and focus to survive. I am considering diversifying when I have always preached on staying focused on one core business.

What have you had to do to survive? Talk back.

Obstacles to Success – Part 2

2009-03-28T07:08:00.000-04:00

As mentioned in my last article, “obstacles cause us to lose momentum as we are trying to achieve our visions and goals. They often make us feel stuck. And sadly, the longer we feel stuck, the more likely we are to give up on whatever it is we were striving towards.”

There are two kinds of obstacles: external and internal. The best way to explain the difference is by over-simplifying. External obstacles are things which are out of your control that get in your way. Internal obstacles are things which you can control that get in your way. Here are a few examples of each:

Types of External Obstacles (things you can’t control):
~A meeting you were not in charge of runs late, causing you to have to reschedule something that was important to you.
~You have been seeking a specific career move, but do not know the right people to open doors for you.
~Your car unexpectedly needs to get fixed, forcing you to dip into the money you were holding for something else.
~You had full intention to finish a project over the weekend, but a friend called urgently needing your help with a personal situation.

Types of Internal Obstacles (things you can control):
~You desire to deepen a friendship with someone you know casually, but are unsure if that person will like you for who you really are.
~You have always wanted to learn more about “X,” but can’t figure out how to carve out time in your schedule to begin taking classes.
~You want to accomplish “X,” but your fears keep getting in the way.
~Negative self-talk prevents you from moving forward towards your dreams and goals.

When you suddenly find an obstacle in your way, take a moment to figure out if that obstacle is internal or external. If it is external, create a Plan A and a Plan B so that you have an alternative ready for any unexpected situations that might arise. If the obstacle is internal, commit to investing in any resources you need to overcome it.

Ask yourself:
1. What external factors will your plan have to account for if it is going to work?
2. Is there one key obstacle which if you conquered it would make a decisive difference in reaching your goal?
3. Relax for a minute and pay attention to what’s going on inside you. Where do you feel pressure or strain/stress around this idea or situation?
4. What’s driving your responses?
5. What belief is behind your responses and how well is that belief serving you?

If you commit to analyzing your obstacles to determine if they are internal or external, and then do whatever it takes to overcome them, I guarantee you’ll find it easier to accomplish anything you set your mind to. Having a support network of people who you can bounce ideas off of, receive honest feedback from, and hold you accountable for the decisions you make will also help you continue to move forward towards your intended results. If you do not have a support network of at least 4 - 6 people, create one now.

Have a wonderful day, and remember to keep your eyes open for all the exciting possibilities within and around you!

Kris Cavanaugh, of Transformation Journeys, is a certified coach. Kris provides life coaching services for mid to senior-level professionals who are stuck or overwhelmed and want to take back control of their lives. Unlike most life coaches, Kris employs a very business-like, strategic planning approach and structure that empowers them with the ability to quickly move forward through difficult obstacles to achieve their goals and life visions more easily and consistently. Kris' clients experience a higher quality of life by the end of her coaching program, allowing them to gain a deeper sense of well-being and satisfaction in every area of their life. To receive a FREE "Living Your Life On Purpose" email series or to schedule a "Design Your Life" meeting, click on http://www.transformationjourneys.com/ or call 404-551-3601. A full biography can be found in the "About Kris" section of her website.

© 2009 Transformation Journeys Inc.
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEBSITE?
You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:
Kris Cavanaugh, of Transformation Journeys, is a certified coach. Kris provides life coaching services for mid to senior-level professionals who are stuck or overwhelmed and want to take back control of their lives. Unlike most life coaches, Kris employs a very business-like, strategic planning approach and structure that empowers them with the ability to quickly move forward through difficult obstacles to achieve their goals and life visions more easily and consistently. Kris' clients experience a higher quality of life by the end of her coaching program, allowing them to gain a deeper sense of well-being and satisfaction in every area of their life. To receive a FREE "Living Your Life On Purpose" email series or to schedule a "Design Your Life" meeting, click on http://www.transformationjourneys.com/ or call 404-551-3601. A full biography can be found in the "About Kris" section of her website.

Obstacles to Success – Part 1

2009-03-24T07:13:00.001-04:00

Everyone has an ideal vision of how they would like their life to be, and typically obstacles always appear which make it more difficult to make those visions a reality. The easy part is expecting obstacles to get in the way of what we truly desire. The real challenge is to investigate the reason behind the obstacle and find ways to overcome it.

Obstacles cause us to lose momentum as we are trying to achieve our visions and goals. They often make us feel stuck. Sadly, the longer we feel stuck, the more likely we are to give up on whatever it is we were striving towards.

The best thing we can do when facing an obstacle is to consider the obstacle a wonderful opportunity to learn something new about ourselves. Yes, you read that correctly - obstacles are a WONDERFUL way to help us improve our personal development skills. I can attest to that personally.

There have been times in my life that I set out to achieve or obtain something that was very important to me. Inevitably, along the way, I encountered obstacles both big and small. Sometimes the process of overcoming those obstacles helped me improve personality traits that needed to be adjusted, and other times the process uncovered new abilities I didn't even know existed. For me, it's always a neat experience to look back and see how I've changed for the better during a challenging time. My attitude about obstacles is my biggest asset: I don't usually like them, but I always respect their ability to make me a better person over time.

One of the reasons the coaching industry has been so successful over the last decade is because people are genuinely tired of being stuck in whatever circumstance they are in. When that "stuck" feeling gets too overwhelming to ignore, people often invest in a coaching program to help them move forward. I always tell my clients before they start their coaching program that the change process will often be difficult. Below is a section of my contract that I ask my clients to read and sign, just to make sure they are aware of what it will take to successfully achieve the life they want. Note the bold area in the second paragraph which specifically addresses the obstacles they will encounter:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Coaching is a process full of thought provoking questions, leading to deeper insight and direction, and ending with strategic plans to achieve your dreams and goals. This process will be successful if you commit to doing the assigned homework, utilizing the tools and resources provided, and most importantly, working on the action plans established.

You are investing in this coaching program because you desire changes in your personal or professional life. It is important to remember the change process may bring periods of intense joy or intense discomfort. As you are experiencing the forward movement of change, celebrate whichever period you are in - because it means you are getting much closer to where you desire to be in your personal or professional life.

Finally, as your coach I will ensure your success by committing to providing a safe environment in which you can be yourself, and experiment, fantasize, and strategize about your life and choices without limitation. I will challenge you to step outside your comfort zones to tap into your potential. I will speak the truth as I see it, even if you may not like what you hear (because my job is to ensure that you stay on track with the vision for your life). I will also keep our conversations confidential so that you are free to express yourself however you are feeling in the moment."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The bigger your dreams, the more obstacles you will inevitably face. How you handle them is the often the key factor towards your road to success. So the next time you are facing an obstacle, take a deep breath and focus on what you can learn instead of the "pain" you are currently feeling.

In Part 2 of this series (titled “Obstacles to Success – Part 2”), we will discuss the two kinds of obstacles people often face: internal and external.

Identifying & Tackling Obstacles Exercise

Think about a current obstacle you are facing: a circumstance you are tolerating, a difficult conflict you are struggling with, or a change you don’t want to make, but know you need to.

~What is stopping you?
~What makes this hard to get done?
~What one resource or tool would make all the difference if you had it?
~What’s the worse-case scenario if you did decide to tackle this issue once and for all?

Spend time thinking about the answers to those questions, and let me know if I can help you in any way.

Have a wonderful day, and remember to keep your eyes open for all the exciting possibilities within and around you!

Kris Cavanaugh, of Transformation Journeys, is a certified coach. Kris provides life coaching services for mid to senior-level professionals who are stuck or overwhelmed and want to take back control of their lives. Unlike most life coaches, Kris employs a very business-like, strategic planning approach and structure that empowers them with the ability to quickly move forward through difficult obstacles to achieve their goals and life visions more easily and consistently. Kris' clients experience a higher quality of life by the end of her coaching program, allowing them to gain a deeper sense of well-being and satisfaction in every area of their life. To receive a FREE "Living Your Life On Purpose" email series or to schedule a "Design Your Life" meeting, click on www.transformationjourneys.com or call 404-551-3601. A full biography can be found in the "About Kris" section of her website.
© 2009 Transformation Journeys Inc.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEBSITE?
You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:
Kris Cavanaugh, of Transformation Journeys, is a certified coach. Kris provides life coaching services for mid to senior-level professionals who are stuck or overwhelmed and want to take back control of their lives. Unlike most life coaches, Kris employs a very business-like, strategic planning approach and structure that empowers them with the ability to quickly move forward through difficult obstacles to achieve their goals and life visions more easily and consistently. Kris' clients experience a higher quality of life by the end of her coaching program, allowing them to gain a deeper sense of well-being and satisfaction in every area of their life. To receive a FREE "Living Your Life On Purpose" email series or to schedule a "Design Your Life" meeting, click on www.transformationjourneys.com or call 404-551-3601. A full biography can be found in the "About Kris" section of her website.

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference

2009-03-19T19:05:00.001-04:00

In my opinion, "Success" is two parts attitude, one part skill. Accomplishing a skill is fairly easy: you find out how to do something, and then practice until you have it down. Maintaining a positive attitude in the face of difficulty, however, is much more difficult.

Most people start out with a positive attitude when striving to accomplish a goal. But somewhere along the way, when obstacles appear and forward movement slows to a crawl, a person's attitude will make all the difference between success and failure.

Not only does a positive attitude directly affect one's success, research has also proven that people live longer and are happier through regular positive thinking. An article on the Mayo Clinic's website states: "Researchers continue to explore the effects of positive thinking and optimism on health. Health benefits that positive thinking may provide include:
• Decreased negative stress
• Greater resistance to catching the common cold
• A sense of well-being and improved health
• Reduced risk of coronary artery disease
• Easier breathing if you have certain lung diseases, such as emphysema
• Improved coping ability for women with high-risk pregnancies
• Better coping skills during hardships

It's unclear why people who engage in positive thinking experience these health benefits. But one theory is that having a positive outlook enables you to cope better with stressful situations, which reduces the harmful health effects of stress on your body." (Mayo Clinic website: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/positive-thinking/SR00009).

Take some time today to do an attitude check. Think about your life over the past three months. How often was your attitude positive? Were you able to maintain that positive attitude even in the face of difficulty? How did your attitude affect everyone around you? What affects has your attitude had on your physical health?

The answers to those questions are important. Spend a few moments really being honest with yourself. Once you are clear in how your attitude has been affecting your goals, the people around you, and your mental and physical health, make a commitment to implement a plan to improve your attitude however you need to this year in order develop a foundation for success in 2009.

Have a wonderful day, and remember to keep your eyes open for all the exciting possibilities within and around you!

Kris Cavanaugh, of Transformation Journeys, is a certified coach. Kris provides life coaching services for mid to senior-level professionals who are stuck or overwhelmed and want to take back control of their lives. Unlike most life coaches, Kris employs a very business-like, strategic planning approach and structure that empowers them with the ability to quickly move forward through difficult obstacles to achieve their goals and life visions more easily and consistently. Kris' clients experience a higher quality of life by the end of her coaching program, allowing them to gain a deeper sense of well-being and satisfaction in every area of their life. To receive a FREE "Living Your Life On Purpose" email series or to schedule a "Design Your Life" meeting, click on www.transformationjourneys.com or call 404-551-3601. A full biography can be found in the "About Kris" section of her website.

Resolutions for Business Success in 2009

2009-01-03T23:31:00.004-05:00

Here are 5 rules that I have learned really do help business improve as simple as they may see.

1. Return phone calls and emails: Customers can be impatient. Failure to respond right away is akin to passing business on to the next person.

2. Don't take on more than you can handle. It is better to pass on business to a qualified professional than get a reputation of doing a bad job.

3. Maintain separate finances. Don't mix business and personal money. More money gets sucked into personal expenses than you would expect and wind up causing you business issues.

4. No surpises. Give your customer what they ask for and resist the tempation to give them more. What you perceive as extras, especially in creative services may end up dissatisfying the customer.

5. Diversify. In tight economic times, it might serve you well to move away from your niche business and diversify in order to stay in business. This does not mean that you should sell makeup if your business is writing. It does mean however that you may want to add proof reading and editing to your list of services. If you sell makeup, you may want to add special occasion makeovers to your services (such as weddings and prom).

In Memory of Carmen Gaddy

2008-12-01T17:10:00.004-05:00

Carmen Gaddy, owner of Contours Gym in Snellville and a member of Women of Gwinnett, fought bravely against cancer but passed from this world in her sleep on Saturday, November 29, 2008.

We made a group donation to the American Cancer Society in Carmen's memory in December, 2008 in the amount of $30. Thank you to those who donated.

If you would like to make an individual donation to the American Cancer Society, just visit www.Cancer.org. Donations directly to Cancer.org are tax-deductible.

How to Successfully Navigate Your Business through an Economic Downturn by: Terry H Hill

2008-11-07T20:22:00.002-05:00

An economic downturn is a phase of the business cycle in which the economy as a whole is in decline.This phase basically marks the end of the period of growth in the business cycle. Economic downturns are characterized by decreased levels of consumer purchases (especially of durable goods) and, subsequently, reduced levels of production by businesses.

While economic downturns are admittedly difficult, and are formidable obstacles to small businesses that are trying to survive and grow, an economic downturn can open up opportunities. A well-managed company can realize the opportunity to gain market share by taking customers away from their competitors. Resourceful entrepreneurs capture the available opportunities, from an economic downturn, by developing alternate methods of doing business that were never implemented during a prior growth period.

The challenge of successfully navigating your business through an economic downturn lies in the realignment of your business with current economic realities. Specifically, you, as the business owner, need to renew a focus on your core clients/customers, reduce your operating expenses, conserve cash, and manage more proactively, rather than reactively, is paramount.

Here are best practices that will help you to successfully navigate your business through an economic downturn:

Goals: The primary goal of any business owner is to survive the current economic downturn and to develop a leaner, more cost-effective and more efficient operation. The secondary goal is to grow the business even during this current economic downturn.

Objectives:

• Conserve cash.

• Protect assets.

• Reduce costs.

• Improve efficiencies.

• Grow customer base.

Required Action:

• Do not panic… History shows that economic downturns do not last forever. Remain calm and act in a rational manner as you refocus your attention on resizing your company to the current economic conditions.

• Focus on what YOU can control… Don’t let the media's rhetoric concerning recessions and economic slowdown deter you from achieving business success. It´s a trap! Why? Because the condition of the economy is beyond your control. Surviving economic downturns requires a focus on what you can control, i.e. your relevant business activities.

• Communicate, communicate, and communicate! Beware of the pitfall of trying to do too much on your own. It is a difficult task indeed to survive and to grow your business solely with your own efforts. Solicit ideas and seek the help of other people (your employees, suppliers, lenders, customers, and advisors). Communicate honestly and consistently. Effective two-way communication is the key.

• Negotiate, negotiate, and negotiate! The value of a strong negotiation skill set cannot be overstated. Negotiating better deals and contracts is an absolute must for realigning and resizing your company to the current economic conditions. The key to success is not only knowing how to develop a win-win approach in negotiations with all parties, but also keeping in mind the fact that you want a favorable outcome for yourself too.

Recommended Best Practice Activities:

The Nuts and Bolts… The following list of recommended best practice activities is critical for your business' survival and for its growth during an economic downturn. The actual financial health of your particular business, at the outset of the economic downturn, will dictate the priority and urgency of the implementation of the following best practice activities.

1. Diligently monitor your cash flow: Forecast your cash flow monthly to ensure that expenses and planned expenditures are in line with accounts receivable. Include cash flow statements into your monthly financial reporting. Project cash requirements three-to- six months in advance. The key is to know how to monitor, protect, control, and put cash to work.

2. Carefully convert your inventories: Convert excess, obsolete, and slow-moving inventory items into cash. Consider returning excess and slow-moving items back to the suppliers. Close-out or inventory reduction sales work well to resize your inventory. Also, consider narrowing your product offerings. Well-timed order placement helps to reduce excess inventory levels and occasional material shortages. The key is to reduce the amount of your inventory without losing sales.

3. Timely collection of your accounts receivable: This asset should be converted to cash as quickly as possible. Offer prompt payment discounts to encourage timely payments. Make changes in the terms of sale for slow paying customers (i.e. changing net 30 day terms to COD). Invoicing is an important part of your cash flow management. The first rule of invoicing is to do it as soon as possible after products are shipped and/or after services are delivered. Place an emphasis on reducing billing errors. Most customers delay payments because an invoice had errors, and therefore, will not pay until they receive a corrected copy. Email or fax your invoices to save on mailing time. Post the payments that you have received and make deposits more frequently. The key is to develop an efficient collection system that generates timely payments and one that gives you advance warning of problems.

4. Re-focus your attention on your existing clients/customers: Make customer satisfaction your priority. A regular review of your customers' buying history and frequency of purchases can reveal some interesting facts about your customers' buying habits. Consider signing long-term contracts with your core clients/customers which will add to your security. Offer a discount for upfront cash payments. The key is to do what it takes to keep your current customers loyal.

5. Re-negotiate with your suppliers, lenders, and landlord:

i) Suppliers: Always keep your negotiations on the level of need, saying that your company has reviewed its cost structure and has determined that it needs to lower supplier costs. . Tell the supplier that you value the relationship you have developed, but that you need to receive a cost reduction immediately. Ask your supplier for a lower material price, a longer payment cycle, and the elimination of finance charges. Also, see if you can buy material from them on a consignment basis. In return for their price concessions, be willing to agree to a long-term contract. Explore the idea of bartering as a form of payment.

ii) Lenders: Everything in business finance is negotiable and your relationship with a bank is no exception. The first step to successful renegotiations is to convince your lenders that you can ultimately pay off the renegotiated loan. You must point out to your lenders why it would be in their best interest to agree to a new arrangement. Showing them your business plan and your action plan that includes your cost-savings initiatives, along with "the how" and "the when" of the implementation of your plan is the best way to achieve this goal. Explain to them that you will need their cooperation to insure that you can survive, as well as, grow your business during the economic downturn. Negotiated items include: the rate of interest, the required security to cover the loan, and the beginning date for repayment. A beginning date for repayment could be immediate, within several months or as long as a year. The key is to realize that your lender will work with you, but that frequent and continual communications with them is critical.

iii) Landlord: Meet with your landlord. Explain your need to have them extend the term of your lease at a reduced cost. Make sure you have a clause in the lease agreement that entitles you to have the right to sublet any or all of the leased space.

6. Re-evaluate your staffing requirements: This is a very critical area. Salaries/wages are a major expense of doing business. Therefore, any reduction in the hours worked through work schedule changes, short-term layoffs or permanent layoffs has an immediate cost saving benefit. Most companies ramped up hiring new employees in the good times, only to find that they are currently overstaffed due to slow sales during the economic downturn. In terms of down-sizing your staff, be very careful not to reduce your staff to a level that forces you to skimp on customer service and quality. Consider the use of part-timers or the current trend of outsourcing certain functions to independent contractors.

7. Shop for better insurances rates: Get quotations from other insurance agents for comparable coverage to determine whether or not your present insurance carrier is competitive. Also, consider revising your coverage to reduce premium costs. The key is to have the right balance-to be adequately insured, but not under or over insured.

8. Re-evaluate your advertising: Contrary to the other cost-cutting initiatives, evaluate the possibility of increasing your advertising expenditures. This tactic realizes the advantage of the reduced "noise" and congestion (fewer advertisers) in the marketplace. The downturn period a great opportunity to increase brand awareness and create additional demand for your product/service offerings.

9. Seek the help of outside advisors: The use of an advisory board comprised of your CPA, attorney, and business consultant offers you objectivity and provides you with professional advice and guidance. Their collective experience in working with similar situations in past economic downturns is invaluable.

10. Review your other expenses: Target an across-the-board cost-cutting initiative of 10-15%. Attempt to eliminate unnecessary expenses. Tightening your belt in order to weather the downturn makes practical, financial sense.

Proactively managing your business through an economic downturn is an enormous challenge and is critical for your survival. However, through well-planned initiatives, an economic downturn can create tremendous opportunity for your company to gain greater market share. In order to take advantage of this growth opportunity, you must act quickly to implement the above best business practices to continue realigning and resizing your company to the current economic conditions.

Copyright © 2008 Terry H. Hill You may reprint this article free of charge in your newsletter, magazine, or on your website, provided that the article is unedited, and that the copyright, author's bio, and contact information below appears with each article. Articles appearing on the web must provide a hyperlink to the author's web site, http://www.legacyai.com Terry H. Hill is the founder and managing partner of Legacy Associates, Inc, a business consulting and advisory services firm. A veteran chief executive, Terry works directly with business owners of privately held companies on the issues and challenges that they face in each stage of their business life cycle. To find out how he can help you take your business to the next level, visit his site at http://www.legacyai.com To download a copy of this article, click on this link: http://www.legacyai.com/Article_Downturn.html.

About The Author
An author, speaker, and consultant, Terry H. Hill is the founder and managing partner of Legacy Associates, Inc., a business consulting and advisory services firm based in Sarasota, Florida. A veteran chief executive, Terry works directly with business owners of privately held companies on the issues and challenges that they face in each stage of their business life cycle. Terry is the author of the business desk-reference book, How to Jump Start Your Business. He hosts the Business Insights from Legacy Blog at http://blog.legacyai.com and writes a bi-monthly eNewsletter, "Business Insights from Legacy eZine." By signing up for Business Insights from Legacy eZine at http://tinyurl.com/2t4fxs you can keep abreast of the latest tips, tactics, and best business practices. You will, also, receive the free eBook, Jump Start Your Knowledge of Business. Contact Terry by email at http://www.legacyai.com or telephone him at 941-556-1299.

Insurance in Gwinnett

2008-10-01T12:28:00.004-04:00

I just wanted to let everyone know, I took Insurance agents out of the Business & Financial category, and now Insurance has it's own area.

We have a Women of Gwinnett member who can service our insurance needs:

Coats, Nelda - Allied Asset Protection, Inc.

Please check out her website today!

Darla

Tip: Offer your customers, free information of VALUE.

2008-08-26T10:14:00.000-04:00

It is difficult for a prospect to take the hard step towards making the decision to become a customer. Many prospects and return customers need a little nudge. Enter Guerilla Marketing. Make that hard step a lot less hard by providing soft steps for your prospects and return customers to take. Offer your customers, free information of VALUE. This should include, free brochures, a free newsletter or a free catalog. All of the mentioned can be created and/or delivered, electronically.

Guest blog by:

Help: Identifying legitimate trade shows/expos

2008-08-24T10:05:00.003-04:00

I have put together a list that can assist both vendors and hosts in regards to trade shows/expos.

This list will help potential vendors identify a legitimate opportunity and or help hosts validate their legitimate opportunity.

1. The trade show should have a business/industry oriented name.

2. A contact name, phone number/e-mail address should be available. Once contact is initiated, a professional with knowledge and details about the event should assist you and be able to answer any and all questions that you may have.

3. A website detailing the event is fairly optional but highly recommended. If you are a web design vendor you may want to think about exchanging your service/talent for booth/table space at the event. (hint..hint)

4. Show date(s) and time(s) should be clearly stated.

5. Expected attendees, demographics and target information should be available upon request.

6. Estimated number of exhibitors should be available upon request.

7. Show venue, location and element should be clearly stated.

8. A clear refund policy should be available in case of conflicts, weather, etc.
Guest blog by:

V~Source Marketing ~ Blogzine
The V~Source Marketing ~ Blogzine is designed to give Small, Home-Based, Virtual and Online Business Owners an informative, detailed and educational look at modern marketing trends and promotional ideas while becoming a resource.

Question: Can LESS be MORE in Marketing? YES!

2008-08-22T10:03:00.000-04:00

As a marketing professional, I can vouch for the fact that high-budget marketing is not always high-impact marketing. There is no need to ring your bank account dry on marketing endeavors.

However, you do need the right techniques to reach your target audience.

Low cost marketing techniques are equally effective in creating recognition among current and potential customers. Such techniques can also assist with keeping customers loyal.

The real challenge here is not how much money you can spend, but rather, how creative you can be in finding ways to maximize results out of every penny you spend on your marketing plan.

Reference: www.marketingcrossing.com

Guest blog by:

V~Source Marketing ~ Blogzine
The V~Source Marketing ~ Blogzine is designed to give Small, Home-Based, Virtual and Online Business Owners an informative, detailed and educational look at modern marketing trends and promotional ideas while becoming a resource.

Skipping lunch can be hazardous to your business

2008-08-20T11:25:00.002-04:00

This is a great article from AJCjobs.com

With the struggling economy and lean corporate budgets, company leaders may be tempted to pull the plug on business lunches.

"That would be a big mistake," warns Robin Jay, a Las Vegas sales expert and motivational speaker, who wrote "The Art of the Business Lunch: Building Relationships Between 12 and 2," based on her previous experiences in media advertising sales. "I've probably hosted about 4,000 client lunches now, and it caused my sales to increase by more than 2,000 percent."

READ MORE

Saving Money with Coupons Can Allow you More Funds to Invest in your Business

2008-06-28T12:12:00.003-04:00

"So what does this have to do with being Indie? [Independent business owner] Only everything. See, the whole idea of managing a home and a business simultaneously is that to stay afloat, you have to save more than you spend. You want to pay yourself, of course. But if you can pay yourself a little less because you are a good steward of the money your business pays you, then you'll have more to invest in expanding the business."

Create your own coupon binder or other organizing system
How to use coupons to save money I regularly save 30-55%

The Mental Beatdown - the economy and your business

2008-05-30T12:16:00.004-04:00

I've been thinking a lot lately about how people give up on their business when they meet with challenges. As gas prices rise and people worry about the economy, we can tend to think negatively, a "well, why even bother..." type of attitude seeps in to our mentality.

When we give up, we have stopped trying. When we stop trying, other people stop caring - because, why should they care if we don't care?!? If we stop marketing and selling, of course our businesses will fail. We can blame it on the economy all we want, but more of the blame is our own actions -- or rather, our choice of inaction. If you are having trouble getting your own financial needs met, then take action! Learn about how to save money so you will have more money to put toward your business expenses and so you will have less to worry about.

When we get mentally beaten down by negative self talk "of why even bother," we have doomed our business to failure.

I would like to leave you with some words of wisdom from Dr. Heartsill Wilson, who said in some of his speeches that the Great Depression was worsened not by people's inability to buy, but by sales peoples' inability to sell.

"This is the beginning of a new day.
God has given me this day to use as I will.
I can waste it--or use it for good, but what
I do today is important, because I am exchanging
a day of my life for it! When tomorrow comes,
this day will be gone forever, leaving in its
place something that I have traded for it.
I want it to be gain, and not loss; good,
and not evil, success, and not failure;
in order that I shall not regret the
price that I have paid for it."

Saving Some for Later

2008-05-08T00:16:00.003-04:00

I got some business advice from a very wise person today. You see, I have been spending all of my time lately working for paid writing jobs, which is wonderful. However, I have spend very little of my time since the first of the year working on my blogs. That may not sound like a big deal since I get paid a living wage for my articles,and slave wages for my blogs. However, blogging does eventually pay off, and neglecting to work for them is the same as neglecting to put any money away for the future.

With my writing business paying off well, I have been busy focusing on now, and not my future income. If this continues, in five years, I will still be writing for six to eight hours a day or more, and making the same amount of money. If I cut back just two hours a day on my paid writing, and worked more time on my blogs, then in five years, I will be writing only two or three hours a day, and very possibly making alot more money.

Now I realize that not everyone's business works the same way I do, but in theory, anyone who owns a small business needs to spend a certain amount of time in active work, and also a portion of their time in planning, and marketing to bring in future business.

So here's where you talk back. What do you do, how much time to you spend on making income for now,and how much time do you spend working toward future income?

Do You Thank Your Customers?

2008-04-14T14:11:00.001-04:00

This article discusses the importance of sending thank you cards to your customers.... If I am correct, we have a member who can actually do this service for you if you don't have the time.

Is it time to grow your business?

2008-03-02T21:23:00.001-05:00

Your Government Rebate Check and Your Business

2008-02-13T16:30:00.003-05:00

When You Get Your Government Tax Rebate CheckBy [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Viola_Bontrager]Viola Bontrager

What are YOU going to do with YOUR government tax rebate check??
Blow it?? Invest it?? Pay Bills??

Rebate checks could soon be coming as the government attempts to jump start the economy and minimize the impact of a recession this year. Congress and President Bush reached agreement on the size of the checks, and who will qualify to receive one.

The goal: to stimulate the economy by getting consumers to spend again. There will be a $1,200 family maximum. Most individual taxpayers will receive a $600 check, with another $300 per child. The average American will think the Government is giving them a gift. Uhhh... slightly mistaken! We will not have to pay income tax on the checks, as they are an advance on next year's tax cut.

So.... My fellow American entrepreneur.....

ARE WE GOING TO BLOW OUR TAX REBATE CHECK OR ARE WE GOING TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT???

We have several options and a lot of people are thinking of paying off debt with it, or buying all that stuff we have been wanting to get, BUT REALLY, it won't go very far in today's economy AT ALL!!

What about INVESTING your tax rebate check?? And reap returns from your investment all next year.... There are many successful home based business opportunities available , that you can get started in for anywhere from $300 - $1300. Unlike traditional businesses, where you have to invest in a building, have high overhead or inventory, most home based businesses have very low overhead, if any, and can be run right out of our home and from our computer.

The world is our market place so we have the advantages of marketing our product or services to millions of potential customers... Regardless how we look at it, by investing that money - we at least, have a chance at increasing our income this year, and if we blow it at the mall, (which is what Uncle Sam wants us to, by the way!)... we are no better off than we were AND WE WILL PAY TAXES ON IT NEXT YEAR!

Viola is an entrepreneur and home business owner. [http://montanamom5.com]Click Here to find out how how YOU can find financial freedom, through owning your own business at home!
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Viola_Bontrager http://EzineArticles.com/?When-You-Get-Your-Government-Tax-Rebate-Check&id=948562

UPDATE: While the writer of this article is suggesting you put your money into her MLM business, the point I want to get across is that it may make some sense to use your rebate money to invest in your own business, or get one started.

What a Great Business Idea!

2008-01-25T12:28:00.000-05:00

Being involved in Business Networking over the years, I have seen many business models that I felt would be a good idea, and even a natural fit for me. I always get that momentary feeling of "I could do that, and probably do it very well. Perhaps I should try it". I never do.

The reason I don't latch on to a business idea of someone else's is not because I am lazy or unmotivated. I don't do it because it was not my idea. I have learned over the years that people are far more successful when their business idea comes from someplace within themselves, or they are inspired by another's idea, but have a unique twist on the idea.

When someone picks up on the business ideas of another and attempts to run with it, they are often missing an unknown element unique to the person who's idea they copied. It is far better to come up with your own idea, or contact the person for their help and even pay them a franchise fee, or other fee to help get them started. The person may even help them get their first customers. This is why franchises and party plan consultants of course, are an exception to this rule.

Take Some Down, and Pass Them Around

2008-01-16T19:28:00.000-05:00

No this is not about beer, it's about business.

In business we often get some requests that are not in our areas of expertise. As an artist, someone may want a painting in a style that is not yours. As a writer, someone may want 1000 words on a topic that you could care less about. Sure, it may be possible for you to stretch yourself and do the job, but will you be happy with it? Will the customer? Do you want to take that chance.

If you know what I know, you will pass that job on to someone who is more naturally qualified to do the job. They person you pass the job to will be pleased. The customer will be happy. You will have made two loyal contacts. One will pass a job they can't do onto you first. The other will contact you whenever they have an assignment knowing that if you can't do it, you will know someone who can.

What come around goes around.

Increase in women-owned businesses

2008-01-09T11:44:00.000-05:00

Excerpt of article by Allison Barker of BYU NewsNet

There is a demand for women entrepreneurs," Anderson said. "I think it's because over the Internet it's becoming increasing easy to start businesses from home that are profitable."

Kim Scoville, part-time faculty teaching entrepreneurship classes, said that women-owned businesses do business differently than men.

"I think women are often working odd hours," Scoville said. "They're with their families, getting dinner ready, running errands, etc. A lot of times they are working between 10 and 12 p.m. or early in the morning."

Women often like working with other women, Scoville said.

"It's more likely for women to do business over the phone and trust each other, because their experiences are similar," Scoville said. "It's becoming more common that women are comfortable with other women because they understand each other's crazy lifestyles."

It's a New Year... Make Your goals and ...

2008-01-01T16:49:00.001-05:00

Write Down Your Goals on Paper!

By: Pat Watt Every person should write down his or her goals. Business goals, personal goals, income goals, and what ever you want to achieve in your life. If you want to achieve something in your life, don't just think about it. Get a nice piece of paper and write down the goal.

Having a goal sitting in your head may not help that much. Every book says that you need to write down your goals. First thinking about the goal is a good way to start but again, you need to write it down as soon as you think about it.

What is it that you want to accomplish?

Think about this in your mind and come up with the exact goal that you want to get. For example, let's look at a person who wants to earn $1000 in the next 30 days online. Here is what he or she needs to do.

first step is to write down the goal of earning $1000 in the next 30 days. So that's done. Good.

Next what you will want to do is to write how you are going to achieve this goal. You should figure out by now that you will want to find someone who has already done this before. Having a burning desire will also help you get to your goal.

Write down why you want to achieve this goal. For some, it is just having that extra income to help them pay for a car payment. For others, it may be that they want to save money. What ever your goals are, write down why you want to achieve them.

Another point to consider is to have complete faith in yourself and your desired goals. You need to have faith because if you don't, you may not achieve your goals at all. You may have written them down, but it means nothing if you kick out your belief of achieving this goal from your "belief" system that is sitting there somewhere in your head. You need to have faith that you can reach any goal that you set.

After you achieve a particular goal, don't forget to give yourself a pat on the back. Give yourself some sort of a reward. Once you achieve your first goal, you can accomplish any of your future goals in life. It should give you some sort of motivation to write more and more goals down.

Now, what would happen if you don't reach your goal? This can happen to anyone who sets goals. The best thing that you will need to do is to learn from this situation and think what you can do next time to achieve that goal.

If you fail once, try again. If you fail the second time, then try again until you reach your desired goal. But don't take the same action. Learn what you did wrong in the first trial and try something different.

Article by:

Pat Watt is the owner of www.workbizfromhome.com Her website is geared for people who are interested in finding an online work at home opportunity or finding the perfect home based business.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This article is available for reprint with author's resource box intact and all links live and clickable. Copyright is reserved by author.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!

2007-12-22T20:40:00.000-05:00

Marketing at Christmas Parties

2007-12-16T18:53:00.000-05:00

I went to a holiday party on Friday Night, and my kids have been to two so far. It is said that yesterday, December 15, is the biggest party night if the year.

At the party I attended the other night, I didn't bring any business cards... what was I thinking. A holiday party is an awesome networking opportunity. I spoke to people I hadn't seen in a while. I met new people too. We talked about personal stuff, and we talked about business... people asked for business cards and I did not have them!

Sigh. Maybe I will go to another party or two before the season is over.

If you are going to a holiday party, don't forget YOUR business cards.

Old Marketing Idea is New Again

2007-12-04T19:23:00.000-05:00

About 10 years ago, when I created my first website, I found that adding a free contest giveaway, would get me a good amount of traffic. Whether or not it got me targeted traffic is another question, but I did get a few jobs from traffic that came for me free baby plaque or step stool. As google changed the way it ranked blogs, and free stuff sites became less prevalent on the web, this marketing technique became less popular.

Today I stumbled across this post with made me immediately put contests on my blogs. Whether or not the contest traffic brings someone who will complete a sale with me, there is a good chance that they will click on one of the ads on my page... Read the post. Giveaway something. Get traffic. You might like it.

Perfecting the Art of Silence in Negotiating

2007-12-03T08:22:00.000-05:00

Author: Liz Tahir

As Sarah wound her way past the tables and toward the stage to get her "Top Salesperson Award" at the company's annual dinner, her colleagues were mumbling about how someone with the firm only a year could have sold more than anyone else. Sarah was pleasant enough, but hardly the gregarious salesman type. When asked how, Sarah wasn't talking. What her colleagues didn't know is that was the real key to her success. Sarah was making sales by practicing the art of silence , not the art of talking .

Silence is the secret tool of power negotiators. Knowing when to listen, not talk. Using facial expressions, not your voice, to make a point. Here are five tips on how perfecting the art of silence can make you a better negotiator:

1. Listen more. Listening is not passive. One can control the negotiation process by simply listening well. When we listen well, we gain the trust and confidence of others. When people are encouraged to talk, they tell us their needs, their wants, their dreams, and their plan of action; in short, they give us information. When we truly listen to people, we make them feel important, particularly if we are making good eye contact while listening. The problem is that most of us don't truly listen when others talk. We just can't remain silent long enough to really hear them. Chances are we are just marking time until we can jump in and start talking. We should be aware that every time we do talk, we open ourselves to being vulnerable.

2. The 10-second strategy. Silence makes most of us uncomfortable. In today's world, there is noise all around us, from the cell phones ringing, to the iPod in our ear, to chats around the water cooler. We are conditioned to noise, not being silent. Try this test: the next time you are negotiating with the other party, and they say something like "well, that's my offer," don't utter a word for 10 seconds. It's practically guaranteed they will jump in with another offer or more information, anything to break the silence. When you get comfortable with 10 seconds, bump it up to 20 seconds. The silence will hang like lead and drive ‘em crazy!

3. Ask questions. A good way to learn silence is to ask questions, another secret weapon of successful negotiators. The person asking the questions controls the conversation. While you can get information from the person answering the question, generally if you have done your homework, you should already know the answer before you ask. Lawyers are taught to never ask a question without already knowing the answer; good advice. What you are really doing here is getting the other person to talk, perhaps to verify your information, but really to feel more comfortable working with you, and therefore to trust you.

Let's turn that around. Realize that when someone asks you a question, there is no law that says you have to answer. Try remaining silent. The questioner will likely start talking again. A good negotiator who really does not want to answer a question might, after awhile, say something like "before I answer that, tell me why you ask." Throw it back. Remember, there is no law that states you have to answer questions asked of you.

4. Pause more between sentences. In a recent study, a team of scientists showed that in listening to a musical symphony, just a one-to-two second break between movements triggers a flurry of mental activity. So could a one-to-two second pause between sentences be just as powerful in helping others comprehend our information? Any comedian will tell you that it is the timing of pauses in their delivery that determines their success. Those of us who are fast talkers have to learn to be more deliberate and practice this art of pausing between sentences for more emphasis.

5. The flinch, the shrug, the smile. These actions are all guaranteed to carry a powerful message, as you remain totally silent! The flinch is the quick, jerky movement of the shoulders, with a pained look on your face, as if you have just been stricken. It sends an immediate message you did not like what you heard. Once you flinch, then what? Why, remain silent. Wait for the other party to speak, and they quickly will, chances are while scrabbling to sweeten the deal. The shrug of the shoulders sends the message that you just don't care; you're not interested. Again, remain silent. And the smile . A silent smile is powerfully enigmatic (ask Mona Lisa), and the other party is left to guess what you are thinking. And, yes, again, don't let the first person who speaks be you.

Power negotiators, whether sellers or buyers, know that what you don't say is sometimes more powerful than what you do say. Use these tips the next time you negotiate and enjoy the power that silence brings.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/negotiation-articles/perfecting-the-art-of-silence-in-negotiating-271860.html

About the Author:
Liz Tahir honed her negotiating skills through years of making multimillion deals in company boardrooms to bargaining for a brass bauble in a Turkish bazaar. A former corporate executive, she has, for the past 17 years, headed Liz Tahir & Associates as a marketing consultant, conference speaker, and business writer. Liz has delivered seminars and workshops from Japan to Brazil on improving negotiating skills for better success in today's international marketplace. For more information about her services, go to http://www.liztahir.com , or call her at (504) 569-1670.

http://www.ahermitt.com

Women of Gwinnett Holiday Show is Almost Here

2007-11-27T16:28:00.000-05:00

On December 1, from 1-6 pm, the Women of Gwinnett, a local womens business networking group is having a holiday show where we will demonstrate our businesses and hopefully make some Christmas sales.
I know I for one will be doing my holiday shopping at this event. I feel it is very important to support local business people in order to maintain a healthy local business environment. No folks, Walmart will not be getting any of my money this year. Except maybe for groceries!

So if you live in or near Gwinnett County GA and want a unique shopping experience this Sunday, Please some to the North Georgia Fencing Center at 4403 Mendi Court, Suwanee Georgia.

For more info, you can call Andrea at 678-642-2993 or email me at ahermitt@gmail.com

Featured Member: Sue Keppel with Discovery Toys

2007-11-22T22:34:00.001-05:00

Most of us in our networking group are moms, and we know how difficult it is to know if the toys we are buying for our children are safe and free of lead.

I personally bought two packages of toys that were a well-respected name brand. They were small toys, and I planned to use them on my sons' birthday cakes. Imagine my shock to find out there was lead in the paint on those toys!

Luckily I heard about the recall before I used them on my children's birthday cakes, but it was a very sobering thought.

Discovery Toys has a Quality Promise, which states:

Discovery Toys promises that all of our products meet or exceed all standards set by the US and Canadian governments regarding safety. These are the most extensive, effective, and widely emulated standards in the world – regardless of where the products are manufactured*. All products are tested for flammability, hazardous materials and toxic elements - including lead, by an independent HOKLAS certified laboratory prior to shipment from domestic and foreign manufacturers. In an ongoing effort to ensure the quality and safety of our products, we regularly review the labor practices, raw materials and manufacturing processes used by our vendors.

*This is an important point. Just because a toy says "Made In USA," it's not a guarantee that it is safe!

We are happy to have Sue Keppel as one of our members in Women of Gwinnett. Sue is an Independent Group Manager for Discovery Toys. She has years of experience in education as a speech therapist for Gwinnett County Schools, and she will be able to recommend products for your child's development and needs. All you will need to do is call 770-271-5757, or email Sue at SK4TOYS@yahoo.com

Want to shop online or schedule a home demonstration or party? Visit Sue's Discovery Toys site at http://www.discoverytoyslink.com/esuite/home/SUEKEPPEL/

Women Certifying Their Business Can Land More Lucrative Contracts

2007-11-22T22:28:00.000-05:00

If you're a woman running your own company, you're likely missing out on lucrative opportunities if you haven't yet become certified as a woman-owned and operated business.

Owners who have undergone the process report that certification definitely helps move the needle when selling their services and products. "It has opened doors with large corporations. And we think it has helped us locally and regionally," says Elaine Lyerly, who founded her Charlotte,

N.C., marketing agency back in 1977, but only became certified in 2004.

This article seeks to help you get started in the lengthy certification procedure, as well as provide you some insider tips about how to leverage being a woman-certified company.

Read the article, written by Joanna L. Krotz and published on Microsoft Small Business.

How to invent new products

2007-11-13T13:50:00.000-05:00

Here is an interesting article I came across... enjoy

How to Invent New Products
Author: Steve Gillman
To invent new products, you need to know how to generate new ideas - lots of them. Then you look them over and pick out the good ones. Here is one of the many simple techniques for coming up with ideas for new products.

New Products From Old

Start with an existing product and extract some of the basic principles or attributes that define it. Then take those and apply them to other products, things or processes. That's the whole technique, by the way. Now for some examples.

A laptop computer has many attributes, but the one that comes to my mind as most important is that it is portable. That is what makes them sell, right? So let's start with the idea of "portable" and apply it to anything and everything around us.

As I write this, I can see my desk in front of me. The questions to ask then, are "Would a portable desk be useful or desired by people?" and "How could a portable desk be made?" The answer to the first question is clearly yes for me, since I would love one to take when we go camping in our van. Of course there are some fairly portable desks, so the second question should focus on new ways to make them even smaller.

I guess we would want to start with materials that are very strong and rigid for there weight, like aluminum or titanium. Maybe a small titanium desk top could fold into six parts and have telescoping legs. The whole thing might fit inside a briefcase-sized carrier and still fold out into a usable size. Or maybe, since the market might be laptop owners, we could just add telescoping legs to a laptop computer. Once you have a simple idea like this, you should jot it down and quickly move on to the next one.

Randomly searching my imagination for other products to apply the idea of "portable" to, I am thinking of a jukebox. To the best of my knowledge, there are no widely distributed portable jukeboxes. The question of usefulness is answered in the affirmative - just think what a great little money maker a portable jukebox could be. Take it to parties, set it up at fund raisers, maybe you could even rent it out. Now you just have to design one.

This technique isn't limited to new products. Lets look at how to do this with a service. For our existing service, delivery comes to mind. It is the essence of many pizza restaurants and flower shops, for example. What can be delivered that isn't typically being delivered now? Finding things to apply this to can be as simple as mentally listing everything that people go out to buy and considering whether there is some way to make a business delivering it.

People go out to buy plants, for example, because they want to see what they are buying. But what if a nursery had video cameras that could be operated by the customer to see everything in stock? The customer could scan the plants, note the numbers on them and place the order online or by phone for delivery that day or the next. "I'll take number t-243 (t for tree) and eight cucumber plants." Once a day a driver could run the rounds around the city making the deliveries.

You can also open the dictionary and start scanning pages to see what might be delivered. It took me less than a minute to scan six pages and see "pool." Could a business rent and deliver swimming pools for parties and events? Maybe it's already being done.

Just start with existing products or services and apply the existing principles and attributes in a new context. It's one of the simplest ways to invent new products or services.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/entrepreneurship-articles/how-to-invent-new-products-248207.html
About the Author:Copyright Steve Gillman. For inventions, new product ideas, business ideas, story ideas, political and economic theories, deep thoughts, and a free course on How To Have New Ideas , visit : http://www.999ideas.com

Looking for a baker in Snellville GA

2007-11-08T15:15:00.000-05:00

Women of Gwinnett member Melissa Norris of Digital Heirlooms recommends Women of Gwinnett member Lorna Deshay of Create A Cake Bakery in Snellville, and writes:

"Next time you need a cake!

I recently ordered a cake for my son's birthday. The cake looked &
tasted great. We really enjoyed it. It was quite exceptional.
Also, when I picked up the cake, they saw my children playing with
their balloons. They blew some up for them - made their day."

Create-a-Cake can be found at their website at http://www.createacakebakery.com/
or visit the business in the Provino's/Big Lots Shopping Center at Highway 78 and Scenic Hwy/124 in Snellville GA.

How to Check is your Site Effective or Not?

2007-11-05T13:35:00.000-05:00

Author: pntglobal

Whether it is ecommerce site or cooperate entity. It is important to know the effectiveness of your web site. People often don’t care about their web site if it is not generating any revenue but one should understand that revenue is not the only objective for any business. There are some long term objectives as well and among those objective reputation of the organization is the most important. Web site is the best tool to create reputation of your organization. Web site reflects the core identity of any organization and therefore it is important to know the effectiveness of your web site.

To know the effectiveness of your organization’s web site here are few tips to do. These will help you calculate the number of visitors interested in your web site and what they think about your web site.

1. Feedback form

2. Signup for Newsletters

3. Signup for email ids (if you are running a kind of portal)

4. Blogs

5. Forums

6. Polls

7. Google Analytic

8. Adsense (It not only generate revenues but also help knowing visitors trend)

9. Analysis of Raw Log file

Analysis of raw log file is the most important thing and one should know how to analyze raw log files. There are different software available to read log files and many of these are free. These raw files help in knowing the demography of your visitors. Sites from which your site accessed. Keywords used to access your site and lot more including visitors trend.

This is important to keep your site updated and know the feed back of visitors through above mentioned mechanism and then again update the site accordingly so the people keep visiting your web site.

Note Web site is your organization’s on-line personality.

Source:

Shahid H. Qadri is internet marketing consultant at PNT Global. More information can be viewed at www.PNTGlobal.com

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ecommerce-articles/how-to-check-is-your-site-effective-or-not-252196.html

7 Quick Fixes To Gear Up For Holiday Shoppers

2007-11-01T11:27:00.000-04:00

Author: Karen Scharf

As the holiday shopping season is drawing near, it's time to get your website ready for what could possibly be your busiest time of the year. Here are 7 quick fixes you can easily implement on your site in one single afternoon:

1. Ask for the sale! Don't be shy about asking your customers to make a purchase. There's no need to wait until the very bottom of the page before you include an "Add To Cart" button. Your site visit might be ready to make a purchase after reading only one paragraph of your sales letter. Add multiple buy buttons to each page.

2. Help the shopper make a decision. At this time of year, there are so many gifts to buy for so many people; it's easy to get overwhelmed. Help your site visitors choose a gift by breaking your merchandise into categories. Can you create a "Gifts For Men" directory, a "Gifts For Pets" directory, etc?

3. Include options for visitors not yet ready to buy. Maybe your site visitor is in a "just browsing" mode, or is comparing several different merchants. What kind of compelling offer can you make to grab this visitor's contact information? He will probably be ready to buy sometime in the near future.

4. Beef up your guarantee. Guarantees are most effective when they are completely spelled out. Don't leave your visitor guessing. What exactly does "Satisfaction Guaranteed" mean? Who will pay for return shipping? How does a shopper request a refund? Include a link to additional information about your return policy and your complete guarantee agreement.

5. Make everything clickable. Studies show that website visitors click a lot more often than webmasters expect. If you have a graphic or an image, make sure it's clickable. Make sure headlines are clickable and include text links in addition to buttons.

6. Take advantage of your thank you pages. Believe it or not, after a buyer has made a purchase, he is most likely to buy again. Maximize this opportunity by including complimentary items on your order confirmation pages.

7. Take advantage of your transactional emails. Studies have also shown that transactional emails are opened nearly 75% of the time. This is another awesome opportunity to present complimentary items and increase your sales volume.

Time to implement: Each of the fixes can be applied in less than an hour or two. Take a day, or spend the weekend, reviewing your site and implementing these suggestions. You're sure to see an increase in your holiday sales.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ecommerce-articles/7-quick-fixes-to-gear-up-for-holiday-shoppers-246954.html

About the Author:Karen Scharf offers several whitepapers, free reports and checklists, including her FREE Can-Spam checklist and FREE email pre-flight checklist to ensure your emails get delivered, get opened and get read. Download your copies at http://www.modernimage.com/

Last minute Marketing Ideas for Halloween

2007-10-31T10:40:00.000-04:00

It's Halloween, and you are going to have dozens, maybe even a hundred or two people knocking on your door, (depending on where you live). You can take advantage of this traffic and market your products. Here are some ideas you can use.

If you sell beauty products, have a basket of samples next to your candy basket. Make sure your business card is attatched to the samples with bright ribbon. When you give the kids candy, give mom and/or Dad a "treat" too.
Give out the best candy and add a business card to it. Your neighbors may not know they have an accountant, house cleaner, or home chef on their block.
Make a knockout Halloween display and and a large sign that says 'compliments of XYZ business'
If you have a business sign or magnet on your car, park it in such a way that the sign is visible to all who pass.

Taking Advantage of the Holidays

2007-10-30T12:27:00.000-04:00

Many stay at home mom businesses can take advantage of the holidays. There are some exceptions of course like people who offer business services, but you can still have end of the year specials. Here are some things you can do to boost your sales this holiday season:

Make and promote gift baskets
Tailor your product for holidays (a muralist can make business or play backdrops, and a jewelry maker can make ornaments and special holiday earings)
Participate in holiday fairs and group sales
Offer holiday gift certificates (put expiration dates on them)

Do you have any unique ideas that you use during the holiday season? Leave a comment. Let us know.

Finding Jobs on Craigslist

2007-10-27T16:34:00.000-04:00

If you have a service based business, Craigslist is a good place to find local jobs. People use Craigslist to post needs like childcare, home painting, need for cleaning persons, writers, artist and more. As an artist and a writer, I like to check craigslist regularly to see if anyone can use my services. Likewise, you can also use Craigslist to post free ads. I have had several good experiences.

My only caution is that some of the people who post jobs on Craigslist are trying to get something for next to nothing. You have to know where to draw the line between giving a discount to build your portfolio or walking away from a too low paying job. While scams are relatively easy to spot, job requests that grossly underpay you are a bit harder to spot.

Is Business Distracting You from Business?

2007-10-25T16:35:00.000-04:00

You've spent time evaluating what you love doing. You have analyzed, planned, and started your business, but progress is slow going. A friend is doing an mlm business or party plan that looks like fun, you decide to join, just until your original business takes off. Did you do the right thing?

This is actually one of my pet peeves, but also my biggest temptation. I have been distracted from my main business by kitchen goods, baskets, makeup, soaps, curriculum books, and just about everything else that turned a profit. While this is great in the short term, my enjoyment was short lived as it took me away from my goal of working a business that I truly enjoyed. (I actually hate selling things.) I have learned over the years to say, "I really like your products/ plan, and may even make a purchase from you, but I cannot take my business focus from what I am doing."

On the other hand, I am currently putting more effort into a business other than what I originally started. I started out focusing on Mural art and decorating kids rooms. As my life took its turns, I found that I did not have time to do murals and decorating and began writing about it instead. Now I work mainly as a freelance writer (writing about everything under the sun) squeezing in only a few murals a year.

Writing is working out well for me, and I plan to use that to get into illustrating which will take me full circle artistically.

So while holding on to your business and avoiding distractions is important, flexibility is also needed... Where do you draw the line?

Embezzling from yourself

2007-10-24T03:47:00.000-04:00

We've all probably done it at one time or another - we're short on funds to pay the electric bill when it is unexpectedly high, so we dip into our business money.

As time goes on, we dip in here and there for other things, non-business related. "Oh, it's no big deal," we think, "it's just a little bit."

The next thing we know, when a good opportunity arises for the business, we don't have the money. We don't have enough money to ship something out, or we could even be short on money for gas to go meet with a client!

How did this happen? Well, we embezzled from ourselves. We crippled our own business.

Of course we should pay ourselves, and I think it's good to reward yourself with something you really enjoy - that's what motivates us to keep going in our business. But make plans for it and keep a base amount of funds for your business that you never cut into. Keep a base amount as your business safety net.

Embezzling is misappropriation of funds. Your business money is not for buying the present for your 1st grader's friend's birthday party!

If you don't treat your home business as a real business, and you treat your business money like it's just "hobby money," then that's the only way other people (especially your family members) are going to think of it too. If you have been in the habit of taking money from your business, work to do whatever it takes to stop.

Sometimes it feels like you aren't getting anywhere in your business, and it becomes very demoralizing when there's no money in your business account.

Analyze the situation: are you really not getting anywhere with your business, or have you been dipping into your business money and damaging your potential of success?

~Darla

Website Tools

2007-10-22T16:05:00.002-04:00

Here are some website and Internet tools that I have found very helpful:

CoolText

Type in what you want and what style of text, colors - and the site processes it for you. Buttons, graphics, etc. Right click the image to save to your computer and use the image on your site or blog, etc. Lots of uses.

CopyScape

Copyscape is free at the basic level. You simply cut and paste the page urls from your site into their search field, and it helps you locate places where your text could be being used without your permission. If you find your content is being stolen, the site tells you what to do about it.

Ebay Listing Help

Want to make your Ebay listings stand out from the crowd? This site has a lot of tips and help with HTML code. You could also try Auctiva, which is a site that helps you make beautiful Ebay listings. An advantage of Auctiva is that you can store your listings and then 'release' them to post to Ebay at the same time without the extra fee for scheduling a listing that Ebay charges.

HTML Basix

You guessed it! Another site to help you with HTML. I know I often need help to make an image a link or to make a link open in a new window. This site will help you figure all that out.

KeywordSpy

This site enables you to see what your competitors are using for keywords in their Adsense campaign and website(s). Helps you figure out your competition's marketing strategy. Free trial of the website's services. Keyword Spy is designed to help you get ahead in keyword advertising programs.

My Contact Form

My Contact Form is currently about $30 for a year's membership. You can make as many contact forms for your site as you like for that fee. You can make a form for customers to contact you, or you can use their forms for a customer survey...many uses. Downside of it is that they do not have any visual verification to make sure that when the form is filled out, it's being filled out by a person - so there is often some spam that comes to me through my form. But a small price to pay for such a good deal and the form has always worked. It's very easy to modify for whatever you need, too!

Page Rank from RankWhere

Page Rank Predictor

Who knows how accurate all this stuff is, but it never hurts to look and learn more about Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

TrendMicro Free Virus Scan

This is a very good virus scan and it is a trusted site. The first time I used it, I was very nervous about letting a website search my computer drives, but it is a good scanner. They offer the scan to promote their Trend Micro PC-Cillin computer software (which is also excellent)

Website Color Help

It is sometimes difficult to get a template of colors that look good together for your website.
This site helps you try out different combinations to see what works well for you.

Places to post a free business ad

2007-10-22T10:59:00.000-04:00

One of the nice things about networking is that we can share places to post free ads online.
Here are several places where you can get a free basic listing:

Should You Place a Listing?

2007-10-19T10:15:00.000-04:00

When one starts a business, it makes sense to place a business listing to let people know you exist. I had a Kudzu.com as well as listings in parents' magazines listing for some time, but decided to let them go because they were not right for my business. You see I do the kind of work that invites alot of shoppers. People want me come to their homes, draw mural ideas, and then get back to me, when and if they decide to go ahead with the job. Having a popular listing on Kudzu.com nearly caused me to stop doing business altogether, as I was spending too much time with "shoppers" and not enough time with buyers. I was working my butt off and not making a cent.

I am not saying however that placing a listing may not be right for you. Some businesses that would greatly value from such a listing: Repair services, cleaning services, Restaurants, and anyone else who a customer can and must to make a quick decision without the service person spending hours on preparation and making presentations.

If you do have a service based business like me where it is necessary to evaluate the space and give a quote, you may want to charge a fee for your quote to be deducted from the full job if they go ahead with it.

Prioritizing Your Business

2007-10-17T00:04:00.001-04:00

When you work from home, sometimes business gets prioritized at the bottom of the pile.

Sometimes being such a low priority is a good thing and is why people work from home, to be able to put family first. Other times it is the result of letting people ignore the fact that you work from home.

Because I work around my children's homeschooling schedule, it is hard for me to tell people that I work between this hour and that, because I don't. I generally work when I can. I believe this gives the impression that I am not working at all, and unfortunately, this invites people to assume I am not busy when I am not teaching my kids. This assumption invites calls for favors.

Can you imaging my surprise this week when after I made it clear that my kids were having an especially busy week, that I still got phonecalls and request to drive people around, or to help someone with a project.

But why am I surprised when I haven't made it clear that every moment I am not teaching my kids or taking care of the home that I am working.

How do you prioritize your business?

by andrea hermitt

This is an example of how Network Referrals Work

2007-10-09T21:59:00.000-04:00

An interesting thing happened today on our Yahoo group. Maybe it is because Referral Networks was our topic of the day yesterday, maybe because one of our members did an excellent job.

One of our members is a hairdresser and the group has been buzzing about her. The women love her, and she does a fabulous job for a great price. Because everyone in our group who has used her is writing recommendations and reviews, the next time someone asks me about a hairdresser I will know exactly who to recommend. If she doesn't provide the services they need we still have another hairstylist in our group.

This is an example of how Network Referrals Work. This is however, the second step when using a network group. The first step is to reference the member list to see who provides good and services that you may need.

Networking and Referrals

2007-10-08T17:24:00.000-04:00

The people who responded to my last post on what you want in a networking group said they like referrals. (still open for comments)

I agree.. referral business is a large part of networking. How referral networking works.

Individual business people working separately can bring in a moderate amount of business. Sally may sell Tupperware and does just fine. If you asked Sally if she knew someone that did hair, she might tell you about someone she heard about, but not know their reputation. But, in a networking group that give referrals to group members, Sally would tell her customers about Mary Ann, because she knows of several people who rave about their experience with her, plus she had her hair done too.

This increases Maryann business and Maryann is quick to mention someone in the group too, especially Sally who has already sent business her way.

If you are a member of a network group, I am going to issue a challenge. The Christmas try to purchase 1/2 of your Christmas and Holiday gifts and services from someone in your group. I promise you that not only will you see the businesses of your friends grow, but yours will grow as well.

If you live in Gwinnett and/or belong to our networking group, scroll down to view all of the businesses (in the sidebar) you can buy from this holiday season.

by Andrea Hermitt www.ahermitt.com

Let's Talk about networking

2007-10-07T16:57:00.000-04:00

Only, I'm not going to do any of the talking. I just want to ask some questions... Please leave a comment with your answers. Thank You

Are you a woman business owner?

What is your business?

Do You network?

What do you want in a networking group?

What excites you the most about business networking?

How to make money selling other people's stuff!

2007-10-06T08:07:00.001-04:00

You may have heard the words 'Affiliate Marketing' and not really known what it was.

Affiliate marketing is basically placing links to companies or to specific products offered by companies. When your site visitors click on the link and make a purchase, you make a percentage of the sale. That's how it works! You don't have to do anything else except lead the customer to the sale. You get paid for the lead or sale you generate.

There are many websites that offer affiliate marketing - essentially they are affiliate marketing networks where the advertisers pay to have their affiliate marketing advertised and managed.
You as a person putting the links on your site or blog, are referred to as a 'publisher.' As a publisher, you should never pay to be an affiliate. I want to stress again, that you do not pay to be an affiliate.

There are several places you can sign up to be a free affiliate publisher. My favorite is Commission Junction, because it has many major retailers, and I am able to find advertisers and product links that work well with certain pages of my website or blog topics. Once you sign up, look through the advertisers by category to find good matches for your website. Look for companies whose product line is something you think your site visitors would enjoy. I think that is a key of affiliate marketing, if you gear everything toward your site's visitors and not your own needs, you will do well.

Linked products or companies should be associated with what you do a little bit - for example, if you sell handcrafted candle holders but you don't make candles, you can link a company that sells candles, or better yet, show picture links of candles or make an entire 'store' page of candles. It ties in. It is hard not to be tempted by advertising an i-pod, because that's an expensive product, but that wouldn't do very well on a page of candleholders...see what I mean?

I also have an affiliate account with ShareASale.com but I haven't done very well with that one. They do tend to have quite a few smaller companies with unique items.

Amazon.com also has an affiliate program but they call it being an "Associate."
To sign up on Amazon.com's affiliate program, click HERE
The nice thing about Amazon's program is that you can easily modify the links to coordinate in with your website's colors. You can link to any Amazon product. More and more attractive affiliate link options are being added all the time.

How much can you make doing this? It starts out pretty small and depressing, I'll be honest with you. This is something to begin working on when you have some quiet downtime in your business. If you've never done it before, I wouldn't recommend trying to start it in your busiest time of the year. Start at your quiet time of the year, just start with one company - again, I recommend Commission Junction because it has so many companies you can link and try.

I make about $30 per Quarter with my affiliate links. It's pretty small beans I know, but once your links are set, showing the right company or products in the right spot, you can just leave it alone. When your account gets to the dollar amount you've set, they automatically send you a check. The amount you make is directly related to the amount of your website traffic. Put links on the busiest pages of your site whenever possible.

So if you want to get started, here are the steps and tips:

Browse companies and products and think about where they would fit well on your site or blog

Apply to programs

Set up 'Channels' - this is setting up identifiers for your pages so statistics of the site will tell you where your hits are coming from.

Add the links. If they don't have a link you can use effectively (need a different size, etc), don't be afraid to email the company affiliate manager and ask for help. They are there to help the affiliate program be successful so they love to hear from you. Remember there are real people behind each program!

Return to the affiliate website to check statistics of hits. If you don't have hits from a certain page or location on your blog, perhaps you will want to move it to a different page or location, or remove the link altogether and replace with something that will be more active.

Remove any inactive links (advertisers who have left the program... you might still have their link on your page, but purchases won't earn anything for you because the advertiser has closed their affiliate account) So you don't want those left on your site...your space is money.

Think seasonally, what products could you link for different times of the year?

Don't let your website become a horrendous pile-up of affiliate links. It looks tacky, makes it look like you aren't serious about your main business. Allow a maximum of one banner link per page of your site. (I mostly have mine in my links pages of my site and only occasionally put a banner on my main page).

Links should complement the colors of your website, not exactly match it. For instance, if your website background is dark green, then links with background colors would do well if they were light green because that coordinates but will still stand out. Don't put orange links on dark green background just because they will stand out. You wan the links to stand out, but not be too overbearing. Set it up so they blend but are still noticeable enough that people will click. Here is an example from my site: LINK

There is really too much about affiliate networking to be able to put it all in one blog post, but I hope this will be enough to help you get started. It gets a lot easier to do the more you work with it.

When I first started networking...

2007-10-05T11:30:00.001-04:00

I was a jerk.
Mainly this was because I didn't really know what networking was.

Step into my time machine and check out how I was a jerk.
I was invited to an online 'virtual' networking event that was being done by an online group as a membership drive. The idea was to use the Yahoo Group to let people come in and post their ads and talk to each other over a 24 hour period.

I just didn't get the idea yet that networking is about giving, not just getting.
During the event, I tried to get into the group about every half hour to an hour, and I'd just blast my ad. To me, it was all about free advertising, and getting my business in their face.

Looking back, I know I had to be totally obnoxious, yet the ladies in the networking group were nice and gave me some kind comments on my art.

Now I know that the most successful networkers help other people. Now I know the idea is to help other people be successful. We all know that when someone has helped us, we always remember them! That's the key to business networking. Really the key to all business. If you help other people get what they want, you will get what you want. Now I try to be a giver, not a taker.

I'm not ashamed of how I behaved, because I didn't have any ill intentions,
I just didn't know any better. It was a learning experience.

Technology: Efficiency tool or shortcut to insanity?

2007-10-03T23:55:00.000-04:00

Atlanta Women Business Owners...
Join Lisa EarleMcLeod (Snellville GA Author) at the Buckhead BEST BUY

Wednesday, October 10th, 2007
11:30 Am to 2 :00 PM

Lisa will present “Technology: Efficiency tool or shortcut to insanity?”

"An exclusive event for Atlanta's female business owners: Join us for a complimentary lunch and hear special guest speaker humorist Lisa McLeod author of "Finding Grace When You Can't Even Find Clean Underwear" discuss why the elusive goal of balance is making us nuts.

Also joining us will be some of your favorite vendors demonstrating how to use the latest technology in your business and your life. Friends and guests welcome sponsored by Best Buy and Apple Computer."

The event is free and lunch is provided

Sponsored by Best Buy and Apple Computer
More details:
http://www.evite.com/app/publicUrl/lisa@forgetperfect.com/bestbuy

Looking for Tupperware Products? Look to WomenOfGwinnett.com Members

2007-10-03T15:39:00.000-04:00

Here in Georgia it's very humid, so I love my Tupperware for keeping food fresh and crispy.

In the Atlanta area, we tend to have sugar ants come out in droves this time of year. One year, we had to throw away a lot of expensive cereals and snacks because of the ants.

Ever since I bought enough Tupperware Modular Mates to contain everything in our pantry, we've had no trouble with the ants, because they can't get their grubby little mandibles on anything at our house!

If you have children, you can't beat the safety of having plastic drinkware on hand. I can't tell you how many times we have averted having a child's foot cut from broken glass because we've had Tupperware. When a kid drops a cup, it's no big deal when it's a high quality plastic-ware Tupperware tumbler.

Yes, there are a lot of plastic cups, bowls, and storage containers on the market, but I've noticed that they tend to warp and have quite a few problems just within a year or so. The last time I checked, Tupperware products are guaranteed for 50 years. My Tupperware is going to last longer than I will!

We have two members who sell Tupperware. (their names are clickable links)
Angela Davies, Tupperware Representative and
Allison Newton, Tupperware Representative

Business-After-Hours Extravaganza Networking Event

2007-10-02T09:18:00.001-04:00

The Snellville Downtown Development Authority, the Snellville Commerce Club, and the Greater Grayson Chamber of Commerce will present their Business-After-Hours Extravaganza on Thursday October 25, 2007 from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. The event will be held at the Summit Chase Country Club, located at 3197 Classic Drive, Snellville GA 30078. Summit Chase Country Club's phone number is 770-979-9000.

This will be a complimentary networking event.
No RSVP is required.
You are invited to bring a guest or even two guests!

There will be business exhibits, door prizes, and more.

Thanks to Impact Media & Pulications/Tri-City Times & Scene Around for this information.

Is it a blog or a website?

2007-10-01T22:33:00.000-04:00

In an effort to keep websites current and blogs active, many webmasters are opting to create combination websites/blogs. After all, the purpose of the blog is to promote the website, so it is a natural evolution for a website and blog to be combined.

Blogger makes this combination easy. If you sign into the blogger dashboard of your new or existing blog, you can choose the template option. For the heading, you can upload a banner in place of the title bar if you choose. Under that, you can add text boxes that you would normally have on a website. You can add link sections to take to your web store, or to contact information. You can add anything you please.

Personally, I like for the page to look like a normal website at first glance. (with the exception of the blogger bar at the top). At the very bottom of the screen, I like for the title of the first post to peek out, giving the viewer a hint of something more below. As I add new posts, that headline will show and change and the updates to my blog will keep my website active and keep it at the top of the Google rankings.

Components of a blog/website are business and contact information, a sales component, and a sales pitch or information (for informational websites)

Examples of blog/websites

http://www.ahermitt.com/

http://womenofgwinnett.blogspot.com/

http://www.freehomeed.com/

http://printpattern.blogspot.com/

http://www.loosetooth.com/Shop/shop.php3

http://crystalcreates.blogspot.com/ is leaning toward a good combination of the two

With Today's blog templates there is no limit to what you can create.

Read more about blogging for business below:

More on blogging

2007-10-01T00:40:00.000-04:00

Andrea wrote yesterday about blogging. I wanted to add my proverbial two cents in, as you all know I tend to do!

When I first considered blogging, I had no idea why anyone would want to read what I had to say. I still kind of wonder why they want to read what I write, but that's their business! :)

A lady who was in our networking group told me that what was holding me back was the fear of not being good enough, and to just forget about that fear and start writing. So I did. I thought I would blog about 4 days and then I'd run out of content, but now it's been over 4 years.
I still draw a blank sometimes, and that's okay.

I have had people visit my website through the links on my blog. In between the personal touch of the blog and my website, I think it takes away the intimidation people feel when they want to contact any business through their site. I do pencil portraits and I feel portraiture is a very personal kind of 'product,' so anything that helps people feel my personality and feel comfortable emailing or calling me is a good thing.

If you are considering starting a business blog, the best advice I can give you is to remember that the blog is like a conversation. It's a two-way street. Make sure your blog is set up so people can comment. You can usually set up the blog so you can approve the comments before they are posted to protect against spam and general meanies. Imagine you are visiting with them and just chatting. Use your 'real' voice. Don't use words like 'enable,' 'utilize,' 'paradigm,' etc if that isn't the way you really speak. Don't call me either, if you do speak that way. I will not be able to understand you. Use small, simple words, and enunciate clearly. Remember, I am an artist.

My blog can be found here: LINK

Why Blog?

2007-09-29T21:53:00.000-04:00

Three years ago, I did not know what a blog was. I heard of online journals. I even had one. But having a journal connected to a business sounded way too personal. Who would read your journal and purchase something from you?

Well times have changed. Journals have become less personal, and online business has become more personal. The result, of course was the birth of the blog. I defy you to name a large company that does not have a blog. Google has a blog. Yahoo has a blog. EBay has a blog, and within that they have bloggers who have their own blog.

But you run a small business selling hoo-haws (or whatever else you sell) why should you have a blog?

In this impersonal internet world, buyers are cautious about buying from small companies for several reasons. First it is hard to know if the business is reputable. Second, they feel no personal connection to the product of the sales person. Having a blog will bring your prospective customers closer to you emotionally which will bring them closer to you financially.

But blogging can be time consuming. Is it worth it? Yes indeed. The longer you can keep your your readers on your site, reading and searching for more information, the better the chance of them purchasing from you.

So get a blog. Attach it to your website. Write something... daily. The extra 10 minutes a day will be well worth it.

www.ahermitt.com

“Resolve To Never Give Up”

2007-09-26T22:57:00.000-04:00

Robert Warlow

Small Business Success

One quality that most budding entrepreneurs find they need very early on in their business career is persistence – that stubborn streak and the resolve never to give up. But developing the habit of persistence is tough. After so many rejections, so many failed ideas, so many days when nothing seems to go right, the temptation to pack it all in and move onto something else can be overwhelming.

That prolific inventor Thomas Edison said, “All I can do is try everything to prove my idea is right and only give up when I am sure it won’t work.” This is the guy who tried 3,000 different ways to develop a light bulb. Now that’s what I call being persistent!

What can you do to make sure you don’t give up until you are 100% sure that it won’t work? Here are some ideas.

Have a Goal

I have talked before about having a clear goal or vision. Knowing what your end result is, why you are doing what you are doing, can be a powerful tool to cultivate persistence. Having a vivid picture in your mind of what you are setting out to achieve can keep you going during the dark days - remember the saying that it’s always darkest just before the dawn. Wouldn’t it be sad to think that you may have given up when success was just around the corner?

So, if you find yourself on the point of giving up, close our eyes, visualise your goal or the reason why you started, and dig deep for the persistence to carry on.

Develop a Road Map

It’s all very well knowing where you want to go, but if you are entering unknown territory you need a road map or a plan. For your first year, write down all the steps you will need to take. Lack of persistence kicks in when you don’t know which way to turn, it’s easier to turn around and go home. Having a plan mapped out before you start will give you the edge to carry on with your journey. A plan is a commitment you have made with yourself and can be a great tool to spur you on.

Going blindly into your new venture can seem a hugely daunting task but a plan ‘chunks’ down all the steps you need to take. A plan with smaller steps is harder to give up on than one plan which outlines the end goal. Each small step accomplished is a motivator to carry on to the next one.

Avoid Interruptions

Once you are into your plan, resolve with yourself to avoid all interruptions. Create habits for your working day – only take a break at a set time and duration; don’t stop what you are doing to start something else, focus on the task in hand; start the habit of limiting your phone conversations to purely business talk. If you find cold calling a problem, create the habit of making one call at 11 o’clock every day; you’ll soon you have it cracked.

Be Creative

One of the main reasons we give up is we think there is no other way to achieve our goal. But be creative! Before giving up, be like Edison, is there version 2,599 you can try first? If you have hit ‘the wall’, take time out of the business and go somewhere you can think in peace. Not only is this time-out likely to re-motivate you but you may get that much needed flash of inspiration. So before giving up, resolve to adjust your plan and find another way.

Don’t Listen to Them

One devastating destroyer of persistence are the ‘doubters’ in your life, the ones who are quick to say, “It will never work”, or “I don’t know why you bother”. These negative-thinking people can rob you of your persistence, so avoid them or block them out of your mind as soon as they come with 3 feet of you!

If you haven’t been able to move away quick enough just picture them as the non-achievers they are, nod sagely at their comments and move on, laughing to yourself at how little they know!

A strange thing about persistence is that you can only develop the skill when times are tough. You can’t practice the art of persistence when everything is going well, so I hope it’s one skill you won’t have to get down to a fine art!

Small Business Success

http://www.smallbusinesssuccess.biz

Small Business Success is a resource dedicated to helping small business owners be more successful. If you are looking for a regular flow of ideas and tips then subscribe to Small Business Success a free newsletter, which provides you with quick tips, ideas and articles.

For more information visit http://www.smallbusinesssuccess.biz

10 Successful Tips for Business Networking

2007-09-23T21:15:00.000-04:00

I recently came upon this article and thought it was very relevant.

Effective business networking is the linking together of individuals who,
through trust and relationship building, become walking, talking advertisements
for one another.

1. Keep in mind that networking is about being genuine and authentic,
building trust and relationships, and seeing how you can help others.
click here to read the entire article:

What Have You Done for Your Networking Group Lately?

2007-09-20T10:19:00.000-04:00

Over the years I have noticed a trend in new people joining networking groups. (I have belonged to several, and am a founding member of this one.) People mistakenly assume that by joining the networking group, they are going to instantly increase their business sales, and when that does not happen, they leave, or become inactive. Unfortunately they are missing the whole point of networking.

While networking groups certainly can help grow a business, or give a new business the kick start it needs, this happens as a side effect and should not be the main purpose of joining a networking group. A business networking group consists of a group of people who join forces combining strengths to simultaneously strengthen networks, and learn from each other. The most successful person in any networking group (without a doubt) is the person who contributes the most.

If I believed in Karma, I could attribute such success to it. I do however, believe in doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. It works. It really works. At this point I am going to use our beloved Darla Dixon as an example. She joined this group when it was a floundering start up. Frankly, it was not going to make it. I was struggling with a serious illness, and meetings (which at the time were in person), were inconsistent at best. But Darla knew a good idea when she saw it, picked up the ball and ran with it. This is why we are 67 active members today with over 140 people in our Yahoo Group. Darla has moderated our group, organized get togethers, recruited new members, built our websites, which includes this new and wonderful blog, and has served us all in may ways.

It is no wonder that if any of us hears the words "looking for an artist", that Darla comes to mind. She has given to us all, and none of us would hesitate to give back to her. I am not saying that any member needs to do as much as Darla does for the group. I am saying however, that lending your special talents to the group would make both it and your own business much stronger. Here are some examples of activities you could do to help grow your networking group.

Organizing functions and meetings formal and informal
Sharing Business Knowledge
Charity Coordinator
Cross advertising and promotion
Giving public reviews when pleased with anothers service (using the email list and sites like Kudzu)
Lending Your Special Talents to the group: marketing, design, etc.

by Andrea Hermitt, www.ahermitt.com

Your Yahoo Profile as a Business Tool

2007-09-19T15:58:00.000-04:00

When is the last time you updated your Yahoo Profile?

Was it around 1995? No way, where did the time go?!?
Chances are, your details have changed!
You may use Yahoo for email, or you may have a Yahoo username for Yahoo Groups.

Your Yahoo Profile can be a useful sales tool for your business. Did you know that you can have as many as four website links in your Yahoo Profile? Why not also use your Yahoo Profile to tell people a little bit about yourself and your business? Get your business link in there!

There is the concern about privacy, if you use your Yahoo ID to go to Yahoo Chat, then I would recommend a more detail-hidden Yahoo ID and Profile, but for business networking groups, I would definitely keep my Yahoo Profile filled out and up-to-date. If you don't want to post a photo of yourself, remember that you could instead post a photo of your product.

http://profiles.yahoo.com/ahermitt

A sketch for photo to show she’s artistic and creative. Profile tells what Andrea does – murals and writing.

http://profiles.yahoo.com/darligraphy

I used my Self portrait as photo, links to portrait art website if anyone wanted to see more art examples, an affiliate link to VistaPrint, and a link to Women Of Gwinnett group.

http://profiles.yahoo.com/themercedeslady

Lori McTaggart's Yahoo Profile shows she sells Arbonne and her email address is there in case someone came upon the page and wanted to place an Arbonne order.

http://profiles.yahoo.com/sjrboswell

Includes link to her Stampin’ Up! Website and a little bit of information about her.

http://profiles.yahoo.com/tonidore

Photo, profile information all filled out to promote her astrology business, the Astrology Source.

UPDATE YOUR YAHOO PROFILE: LINK

Places to post a free ad online

2007-09-18T10:18:00.000-04:00

Rochelle Noel of The PC Link emailed in two great places to post a free advertisement online.

www.backpage.com and www.kijiji.com . You can post in multiple cities and categories on Kajiji. Backpages also offers the opportunity to post in multiple cities at paid level fairly affordably - it just depends on which cities you select.

I added them to our link list. If you would like more sites that allow free ads, check our links in the sidebar, on the right of this blog - scroll down near the bottom to locate them.

Now you know where we have them all linked, you can come back to www.WomenofGwinnett.com anytime you want to post an ad, and get to many great places quickly. Remember to bookmark our page, or sign up to receive updates to our site automatically!

Thanks again, Rochelle, for sharing those two great links!

FEATURE: Crystal's Creations

2007-09-17T07:47:00.000-04:00

Women of Gwinnett member, Crystal Brown, is so crafty! Check out this crafti-licious pincushion - it is totally hand-sewn and looks like a little cake. Adorable, would make a wonderful gift, and it's calorie free!

Check out her site: LINK
See more of her Pincushions: LINK

Crystal says, "I live in the Atlanta, Georgia, which is where my Home based business really took off. My passion to create things with my hands was the deciding factor in starting my own business 7 years ago. When I sold a crocheted bunny to a co-worker, the fire to create more items began to burn stronger. It was the first toy I had ever crocheted. Toys are joy to make. Currently, my toys are my best sellers. In addition to my website, I currently sell my items in boutiques, crafts shows and consignment shops nationwide.

I love all types of crafts and love to make several different things. I am always learning from others and my creativity keeps growing and growing. Soon, there will be several different lines of products on my site, so please check back often to see what I have been up to."

Using Direct Mail & Mailing Lists

2007-09-16T16:14:00.001-04:00

Did you know you can purchase mailing lists? The price of your mailing list depends on how many options you select. You can be very specific, for example, you can request a mailing list by families with children and income levels. A mailing list is also a good option if you want to only mail to specific zip codes.

Many mailing list suppliers can allow you to obtain your mailing list on CD-ROM, if you want to use the list more than once, or you can opt for the mailing list to be sent to you on pre-printed mailing labels, which saves time. Most mailing list companies will require you to email or mail in a sample of the mailing material if you request a list that includes families with children. This is a good sign - it means the company cares about the safety of children.

There are many services that also offer a mailing list and they will handle all the mailing and affixing postage for you. If you use one of these services, be sure to also include some 'blinds' (names and addresses of family and friends, so you can be sure the mailings are actually happening, and are taking place by the schedule you selected. In other words, if you add a friend to the list and the friend says they never got the mailing, yet you paid for it - you will know you have an issue to discuss with the mailing company!

w3Data, a mailing list supplier, allows you to look up your previous or current customers (the information is secure) and they'll help you find more customers just like the ones you've had! This is a pretty sure-fire method of creating a successful direct mail campaign, if you don't know where to start.

Women of Gwinnett Group members have virtually everything you need for beauty and health!

2007-09-14T08:41:00.000-04:00

Get your hair cut, styled or colored by Ann Halstead or Roxanne Yarbrough, get fit at Contours Express in Snellville, find serenity at A Reiki Experience in Snellville or Serenity Lakes wellness center in Lawrenceville, shop healthy products for your pet with Terri Edwards' Organic Connection website.

AVON from Allison Newton or Shelly Lorenzen, Beauti Control from Iram Mehal; Mary Kay available from Mary Kay director Lois Peterson, Tracy Hayes or Melissa Hendrix; handmade soaps (great gifts) from Patti Owens of Scrubbles Soap! Arbonne products are available from Beckie Smith, Antonina Boatman, and Lori McTaggart!

Tell them you found them on http://www.WomenOfGwinnett.com !

Women of Gwinnett has virtually everything you need for your home!

2007-09-13T15:23:00.000-04:00

Coughlin, Chana - Tupperware 770-279-2957

Davies, Angela - Tupperware

Majoris, Rebecca - House Cleaning 678-314-4306

Newton, Allison - Tupperware

Pillert, Yvonne - Carpet Cleaning

Qamar, Karen - Expert Blinds & Shutters

Sanders, Laura - Longaberger

Smith, Traci - PC 404-797-1193

Taylor, Michelle - Food Mixes 706-557-9764

From Carpet Cleaning to Tupperware, members of Women of Gwinnett have you covered!

5 Tips to Get Organized for Work at Home Moms

2007-09-13T02:12:00.000-04:00

5 Tips To Get Organized For Work At Home Moms
By Becki Maxson

If I was to come into your office area right now, would you cringe? Don’t feel bad, I’ve been there too! But you know you don’t work at your best when things are a mess, or all the important stuff is swimming around in your head. Here are 5 tips to start getting better organized.

Email is your best friend and your worst enemy. If you don’t take charge of it, it will take charge of you! Outlook is a terrific tool to keep track of your emails, your daily schedule, your to-do list, client phone numbers and email addresses and more. I use the folder function to act as an online file cabinet. Really, it’s simple and it works great! I just create a folder by subject and drag pertinent emails into it. Then when I wonder, “What did we talk about last time?” or “Where’s my log-in for that account?” I know right where to go.

Paper, paper everywhere…are you buried? Maybe a computer system isn’t for you, but all is not lost. If you don’t have a planner, get one! There are many kinds of planners to choose from, in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Find one that fits your needs and use it to keep track of doctor appointments, school meetings, your work schedule, etc. Set up a good old-fashioned rolodex or file box to keep track of phone numbers, emails and other information.

I also print out e-books that I buy and put them into report covers with a clear plastic cover so I remember to read them and they don’t go to never-never land on my hard drive.

Now, tax planning. Neglect your record-keeping and you’re asking for a real headache down the road. An easy way to keep track of receipts is to get a hanging file folder and 12 manila envelopes. Have one envelope for January, one for February and so on. During the month, throw all your receipts in the corresponding envelope. When the month is over, tally up your receipts and write it on the outside of the envelope. That way, when tax time comes, most of your work will already be done. Or again, use a simple Excel spreadsheet or just a spiral notebook to keep track of your expenses by category. Remember to track your income too!

Take some time each day to “take care of the little things” and you’ll stay organized, feel less stressed, and get more work done!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Becki Maxson juggles a husband, three teenage sons, Boy Scouts, meals, laundry, volunteer stuff and home business in Rocklin, CA.

She is the founder of http://www.KingdomWork.com, an online resource for Christian home based business owners, and is a Marketing Mentor for Advantage Conferences.

This article can be reprinted freely online, as long as the entire article and this resource box are included.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Becki_Maxson
http://EzineArticles.com/?5-Tips-To-Get-Organized-For-Work-At-Home-Moms&id=424587

REVIEW: Traci Smith, Pampered Chef

2007-09-13T02:03:00.000-04:00

Traci Smith, The Pampered Chef (Snellville GA)

404-797-1193 / Email: ChefTraci@comcast.net

Traci Smith is a delightful person and does a very entertaining kitchen show! I hadn't had a kitchen show in years and I found Traci's name on our WOG website. She was easy to work with, kept everyone entertained at the show, and takes care of her customers.

Testimonial/Review by: Susan Boswell (as buyer)
rubberstamping: http://www.susanboswell.stampinup.net
writing and web services: http://www.dylanandco.com

I bought some Pampered Chef products from Traci through the home show that Susan Boswell had. Everything was just as expected, delivered as promised (due to the diligence of both Traci and Susan!) and I love my Pampered Chef products. Traci does a really good job of keeping up with her customers through her newsletter, and will keep you up to date and alerted when your favorite item is going on sale or set to be discontinued by the company.

Testimonial/Review by: Darla Dixon (as buyer/client)

REVIEW: Terri Russell, Pet Parties Plus

2007-09-13T02:01:00.000-04:00

Terry Russell, Pet Parties Plus (Grayson GA)

770-682-8670 / Email: petparty1@aol.com

I've been to Terry's farm several times and it is a fantastic place for a field trip or a party. There are lots of well-cared for animals there that are used to people (especially important with kids). Terry is very, very patient with the animals and the kids!

Testimonial/Review by: Susan Boswell (as buyer/client)
mailto:sjrboswell@yahoo.com
rubberstamping: http://www.susanboswell.stampinup.net
writing and web services: http://www.dylanandco.com

REVIEW: Cakes by Shupan Abraham

2007-09-13T01:59:00.000-04:00

Shupan Abraham, Cakes by Shupan

404-593-8961

I hired Shupan to create cakes for my twin daughters' birthday. We were going to have a luau party. Both the girls tend to like the same thing, but I like to make sure their cakes are as individual as they are. They both like Spongebob Squarepants so I asked Shupan if there was anything she could do with that idea. She came up with two awesome cakes - she used a blue gel for the water and brown sugar to look like sand. The birthday girls and the guests were all just delighted. The cakes were the highlight of the party! Shupan will listen to your needs and create cakes to perfectly go with your occasion.

Testimonia/Review by: Darla Dixon

REVIEW: Pencil Portraits drawn from photos by Darla Dixon

2007-09-13T01:55:00.000-04:00

Darla Dixon Pencil Portraits

770-736-1584

I am continually amazed by the artwork Darla has done for us. Every time I look at it, it looks fresh and new. The amount of detail is amazing!

Reviewed by: Andrea Hermitt

REVIEW: House Cleaning - Rebecca Majoris

2007-09-13T01:53:00.001-04:00

Customized Cleaning by Rebecca

House Cleaning Service

Email: rm2996511@yahoo.com

678-314-4306

I would like to let everyone know what a really special treat you are in for when Rebecca cleans your home. She pays attention to the small details - I just love coming home after she has cleaned for me - it feels so good in my home, like it did when I use to clean it myself. Rebecca also cleans Serenity Lakes Wellness Center for me - it is a 5,400 s.f. center and it also looks just great each and every week. Rebecca is very dependable, affordable and reliable...I highly recommend her for your cleaning needs.

Thank you Rebecca for a job well done!

Debbie McDermott
Owner, Director

Serenity Lakes Wellness Center

http://www.serenitylakes.com

REVIEW - Ann Halstead, Hair Stylist

2007-09-13T01:50:00.000-04:00

Ann Halstead, Hair Stylist

770-466-6406 / 770-713-1341

You've got to go have Ann do your hair! I went to see her without knowing what I wanted done and I took maybe 10 or 12 photos of styles I liked and just asked her flat out - Which of these will work with my hair? We talked about my hair (thick and wavy) and which styles would require more effort
than I was willing put forth (very little, especially during the summer).

She gave me a great cut, she was easy to talk to while she was cutting, and her rates are very reasonable (so if you get a short cut like I did, you can afford to have it cut as often as you should to maintain the style). Her beautiful home was spotless!!! Also, I cannot remember the last time I got
a new hairstyle and received the same cut the next time I went back to the salon. When you find a hairstyle you like, you want the same cut when it's time for a trim, right? Well consistency is what you'll get with Ann. I still love my haircut and she did a great job on my kids' hair and my hubby's hair, too. She was SOOOOO patient with my kids (especially my daughter who can be quite moody for a 9-year-old). Everyone I've given recommended Ann to has loved her! And even though Ann does a great job, you won't have to wait weeks for an appointment. Give Ann a call when you're
ready for your next haircut; you won't be sorry!

Testimonial/Review by: Susan Boswell (as buyer/client)
mailto:sjrboswell@yahoo.com
rubberstamping: http://www.susanboswell.stampinup.net
writing and web services: http://www.dylanandco.com

REVIEW - Immaculate Carpet Cleaners

2007-09-13T01:45:00.001-04:00

Yvonne Pillert, Immaculate Carpet Cleaners
http:/immaculatecleaners.net

I have had Yvonne come out to clean our carpet on many occasions. My carpet is about 20 years old and really should be replaced, but every time Yvonne comes here, it looks so much better it gets a new lease on life! She's hurting the carpet companies' sales by doing such a good job! Her machine (truck mounted) does leave your floor damp but it dries very quickly, that's not a big deal when the trade off is a super clean carpet. Stay away from the bait-and-switch companies that you see advertised and just call Yvonne and you'll get a good cleaning at a fair price. It's great to have the house so nice smelling and the carpet looks great.

Review/testimonial by: Darla Dixon (as buyer/client)

Yvonne cleaned all the carpet in my home for a very reasonable price. My carpet is 8-years-old and VERY light and it looked great when she was done! She took the time to point out the few tiny little areas she wasn't able to get clean (hello, did I mention my carpet is 8 years old and I have two kids!), but I probably wouldn't have even noticed them if she hadn't shown them to me. She also give me detailed instructions on the best way to spot clean my carpet being professional cleanings.

Testimonial/Review by: Susan Boswell (as buyer/client)
rubberstamping: http://www.susanboswell.stampinup.net
writing and web services: http://www.dylanandco.com

Using a blog as our directory

2007-09-13T01:29:00.000-04:00

Welcome to our new site!

The old site was getting very difficult to update regularly. This site is on Blogspot, and it's basically a blog, but it's very easy to input links and such. I hope it will serve our group members better.

A little note on the member links on the right - if the person does not have a website, the Blogspot site kind of forces me to put a URL (website address) in a field in order to put the person on the list. So I used www.WomenOfGwinnett.com as the URL for the people who don't have a website.

For the people who do not have a website, I have listed their phone number so we can get in touch if we need something. So, if you want to look at the member's websites, it will save you time if you know that if there is a phone number there, there's no use clicking the link - because it will bring you right back here!

The site will probably need a lot of tweaking, and I need members to regularly check and let me know if their website or info changes. I would love for members to just randomly click the links every now and then, and let me know if you find any dead (inactive) links, so I can fix them.

A major plus of using a blog as our website is that within a few months, we should get a lot more hits from search engines. Lately with the Earthlink site I had up, the best we ever did was to get 3 hits per day. That's pathetic, so I expect better things from this site.