Give your eBay business some Moo!

I just discovered these very cool mini-moo-cards and had to share…

You are probably wondering what in the world Moo… mini-cards… eBay… What?!?

See, a great way to build customer loyalty (as well as your own brand) is to include a business card or postcard with the packages you send out to customers. These Moo-minicards are perfect for that - and cheap too! You can upload your own images and put up to 6 lines of text on the back… they end up looking very professional and are a nice addition to your package.

Whether you end up using Moo minicards or another service… be sure you are using it as a marketing tool to encourage repeat business from your customer. Make a cool graphic that looks like a fun coupon and use it on the image side of the minicard. The coupon could be something like, “Free Shipping on your next order”… or “Save 10% on your next winning bid!” On the text side of the minicard be sure to include important information like your eBay ID… store name… and url.

As I was browsing through the site - so many ideas came to mind as to how these cool could be used to market a business! I can’t wait to get my order… and we’ll probably get some with pictures of the kids on them to put in our Christmas cards this year too!

It’s your turn… How would you use minicards?

Time Sensitive - Direct Sellers Give!

Okay everybody I have something time sensitive for you!

Most of you have probably heard of Tim Ferriss - he wrote the NY Times #1 Best Seller - The Four Hour Work Week.

Well, I am lucky enough to have him as a speaker next week for Profit Purpose and Beyond.  He is a last-minute addition to the lineup becasue he just jetted in from Japan and carved out an hour for us in his hugely busy schedule.

I am actually making One Day Passes available to Profit Purpose and Beyond so that lots and lots of people can hear this call.  You can read about it here:

http://www.profitpurposeandbeyond.com/timferriss.html

But that is not the time sensitive part.  Tim is also spearheading a Literacy Fundraising campaign that ends tonight, October 31 at midnight.  In honor of his participation in Profit, Purpose and Beyond, I am joining him in this effort.  Let’s show him that Direct Sellers Give!

Direct Sellers Give

Anyone who contributes $30 at  Direct Sellers Give will receive a free copy of my CD “5 Emergency Steps to Getting Yourself Unstuck” (a $29 value)

Anyone who contribute $50 or more will receive the CD AND a seat on Tim’s call (those seats are going for $29).

And, gulp, I am matching dollar for dollar the total contributions to And, just so you know, I’ve set a goal of $5000.

So, let’s help kids learn, okay?!!

Love & Success!
Sarah

From the Mailbag: My Brutally Honest Opinion of Armand Morin

Here’s a question received recently in the Experts Mailbag:

“I wanted to get your brutally honest opinion on Armand Morin seminars. I am considering attending his Freedom Factor seminar next weekend, even though it’s $1200 I really don’t have. I have to get out of this dead-end job and do something lucrative and worthwhile with my life.

I just really want to know, from someone who’s been to his seminars — is it going to be a 3-day long sales pitch to buy his products? Will he give out any real practical information that I can use without buying everything he offers? Or does it all tie in only with the products he’s selling?

Our finances are so tight that all I can see right now is the money I’m putting out because I have no guarantee of making the money back since I don’t know what to expect. The desire and drive is there in me, but all I can see right now is my dwindling bank account! Help! I need some honest advice about what to expect if I ‘m going to spend this kind of money.”

Thanks so much,
Jenna Pittman
Georgia

Hi Jenna. I can certainly understand your dilemma, but I think you may have answered your own question in the second sentence. It is money that you say, “I really don’t have.” I don’t know where your business is now, but I would sit down and make a plan of where a fraction of that money could be spent to start earning enough to consider an event like this.

Still, I’m happy to answer your questions…

As far as my brutally honest opinion of Armand goes, I think he’s great and yes, he’s definitely a skilled salesman. He is one of the first people who helped me really think big in my business and gave me practical suggestions to make those big ideas really happen.

I have been to 3 BigSeminars, but have never been to Freedom Factor, so I may not be able to give you the most practical advice on how this event is run. But I’ll tell you my experience at BigSeminar. If I’ve attended 3, I’m sure you can guess that I have found it to be a very valuable experience. Armand’s presentations are always very valuable, but you bet, there is always an offer to buy more.

Do you need to buy more to make use of his advice? Nope.

Is it tempting? You bet. After all, you are so tempted to go to the seminar because he has sold you so well on the idea.

If you do go (and I’m really not sure that it’s the best time for you to do this), go there with the goal of getting as much as you can out of the weekend, returning home and applying what you learned and seeing the results. Then, when you have enough money you can consider any other continuing education opportunities that are presented to you.

By the way, I believe one of our other experts, Lynette Chandler has attended Freedom Factor in the past.  I will ask her to share her thoughts in the comments area, so hang tight.

From The Mailbag - Teaching Children to Give Back

Our mailbag question comes to us from Mara B. She asks:

In a day and age where it seems that kids are given everything they want, and not always by their parents, how do you help them to learn to give instead of expect to get all the time?  With the holidays coming up, I would like to do a service project, but the kids don’t seem to interested. I think they need to give back. Any ideas?

This is such a great question and a very timely one as well. Teaching our children the gift of giving is very important and you can start teaching your child about being charitable simply by letting them see you being charitable.

Try having them help you sort through their clothing, toy, old books, unwanted items…etc and donate them to charity. Take your children with you and explain to them what you are doing when you are dropping off your gifts to others that may not be as fortunate. Explain to them how there are people who may be less fortunate and cant afford these things and how good it is of Them to help by sharing items that they no longer need.

When cleaning up the home take a large box or bag and label it *FOR OTHERS* or *TO DONATE* and be sure that your children understand what it means and have them help you fill the box up. This may be one way to get the children involved in the Act of giving and in the process it helps to clean up the home from clutter.

I am unaware of the age of your children but I have taken all 3 of my children to a homeless shelters here in D.C. to drop off blankets, food, clothing and also served them on Thanksgiving morning. I alway explained to the children that it is a blessing to be able to bless others and it just really caught on.

Also let your children catch you in the act of giving by helping others. Perhaps there is a street clean project in your area up or an elderly family you can help rake leaves for. One thing I do here is to bake Pies and deliver them to neighbors, the schools and homeless shelters. Usually the children are the deliver persons and they grin with pride.  Now when my 7yo grows out of his clothes he piles them up because he knows that they will bless another little boy :)

Hopefully some of my tips have helped you. Do you think you can try one or more of the suggestions above? What about others here, are there things that you do to promote giving?

Can I Say That I’m Ready For Audio?

Mara asks:

Kelly, you said in your last post that there were certain ways to tell if you’re not ready for podcasting. Besides being the opposite of the things for NOT doing it, what are some things that tell you you SHOULD start a podcast?

That’s easy!  If you have a well defined target market and you’ve got your website up and a good blog rolling… it’s time to rock it with an awesome podcast!

As is usually the case, my easy answer probably lead to more questions.  Such as what does it mean to have a website ‘up’ and how do you know when you have a good blog ‘rolling’? LOL!

Trying to keep things real simple - I think you’re website is good shape when your visitors can easily find answers to all of the questions that they may have about you and your product or service.

And a blog is rolling with the best of them when you’re posting at least three or four times a week and seeing some interaction from readers in the form of comments and incoming links.

If this is happening for you, I think you can safely move into audio.

What’s A Good Image Editor?

Even though I outsource most of my graphics work, I often keep an image editor at hand to quickly whip out stuff like signature graphic. A picture of myself for a web site or sometimes I just want to change the color of an image and don’t want to wait around for the designer.

Problem with many image editors is the price! I’m not saying I won’t pay for a good software program. People deserve to be paid for their work. But I’m not a professional designer. So, I’d rather save my cash for something that is really needed to perform my work.

Until now, I’ve always recommended Gimp which is a fantastic image editor. Unfortunately, Gimp can be huge and confusing. It’s often overkill for my simple needs. Recently someone brought Paint.NET to my attention. Verdict? I love it!

Paint.NET is much lighter, very easy to use. The interface is not cluttered with stuff that’s plain confusing. As with any software especially image editors, if you’ve never used one before you’ll need to spend a little bit of time with it. But if you’re familiar with image editors you should pick it up right away. Oh and best of all, Paint.NET is open source
software so you don’t have to whip out your wallet. Just head on over to GetPaint.net and grab a copy.

If you prefer an online based editor, give Picnik a try. It is very cool and certainly super useful for those times when you’re on the road or using a friends’ computer. You can create an account for free and pretty much use most of the features for free. If you want to upgrade to get extra features, it’s $24.95 a year. The thing I really like about Picnik is the fact you can grab pictures you’ve already uploaded to other websites like Flickr, PhotoBucket,
Picasa or Facebook. Once you’re done editing, you can save it back into those places. No downloading and uploading.

How I Organize my Life

      Here’s what this Queen of Disorganization does. I live by a Daytimer.
You have to. Everybody should. I use Franklin Covey’s. Yes it is more
expensive but it is so organized. In January, I’m going to switch to a
Monarch size. That’s full size.

I put all my roles and projects on the weekly compass in the middle and
change it every week. I write the 3 major things I have to do that day on
the top of the appointment section and number them. Then I write all the
tasks to do that day on the daily task list.

I put a satellite page for every project I have going in the middle
section and move them over every day. That way I don’t have to keep writing down
the same action steps that I didn’t get done today. (My goal is to only have
3 projects going at a time.) Joke. ;)

In the back I have sections for each project I’m working on or thinking
about. In another section, I have my goals so I can review them weekly
and remember them. (I DO forget where I’m going.)

Every morning I lay out my day based on what everyone else needs me
to do and what I need to do. But I’m thinking I should do this at night
because I waste valuable quiet morning time organizing when I could do that at the
end of the day.

Then I just work my way through it and I can sleep very well because
every thing I need to think or do is on paper in an organized way. (That’s the
only part of my life that is!) ;)

With life as complex as it is these days, there is no way to remember
every thing. This is just one thing we all should be doing as good managers of our
homes and businesses.

And did anyone teach us to manage our time in school? No, because it
was managed FOR us. That’s the way you train employees. Entrepreneurs
must learn how to manage their time for themselves. And that’s not easy.

Talk about another gap in our education…

Okay. So much for my sermon of the day. Back to what I was doing.
Let’s see, which rabbit was I chasing…

So many books, so little time…

Rhea!
who is really worse than it sounds

Home Organization Tips for Moms

Keeping your home as organized as possible will help to maximize your time.  No more running around at the last minute looking for keys, book bags or your little ones favorite sweater.   Life is busy, we are busy, and at times, keeping an organized home can be challenging.  Here are a few quick and easy home organizing ideas to help get you started.

1 - Under-the-bed storage boxes: These boxes are one of the hottest items when it comes to home organization.  You can purchase them inexpensively from Wal-Mart, Target and other places. They have new ones that have hinges, wheels, and all kinds of improvements that make them easier to use.  They are great for out of season clothes, toys, or books and they fit easily under beds and in closets.

2 - Purge:  Donating things  to charity not only helps someone else, but it helps you stay more organized by freeing up valuable space.  Make a Donation Box. Simply get a large cardboard box and label it ‘Donation Box.’ Every chance you get, place items that are in good condition, but you no longer use, inside the box. When it’s full, call your local charity to come pick it up, or drop it off if they don’t offer a pick-up service.

3 - Control the Paper:  Use a portable filing container that is capable of holding hanging files and that can be transported to someplace else if necessary. The ones with handles are nice, since they can be transported to different homes, on vacation, etc. Some of these containers have snap-shut compartments for pens, pencils, clips, and more. 

4 - Your Kitchen Counter:  Take a moment to remove any items that you don’t use on a regular basis from your counter tops. Instead, store them in a cabinet or even your basement or garage (if you don’t use them very often).

5 - Your Linen Closet -  A great tip for organizing sheets is to keep your fitted, flat sheets and pillow cases organized together as sets.  Fold up the entire set and then place the folded set inside of one pillow case.  This saves space and and your sanity when it comes time to look for your sheets.

6 - Kids Toys: - Invite your children to help you organize their toys.   Clear, plastic storage boxes are usually the best choice for storing most toys.  You can have your children help you sort the toys then put them into the clear boxes.  You can take it a step further and label the storage boxes or cut out a picture of what is in the box (i.e. if the box is filled with Barbie’s, cut out a picture of a Barbie Doll and have your child tape it to the box).  This will help them keep their own toys organized. An organized home is a family affair.  If you are starting a new organizational routine, be sure to explain the new rules to everyone.  If you stay consistent, it won’t be long before your whole home is in order.

If you need more organizing ideas, you can visit: http://www.reallifesolutions.net/getorganized.HTML

I’d love to hear your comments and personal stories.

“Why Don’t They Return My Calls?!”

I hear this lament over and over again from my clients.

“I’ve called them 8 times and they won’t pick up the phone.”

“I leave messages and they don’t call me back.”

I could teach a whole course on this subject - hey maybe I will!  But, today I want to address some very practical reasons your calls go unreturned and give you some very practical solutions.

First, what do you say in your message on the 5th call? “Um, hi, this is Sally and I, um, am still trying to reach you….”  Believe it or not, I’ve heard these very words from many, many direct sellers in coaching sessions.  Not effective or compelling is it?

Second, are you giving them a reason to call you back?  It’s going to take more than the “Call me back before I call you” strategy in today’s market.

Third, do you make contact when you are NOT trying to sell them something?  Meaning, do you call with just a helpful tip (that has to do with your product, of course) or to say “Happy Birthday” with no sales message attached?

And last but not least, how do you bring your contact system under control so that it is warm, friendly and as automated as you can make it so that it does not eat up your time - and still accomplishes the above points?

The solution I use when coaching my clients is called “The Call-Mail-Call” system.  That means you have a strategy on the first call - assume you will get their voicemail and say something like: “Hi Mary, this is Sally with XYZ company.  I am so sorry I missed you.  I am going to pop something in the mail to you that is time sensitive - and you know how the mail is.  I’ll call you in a couple of days to make sure you got it because I don’t want you to miss out!”

Then send a note that is personalized, with their name on it, with a time sensitive offer that expires in no more than 2 weeks.  Give it 3-4 days to arrive and call again.  This time, you can say “Hi Mary, this is Sally.  I just wanted to make sure you got my note with that great special offer.  If your are interested be sure to give me a call by (date) so you can get yours!”

Then leave them alone.

My clients who employ this tactic experience amazing success.  Especially if they alternate with, or even include, a freebie tip on their note. 

You are 1) building relationships 2) focusing on a specific reason for your calls and 3) staying in front of your prospects and clients without being a pest.

Now for the system/automation part.  You can keep a stack of pre-stamped, pre-written postcards on your desk and as you hang up the phone, write “Dear Mary” at the top, address it and pop it in the mail.  The trick here is to keep the same pen handy you used to pre-write the card!

Or you can use a more automated system like www.directsellingsuccesscards.com (yes, this is my brand of Send Out Cards) that lets you send personalized cards, in your handwriting, with a real stamp - all with the push of a button. It is a super easy way to send all those holiday cards you keep wanting to send.

See - here’s the thing - we don’t get personal mail anymore.  An envelope or postcard in the mail box just for us is now interesting and novel - it gets our attention.  Much the same way email used to be novel - and now it is just overwhelming (hmmm…like junk mail!).

We are more likely to read a hand-addressed note that arrives at our door than we are to open yet another email in our inbox or return another call from our overloaded voicemail box. 

It doesn’t really matter how you execute the Call-Mail-Call system - it just matters THAT YOU USE IT!  You will be amazed at how much stronger your relationships will be with those you are trying to communicate with about your products and services.

So give it a try and let me know your results!

Love & Success!
Sarah

Am I Ready For Podcasting?

A friend posed this question to me today.  She really wondered if she was ready for podcasting.  In her case, my answer was a definite yes - but it has me wondering… in what situation would a person not be ready for podcasting?

You’re not ready for podcasting if you don’t know who your target market is and exactly what you want to achieve with a podcast.  Going into the realm of internet broadcasting without a focus or a plan is just silly - unless you’re doing it for fun… but we’re all entrepreneurs here and we know that we don’t really do anything online ’for fun’ do we?

You’re not ready for podcasting if you’re not comfortable with the sound of your own recorded voice.    I remember how embarassed I was in the beginning.  All I can really say is that you will get over it.  Realize that nobody else hears anything different than usual.

You’re not ready for podcasting if you don’t have a well developed sense of commitment to the project.  Do not start a show with a ‘let’s see how things go’ attitude.  Set down a time frame, whether that is three months or six months or a year, and jot down a date for evaluating it’s progress.  Decide in advance when you will take breaks for holidays or special events in your life and do not veer away from your plan.  This will help you to avoid the podfade phenomenon.

You’re not ready for podcasting if you can’t make a huge list of potential show topics.  You should be able to jot down 25 or more show ideas right off the top of your head if it’s a topic that you’re passionate about and compliments your business.  Seriously, 25 would be my short list!

Just a few reasons that you may not be ready… but if none of these cause you to stumble… what are you waiting for?

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