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Sunday, November 18th, 2007There’s no time of year when good service is as important as it is during the holidays. With all the hustle and bustle, it’s terribly easy to get angry, upset, and just plain scrooge-like. Here are a few questions to ask yourself about your holiday attitude (and your attitude in general!):
-When you see a child crying, do you think, “The mother needs to shut that kid up already,” or do you think, “Poor dear, it must be terribly frustrating for her to shop with her children.”
-When you see a local woman who has been known to “indulge” on occasion, do you sneer at her, or do you feel a genuine concern and hope that a drug rehab program is in her future?
-When you see a poor family in your store, clearly touching your merchandise with little intent to purchase, does it make you angry to see them, or do you wish them a Merry Christmas and offer them candy canes and a warm smile?
Obviously, there are more answers than the 2 I’ve provided in each scenario, but it should make you think. Is your attitude primed for the season?
Great Gadget Gifts for the Holidays
Sunday, November 18th, 2007As I mentioned before, I think it’s important to bring in a certain number of new items around the holidays, especially if you own a brick and mortar store. Given the fact that people will buy almost anything during the holiday season, you’ll almost definitely increase your sales by bringing in some unexpected additions.
Gadgets are one of many great add-ons. Some of the hot ones this year include USB Missile Launchers, USB Lamps, USB Christmas Trees (are you sensing a trend here?), keychain memory sticks, and remote control helicopters (remote control toys are always a hit).
As always, if you have further suggestions, please feel free to contribute.
Sports Gift Ideas for Men
Sunday, November 18th, 2007If you run a gift store, there are a number of traditional gift items that you might want to consider offering to your customers this winter. I’ll start with sports-related items, but I hope to go through several areas of interest and several different demographics. I’ve listed my thoughts below, but I welcome additional suggestions in the comments below.
Sports Items: Local team highlights DVDs, golf balls, golf desk accessories, water bottles or coffee mugs with local teams, and possibly sports related ties or tie clips.
Managing Performance in Your Business
Sunday, November 18th, 2007One of the most important parts of any business is business performance management. Without some established system, you have no way of knowing if you’re on the right track. What’s more, it gets harder and harder as your business gets larger.
If you feel like you’re getting to the point where it’s a difficult task in your business, there are softwares that can be combined with your current systems to help you out. Any number of commercial providers would be more than happy to help.
Starting a Business
Sunday, November 18th, 2007Starting a business is kind of like starting a family. It opens up dozens of new things that you have to start thinking about: life insurance, health insurance, payroll, payroll taxes, inventory, funeral insurance, worker’s comp, unemployment…and the list could go on all day.
Even still, the sense of freedom and accomplishment that comes with it is amazing. So, if you’ve been waiting, take the first step. Go down to the courthouse and register a name. It usually costs less than $50. Then, just keep going, taking one small step at a time. You’ll be glad that you did.
Saving Your Data
Sunday, November 18th, 2007I’m always shocked when I hear that someone keeps all of his or her important business data on a single computer. Have you people never heard of hard drive failure, viruses, and power surges? Bad things can happen, and if you’re not backing up your data, you could have huge problems when tax time rolls around.
I always recommend keeping a backup on an external hard drive. If you can, use two and make sure that one is always near your computer and the other is kept off-site in a secure location. You have no idea what it’s like to lose all your data until it happens. Be careful.
Holiday Promotional Ideas
Sunday, November 18th, 2007A lot of businesses give away little gifts or treats during the holiday season. That’s especially true if you have a brick and mortar store. Here are a few thoughts about what you could do over the following weeks.
-Warm cider and holiday cookies. In all seriousness, I would probably make a special trip to shop somewhere that did this.
-Candy Canes. They’re cheap, but kids and adults love them.
-Free package of Christmas cards for puchases over $X. This is handy for early in the season sales.
-Holiday music. Yes, it should be playing on your speakers, no matter how crazy it makes you and your employees.
-Peanut Brittle…although you practically need a liability waiver for the dental bills that may come from eating it.
Feel free to post your own ideas in the comments…
A Caution
Friday, November 16th, 2007I used to work at a bank, so I’m pretty picky when it comes to my checking accounts. I refuse to pay a monthly account fee, and I definitely wouldn’t bank anywhere without free online banking. I’ve never understood people who will.
For business purposes, I haven’t always been so lucky, but that’s to be expected. Even still, you can do very well if you shop around. Don’t take the first account that you see, and don’t assume that a good personal checking account means a bank will have good commercial accounts. Little expenses can mean a lot, especially if you’re just getting started.
I’m Guilty…
Friday, November 16th, 2007You’d never know it by talking to me, or by encountering me in any normal, everyday situation. You probably wouldn’t even guess it by the way that I dress. For most people, it’s quite a shock. It’s not until someone comes to my house that they realize it - I am pretty much a man when it comes to decorating.
My walls are bare, my windows are unadorned, and I don’t even own a picture frame. I’m all about the essentials. If something doesn’t serve a purpose, I don’t own it. Given the fact that a big part of my day job involves shopping for the gift and home products I’m always blogging about, that surprises a lot of people.
Lately, it’s come to my attention that my lack of decorating is kind of weird. That’s why I’d like to start out simple, with an elegant but understated Harold Miller Atomic Clock. That way, I’m decorating my house but still getting the function that’s important to me. It would actually look pretty nice in my living room, and I’d be able to use something other than the clock on my cell phone to figure out what time it is when I’m in there. Even better, I wouldn’t have to worry about setting it, since Atomic Clocks are (mostly) automatic (the screwy daylight savings time rules aside, of course).
Looking around the 1-800-4clocks site, I realized that there are an awful lot of clocks in the world. I realized that I could probably use a new alarm clock, too. I also saw Howard Miller Grandfather Clocks that my mother would go nuts for.
Anyway, whether you’re an advanced decorator or a novice like myself, definitely check them out.
Blog Hosting
Thursday, November 15th, 2007When I first set up my blogs, I chose a host based on what I had heard from people I knew. Mostly, I selected it because I knew the company had been around a long time. Over the last couple of years, that’s caused some hang-ups with certain installations. When that happens, I usually end up spending 20-30 minutes (or more) on hold waiting for the host’s support team. So far, it’s always been fixed, but I definitely wish I would have thought about these things sooner.
Today, I would make the decision a little more carefully. It’s important to choose a blog hosting solution that allows for a great deal of control and scalability, because you really never know how big your blog will get in the future. There’s also no easy way to figure out what softwares you’ll eventually want to use, so you need to make sure you’ll be able to get plenty of MySQL databases.
If you want to run a number of blogs, you should also take that into consideration. Some services allow you to host just one blog per hosting plan, and that can get very expensive very quickly if you run many sites at all. And trust me, there will be those times when you think you have an awesome idea for your next site, you register the domain, and then you just let it sit there for months. I’m speaking from experience.
AQ Host is unlike a lot of hosting services because they offer Wordpress hosting plans that can accommodate a number of domains for one monthly fee. They also offer videos to help you figure out Wordpress, assuming that you need them. In fact, as I’m reading over their website, I’m realizing that my 37 domains would probably be better hosted with AQ Host. I’ll definitely be reading more of the details.
Funding Your Restaurant
Sunday, October 21st, 2007Restaurant Financing has a lot in common with other types of small business financing. Both can be difficult to obtain, particularly for a young entrepreneur or someone just getting started. Unfortunately, such types of businesses also have high failure rates, which can also make it difficult to get the funding necessary to get started.
If you’re looking for funding for a restaurant or small business like a store, check out Advanced Restaurant Financing’s page on small business loans. Even if they don’t turn out to be the place for you, you’ll get some valuable information while you’re there.
Non-Permanent Parking Barriers
Tuesday, September 25th, 2007If you rent a brick and mortar retail space, parking lot space can be a huge issue. Nearby businesses or activities can lead to your spots getting filled up, which in turn robs you of valuable customers and revenue. Improper use of your parking lot is a form of theft that takes money out of your pocket and surely as any petty thief.
That’s why they make things like these collapsible bollards. Instead of allowing your spaces to be pilfered, you can set up official-looking barriers and markers to let people know your intentions. They’re not all permanent, either, so you can remove them as necessary. You can also use them to ensure that you have a spot near your business in the mornings when you come in. That’s extremely handy during cold winter months!
Moving
Sunday, September 23rd, 2007When I first moved in with my significant other, we didn’t have a lot of stuff, so we did the moving ourselves. Even still, it was insanely time-consuming. You never realize how many possessions you actually have until you have to move them.
Three years later, we moved again. The second time we moved, we got help from family and friends. That was definitely easier, but it still consumed the better part of two days for about 6 people. If you assume that everyone involved had an average time value of $25/hour, that means I wasted over $1000 in the time of my friends and loved ones - and that’s a low estimate, considering that most of the people that were helping are self-employed.
Next time we move will be next April, and it will be about 6 years from our first move. We’ll be moving to a much bigger house, and of course, we’ll have a lot more possessions. In the years that we’ve lived together, we’ve accumulated several beds, a couple of couches, some nice televisions, and an assortment of other items that we really don’t want to move. Oh, and we can’t forget the marble table. That’s not exactly lightweight.
That’s why we’ll be using movers next time. I found HomeBulletin.net, and they offer a great service that lets you find the moving companies for your area. From there, you can get free quotes from qualified movers to help you get a better rate. They also have information on commercial movers, so if you’re moving your business at the same time, you can find arrangements for both on one site.
Even better, they also had articles with helpful tips. Since different companies can alter different variables to make it harder to compare rates, the information they offer can definitely make it easier to make sense of it all. If you’re moving anytime soon and you’re sick of doing it yourself, definitely check it out.
DIY Logo Design for Your Business
Friday, September 21st, 2007If self-service design is your style, don’t stop at your signage. You can also design and purchase your logos online. LogoYes offers packages for $99, and you get to pick from their entire library of symbols. Beyond that, they also have packages that include postcards, brochures, and business cards.
What’s especially neat is that you can instantly download high-resolution versions of your logo. That’s imperative if you ever hope to have direct mail pieces printed, or if you do any kind of advertising. Low resolution files wouldn’t look at all professional. If a logo design and expenses have been a big stumbling block in your marketing efforts, check them out and give their free trial a try. You can get a logo design sample before you ever even pay.
More Wholesale Luggage Tags…
Friday, September 21st, 2007While we’re on the subject of wholesale luggage tags, I should probably mention Top it Off Accessories. In addition to their lines for hair accessories, flip-flops, and handbags, they also carry a number of bright and cheerful luggage tags. They’re a little more sophisticated in nature than the previous LugTagz line.
While they have a wholesale page, you’ll have to contact them to get the login information. You can contact them at:
Top it Off Accessories
info (at) topitoffaccessories (dot) com
phone: 617.323.2605
Need a Sign?
Friday, September 21st, 2007When you start a business, it can be a little overwhelming trying to figure out where you need to go to buy everything. As if the products themselves weren’t enough to worry about, you may also have to worry about new flooring, display units, a point of sale system, and of course, a new sign.
If you’re in the market for new business signs, you should check out BuildASign.com. They offer a variety of online customization options, so you don’t actually have to locate a designer, pay for hours of design time, and then find a sign building service. They can also do car magnets, in the event that you’d like to advertise your business in traffic. Overall, it’s a very affordable option for a business that’s just getting started.
Bringing Your Business to Television
Thursday, September 20th, 2007Getting into television advertising can be extremely intimidating for someone who’s new at it. You have to figure out the characteristics of the people you’d like to reach, then figure out what city would be the best place to do it. After that, you’ll have to figure out which cable company serves the majority of that area and contact them for quotes. You’ll probably have to go through several revisions based on the numbers in your desired categories, and finally, you’ll have to negotiate rates.
Oh, and don’t forget to hire someone to make the commercial, write it, approve it, and make sure it gets to the station in the appropriate format. Or, you could just hire someone to help you enter the TV market. Companies like Hawthorne Direct can help you out with nearly anything you’d need, including infomercial production. Give them a look if you’re in the market.
Promotional Products for Your Business
Thursday, September 20th, 2007It’s a common misconception that promotional marketing products are too expensive for small businesses to get involved with. Most places have done inkpens before, but that’s about it. Browsing Gimmees.com, though, I found half a dozen great products that small local businesses could use to get their name out there.
These Halloween bags are a great example. At less than .50 a bag, it wouldn’t be terribly expensive to supply them to local scouts or schoolchildren. Their promotional sales and closeouts section also has a lot of great deals that might not be affordable in any other situation.
So, if you’re interested in trying out some interesting promotions, head over and browse around a bit. You’ll definitely get some good ideas.
Losing the Accent
Tuesday, September 18th, 2007A good friend of mine moved to the United States from Hong Kong when he was in junior high, and even after living in the United States for almost two decades, he still has a thick accent that makes it hard for new people to understand what he’s saying. When he was younger, of course, he was more concerned with getting a handle on the language and doing well in school. When you’re in school, though, teachers can’t do much if your accent drives them nuts. They can’t exactly get rid of you for that.
Now that he’s an adult, he often finds less experience co-workers being promoted above him. His progress reports often list “communication skills” as an area to work on. While I know that he’s an intelligent, articulate person, it’s hard for others to figure that out. They’re too distracted.
I’ve told him for some time that he should sign up for an accent reduction course. It’s not that I want to encourage him to hide who he is, but when it affects his earnings and life at work, it’s a problem that should be dealth with.
What do you think? Have you ever dealt with a similar problem at work?
Fine Art for Your Store or Showroom?
Monday, September 10th, 2007Good art always improves on its surroundings. Whether you have plain walls, a small storefront, or even an already pleasing environment, your store could probably benefit from displaying a high-quality piece or two.
When you display artwork, it lets your patrons know that you care about creating a pleasant shopping experience, and it also provides a great conversation piece (this is especially great if your products don’t inspire a lot of chit-chat with random strangers).
Park West Art Gallery is one of the largest art dealers in the world (they do a lot of auctions around the US and Canada), and they have a great selection of pieces for everyone. Take a look around their site and see if anything strikes your fancy. Don’t be intimidated by the thought of “buying art”. Remember that art is meant to create emotion and enjoyment, and whatever snobby experiences you may have had with “art people” in the past are only reflections of those people, not the art world as a whole. No one is going to try to make you feel silly or unsophisticated, and you can browse their online selections for as long as you like before talking about a purchase. Happy shopping!
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