Business Resource Pick of the Week 1/26

Hello Fabulous Women!

This Business Resource of the Week was an obvious one for me:   

VistaPrint is an online resource for business cards and all the other associated materials – customized notepads, pens, virtual business cards, refrigerator magnets, postcards, even T-shirts – you name it, VistaPrint can print it for you, and at a remarkable price. 

I’ve used them for years.  They have hundreds of templates and designs you can choose from for your cards, or you can upload your own template.  Once you’ve made a business card design, they will automatically show you matching notepads, postcards and other materials which you can also order if you like.

Please note: Once you have ordered through VistaPrint once, you will start getting emails from them regularly – meaning several a week – offering you great savings on their products.  And I do mean great savings – I just placed an order for 250 FREE business cards, I only paid postage.  I have at times considered asking to be taken off their email list, but the fact is, I never know when I might need new materials, so I just delete them until I need them. 

A couple of other things to note and learn from:

As you are checking out, Vistaprint will show you several different additional things you may want to buy, primarily items like notepaper to match your cards, or upgrades to your cards (glossy rather than matte finish, for example).  Part of the reason Vistaprint can offer such good prices on their basic products is because they do a really good job of up-selling. 

My advice to you about this process is this:

1)                 Learn from it.  Up-selling (taking your customers through a process that offers them more options than they originally intended to buy) is a key to any successful business.  After all, your customers don’t know about everything you have to offer them when they first “walk in,” and how will they ever know if you don’t tell them?

2)                 Pay attention, consider the optional products or upgrades carefully, and choose the ones that make sense to you, if any.  I usually do choose the glossy upgrade, for example, because when I have the card in my hand I really like the look of the glossy over the matte finish.

3)                 Pay attention to what you like and don’t like about their check-out process, keeping in mind also that this is a very successful company which does a tremendous volume of business. 

One thing I don’t like about their process is that, after you have checked out, you will see an offer pop up for an instant rebate on your order, good for ten minutes, if I remember right.  I never went for this myself, but I understand from others that if you follow through with the link you could end up being signed up for a monthly savings program – one of those entertainment savings things – that you will get billed for every month.

So you may be wondering why I am recommending VistaPrint, after telling you that?  Very simple – I’ve been very satisfied with their products and prices, I’m warning you about the rebate thing, and I want to use it as an example – as I said before, pay attention and learn from your experience with this company as you should with every company you deal with.

With Vistaprint, I like the fact that they show me additional products to order, they educate me that way about what products are available, and I have been pleased with everything they have sold me.  I don’t like that rebate offer where, if you aren’t paying attention closely enough, you might get signed up for something you don’t want.

One of the most important things entrepreneurs do is to pay attention to what other businesses do and don’t do, get ideas, and learn from other people’s mistakes as well as their own! 

Here’s a great exercise: think of three companies that you enjoy doing business with, and ask yourself why.  What is it about their product or service or the way they treat you that makes you so happy with them.  Then do the opposite – pick three companies you do not like doing business with, and why.  And finally, look at your own business and see what lessons/changes/ideas you can take from that quick exercise to improve your business for your customers. 

Have fun with it, and make someone’s day great!

Business Resource Pick of the Week 1/16

Hello Fabulous Women!

I talk to women entrepreneurs who are working hard to start and build businesses all the time, and one of the most common things I hear is the need for high quality and reliable support and expertise. 

“I need a website!”  “I need business cards!”  “I need a graphics person!”  “I need a good accountant!”

Etc., etc., etc.

So I have decided to start a new weekly feature on the OTOP blog, with a Business Resource Pick of the Week for you all to know about, check out and use in building your businesses.

The very first resource pick is www.Elance.com, a fabulous website designed to connect you with a rich variety of high quality, reliable technical and other business support. 

The concept is simple:  when you go to www.elance.com you can post a listing for exactly what you need – a website designer, software programming, legal help, administrative support (virtual assistants), design work, and more!

You post exactly what you need, and professionals in the field will reply to your posting with details about how it can be done, what they will charge, how long it will take – essentially they will bid on your project, and you get to choose who you want to work with.  You can ask them questions, see examples of their work, negotiate the details of the job, even try out several people at once to help you make a decision of who to hire.

Of course, if you are building a business in one of those areas yourself, you may also want to check out Elance.com as a source of new customers – go and look at the project postings and bid on some yourself!

I will continue to post new resources on a weekly basis, and I also welcome suggestions from any of you who have found a great resource you’d like to share.  Maybe that resources is even – you!  That’s right, I’d be happy to direct blog readers your way, but you need to contact me so that I can find out more about your expertise, talents and skills.   

Have a fabulous and profitable week!

A Great Way to Start Your New Year

Hello Fabulous Women!

Happy New Year to all of you!  Sorry it’s been so long since my last post – a little holiday time off was great and now I’m ready for 2008!  How about you? 

I have a fabulous new website to recommend to you.

You are gonna love this!  I’ve found this great new resource for creating, building and sharing your dreams and goals!  And just in time for the New Year.  It’s a new website called VisionBoardSite.com. 

Ever created a dream board or vision board by cutting out pictures of the life you want to create and pasting them on a poster board?  It’s a powerful way to help you bring clarity and power to your dreams so that you move forward toward them every day. 

If you have seen the movie “The Secret,” you may remember one of the people in it talking about creating a vision board and then, years later, finding himself living in the exact house he had cut out of a magazine and pasted on his vision board years earlier.

Well, cutting and pasting is great, but this new website takes creating your dreams and goals to a whole new level.  It will allow you to choose from thousands of images, sounds, and more to create a beautiful, detailed action filled virtual vision board that you can share with others, update and use to inspire yourself every day.

Please go check it out by following this link VisionBoardSite.com. You can look at what people have created, and sign up for a free trial if you like it.  There’s a step by step guide, empowering affirmations, great music and images, and it’s easy, with no software to download.  I’ve just gotten started on it myself, but couldn’t wait to share it with you all – it’s a great way to start your new year!  Enjoy!

–Ann