Preparing Client Holiday Gifts - A Timeline!

Planning ahead for client holiday gifts makes all the difference!  In prior years, when I've started preparing in November, I invariably get behind.  This year, I started in early October and now that Thanksgiving is almost upon us, I feel that I am ready to send out holiday cards and distribute holiday gifts in early December.  Here's a look at my timeline:



Early October
- Write draft of holiday newsletter to go out with holiday cards
- Check to see whether we have enough holiday cards in stock or need to order more

Mid-October
- Work on re-write of holiday newsletter
- Order holiday stamps for mailing

Early November

- Purchase items for client gifts

Mid November
- Finalize holiday newsletter
- Purchase any additional wrapping or client gifts as needed

Early December
- Fold and include holiday newsletter with holiday cards and mail
- Assemble (as needed) and distribute holiday gifts to clients

Mid December
- Done!

Economic Forecasting - Whether It Makes a Difference to Your Business

Just the other day, I attended a very interesting presentation by Dr. Sohn, an economist at California State University of Channel Islands. (Note: This was part of a speaker series sponsored by the Business Advisory Council of the Martin V. Smith School of Business.) In essence, he gave an overview of the economy of our world, nation and state in about an hour. Whew--that's a lot to cover! And, for our country in particular, the news was not all that positive. (If you're living in China, though, the economic engine is going full bore!)

But, it led me to question not whether it mattered that are economy was in bad shape because we all know it matters, but what was I going to do about it and, in fact, what we could all "do about it" in terms of our businesses. We can't do much about changing fiscal policy unless we're good friends with Ben Bernecke or other economists in the Federal Reserve. And, we can certainly write to our legislators about our opinions about the tax cuts and other ways that government can help businesses save money or create reasons to hire but the wheels of government are slow. Most of all, I think all of us in business need to forge ahead.

We cannot give up. We cannot give in to doom and gloom. Being a business owner requires you to be positive. Probably we wouldn't have started a business if we'd listened to all of our friends, family and colleagues who cautioned us about the pitfalls of owning a business. We do need to be aware and agile, though, in how we operate. And, perception can drive reality. If we are positive (and persistent!), usually positive results follow.  So, it makes a difference only in the sense that you can make necessary changes to your business to adjust to the state of the economy. 

What I'm Going to Present at a Business School Marketing Class

I was recently invited to give a presentation at a "Principles of Marketing" class at a local university. I'm really flattered to have been asked! In thinking about what to present, I've decided that I'm going to give a detailed tour of my marketing efforts. I don't know whether these intitives will contradict what the professor teaches or not but it should be fun! Here's my partial agenda:
- Describe our business and target market
- List my current ongoing marketing initiatives (e-newsletter, website, webinars and seminars, blog, letters, postcards, holiday cards)
- Show the marketing consultant website that I subscribe to and resources therein and master direct marketer, Dan Kennedy
- Share and discuss the list of recent marketing books I've read

I'll report back to let you know how it went.

Held our first webinar and survived!

Since August, we've been holding seminars at our office in order to provide continuing value to our current clients and to bring in prospects. Today, we finally hosted our first webinar and it was successful! I'd give it a 7 out of 10. We had an audio problem for about the first 3 minutes and then we ended up veering off the commercial/business focus. I think with practice we'll be old hands and probably do really well. I was proud of my husband (co-owner and CEO of the company) for providing great information, for me for setting it up, and for our attendees who participated! All in all I think it was a valuable experience!

Email Marketing

I love using email marketing. I think it's really effective IF those who receive it actually open it. Therein lies the rub, as Shakespeare pointed out! I use Constant Contact and really enjoy doing it. But it's not the only arrow in my marketing quiver. People ignore email, block people, don't have time, forget--you name it. So, good old-fashioned mail is another option.

Getting Things Done Guru Shares His Wisdom

David Allen, well-known process and organizational guru, spoke at a conference I attended last week. I love how he lays out what the major issues are facing pretty much everyone. First, we need to identify the problems and issues we need to face. Second, we need to develop a plan of action and an outcome plan. Then, we need to DO it. And sometimes, we should decide NOT to do something and in so doing, have resolved the problem. Yea!!!

There are payroll services and then there are payroll services

For some reason, payroll has never been a smooth road for our company. We had one period where we had an awesome payroll service. That ended only because he was bought by Paychex. Before and after that one period, though, it's been bumpy. The latest payroll debacle occurred yesterday when our current payroll service, Perquest, withdrew funds from my checking account without my authorization and without documenting why, due to the fact that THEY had failed to pay appropriate Medicare, FUTA or social security taxes for a former employee. I think this borders on criminal. So, that happened yesterday and today we signed up with a PEO firm. I need to get the payroll, health insurance and worker's comp headaches off my plate!

Ruminating on the Roomba

In December, I was lucky enough to land on the Ellen De Generes show as an audience member for the bonus day of the 12 Days of Holiday Giveaways. I won many wonderful things including an iRobot Roomba which is a vacuum cleaner that drives itself. All I can say is wow--what an amazing thing! My carpets and floors haven't been this clean in years. Somewhat steep price tag but may be worth it. If I'd seen this BEFORE I'd received one as a gift, I might have bought it.

Here's the concept for IGotAnEnvelope.com:

Igotanenvelope is a continuous art project where people leave empty self-addressed stamped envelopes in public places to be picked up and filled by others, who then send them back.

Go the their site to check it out. How fun!