A Special Thank You

A special thank you for honored contributors during our baby party.

Several WAHMs came together to offer their wonderful products for our guests.

These generous WAHMs donated some wonderful prizes for the baby shower on July 26 to celebrate our newest family (born July 25, 2009).




Wendy Mears of Discover Toys sent us some adorable toys. Even the littlest of guests were able to receive a fun gift.
https://www.discoverytoyslink.com/wendy


Wendy Welsh of Barefoot Books sent a very fun set of sing-a-long books.
Included was a wonderful fabric gift bag that a child can use for many years to come. Visit Wendy and her wonderful books at http://swimminglizard.com



Tracy Hayes of Mary Kay donated 2 gift sets for both men and women. Being a coed party this became our only male gift. These were full size products that anyone would be pleased to receive. Until meeting Tracy I was not aware Mary Kay even had a men's line. Even my husband is interested in seeing what Mary Kay has to offer. Visit Tracy and Mary Kay at www.marykay.com/thayes35

Kari Van Kleef of Scent-Sations donated a wonderful jar candle in their signature scent along with a beautiful lip gloss from their new line of mineral makeup. Visit Kari and see how Kari can beautify you and your home at http://www.homeatmiabella.com




Trisha of Beyond The Bomb donated a gift certificate for handmade bath bombs. This gave the option to choose the prefect scent. Visit Trish at http://www.BeyondTheBomb.com

Christian Walker of The Pink Poodle Boutique created some fabulous custom confetti just for our party. Our theme was Disney and we received custom confetti with various Disney inspired shapes and custom wording to reflect the party. Visit Christian's website at http://pink-poodle-boutique.com/ and order custom confetti for your next party.


Gale Langley of Scribble Prints donated some wonderful magnets and pins. These were a huge hit! Our guests were fighting over which they would get and even seen a trade or 2. Visit Gale's store at http://galesgifts.windhavenweb.com/scribbleprintsSTORES.html



Olivia Vidal
© 2009
http://sochicbagboutique.com

Understanding Lupus

On Sunday July 19 our family loss a beautiful and wonderful family member to Lupus. She was funny, beautiful, carefree, caring, loving. She never sweat the small stuff. She was full of life and if that is what we all learned from her we need to enjoy every moment and leave behind the negative.

Lupus us very much alive today. As women we are more likely to be stricken with this terrible disease than men. There are more than 1 type of lupus. Our family member had systemic lupus which is the worst kind but she lived with this from age 17 until her passing just shy of 40.

Please take a moment to understand what lupus is and spread the awareness. Visit http://www.lupus.org to learn more.

Olivia Vidal
© 2009
http://sochicbagboutique.com

Refer A Friend

For many WAHMs referrals are their ticket to success. Friends refer friends. Most of the time these turn into loyal customers.

A great way to draw in referrals is through an incentive program. Even if you are representing a company you too can create an incentive program for customers that will reward them for sending you referrals. People like to receive gratitude for send referrals. Take advantage of that fact.

Incentives can range from gift certificates, discounts, gifts. This can be a per referral incentive or cumulative meaning after so many referrals they receive a special reward. You can even customize your incentive based on the customer. If you know your customer likes a particular lipstick you can offer them a free one.

Incentives can be outside of your product line or service such as restaurant gift certificates or movie tickets. Recently I came in contact with a representative of a company who offered amusement park tickets. Be creative and think outside the box.

I've found a gift certificate to be much more memorable than a cash incentive. The reason is simple - these kind of rewards make people feel special. Finding the right incentive can be a challenge, but it's worth it. You will score big by really building your word-of-mouth business.

You also should refer potential customers to trustworthy representatives and businesses. This puts you in a networking circle. Use referrals given to you when it comes to using the products of services of a trusted company or representative.

On the other side of this if a person refers a potential customer to you and receives no appreciation for doing so, no more referrals from that customer and can even lead to losing that customer. Its extreme but it does happen. Don't risk it. If all you can do is simply send a note of thank you, do so. Make it hand written for a personal touch. Even a personal phone call thanking them is better than nothing at all. If you get continued referrals give a gift of some sort.

Referrals are the back bone of many small businesses. Utilize them. Cherish them. Thank them.

Olivia Vidal
© 2009
http://sochicbagboutique.com

Mom Packs™ now available!

I have Mom Packs™ ready to go! These are cute reusable shopping tote bag courtesy of So Chic Bag Boutique come with fillers and samples from WAHMs like you. Find a new business. Try a new product.

What is a Mom Pack™?
A Mom Pack™ is a packet of advertising pieces coordinated by individual members in order to broaden their advertising market to expand literally all over the U.S. and beyond.


Due to the size these will be sent out in priority mail boxes at $4.80 which is exact shipping plus paypal fees of $0.45 for a total of $5.25. These are not sold for profit. These are not available for international shipping at this time.

Olivia Vidal
© 2009
http://sochicbagboutique.com

"Do Not Buy" List

You start your day by reading your email and like most days you sort through some spam. You are quick to discover spam from WAHMs who "think" you will benefit from their products or service. Maybe the first few times you blow it off as bad habits but as the habit continues you subconsciously build a "Do Not Buy" list in your head.

This is a frequent practice that takes place in many areas of the Internet. An example is you belong to a message board, your post an introduction, and the first thing someone mentions is "Hi my name is Mary and I sell wigglebams and I'd love to tell you about them". Another example is you are part of a group and send out a post looking for socks and you send a post for something other than socks. This is not OK to do.

What ends up happening when you send out your "helpful" or "beneficial" message, you are ultimately black balling yourself and hurting your reputation. You may feel it is unfair and even rant and rave how all someone had to do was tell you it was not wanted. You should not have sent it in the first place when it was unwanted so their is no reason for them to be that courteous towards you.

If it was not asked for, it is spam. Spam is illegal. Spam can lead to an undesired reputation. An undesired reputation can lead to decreased or even no sales. Nobody wants to do business with someone participating in an illegal act.

Spam is not the only reason some make their do not buy list. How you conduct yourself with others can also be a factor. If you seem confrontational it is undesirable. If you are negative in everything you share why would anyone want to do business with you.

We all have our problems in life but if you are constantly posting a new tragedy each week, it gets old and unbelievable. That will make others who may have potentially purchased from you questioning if you are truly who you say you are. You can go through a bad spell of bad luck and all is true but you will be questioned and you will lose sales and be part of the "Do Not Buy" list. Reality is you will be questioned as to whether you are running a scam. Yes it is harsh but it is reality.

If you are constantly defending your "friend" you will give the impression you are part of a clique. Cliques are turn offs in business and it intimidates others. This is a deal breaker for many and will get you added to the "Do Not Buy" list.

Do you have a habit of hijacking posts? This is when you someone starts a post whether be the appropriate ad and you come running in with the competition trying to steal their sale. Maybe you justify it as giving the person options but it can be seen as a shady practice. This is a big no no and will get you added to the "Do Not Buy" list.

Also watch those personal pages. Customers are doing their research more and more. If they go to Google and type in your name that takes them to your personal profile on a networking site with inappropriate graphics, pictures, and blurbs, you instantly just lost a sale.

Do not give customers a reason to not buy from you. Do not go with the attitude if they don't like me that's too bad. You are the one that loses out. Not the customer. And remember if bad news travels. We are more likely to pass on a bad experience before we pass on a good experience.

Image is everything in business. Conduct yourself in a professional manner at all times and follow the rules. Someone is always watching and you don't want that someone to think twice about ever buying from you. You never know who is making that "Do Not Buy" list.

Olivia Vidal
© 2009
http://sochicbagboutique.com