What's for dinner?

Like all working mothers including WAHMs, I am always on the look out for a great meal option that is quick and easy. Last night I found that in the new Macaroni Grill box dinners. Now some may cringe at the idea of a dinner in a box but this is quite different then the appetizing options available before. This was great tasting, easy, and not full of salty sauces and fat filled hamburger.

Our choice for the evening was the Creamy Basil. This came with a wonderful creamy sauce blend and you added milk, butter, and chicken breast. We drink and cook with whole milk but this can easily be made with 2% or skim. I chose to add more chicken than needed for the extra protein. We added green beans as a side along with marinated cucumbers in wine vinegar, salt, and pepper. It was a very hearty meal that I was not ashamed to feed my family. With prep work this took about 25 minutes to make. It was so effortless my 14 yr old could make this without question.

We plan to try their other selections in the future as these were great for a quick meal. These paired with a vegetable side or salad, this is a great meal.

Mid Summer Inventory Sale!

I have some great items available for my own companies as well as purchases I have made and just have far more than I need that is just taking up space. Everything is brand new!

Take a look and see what I have for you. Hurry! Quantities are limited!

Contact me at disneyandmickeyfan@yahoo.com to place your order or for more information.

I accept PayPal (credit card, debit card, paypal, echeck) or Revolution Money Exchange.
All items will be shipped via United States Postal Service once.

Candles:

Mia Bella Mixed Dozens
Each $25 plus shipping
I am not a Mia Bella rep and do not claim to be. These are just an overstock of candles I have.

Dozen #1 Includes:
Apricot Freesia
Caramel Apple
Victorian Rose
Chili Vanilli
Tahitian Spiced Vanilla
Lemon Verbena
Sicilian Lemon & Rosemary
Forbidden Fruit
French Vanilla
Georgia Peach
Sugar Cookie
Cucumber Cantaloupe

Dozen #2
Black Cherry
Ginger & Cedarwood
Caramel Apple
Lemon Verbena
Christmas Essence
Peach Papaya
Apricot Freesia
French Vanilla
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Cactus & White Peach
Forbidden Fruit
Blueberry Cobbler

Partylite 16 piece Summer Sampler
$15 plus shipping
I am a previous Partylite rep. This is part of my left over inventory.
Mellow Mango
Peach Passion
Raspberry Rapture
Marvelous Melon
Pistachio Pizzazz
Strawberry Parfait
Butter Pecan
Blueberry Swirl
Berry Bliss
Lemon-Lime
Tangerine
Watermelon
Wild Lavender
Sunset Fiesta
Tropical Rain
Blue Lagoon

I have more Partylite items (candles and accessories) available per request. Sorry I no longer have Partylite business materials.

Mineral Girlz:
Mineral Girlz products can be viewed at www.GirlzStylin.comI am a Mineral Girlz Consultant and these are from my inventory and personal offer to you. These special prices are not available through Mineral Girlz or any other consultant

Lip Smacking Gloss Set w/ clear pouch
5 for $30 plus shipping
Save $10
Simple Sparkle
Bubbly
Be Mine
Fresh Berries
Show Off

Single items can be purchased for $7 each (only available for colors listed)

Sugary Sweet Lip Glaze
3 for $18 plus shipping
Save $6
Daring
Gracious
Fearless

Single items can be purchased for $7 each (only available for colors listed)

Sweet Cheeks Blush
$6 each plus shipping
Save $2
Radiant
Timid

Super Sparkle Dusting Powder
$7 each plus shipping
Save $2
Pixie Dust
Fairy Dust
Super Shimmer

Small 5 piece brush set (synthetic bristles)
$3 each
Save $3
Includes:
Powder brush
Chisel brush
Angle brush
Sponge applicator
Lip brush

Sudz Bar
$5 each plus shipping
Save up to $2
Random
Giggles
Angelic
Lavender & Shea Butter
Oatmeal Milk & Honey

Salt Scrubz
$6 each plus shipping
Save $2
Random
Giggles
Angelic
Oatmeal Milk & Honey
Sweet

Salt Soakz
$6 each plus shipping
Save $2
Random
Giggles
Angelic
Oatmeal Milk & Honey
Sweet

Creationz By Me Base (unscented, uncolored) 8oz bottle
$4 each plus shipping
Bubble Bath

Perfume
$3 each plus shipping
Save $1
Sweet Spray
Angelic Roll-on
Random Roll-on
Giggles Roll-on

Toys

Stuff A Friend animal kits
$8 each
Save $7
Includes unstuffed animal, stuffing, wishing star, stuffing stick, instructions, birth certificate
Choose your animal:
Ivory Bunny
Orange Striped Cat
Pink Pig
Dalmation
Tan Bear
Giraffe

Outfits also available per request.

Setting Goals

As a WAHM/D building a business, at the top of your list is your goals. Your goals are your foundation and direction in which your business moves forward and build. Without goals you will wander in every direction but foward.

When thinking about your goals, these need to be realistic. What are realistic business goals? A realistic goal is what you should be able to meet with persistence and hard work. This does not mean keep them simple. Challenge yourself but make sure you are aware of the acheiveability of these goals. An example of an unrealistic goal is making a million dollars and live debt free. A realistic goal is to make enough money to pay for your mortgage payment using your profits. If you meet that goal, go back and set a new goal. Once your acheive a goal, your goal setting is not over.

Why should you set business goals? Setting goals give you focus and a reason for being in business in the first place. It does not matter whether you are selling your homemade candles or you have just become the new beauty consultant in your neighborhood for an up and coming company.

When beginning to think about your goals, think short term. Take baby steps. You can't go from the bottom to over the top over night. Do it right and do it right the first time. Start with how much you would like to earn each month. Now remember to keep this realistic. There is no such thing as fast money in an honest business. Lets start with $100 a month. This number sounds very reasonable and less intimidating. Make it more attainable by breaking it down further to weekly. In this case it would be $25 a week. Maybe your weekly or monthly goal will be sponsoring a new member to your team or courting a new customer even breaking out of your shell and meeting new people and giving out your card. If you are in a home party plan you goal could be 1 party booking. Your goals are anything you will acheive to build a flourishing business.

Now that you have your short term goal, how are you going to acheive this? Time to make a list. This is where that notebook I have mentioned time and time again comes in. How many new people will you approach? Will you host a party that week? This is the time to be honest with yourself and know what you will and will not do to acheive those goals. The only thing between you and your acheivement is you.

While you are thinking about and setting your short term business goals, you also want to keep in mind the long term business goals. I suggest starting with looking at 6 months ahead and 1 year ahead. What kinds of goals would you like to have met in your business in 6 months and at 1 year? Can you see yourself obtaining these goals? Start with 1 year and write down all the things you wish to accomplish at this point in time during that first year. Once you have your 1 year goals, break it down to 6 months.

By now you should have weekly, monthly, a 6 month goal, and a 1 year goal. Don't write them down to never be seen again. Put these on your calendar. Refer to them often. Look over them from time to time and modify anything that may have changed. Make new goals to replace goals acheived. Never go a day without having a goal. If at any time you miss a goal, don't beat yourself up over it. Accept it, learn from it, keep moving.

You have your goals now go after them!

Olivia Vidal
© Copyright 2008

Is your attitude killing your business?

When building a business you are not just selling a product, you are also selling yourself. If people don't trust or like you, no amount of fast talking will make them want to buy.


You may think the loud mouthed, life of the party, opinionated, and ready to stand up for anything that comes your way is the best way to do business but you could be putting off people without realizing it. Do you boast to be the biggest "b" on the block with a capital B exclamation point?


If you come off overbearing and intimidating, that makes people fear you. They fear your presense and how they will be treated as a customer if concerns or a problem ever arrises. That makes them afraid to buy. If you are intimidating while trying taking their money, how will you be when you need to give it back due to a defective product?


You don't want fear instilled and connected to your business. You will be known in such ways that building a business will prove difficult if possible at all. This is the time to start looking to change your attitude and rid yourself of that horrible stigma.


You may not want to hear it but you need to know honestly how people preceive you. This is where your true friends and family come in. Ask them honestly to tell you how they see you and not just give the sweet cookie cutter picture they think you want to hear. This is extremely important to you and your busines that you receive the most honest comments. The an only then can you truly see the painted picture of the true you.


Your attitude is not just how people standing in front of you see you but also the tone in which you speak in the written word. In today's world, it is almost impossible to avoid those email messages. Today's WAHM/D goes beyond that. You join groups on Yahoo!, Google, Cafemom, and there is a plethera of message boards for every possible home business that exists. Because everything is in written form, it is difficult to convey certain feelings when it is taken in a different form.


Ever have someone react to your post as though you personally attacked them when you were only trying to be honest and helpful? Ever tried to joke with someone only for them to be upset that you were so insulting? This is exactly what we are talking about. Sometimes it is harmless while other times you are a habitual offender and always believe someone else is at fault. If you are constantly confronted and now feel as though nobody likes you, it may just be YOUR attitude and not theirs.


A few things to help change how people see you is start rehearsing our parties, have someone question you about your company and product, re-read all emails and even have someone else read them beforehand, reread all message board messages before posting and again even have someone read them before posting. If you are getting honest feedback and not just the sugar and sweet friend response, you are on your way to changing your attitude.


Olivia Vidal
© Copyright 2008

Alienating Potential Customers?

This was not my intended new blog but after talking with a few others feeling the same way, I felt this was a good time to talk about it. That is alienating customers.

Now some don't even realize they are doing it. Some simply don't care. Some realize it but feel it is a good marketing tactic and will even repeat this again.

My first personal experience with this was at an online party for a product I was very interested in. At a party you normally expect some sort of special. The special was announced and sounded great! Then the conditions came - you receive the special for signing up with a new payment system only. What!? So because I already signed up I was not able to get the special no matter what I spent. How fair was that!? So I asked is there something special for us who have already signed up? No such luck. We got full price and full shipping, no discounts of any sort no matter the order size or even a freebie thank you gift.

Talk about feeling devalued. Maybe it didn't seem like much to some but here you are so excited to attend a party, ask those burning questions, you know a game is just around the corner, and a party special to sweeten the night only to be stunned with being told if you don't help the rep earn a referral bonus, you get zip, zero, nada.

Now I thought this was an isolated incident. I spoke with a few others casually and found it is becoming common. As we spoke a few things came up about how that made guests feel - unimportant, greedy rep, selfish rep with selfish intentions, alienated, devalued, unappreciated. More importantly the most common results was everyone would not buy from that rep, did not buy during that party even if a friend was getting credit, would not buy from that company even with a better rep, have told others to not buy from the rep/company.

Now the rep I encountered could have very easily earned my sale and a few others in my position had the special gone something like sign up with {blank} and get such and such off the entire order or spend such and such amount and get so much off the entire order. This way everyone is encouraged to buy, rep makes several sales, and likely to receive return customers.

I am sure these specials sounded great in theory but I don't believe these reps really knew how they made guests feel. By the way this was not the same rep in all situations. Each had a different encounter with a different rep.

While planning your party whether home, online, or catalog, make sure you are offering something for everyone and not just a select few. This is seperate from games. If you want to offer very little as far as specials, do a game and save your customers.

Remember a happy customer is a repeat customer and repeat customers tell others who become customers. No matter how it happens that means dollars for you no matter how you add it up. A unhappy customer or potential customer means no sales, then they tell others who also become non-customers that turns into a bad reputation. No customers mean no money no matter how you add it up.

Every customer and potential customer should be valued no matter how much they spend with you. Treat them as such and reap the benefits.

An ad is just an ad. Or is it?

You have been out there promoting and you have the sweat and tears to prove it but nothing is happening. Let's look at your advertising and marketing.

When writing your ad, what are you wanting to do? Make people aware of your business or generate sales?

If you want to bring awareness to your business, your ad may look like this:

An ad that brings awareness to your business simply gives your name or company name along with basic information as shown above. This is also done with giving a company name and link and asking people to visit. This type of ad does not create sales for small businesses. While you should not use these to drive business, this is great to use in signatures as a reminder in ADDITION to your well placed ads.

An ad to help generate sales shows an actual product and description. This type of ad may look something like the one below.

Here you are trying to generate sales by bringing in customers to see the product in your ad and also view your other products. Be specific. Show off what you offer. Like they say, a pictures is worth a thousand words.

When writing and creating your ads, make sure to have a call to action such as Hurry! While supplies last! Sale ends soon! Don't miss out! What you are doing is creating a need to buy now and not later. These words can make it imperative to buy now as they may not be able to buy later.

Ads should not be lengthy. You need to grab your reader no bore them. They need to be short, sweet, and to the point. Nobody wants to spend 20 minutes reading your ad. They want to know what you offer and where to find it.

You don't have to be a great writer or a creative person to make a great ad. You just need an idea and run with it. Brainstorm. Take a piece of paper and just like in school make your bubble with the word or phrase for what you will be brainstorming on in the middle. If your business is candles, write candles in the bubble. Now think of words that describe your candles - scented, votive, wicks, colors, wax, and so forth. Come up with at least 20 words to describe your candles. Now that may seem impossible but when you start with the basics, the rest naturally comes to you. Use these words in your ads.

Marketing your business encompasses everything you do to get your name and product out there. Advertising is a portion of what marketing involves. marketing includes handing out samples, business materials, contests, newsletters, personal notes of thank you, going to events and more. Marketing involves your goals and your plan to achieve these. No matter how easy someone tells you it is to show a link and you make money, without a proper marketing plan you will never reach your full potential and likely give up before anything is really started.

In the end know what you want from your business and the ads you use. If they are not working, make them work. Change them. DO NOT use the same ad all the time. People get used to it. People want to be excited and not think that what you have is nothing new.

Olivia Vidal
© Copyright 2008

Boost your sales

You have started a new business and through your efforts you still can't seem to bring in sales. Patience is a virtue in the business world. Nothing comes fast. If you have only been at this 1 month, you may not be patient enough. Keep plugging away. You have been at this 3-6 months with little to no sales? It is time to revamp your strategy.

The easiest and best thing you can do for any customer or potential customer is follow up with them. Don't give them an ad and wait for them to come to you. Go to them. Thank them for their time, letting you show them your product, for coming to such and such party, or for making a purchase. Here is your opportunity to hook them. If they have yet to make a purchase, they are thinking about it. This is your chance to answer their questions or address their concerns. Don't leave them hanging.

Start a referral program of your own. Don't feel limited to what your company offers. If they refer so many people to you, give them a free product. Avoid giving samples here. Give a full size product or service. If you sell candles, give a jar candle. Sell makeup, give a free full size lipstick or eyeshadow. Referrals are your best source of repeat customers. Use these to your advantage. Referrals are worth their weight in gold. These are your customers and while you may have to foot the bill here, this can be worth every penny in the long run.

When talking to someone who has never heard of your products or service, give them a brochure or catalog. If they can visualize what you offer, they are more likely to buy. Get them excited about your product or service. This is great for those skeptical of what you sell. They are able to see if for themselves. For those who say no today will have a catalog or brochure in hand so they will keep your product or service in mind and become a yes tomorrow.

Someone comes to you and buys a product, up sell. Just because they are specific about what they want doesn't mean they aren't open to other products. This is especially true for customers who buy the same item all the time. Offer them an additional item at a special price. If they always buy foundation offer a blush. If you sell stuffed animals, offer an outfit. There is always something you can upsell. Listen to your customer's needs and address them.

Sometimes sweetening a deal is just the trick to hook a new customer. Offer a special coupon or small gift certificate when they make an order. This will make them come back. If for some strange reason they can't use your coupon or gift certificate they can pass it on to a friend.

Have you tried it all and still nothing? Look at your approach. How are you advertising? Are you just giving a link and telling them to come by? Just because you are giving a link does not mean people will click on it and visit. They need a reason. Gain their curiosity. Step into the shoes of the consumer and step out of the shoes of a salesperson. Test out your ad approach on others who will give you their honest opinion. If you know what others think, this can be a great deal of help. Encourage honest critisism and not the typical "that is a great ad" comments. Be specific. Create a list of questions; a survey.

Here is a list of questions to ask:
What do you LIKE about this ad?
What do you NOT LIKE about this ad?
Does this ad make you curious?
Does this ad tell you what is offered?
Is this ad easy to understand?
Is this ad fun?
What makes this ad fun?
Does this ad make you excited about what is offered?
Is this ad boring?
What makes this ad boring?
Would you buy what is offered based on this ad?
Why or why not?

Not only evaluate how you are advertising but also where. Do you belong to a bunch of ad groups? This may be the problem. Ad groups can be great but who is reading these? Are they general groups or specifially aimed at your target audience? Are you reading any of the ads or joined just to advertise? If you aren't reading them, chances are others aer not reading these either. Maybe your target is women but what you sell is geared to the wrong group of women. Are you trying to sell baby items to those without children? Are you selling chocolate to strict dieters and health concious people? That doesn't mean don't market to these people but you need to know your target audience and market to these people the majority of the time.

One thing many forget is how they feel about a product. You can do all the right things but it can come down to attitude. When talking about a product do people find you excited about it? If you are not excited, how can potential customers be excited to try it. Do you use the product? If you don't use it, potential customers will ask themselves if they don't use it why should I. Do you sound desperate when you talk? Now this one sounds strange but hear me out. When you tell people you aren't making any money and you really need the sales, that is desperate. When you beg people to help you earn a kit or win a prize, you can appear desperate. Here is the reason - you have address your needs and it all sounds like me me me. You don't make the customer feel important and address their needs. These tactics are fine with immediate family members and extremely close friends such as your best friend. These do not work on others. When it comes to your customers, it is about them and never about you. Be excited, use the product, make the customer want your excitement feel important and your sales will increase.

You may be doing all the right things you just need to reorganize.

Olivia Vidal
© Copyright 2008