October 05, 2009

SPENDING MONEY ON ADDRESS LABELS TO HELP MAKE MONEY FOR YOUR CAUSE

With more people struggling financially it has become ever so important to become involved in charity work and helping others. Doing so, lets you help others and really just gives you a good feeling all over, knowing that you are doing something that can truly help others. I truly believe that what you give in this world, you receive back and that is why I love doing volunteer work.

I have been a volunteer for one such organization for many years, but when I heard of another charitable organization starting up in our area, I decided I could handle both and decided to use my experience to help them get a good start. Now in the first organization I have been working with for many years, we have done several fund raisers that have been very successful and we have been very organized with them. We just mail free return address labels to people and in turn we ask for a donation. You would be amazed how much more quickly you receive donations when you send something like address labels in the mail to people. They truly just can't resist sending you a donation. Either way they get the labels to use, but this kind of makes them feel that they should send something and works really well. We have received so much extra money since we started doing these address labels, that I just had to recommend using them to my new organization as well. At first they had concerns about spending money on these address labels in advance, but when they realized how little they cost, they were excited to learn that these little labels could really stimulate donations as much as they do.

I have helped them get the mailings together using rubber stamps to put our address on the envelopes for the donations and we are ready to go. They are a great group of people, they just need a little direction and we will have plenty of money to donate to needy families for the holidays this year. It is exciting when you can contribute to your community by doing charity work. It is a great way to give back and get some good karma as well.

Posted by juliusp at 08:18 AM | Comments (0)

August 20, 2009

SHOPPING FOR PROMOTIONAL PRODUCTS ONLINE


When you live in a big city, you may have access to a bunch of retail outlets that offer promotional business products, however if your business is located in a more remote, rural location, then you would be best suited to shop for great promotional products online.

You will find that when you begin looking through promotional product websites that there are so many products to choose from and it is best to choose a company that not only offers common items like promotional lanyards and promotional water bottles, but a company that also offers a full selection of promotional clothing as well. The more items that a promotional products company offers the better for you and your business.

After all, once you find a good, reliable promotional products company that you are happy with, then you will want to stick with them for all your promotional needs and over time you will not want to continue promoting your business over and over again with the same products. You will want to use different promotions over different time periods so you want a full service company that will be able to meet your changing business needs.

When choosing a promotional products company look for the following:

- An incredible variety of unique products.
- A customer service line, where you can talk to real people about your concerns, needs and which products are best for your business.
- The Better Business Bureau seal of approval. If a site doesn't have this then contact the BBB and check them out.
- A company that accepts all of the major credit cards through a secure server. This helps you establish that they are a legitimate company.
- A company that is discontinuing old products and adding new ones. This shows that they are changing and updating their inventory to keep up with the changing times.
- A promotional products company that has reasonable prices, competitive in the market, but not overly cheap.
- A company that offers you a choice of lesser or greater quantities with a discount given to those who purchase higher quantities.
- A company that offers you a sample of their work before placing a large quantity of a specific item so that you can see and feel the quality of the items you will be receiving.

Posted by juliusp at 07:13 PM | Comments (0)

December 16, 2008

TOM AND THE SILK SCREEN PRINTING BUSINESS

A friend of mine from back home just opened his own silk screen printing business. He almost didn't do it because the economy was so bad, but he had been looking into doing this for the past several years, and had finally saved up enough money to open his own place. He not only sells t-shirts, but screen printers can actually print on almost anything, and so he has a lot of cheap novelty items which I just know are going to sell really well in this economy. He is in our home town, so he will get a lot of the townies who want to support his business coming in and buying gifts for Christmas. He gets a lot of his products wholesale online, and they come to him plain and then he uses this incredible silk screening machine to print them up. He can do just about anything with this machine and also got a really good deal on it on the internet. He says if business goes well in his store, then he might just open up an e-business, you know a store front on the web. I told him I thought it was pretty easy to open a web business, but he said that after looking into it, there is a lot that he doesn't know about the marketing end of the whole thing. He said that he will have to get up enough money to pay someone to do his marketing for him. I think that he really has what it takes to run a business. He is very charismatic and is very focused on the customer service end of his business, as well as keeping the prices reasonable. In the past month, he was able to pay all his expenses out of the business. He said there wasn't much left after that, but worries about how well his business will do after the Christmas rush. Fortunately for him, he planned the whole thing out really well, and has been working at night to make sure that he can afford to keep his business open into the new year, even if the sales do slow down a little bit.

As soon as I get home, I am going to pick up some of the stuff that I ordered for family and friends from him. He says that the t-shirts are waiting for me when I get back into town, and I can't wait to see how they came out. It is a great way to get all my shopping done quickly and inexpensively while helping to support a friend in his new business.

Posted by juliusp at 10:16 AM | Comments (0)

December 10, 2008

Forex Trading

Das Forex Trading bietet die Chance auf enorme Gewinne mit einem relativ geringem Einsatz. Diesen Chancen stehen naturgemäß auch entsprechend hohe Risiken gegenüber – das eine kann man nicht ohne das andere bekommen.
Bevor man sich also mit echtem Geld ins Forex Trading stürzt, sollte man sich genau über die Risiken informieren und Verlusten durch bedachtes Handeln vorbeugen.
Es kann beim Forex Trading eine Menge schief gehen, jedoch gibt es ein paar Klassiker, die man auf jeden Fall kennen muss, damit man nicht die Fehler vieler anderer Anfänger wiederholt und dabei teures Lehrgeld bezahlt.
Fehler Nummer eins ist, sich ohne ausreichende Informationen dem Devisenhandel zuzuwenden. Auch wenn das Forex Trading auf den ersten Blick einfach erscheint, ist es auf den zweiten ein durchaus anspruchsvolles Geschäft, für das man fachliche und persönliche Voraussetzungen mitbringen muss, die nicht jedem gegeben sind. Auch wenn die Werbung vieler Forex Broker das Gegenteil behauptet, kann durchaus nicht jeder erwarten, erfolgreiches Forex Trading zu betreiben. So fehlt den Anfängern in diesem Geschäft naturgemäß jede Erfahrung – ein schweres Handikap, dass sich nur durch langes Üben, am besten auf dem „Trockenen" beheben lässt. Es geht bei der Erfahrung nicht nur um die Funktionalität einer Software, die man für das Forex Trading benutzt, sondern auch darum, ein Gefühl für den Markt zu entwickeln. Bevor sich jedoch dieser „Siebte Sinn" einstellt, falls man es überhaupt soweit bringt, wird einige Zeit vergehen.
Das führt direkt zur nächsten Voraussetzung, die für einen langfristigen Erfolg erforderlich ist, nämlich Geduld. Wer auf schnelles Geld aus ist, wird mit größter Wahrscheinlichkeit scheitern und bald seinen gesamten Einsatz verloren haben. Nur wer langfristig denkt und handelt, kann auf dem Devisenmarkt Gewinne machen – ein Grundsatz, der im übrigen für jedes Geschäft gilt.
Der Forex Markt hat sich in den letzten Jahren auch verändert, zum Nachteil für Neueinsteiger. Die Popularität des Forex Trading zieht immer mehr Marktteilnehmer an, was zu größeren Kursschwankungen führt als früher. Das eröffnet zwar neue Gewinnchancen, macht den Handel für den Unerfahrenen aber umso gefährlicher.

Posted by juliusp at 10:09 AM | Comments (0)

August 28, 2008

business gifts

Promotional items are a great way for businesses to get their name out in the open and to get new customers interested in their product. Now that school has started there are so many companies giving out business gifts, like signing up for a bank account gets you a t-shirt or a mouse pad or free pencils. Or spending a certain amount at the bookstore means you get a water bottle or at other bookstores you get a book full of coupons to use all around town. Students, especially the ones that don't know any better (usually the freshman who just left their parents and are on their own for the first time) but occasionally upperclassmen, jump at the opportunity to open a credit card and get a free pizza. These promotions may seem great right now (especially if you're hungry), but when that card comes in the mail a few weeks from now and you open it and swipe, then swipe again and again, you are going to be paying for way more than that one pizza you got for free.
From a business aspect though promotional items on a college campus are brilliant. What 18-22 year old doesn't want a free pizza or to save on their million dollar books? (Literally my books cost over a thousand dollars this year). So when someone tells me to sign up for a credit card or a checking account and I'll save 20% on my books, it seems unbelievably tempting (that's saving about 200 dollars in the short run).
While I am ripping on the promotions that tend to screw students over, they do have some really great things going on now. Like the new bookstore is handing out water bottles on the corner. Who doesn't want a free water bottle when it's 92 degrees out and you spend the whole day walking from class to class and up and down stairs? And not only do we use that water bottle once, we will use it over and over again (most likely to hide alcohol in it or something), but it will catch our eyes and if we got a deal from a book store, we are likely to go back (poor college students love deals).
So it's great to be in college, even though I have to watch myself for tricky credit card tricks, it is nice to get the occasional free sub sandwich or water bottle.

Posted by juliusp at 12:44 PM | Comments (0)

August 11, 2008

promotional umbrellas

Promotional umbrellas are brilliant. I live in Muncie, Indiana for most of the year because I go to school there, so if it isn't snowing (which is does A LOT), it's probably raining. I swear it feels like it rains at least 5 out of the 7 days in a week sometimes. And if you are a college student in Muncie, you better own an umbrella, because walking from class to class in the rain is one thing, but sitting through a whole class soaking wet is intolerable.
If I was a business person that had just opened a company, promotional umbrellas is something I would really consider. Everyone needs an umbrella, and who really thinks to go out and buy one. It's weird, I have so many umbrellas that I have accumulated over the years, but I don't remember actually going out to buy an umbrella specifically. I would say over half of my umbrellas have some company's logo or name on it and was probably free from a stand or an informational booth that company was at, telling people about their business. But to tell you the truth, I don't, and I'm sure a lot of people don't really care what my umbrella looks like. No matter what it says on it, an umbrella will keep me dry, and that is all that I care about, and if its free, even better. Now if I was a business person giving out promotional umbrellas I would really benefit, because I know at least at Ball State, people bring their umbrellas everywhere because you never know there when it will rain! You see different umbrellas everywhere and you can't help but notice what's on them. So if I see a pink umbrella I think, wow that's cute or if I see an umbrella with a logo or name of a business I think about that particular business. So many people see umbrellas around, so if you are a business with your name on what, you are really getting your name out there for people to see! I see umbrellas on the street on the way to class and on the floor I class (I probably look at the umbrellas more than the teachers notes on the board) and even at the bars in the doorway peoples umbrellas are sprawled out getting out the names of businesses.

Posted by juliusp at 12:35 PM | Comments (0)

June 30, 2008

six sigma training

As part of the business department, all of the freshman, like myself, have been told about an awesome new program that the university is offering this year. We are all being offered a basic level training in this efficiency program called Six Sigma. Basically what I gather it to be is a way of getting existing companies to overhaul their system while it is still functioning and increase their efficiency. We will have to pay an extra, small, fee for the training but I think that it seems to be worth it. I would imagine most of us who graduate are not doing so with the intention of starting a business the second we graduate. That is why I think it is a great idea for us to see how internal changes work as well as get and education on starting business from the ground up. I personally know that I want to work in an established corporate office first because I don't think I know enough about relations and how to deal with people enough yet to manage my own startup. That doesn't mean I don't have ideas and I don't see myself as the head of the next Motorola or something. I know, as a young person, that industry today is all about your idea. The old models of internal function of business still work as does democracy. The main difference today is that if you can form an idea that people are going to latch on to then all you need to do is say the word and people will come. At the same time you must be a savvy person and have the quick wits to be able to steer clear of the dangers of the American as well as globalized business markets.
We start in the fall and it will be run as part of an internship style course. Basically we will meet the consultant at an office here in town and we will go through the training as if we were part of the company. That is how she will illustrate her points and get us to honestly see, and not just think about, what our goals are as part of the Six Sigma training.

Posted by juliusp at 12:16 PM | Comments (0)