tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123878102024-03-23T11:28:35.871-07:00ScrapBizness<b>ScrapBizness is written by entrepreneur and scrapbook industry expert, Kim Guymon. Kim is the founder of ScrapBiz - the leader in Scrapbook Business Education since 2002.</b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger657125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12387810.post-71303089722695265822012-05-22T17:11:00.001-07:002012-05-22T17:11:27.162-07:00Tuning it up!<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As of this Fall, the main ScrapBiz site will be finally shut down after having discontinued memberships a couple of years ago and the domain will be directed to this blog. I'm going to leave this blog up and MAYBE occasionally update it with whatever interests me and relates to owning a small business. I'm not as much involved in the scrapbook industry itself anymore, but I am still interested in the success of small businesses. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, I tuned up the blog a bit. I will leave this info here for all to read. Some of it is out-dated but much of it is still very relevant. I still get inquiries from time to time about the ScrapBiz Start-Up Guide and membership so I know there is still interest out there for information on starting and running a scrapbook business. Someone even asked me last winter if I had re-opened. Sadly, no. There just wasn't enough interest to sustain a business there anymore and so I made the decision to move on. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But, feel free to pick through the info here. You'll probably find something you can use! </span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12387810.post-10680710006907274792011-10-18T12:24:00.000-07:002011-10-18T12:24:07.511-07:00Too Bad Everyone Doesn't Have to Own a Business at Some Point<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A local plant nursery near me just announced they are closing. It's too bad because they were the place you could get the really COOL plants for your yard - not just the standard stuff you can get at any big box store. They will be missed.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But, the <a href="http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20111013/SCBJ02/310139999">article in the paper</a> had a comment from the owner that made me have flashbacks to the scrapbook industry. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The owner said that they were losing money because consumers were buying their plants at the big box stores and then coming to this nursery for advice on planting and caring for them. The consumers knew the big box store employees didn't know what kind of fertilizer worked best for a Japanese Maple, but they knew that this independent nursery did. They dragged all their plant issues and dying plants into the nursery for advice but left without spending a dime. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Shame on consumers. I really wish that people would but themselves in the shoes of business owners. If you don't want to shop there and pay a little more for the local retailer's fine products and experience, that's your choice. But, shame on you for buying "cheap" and then using the expertise of the independent for free. I have yet to run across a business who can exist by giving out free advice. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I can't tell you how many times this was an issue in the scrapbook industry - and probably still is. Consumers would come into their LSS and demo every tool they could get their hands on and then run to the big box store with the 40% off coupon and buy the one they wanted. Those same people then act shocked when their LSS's started closing all over the country. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have often said that a retail business is not a charity. They can't afford to give you free crop space, free advice, free demonstrations, etc. so you can go spend your money at the store that doesn't really offer any of of that. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I know everyone is looking to save a buck these days, however, it's unfair to use a small retailer for information you know you can't get where you purchased your products. Coming in to ask advice for a $200 cutter you bought somewhere else and then feeling "justified" because you walked out with $7 in paper (and therefore bought something, after all) just isn't nice. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Put yourself in the shoes of that owner who has invested about everything they can give into their LSS before you spend half an hour playing with their tools with a 40% off coupon in your purse. </span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12387810.post-48130661728908447912011-09-28T08:47:00.000-07:002011-09-28T08:51:23.540-07:00Same Tricks, Different Industry....<div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7jrlvnlYH8Sw9hDefduvM-4Z5ooRDN1PPKKVXp-iLmy7MAu6bcxVVS7aEfmoHdPMfLFfdALg-8sV7HWb2D1-d3wKuKLf8j39dCKLfyH9_7hRXYDsmFq2b57xSczY_SCt9hI4eLQ/s1600/success.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7jrlvnlYH8Sw9hDefduvM-4Z5ooRDN1PPKKVXp-iLmy7MAu6bcxVVS7aEfmoHdPMfLFfdALg-8sV7HWb2D1-d3wKuKLf8j39dCKLfyH9_7hRXYDsmFq2b57xSczY_SCt9hI4eLQ/s400/success.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was watching <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jul/05/san-diego-restaurant-to-get-a-tv-makeover/">Restaurant: Impossible</a> last night. If you haven't seen it, it's like Kitchen Nightmares that Gordon Ramsey does on BBC. I love that show, too, and have <a href="http://www.kimguymon.com/2007/10/scrapbook-nightmares.html">used it</a> in this blog. Chef Robert Irvine goes into a failing restaurant and tries to turn it around. The restaurant last night was a diner in San Diego called TRAILS. It could have as well been a scrapbook store because I heard pretty much what I listened to for nearly a decade in the scrapbook industry.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Trails had an owner who had worked in a corporate restaurant and therefore decided she was qualified to run her own. Lacking funds, she got her dad to finance it. Lacking profit, they later decided expanding it out be the way to increase the cash flow so her dad took out a second mortgage and now he is $600,000 in debt. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Reminds me of those who think that liking to scrapbook qualified them to run a scrapbook store. So, they take out a second mortgage on their home to open one without any idea how to. They think their "passion" will be enough to carry them. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The decor was cute and the food wasn't bad - something Chef Irvine rarely encounters in these failing restaurants. But, they will still losing money hand-over-fist so he set about the find out why. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">First, they bought the restaurant from the previous owner at the "Emotional Price". Dave Ramsey would call that a "Stupid Tax". Saw it all the time in the scrapbook industry. An owner, having put all their blood, sweat and tears into their business, believes it is worth MUCH MORE than the sum total of the inventory and fixtures. They believe they have a loyal customer base and that their own sweat equity is valuable. Financials don't matter or aren't offered up or requested. A buyer, not getting proper advice about how a business is priced, buys into the "this is my baby, take care of it" line and just wants what they want so bad they agree to the ethereal and baseless price. The owner of Trails paid $240,000 for about $20,000 worth of restaurant equipment in a leased building. She claimed to have gotten a "customer base" for that price, but how many of us eat at the same restaurant all the time? As Robert Irvine pointed out, Doctors and Lawyers have valuable customer bases, restaurants don't. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I consulted with quite a few people who would come to me wanting to buy a scrapbook business. They most always had the "emotional price". And, most of the time, the current owner didn't want to release financials to them. I usually said either they didn't have a clue if their business was making money or they were lying to them that it was. If they based even part of the price on ANYTHING, they usually started with the cost of inventory and fixtures. How much of that inventory was outdated, though? You can't expect to recoup 100% of your investment of inventory that no one wants anymore. I was always surprised at what people thought their little scrapbook business was worth. I usually told people it would be cheaper just to start their own and build their own reputation. Sometimes, you're buying a business no one wants to come to anyway. I cringe when I see "UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT" signs. To me, that is announcing to the public that, yes, we were awful but come try us now! It's hard to undo customer attitudes toward a business. So, unless the business is making the big bucks with a loyal customer base, it's probably better to build your own than buy someone else's albatross that they are eager to get rid of at your expense. Most of these owners rarely took home a penny while they owned the place, but now will attempt to extract their profit in the sale of it. I usually told people to walk away. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Their second mistake for the restaurant was pricing. They wanted good food at a great price so they priced food based on the cost of the food and nothing else. The owner had no idea what her daily operating costs were. She had never calculated them. She just said, "Let's set our prices at 3 times the cost of food" or some other "sounds like a good idea" strategy. "Hope" is not a good strategy for a business. She was shocked to learn that her daily expenses above the cost of the food were $900 - before she even took home a penny for herself or started paying her Dad back. Her cheap breakfasts meant her core customers were geriatric and on "fixed incomes" so she kept her prices low for them and they sang her praises - right into the poor house. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I saw poor pricing strategies way too often. The challenge of the scrapbook industry is that everyone is selling pretty much the same stuff. So, some would try to be the cheapest by shaving a few cents off the price. Then, they might heavily discount their shipping if they were online. Or, they would succumb to customer complaints about the cost of scrapbook products and try to lighten the financial burden in hopes they would sell more. Rarely did anyone <a href="http://www.kimguymon.com/2006/05/do-paper-numbers-add-up.html">run the math</a> or do any research about the <a href="http://www.kimguymon.com/2007/11/stats-math-and-scrapbook-stores.html">demographics</a>. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Her third problem was that as a mom, she didn't want to do dinner service - she wanted to be home with her kids. They had tried dinner service for a while but were losing about $500 a day on it because no one was coming. Her Chef had the same attitude - she wanted to be home with her kids, too. So, they were trying to run a restaurant on the two cheapest meals of the day. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If I had a dollar for every scrapbook store owner who didn't want to work too many hours because they needed/wanted to be home with children, I'd be rich. A business is the most demanding, needy and naughty child you'll ever have. It will over-shadow and eclipse all other children until you can afford to pay someone to manage it for you. Even then, when there is a problem, it's YOU that has to take care of it most of the time. As one owner who closed her store told me, "When my alarm goes off at 3 am for the third time in a week and I have to get dressed and go down to the store to take care of it, I wonder how much longer I want to work for free." </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A few years ago, Dr. Phil gave some business dreaming moms a reality check on his <a href="http://www.kimguymon.com/2005/10/dr-phil-business-guru.html">SHOW</a>. Basically, if you have kids at home, don't start a business that needs a lot of your time. Think smaller or go get a job with regular hours. But, the idea that you can be successful only being open when the kids are at school is unrealistic. Your customers are probably not available during those hours. They want to come after work and on weekends - the exact times YOU want to be home with your kids. </span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12387810.post-36270111775390371372010-10-18T14:51:00.000-07:002010-10-18T14:51:04.088-07:00Scrapbook Industry 2010<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'll admit that I have pretty much ceased my scrapbooking. I cleaned out my studio and have a huge pile of scrapbook paper waiting for me to drive it to the local children's hospital. My paper crafting is relegated to the occasional card or tag. I don't see myself doing traditional paper scrapping ever again. I do most of my memory preservation with digital scrapping and print it out in photobooks. In fact, I have my own </span><a href="http://www.photobooksetc.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">photobook company</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> now. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I rarely purchase scrapbook supplies anymore. The largest local scrapbook store in my area went out of business this year after more than a decade. I stopped by Michaels today because I needed some paper for a project for the teenage girls at my church. We are making these cute </span><a href="http://mylittlemochi.typepad.com/my_little_mochi/2008/11/pocket-advent-calendar.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">gum advent calendars</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. I was saddened by the lack of selection of Christmas papers. There was about 10 different ones and none of them very interesting. It was sad that there really wasn't any place else to go for a better selection. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Is the scrapbook industry dead? No, it's not. Has it contracted significantly? Yes, it has. The result is being left with whatever you can find in your area rather than the freshest fun stuff hand-picked by an independent scrapbook store owner based on what her customers are telling her they want. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Does that mean there is room for new scrapbook stores because so many places are left without one? No, I don't believe that's what it means. Although I'm sure there are some who are sort of new to the industry who believe that. It's not that many areas don't have stores because no one has thought to open one. Many areas don't have stores because there just isn't enough business anymore to support one. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have had the occasion in the last month to correspond with two people who were looking into opening or buying a scrapbook business. Both asked my opinion based on how involved I have been in the industry. While I don't necessarily participate in a business way in it anymore, I have paid attention to what has been happening to scrapbooking.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I get the feeling that the closing of so many retail stores has helped the ones that survived. Although their customers are having to come from farther away. But, as one store closes, another picks up some of those poor scrapbook retail orphans. But I also get the feeling that the new influx of customers just helps them hold steady. They don't really grow as a result of someone else closing. They just replace customers they themselves may have lost. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am also convinced that digital scrapbooking and photobooks continue to take a tremendous bite out of the traditional industry. I was walking through Michaels today and heard two women discussing how no one makes scrapbooks anymore because they don't have to print their photos. They were just a couple of shoppers - no one special. I was sort of amazed at their insight. They are on the right track. There's no compulsion to take care of that roll of film sitting on your kitchen counter. And, for me, printing THEN scrapping was more time consuming than scrapping THEN printing as I do in digital scrapbooking. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, as I corresponded with these women who came to me, some thoughts emerged regarding the industry and how you can tell that it's probably not a good idea in most cases to dump a lot of money into starting a business. Does that mean you shouldn't start a business? No. But, you should proceed with caution and with money you can afford to lose. It's advice I've actually been handing out since 2002. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Martha Steward said that if you only seek the advice of friends when you're about to launch an expensive business, you're on the wrong track. Of course your friends will agree that it's a great idea. What else are they going to say? They have no skin in the game so they are totally supportive of whatever you want to do with YOUR time and YOUR money. I daresay, though, that most wouldn't give you a minute of their own time or money to help you. Suddenly, it may not seem like that good of an idea if they have to put something up. And, despite what they say, your own friends will often never spend much in your place of business. I've seen that time and time again. They sort of expect the big discount more than they want to help you pay the bills. You simply can't build a business on the promises of friends. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Seeking the advice of someone who will challenge your idea is the best thing you can do. I will challenge your idea to enter the scrapbook industry. I figure one of two things will happen. I'll either make you SO ANGRY that you set out to prove me wrong and you'll work your rear off to make sure I see that YOU can be successful (which may actually result in your success), OR, you'll get scared and walk away. Either way, you'll probably win. Retailing of any sort isn't for wimps and the scrapbook industry is an especially challenging place.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Consider the following: </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<ul><li style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There was once probably a dozen consumer magazines in the scrapbook industry. There are now only a few left and they are very thin due to a lack of ads</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At one point, there was a dedicated tradeshow for the industry. Now, there is only CHA and the scrapbook portion of it seems to be shrinking in size of booths, number of exhibitors and attendees.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There have been instances of companies debuting products at CHA and then cancelling all orders immediately after the show and closing their business. That's not good when you can get enough orders at the biggest show there is to move forward. </span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There were 4-5 trade magazines at the highpoint. There is now one and it's not that good.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I started ScrapBiz in 2002, I worked with probably half a dozen distributors. About half of them have now closed. </span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Support organizations like ScrapBiz have all but disappeared with just a few left</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Once popular Creating Keepsakes University is non-existent as are many of the expos in many markets</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The big box retailers, who carry what's selling, have down-sized their scrapbook sections or now offer very generic, cheap products in their aisles.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Most of the direct sales companies dedicated to scrapbooking have disappeared. I get the feeling the ones left are limping along. </span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lots of very popular names in the industry have added digital scrapping to their offerings. Most retailers "pooh-poohed" the idea of digital scrapbooking and paid a price as lots of their customers left to pursue it and never darkened their door again. </span></li>
</ul><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can't blame the economy. The scrapbook industry started to decline in about 2006 - well before the economy started to tank. Do I see it roaring back? Not really. Do I see it continuing to exist? Yes. It's just peaked. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Therefore, I caution anyone looking to start a business in it to do their homework (as I always have). Don't ask your scrapbooking friends if they think opening a business is a good idea. Instead, hunt down former store owners in your area and have an honest chat with them about why they closed their doors. <a href="http://www.kimguymon.com/2006/05/do-paper-numbers-add-up.html">Run the numbers</a> with a realistic look at how much patterned paper you'd have to sell to break even. Look at your finances and decide of you can afford to lose the money you put into your business. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Then, either proceed with your plans to prove me wrong or walk away and save yourself the headache. </span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12387810.post-83981314278907942472010-09-15T14:25:00.000-07:002010-09-15T14:25:41.392-07:00PTA Fundraiser Idea<div align="justify" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I know that many Parent Teacher Associations (PTA) and Booster clubs (band boosters, etc) look for no-brainer, no-work ways to raise funds that work for families. I know my kids have sold their share of donuts, chocolate, wrapping paper and Entertainment books. But, those usually mean lots of work behind the scenes placing and sorting orders. Even eScrip cards are pretty labor intensive. So, lots of groups have turned to things like Goodsearch.com where they don't have to do anything but direct parents or supporters to a site where they can purchase things they already need or use. </span></div><div align="justify" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="http://www.photobooksetc.com/">PhotoBooks{etc</a>} has launched a new fundraising opportunity for your non-profit group. You get your own account to send your supporters to and photobooks will have your group's name and logo on it to remind them they supported a cause important to them. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />
</span></div><div align="justify"></div><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana;"><em><strong>Do we have to take orders?</strong> Nope, it's all done through your site - the customer does it all through the link!</em></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana;"><em><strong>Do we have to deliver anything?</strong> Nope, we take care of it. The order is shipped directly to the customer's home.</em></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana;"><em><strong>Do we have to deal with payments?</strong> Nope. The credit card processing is done by US! You just get a check the following month for your sales (less 3% fee for credit card processing)</em></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana;"><em><strong>Does it cost our organization anything to join?</strong> Yes, it's just $49/year. You can perhaps get a sponsor to take care of that cost for you. </em></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana;"><em><strong>Do we have to have a website?</strong> No, you can pass the link along to your supporters through email or in your newsletter. The link will be a self-contained store they can create and buy from. You don't need to build a website for it. </em></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana;"><i><b>How much do we make? </b> You can set your own prices so you control how much you make. But, if you leave them at the MSRP, you'll USUALLY make between 20-25% on the photobooks. Some products will be less (like prints) and some will be more. It usually averages out in the 20's, though. Not bad for just sending out a link and encouraging them to choose your site when they make their photo books and gifts. </i></span></li>
</ul><br />
<div align="justify"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Our free photo program is </span><a href="http://photobooksetc.blogspot.com/2008/11/our-photo-book-program-is-award-winner.html" style="font-family: verdana;">award-winning</a><span style="font-family: verdana;"> for ease of use and works nearly like </span><a href="http://photobooksetc.blogspot.com/2008/12/photo-book-magic.html" style="font-family: verdana;">MAGIC</a><span style="font-family: verdana;">! The quality is top-notch and our prices are competitive with other programs like Shutterfly. Photo books are extremely popular ways to print photos and preserve memories and photo products like key tags, mugs, mouse pads, puzzles, etc. make GREAT gifts! Your supporters can even order prints, enlargements and posters at competitive prices and support your organization doing it!</span></div><div align="justify" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>If you have any more questions or you are ready to join and want the link, please </b><a href="mailto:kim@photobooksetc.com"><b>email us</b></a><b>. </b></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12387810.post-45843474474378891302010-04-27T13:37:00.000-07:002010-04-27T13:37:38.639-07:00The End of an Era<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I got a postcard in the mail today telling me that the 14 year old scrapbook store north of Seattle is closing. My gut tells me that if they can't make it, no one can with a bricks and mortar store. They are in a great location - right next to the huge regional mall and they have tripled in size in the last 9 years or so. The owners say they are retiring - which I believe because they are in the right stage of their life to want more freedom. Honestly, though, if you have a "cash cow", you either sell it to retire or hire a really good manager so you hardly have to be there. Closing is a last resort since you don't get any financial benefit from doing that. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">About a year ago, just before CHA, they sent out a bizarre email to all their customers defending the store from a comment made by a customer. It was odd because, of course, 99.99% of the people who received this email didn't hear the comment. Maybe they thought OTHERS were thinking what this customer said. Apparently, a customer came in just weeks before CHA and pronounced the store, "EMPTY" and walked out. The owner got upset and sent out this email telling everyone that the store wasn't empty on purpose - they were gearing up to order a bunch of new products at the upcoming CHA show. It might have sounded reasonable to the average scrapper but it sounded like "spin" to me. Knowing what I know now, I believe it WAS "spin" for a store that was limping along. In all the years I have lived her, I have never seen that store feel like it was empty. But, the last few times I have been in there, it felt that way. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They really gave it a good run and I'm sorry they're closing. I have been very critical of LSS's over the years but this one always seemed to shine while others failed. They added some digital elements. They added a scanner for photos. They had great classes and fresh products. The staff was friendly and helpful. I never had any criticism for this particular store. In fact, I believe it was the reason so many other smaller stores in the area failed. No one else could match their selection so scrappers would often just head there first. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But, their closing also re-affirms my belief that a bricks and mortar scrapbook store is not for the faint of heart. Even the strong can't always survive. </span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12387810.post-16683430337049975612010-02-19T07:45:00.000-08:002010-02-19T07:45:13.298-08:00We love Social Media!<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Do you follow <a href="http://www.photobooksetc.com/">PhotoBooks{etc}</a> on </span><a href="http://www.twitter.com/kimguymon"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Twitter</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> or are you a fan on </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/PhotoBooksetc/44554793944?ref=ts"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Facebook</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">? We love social media! It's so fun to get to talk to our customers more often than our monthly newsletter. We love the feedback we get from the new age of instant communication!</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Check out </span><a href="http://angiepedersen.typepad.com/socialreport/2010/02/kim-guymon.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">THIS ARTICLE</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> about how our new businesses use Social Media to grow and keep in touch. </span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12387810.post-15511637517690511222010-02-18T16:11:00.000-08:002010-02-18T16:11:22.754-08:00Still looking for info on running a Scrapbook Business?<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Did you miss out on the <a href="http://www.kimguymon.com/2009/10/starting-scrapbook-business-theres.html">sale of our remaining ScrapBiz Business Start-Up Guides</a>? Well, take heart! It's being revised and updated and a newer version at a lower price will be available later this year. If you want to get notification of when it's ready to order, sign up for our email list in the left column. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But, for now, I was cleaning out my office and came across TEN of our <a href="http://www.kimguymon.com/2006/03/taste-of-scrapbiz.html">"Best of ScrapBiz"</a> books. This book is a collection of some of the best articles taken from our very popular members-only monthly newsletter called "ScrapBizness". They are full of tips, tricks and ideas for helping you run your scrapbook business! It's a great resource if you need a little inspiration!</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Normally, we were selling this book at over $20, but I'm going to let the rest of these go for half that - <b>just $9.99 each</b>. Shipping $4.90 (Priority Mail). I am only shipping in the U.S. If you REALLY want it and live outside the U.S., email me and I can calculate international shipping for you and send you a Paypal invoice for the full amount with shipping. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Click the button below if you want one of the last copies of The Best of ScrapBiz. We won't be having any more of these printed - when they're gone, they're gone!</span></div><br />
<br />
<form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post"><input name="cmd" type="hidden" value="_s-xclick" /><br />
<input name="hosted_button_id" type="hidden" value="CK2ZQTSDM96V6" /><br />
<input alt="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!" border="0" name="submit" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_buynowCC_LG.gif" type="image" /><br />
<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" /></form>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12387810.post-79206567260835630792009-10-21T12:33:00.000-07:002009-10-24T18:16:31.217-07:00Starting a Scrapbook Business? There's still time to get our book!<form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post"><input name="cmd" type="hidden" value="_s-xclick" /><br />
<input name="hosted_button_id" type="hidden" value="9088448" /><br />
<input alt="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!" border="0" name="submit" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_buynowCC_LG.gif" type="image" /><br />
<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" /><br />
</form><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: line-through;">We have </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: line-through;">FIVE</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: line-through;"> </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: line-through;">THREE</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: line-through;"> </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: line-through;">TWO</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: line-through;"> </span><b><span style="color: red;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: line-through;">ONE!!!</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: line-through;"> </span> <b><span style="color: red;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">ALL GONE! </span></span></b> <a href="http://www.scrapbiz.com/">ScrapBiz Business Start-Up Guides</a> left and we are selling them for the fantastic price of just <b>$39.95</b> plus shipping. The guide has been the "how-to" book for hundreds and hundreds of women who have started successful small businesses in the Scrapbook industry since 2002. </span><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This book normally sells for $99 but we are letting the last five go for <b><i>less than half that price</i></b>. We don't know if we'll ever sell this book again since we are closing ScrapBiz on December 1. So, if you're thinking about starting a scrapbook business of ANY type or could just use some additional insight, hurry and get this book before it's sold out! </span><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our members have referred to this book as their "Business Bible". It's the only book specifically aimed at starting a home-based or small retail business in our industry. You can see an excerpt of it </span><a href="http://scrapbiz.com/education_and_training.php"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">HERE</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> and read more about it </span><a href="http://scrapbiz.com/start_up_guide.php"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">HERE</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. </span><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Click on the <a href="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=9088448">BUY NOW</a> button and grab yours before it's gone!!! There is only <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">5</span> <b><i>ONE</i></b> of them!</span><br />
</div><br />
<br />
<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12387810.post-5062944143676162262009-10-14T11:42:00.000-07:002009-10-14T11:42:50.024-07:00Digital Scrapping and the Traditional Retailer<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Recently, I did an informal survey about scrapping habits. It consisted of one question and I posted it on both traditional and digital scrapbooking message boards.<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"> <br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">The results, as informal as the survey was, should be noted by every traditional scrapbook retailer who has felt a downturn in business and a loss of customers in the past 3-5 years. Then, those same retailers should think about how to win back the hearts of those customers.<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
The question was this: Choose the one statement that best describes your scrapbooking RIGHT NOW.<br />
<br />
The options were:<br />
<ul><li><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I have only scrapped traditionally</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I have only scrapped digitally <br />
</span></li>
<li>I was a traditional scrapper but now do only digital</li>
<li>I am a traditional scrapper who dabbles in digital</li>
<li>I am a traditional scrapper who is thinking about digital</li>
<li>I am a hybrid scrapper who scraps both traditionally and digitally</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I started out digitally but moved to paper scrapping</span></li>
</ul><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> Of the 100 answers I got, 51% said "I have only scrapped traditionally". Okay, that's good. But, that still leaves 49% of the respondents. </span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">4% said they have only ever scrapped digitally and another 4% said they converted completely from traditional to digital, but then the water gets muddy.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The remaining 41% said that they were either a traditional scrapper who dabbles in digital or a traditional scrapper who is THINKING about digital. or a hybrid scrapper who regularly does both. That's the area that every traditional retailer should be concerned with. Forty-one percent of your customers are on the verge of moving to digital and never looking back. AT MINIMUM, you have lost some revenue there because that 41% is buying or going to be buying LESS from you over time since part of their scrapping is digital. </span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">So, your job is to capture some value from the shift in scrapping activities among your customers.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Figure out how to incorporate digital scrapbook products. Set up a section of "digital scrapbook products" that includes albums, slick writers, mugs and frames to alter, rub-ons to embellish, software, etc. </span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Add a photobook component to your store through <a href="http://www.photobookbiz.com/">PhotoBookBiz</a>. </span>Many use the big names like Shutterfly, but they don't necessarily have the best quality, lowest prices or coolest software! </div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Scan photos for those wanting to go digital. Scanning is time consuming and there are some really fast scanners out there that most customers won't put the money out to buy. </div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Most of all - tell your customers (the 41% who are flirting with digi) that you are DIGI-FRIENDLY so that they won't feel the need to leave you. <br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"> <br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">The bottom line here is to pull your head out of the Bazzill and understand that nearly 50% of scrappers are wandering down the digital path. They may not convert completely, but they will buy fewer traditional supplies from traditional retailers just by the mere fact that they are dabbling in it. <br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12387810.post-3200493256458202482009-10-08T13:29:00.000-07:002009-10-08T13:29:29.194-07:00I Wear Your Shirt Guy Scraps!<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.iwearyourshirt.com/">I Wear Your Shirt</a> Guy scraps for the very first time ever (and I'd say not the last time - he really seemed to be enjoying himself). October 7 was sponsored by my friend, Sandra, of <a href="http://www.memoryworkshop.ca/">The Memory Workshop</a> in British Columbia. Her kits are SO GOOD! <br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It was funny when he was doing his live video later and making another page, a bunch of us were on the chat giving him directions on how to do it. When he pulled out a Sharpie, we all gasped! We also got a good laugh when he stuck a random radish sticker on his page. After he was done with his page, he made a card. He couldn't stop scrapping! He was blowing through the adhesive like there was no tomorrow by coating the back of everything. It was really funny. What a good sport he was and a what a smart business owner Sandra is. Enjoy the video!</span><br />
</div><br />
<br />
<object height="360" width="580"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/fJuxER-7_eI&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/fJuxER-7_eI&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="580" height="360"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12387810.post-19023133752793318822009-10-05T13:17:00.000-07:002009-10-05T13:17:06.026-07:00Carrying On the Work of Helping Women Start Businesses<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyqrebkDFoU4NWvz-BVnel_ocqspc5D5sEXdLH2472FzviQqDfmniNaIbRpxNXFvBCmLfMeguQsUf8QFvJIffKhdw5CYK7_HiPjw6rm9BDG8ZV4z7u1I5DTqQUpvN8ijxyYeuAYg/s1600-h/india.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyqrebkDFoU4NWvz-BVnel_ocqspc5D5sEXdLH2472FzviQqDfmniNaIbRpxNXFvBCmLfMeguQsUf8QFvJIffKhdw5CYK7_HiPjw6rm9BDG8ZV4z7u1I5DTqQUpvN8ijxyYeuAYg/s320/india.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">As I look towards a new angle of my business, I have found a way to keep my passion of helping women start businesses alive. Please read my </span><a href="http://photobooksetc.blogspot.com/2009/10/my-passion-helping-women-start-business.html" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">PhotoBooks{etc} blog </a><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">to see how I am going to use my own business to help others start theirs. Then please consider making your photobooks and custom photo products through my site so that we can enrich the lives of others together. </span><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12387810.post-91435140950231865112009-09-30T09:18:00.000-07:002009-09-30T09:18:18.979-07:00I *heart* PagePlus X4 by Serif<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For years I have used Microsoft Publisher to make all my business brochures, cards, etc. Well, after discovering </span><a href="http://www.serif.com/scrapbook/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Digital Scrapbook Artist</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> by Serif (check out the free version at </span><a href="http://daisytrail.com/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">DaisyTrail.com</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">), I was invited to try out </span><a href="http://www.serif.com/PagePlus/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">PagePlus X4</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. It has many of the same cool features of Digital Scrapbook Artist so I decided to take a crack at it. </span><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Shortly after I got it, I had to make a flyer for an activity at church. I started making it in MS Publisher but then remembered I could use Page Plus. So, I started it over in that program.</span><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I was done, I printed them both out and asked my husband which one he liked better. He chose the PagePlus one. It was SO MUCH COOLER! Instead of flat fonts on the page, I had a custom shadow under my font. Instead of a flat arrow graphic, I had one that looked like an epoxy dimensional sticker. Everything just *popped* off the page and the flyer was more visually interesting than the Publisher one. It really appealed to the digi scrapper in me!</span><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I also used it to make my son's birthday party invitation and add dimension to some graphics for my new </span><a href="http://www.photobookbiz.com/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">PhotoBookBiz</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> website. </span><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While I have yet to scratch the surface of this gem of a program as far as understanding and using the many features, it was easy to figure out and when you start clicking around, there are so many cool ways you can create with it! If you're looking for some great business desktop publishing software that allows more creativity than most out there, I highly recommend <a href="http://www.serif.com/pageplus/">Page Plus X4 by Serif</a>. </span><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12387810.post-3454928482368105282009-09-23T18:06:00.000-07:002009-09-23T18:06:47.809-07:00Start a Photobook Business Today!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMs8mp5_oTjo1WiiW67QJ4qCu1dOtpqyygJXgWrupbVLliJ3bso6hQlH4WJ3resFa9hs88b7XXf8KxU1p28OCxYM9S7ENX42lcdRWYl_asZEuJPLMy1rJ-oBr3p6xS0v9ZP4B5PA/s1600-h/photo+camera.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMs8mp5_oTjo1WiiW67QJ4qCu1dOtpqyygJXgWrupbVLliJ3bso6hQlH4WJ3resFa9hs88b7XXf8KxU1p28OCxYM9S7ENX42lcdRWYl_asZEuJPLMy1rJ-oBr3p6xS0v9ZP4B5PA/s320/photo+camera.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">As I look towards my own personal business shift in December with the discontinuation of the ScrapBiz Member Support Program, I am also opening a new chapter. Well, okay, it's not really new. It's been an option at ScrapBiz for nearly a year. But it's grown up into it's own website. <br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">If you have thought about starting your own photobook business - we've got the solution. We aren't an "affiliate" program where you place a link on your site and make a small perk whenever someone makes a photobook through your link. And, we aren't a multi-level direct sales company with high prices and recruiting. Just like ScrapBiz, <a href="http://www.photobookbiz.com/">PhotoBookBiz </a>sort of stands alone in it's own category.<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">This is a completely independent option that gives you more control than any other option out there. <br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Check out </span><a href="http://www.photobookbiz.com/" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">PhotoBookBiz</a><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> for details on how, for just $49, you can set up an business as fast as you can fill out a form!</span><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12387810.post-34808169669059139352009-09-21T12:30:00.000-07:002009-09-21T12:30:03.387-07:00How Do You Scrap?<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwG0RszOBCe2FWaEfcx3Q0HKkL2sQQSYSVHLK_ocb8SAx5yeUUfbDs6PsSqBi9XxNh7SZTHxvq_Kr8Sm3TaAHPeGvgzxl4G57hSnIUqMNQVnH1CoLrCjQtwAoWWG0r7sMeQDoJfA/s1600-h/question.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwG0RszOBCe2FWaEfcx3Q0HKkL2sQQSYSVHLK_ocb8SAx5yeUUfbDs6PsSqBi9XxNh7SZTHxvq_Kr8Sm3TaAHPeGvgzxl4G57hSnIUqMNQVnH1CoLrCjQtwAoWWG0r7sMeQDoJfA/s200/question.jpg" /></a>I'm curious about how people scrap now vs. how they scrapped before. Did you start out traditional but move to digital? Are you hardcore traditional? Have you never done anything BUT digital?<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Will you take my ONE QUESTION survey and tell me about your scrapping? </b><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=U_2fgw_2fkbE3wS_2boRFv7eoZGg_3d_3d">Click Here to take survey</a><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12387810.post-13524176987933619242009-09-01T07:00:00.000-07:002009-09-01T07:00:07.557-07:00A Special Announcement from ScrapBiz<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;font-family:Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;color:#000000;" ><div>When I started <a href="http://www.scrapbiz.com">ScrapBiz</a> in September 2002, the scrapbook industry pretty much offered only two ways to start a business.<br /><br /></div></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;font-family:Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;color:#000000;" >You could either become a consultant with one of the numerous direct sales companies or open a brick and mortar store. There was no "middle ground" for people wanting something less investment-intensive than a store and something more independent and flexible than becoming a direct sales consultant. After leaving I Remember When, one of the early consultant groups, I discovered by accident that I wasn't the only unhappy consultant and there were others who wanted to know how I was able to strike out on my own and sell the same products and out of this happy accident emerged the concept that became <a href="http://www.scrapbiz.com">ScrapBiz</a>.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;font-family:Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;color:#000000;" >Now fast-forward 7 years. Though there have been many changes because of the economic recession, the decrease in consumer demand for scrapbooking products and the resulting impacts on stores, manufacturers and industry trade publications, not all of the news has been bad. As long as there are photos, there will be scrappers and many scrapbooking businesses continue to thrive. However, fewer people desire to start a traditional scrapbook business and most wholesalers are now happy to sell to and support any retailer who has a business license, regardless as to whether their store is brick and mortar, online or home-based. </span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;font-family:Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;color:#000000;" >When I started ScrapBiz my focus was on creating tools and resources to help independent, home-based scrapbook businesses to be successful. After seven years and having nearly 1,000 people participate in ScrapBiz, I have been amazed at the success of many of our members. They are smart, savvy and are some of the best business owners and leaders in the entire industry. I credit them as being the BEST PART of the past 7 years and the people who have really made ScrapBiz the strong community that it is. </span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;font-family:Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;color:#000000;" >I opened ScrapBiz for business in September 2002 and, therefore, it seems fitting that I announce the closing of ScrapBiz in September. As of December 1, 2009, the ScrapBiz member support program will be discontinued. </span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;font-family:Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;color:#000000;" >So, what's next? There are bright spots in the industry and one of the most dynamic parts is the emergence of digital scrapbooking. I will continue to build the <a href="http://scrapbiz.com/photo_book_business.php">PhotoBookBiz</a> brand and support the resellers. I will also keep my <a href="http://www.photobooksetc.com">PhotoBooks{etc}</a>. Additionally, I will be considering consulting and special project opportunities with both traditional and digital scrapbooking companies. So, I am not leaving the scrapbook industry entirely, but I am refocusing my efforts and scaling down the amount of time that I spend each week. </span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;font-family:Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;color:#000000;" >The focus of this blog will change slightly to reflect my own personal business shift, but the blog will continue to be updated with information about the changing scrapbook industry.<br /><br />Thank to all those who have been kind to ScrapBiz over the last seven years. I have always appreciated your kind comments and thoughts about our business and the scrapbook industry.<br /><br />Now for a little fun:<br /></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Check out the history of our site courtesy of the internet WayBack Machine:</span><br /><br /></span><ul style="font-family: verdana;"><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20020806204835/http://www.scrapbiz.com/">August 2002</a></span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20020923114959/http://scrapbiz.com/">September 2002</a></span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20021015065437/http://www.scrapbiz.com/index.html">October 2002</a></span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20021128180541/http://www.scrapbiz.com/">Noveber 2002</a> - Our first REAL website</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030528182339/http://www.scrapbiz.com/">May 2003</a> - Another major website change</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20060526145655/http://www.scrapbiz.com/">May 2006</a> - Yet another major overhaul of our website</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.scrapbiz.com">ScrapBiz</a> now </span></li></ul></div><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;font-family:Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;color:#000000;" ><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12387810.post-38833193326989717552009-08-29T11:07:00.000-07:002009-08-29T11:46:20.023-07:00Get FREE Digital Scrapbook Software!<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I LOVE</span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://shop.daisytrail.com/Products/Categories/Software/ScrapbookArtist.htm"> Digital Scrapbook Artist</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> by Serif. They sent me a copy to try and I totally fell in love with it. Every time I try it, I learn something new! It's got some FANTASTIC features and I love it because, unlike other programs, this one is designed for the digital scrapper. The new version is AWESOME because I can arrange the products I already have into digi-kits using the program. That is a really cool feature to help me organize my stash! <br /><br />The software would make some GREAT classes at a traditional scrapbook store. You could do a series with it with the aim of doing hybrid projects or using it to help customers make pages they could then upload to your <a href="http://scrapbiz.com/photo_book_business.php">PhotoBook site</a> and print books. You would make money on the class, the software, and the photo books. It's a great trio of ideas to profit from digital scrapbooking in a traditional scrapbook store setting. <a href="http://www.awalkdownmemorylane.net/">A Walk Down Memory Lane </a>in Iowa is gearing up to do just that! Stores that figure out how to add digital scrapbooking profitably are smart!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I'm thrilled that Serif introduced a totally FREE compact or light version of the full Digital Scrapbook Artist software! You can see a video about it and download it </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.daisytrail.com/dsacompact">HERE</a><span style="font-family:verdana;">. Of course, using the compact version will leave you wanting the full version! But, it's a good way to try it before you buy it!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Serif is also having a world-wide contest for digi scrappers who use their software. You can see the contest page </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.daisytrail.com/superscrapper">HERE</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> at their Daisy Trail site.<br /><br />Check out the free compact version of their software if you are wanting to try digital scrapbooking or if you are a traditional store owner wondering what it's all about!<br /></span></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><p> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12387810.post-18194831990749377932009-08-24T04:08:00.000-07:002009-08-24T04:08:00.224-07:00Are You Using Socialnomics?<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">You can't deny these stats. If you aren't using social media to communicate your business message, you are missing the boat! Scrapbookers are using social media - are you there to join in the conversation?</span><br /></div><br /><object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/sIFYPQjYhv8&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/sIFYPQjYhv8&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12387810.post-50747842137653656302009-08-21T08:11:00.000-07:002009-08-21T08:29:06.100-07:00Everything Old Can Be New Again<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX5csTOQ2DtdH6rshwAfi37n8zgVF9jRIKDd7uyzHWMXJcWZU5rtr78DdaruaknkLYWBh5BFO7k3GT2EBizf0VsJr_DmdQ0kVDn3qOOc1HNDauSgg_D7Mi5nmbdMZbgnQ0VwNE_w/s1600-h/reindeer+chow+tag.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 174px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX5csTOQ2DtdH6rshwAfi37n8zgVF9jRIKDd7uyzHWMXJcWZU5rtr78DdaruaknkLYWBh5BFO7k3GT2EBizf0VsJr_DmdQ0kVDn3qOOc1HNDauSgg_D7Mi5nmbdMZbgnQ0VwNE_w/s320/reindeer+chow+tag.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372438833733742194" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">It seems like 10 years ago, we couldn't find the new techniques and fun products to put on our layouts fast enough. We were using slide mounts, bottle caps, magic mesh, fiber, eyelets, brads, staples, rings, buttons, etc. Have you noticed, though, that the "new" techniques and embellishment announcements have slowed to a snail's pace? It's like we have come up with every small, lightweight thing we could to stick on our pages and we're out of ideas. I think we all "jumped the shark" when one company tried to put out a line of colored bobby pins to use on our pages. I actually never saw those in my LSS. It was odd. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I remember ScrapBiz members buying bottle caps from a home-brewer place in massive quantities and dividing them up among members. Bottle caps were THE thing for a while. I still have a bunch of stickers in my stash made to fit in the middle of the flattened bottle caps. Every time you went to a crop, you could hear the pounding of mallets flattening the edges of those little gems. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Is it time to re-introduce some of those embellishments again? One kit company I know of is including slide mounts, bread tabs, bottle caps, etc. in their kits and scrappers (many of whom were NOT scrapping when these crazes were going on) think she's a genius! Maybe it's time to recycle and re-introduce fun projects using these simple embellishments! Another retailer is ruling the paper piecing universe. Scrappers are discovering techniques and embellishments that old-timers have forgotten.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I went through my files recently and found an article I had pulled from a scrapbook magazine all about making your own cute 3-D embellishments using bottle caps, tags, mesh, beads, etc. There were some very cute ideas! Maybe it's time to resurrect them. If you've been around a long time in the scrapbook industry, you should have no problem pulling out your old ideas. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I think we have forgotten at times that everyone in the scrapbook industry didn't arrive on the scene in 1997. Many only started scrapping in this decade and they missed a lot of these things. Can we update and reintroduce them and start the craze all over again? I bet we could! </span><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12387810.post-2584764428841366512009-08-07T16:17:00.000-07:002009-08-07T16:26:52.107-07:00I'm So Confused By the Confusion<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;">I have been surfing around for some commercial use digital scrapbook kits to use. I have been carefully reading the commercial use licenses and I've come to the conclusion that we really need a standard in the digital scrapbook industry regarding what IS and what ISN'T "Commercial use". </span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;">Some CU licenses are nearly indistinguishable from the S4H license. They have two different licenses but you can't really tell what the difference is.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;">Some CU licenses are SO restrictive that you feel like "why bother"? They have a million conditions that almost include, "I don't permit you to use this on a Tuesday". If you really don't want to allow commercial use of your products, then don't have any commercial use products.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;">Some swing the other way (the ones I like) and say, "I'm so over the drama of what constitutes commercial use - just go ahead and use it in your business. Just don't sell or give away the individual pieces." </span></div><br /><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;">It seems to me that there needs to be some organization in the digital world. They need to agree on a standard licensing contract that isn't so confusing that you're never sure if what you're going to use the CU products for is legal.</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12387810.post-39693398975908890102009-08-03T22:34:00.001-07:002009-08-03T22:37:11.117-07:00The Custom Photo Book Solution for your Scrapbook Store!My newsletter for people interested in the <a href="http://scrapbiz.com/photo_book_business.php">PhotoBookBiz</a> part of ScrapBiz went out today. I thought I'd share it here, too. There are five ways you can turn our PhotoBookBiz program into a custom digital scrapbook business for your site or store. It's really one of the best programs out there!<br /><br /><a href="http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs039/1100957235347/archive/1102659340205.html">Click HERE to see the newsletter</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12387810.post-70300752411865853722009-07-31T01:26:00.000-07:002009-07-31T07:59:11.901-07:00I Can't Be the Only Traditional Turned Digital Scrapper Who Wants This<div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;">I'll admit that much of my scrapping is now digital. I make cards and once in a while, I'll scrap an actual page to frame or put in an older album.<br /><br />But, I still love to go into scrapbook stores and I still love the pretty papers there. Unfortunately, when I see something, I don't buy it because I know I likely won't ever use it.<br /><br />I am sure I'm not the only one who finds traditional products delicious but scraps digitally due to lack of time. I can't tell you how many times I have seen a paper in a scrapbook store that I wanted but in digital form.<br /><br />I don't know why - wait, actually I do know why and I'll address that in a minute - that traditional scrapbook manufacturers don't capitalize on people like me who started out with the hands-on approach, still goes into scrapbook stores, but scraps mostly digitally now. I know very few of the digital scrapbook "brands". I love <a href="http://www.shabbyprincess.com/">Shabby Princess</a> and will look at <a href="http://www.scrapgirls.com/">Scrap Girls</a> or <a href="http://www.acherryontop.com/">A Cherry On Top</a> when I need something specific. But, I still love <a href="http://www.bobunny.com/">Bo-Bunny</a> (Shabby Princess look!), <a href="http://www.karenfosterdesign.com/">Karen Foster</a>, <a href="http://www.mylyb.com/our_collections">Little Yellow Bicycle</a>, <a href="http://www.flairdesignsinc.com/">Flair Designs</a>, etc. I want those - in digital form.<br /><br />It would so very easy for the traditional manufacturers to offer their traditional paper designs on CD for digital scrappers. And, it would be a brilliant idea to<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"> sell those CD's ONLY through traditional retailers who also sold the traditional papers (that's the KEY here - don't cut the traditional retailer out by selling the download at your own site). </span> I would be all over those to get the look of my favorite traditional companies that I have loved for years in my digital scrapbooks!<br /><br />Now, I'm sure someone has thought about this. I even have a friend who talked to some companies at CHA a few years ago about digitizing their older discontinued lines. Most of them were interested in doing that but it didn't go any farther than that. Why hasn't anyone actually done it, though?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Fear.</span><br /><br />The fear of digital scrapping.<br />The fear that customers will print off your designs at home and never buy the traditional paper<br />The fear that your designs will end up shared with other users.<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The fear of all things digital... period.</span><br /><br />It's totally irrational. You are either digital or you aren't. You either have a way to print digital pages or you don't. Like anything - some might abuse the CD. But, most will buy it because they want that traditional brand look in their digital scrapbooks.<br /><br />I can find "Bo-Bunny-esque" stuff (Shabby Princess). I can find Karen Foster-esque stuff or any other "similar" products. But, I keep shopping the traditional stores and coming out empty handed. Wouldn't this be a good way to make sure I didn't?<br /><br />I see the pretties. I want the pretties. Sell me the pretties in a format I will use them in and I will cease to leave empty handed.<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12387810.post-20428339547605582322009-07-27T11:31:00.000-07:002009-07-27T12:02:12.316-07:00Basic Customer Service: LISTEN!<div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;">I'll admit right now that I'm not a chiropractor person. After a couple of run-ins early in my adulthood with Chiropractors who made some unsolicited claims that they could fix some very odd issues I had internally as well as a couple who told me I was evil to get my children immunized, I pretty much decided they were not for me.<br /><br />Well, I have been experiencing severe pain in a tendon in my lower back for nearly a year now coupled with clicking in my tailbone. So, after consulting with my podiatrist (I have on leg shorter than the other and this is my short-leg side), I decided to try a chiropractor to see if they could get rid of the clicking and pain. It felt like something was out of whack. <br /><br />So, I found one that claimed to do "Sports Medicine" and "Physical therapy", too. After talking to a cousin-in-law who's a Chiropractor in CT, he suggested I find someone who did a mix of stuff like that so there was a more mainstream approach to my pain. <br /><br />Well, that was a mistake...<br /><br />Okay, I'll admit that my neck feels pretty darn good. I can turn it better than I could before and my left knee - which had been clicking, catching and feeling like it was going to collapse feels really great! So, I give them an A+ on that. But, the original problem I went in for is a big fat F. I'm still not sleeping at night and the pain hasn't gone away. It seems at times like they work on every area BUT that one I came in for. I get the feeling they aren't working on it so I will keep coming back. They want me to come in 5 days a week at $45 per visit. Do the math - that's $1000 a month. Not gonna happen due to money and the fact that by the time I visit all their stations (physical therapy, massage, adjustments) and drive over there, I am looking at nearly 2 hours per day. I pointed all that out and got the response I totally expected, "What's the price of your health?" Came straight out of a chiro marketing book somewhere, I'm sure. <br /><br />What if I took my car into the repair shop and said, "The engine dies when I stop at lights" and they sent it back and said, "Hey, we noticed the tires were low so we filled them. Then we washed and vacuumed it. Then we noticed your headlight was out so we changed it. Oh, and there was a couple of old hoses that we swapped out and we also changed the oil." Thank you, that's great that you took care of all those other things but the car is still dying when I stop at a stop light. "Oh, we'll work on that over time and fix it eventually."<br /><br />Would I as a customer be satisfied with that answer? Nope. <br /><br />I feel like they aren't listening to me and that frustrates me. They plop me on a line of tables and poke at my chart and then ping, pop and plop me for a few minutes and then send me out the door while they slap another face sheet on the table and another patient lays down. No one has asked me specifically about the pain in my back and no one really addresses it. They just fix what they can feel is wrong - but while those things might be wrong - they aren't the reason I came to them in the first place.<br /><br />So, as of today - I'm done. I tried, I really did. But, when I get back from my trip later this week, I'm going into my regular doctor because I know she'll do something about the pain in my back and send me off to physical therapy.<br /><br />Listening to customers is SO important in any business. I appreciate the way my knee feels, but I really need my back to feel good. It's been a month of 2-3 times a week visits - you'd think there would be at least some progress. There is, but in the wrong place - there's been absolutely no change in the thing I came in for in the first place. That's not good customer service. <br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12387810.post-10629258365686078812009-07-16T11:15:00.000-07:002009-07-16T11:33:16.515-07:00CHA Networking Event!<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">The biggest value of </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.scrapbiz.com/">ScrapBiz</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> is the networking between like-minded industry retailers. There is lots of </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.kimguymon.com/2008/08/synergy.html">synergy</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> that comes out of our group as well as quite a few real friendships! Being able to discuss the scrapbook and craft industry with people who understand it is invaluable to retailers. </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I think one of the best things we can do to help scrapbooking is to get to know each other personally and attend events where we can talk. I loved the scrapbook retailer lunch at PMA - it was a room full of energy!</span></span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://www.kizerandbender.com/">Kizer and Bender</a> are sponsoring such an event at CHA Summer. If you are going to CHA, don't miss this! </span></span><br /><br /></div><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><b><span>Retailer Connect: a CHA Networking Event </span></b></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b><span>Monday, July 27th</span></b></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b><span>3:15 - 4:30pm</span></b></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b><span>Room # W303B</span></b></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b><span>Orlando</span></b><b><span> </span></b><b><span>Convention Center</span></b><b><span>, </span></b><b><span>West</span></b><b><span> </span></b><b><span>Building</span></b><b><span>, 3rd Floor</span></b></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b><span><br /></span></b></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Have you ever wanted to get to know other craft and scrapbook retailers but weren’t sure how to do it?<span> </span>Problem solved!<span> </span>Join Rich Kizer & Georganne Bender and CHA’s Member Connect Committee for the FIRST EVER <b>“Retailer Connect”</b> – a special “Let’s get to know each other” Meet and Greet at the CHA Summer Tradeshow & Convention.</span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;">“Retailer Connect” will follow KIZER & BENDER’s presentation of <b>“</b><b><span>4th Quarter Calendar: EVERYTHING You Need to Run In-Store Events that Build Sales! (</span></b><span>Business Seminar S103). You don’t need a ticket or seminar pass, just a pile of smiles. And business cards so we can all keep in touch.</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span><br /></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It doesn’t matter if you’re a retailer, vendor, service supplier or designer. Whatever your title, EVERYONE is WELCOME. Let’s build the lasting friendships and camaraderie we all need to grow our businesses and stay the course!</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12387810.post-1922219550047158452009-07-13T12:18:00.000-07:002009-07-13T13:06:04.964-07:00Learning From Donut Wars!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIOgZTQYgUsnHR_P4TbTF0S11_0JjCpDNO4blW2BLbEj6QyMEXQvoZTbF4vKLBLJK1dz2jz3lFVeXkrPJZFkwGkrnInKi-frp3q1enFkBFrQF-6l3KBwYlJJ7t4EaFRFUVSnZ00w/s1600-h/donut.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIOgZTQYgUsnHR_P4TbTF0S11_0JjCpDNO4blW2BLbEj6QyMEXQvoZTbF4vKLBLJK1dz2jz3lFVeXkrPJZFkwGkrnInKi-frp3q1enFkBFrQF-6l3KBwYlJJ7t4EaFRFUVSnZ00w/s400/donut.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358034842421368338" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;">Recently, a new shop was opening near me. They had painted a website on the paper-covered windows intended to create an air of mystery. They had a big contest at their site about "what are we?" To me, the website totally sounded like a cupcake shop. They had a Facebook page with the same contest and to many others, it sounded like a cupcake shop. In fact, the hints they were giving made it sound like it was a cupcake shop where you could go in, choose your cupcake flavor and have it custom-frosted for you. It would have been a FABULOUS idea for two reasons:<br /></div><ol style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"><li>There are no cupcake shops in this whole area. Cupcakes are HOT right now, but few places are selling them here beyond what you can get in a plastic clamshell with nasty Crisco frosting.<br /></li><li>This is an upscale upper-middle class shopping area and people would have totally bought into the upscale idea of serving cupcakes at Birthday parties, showers, etc.<br /></li></ol><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;">But, alas, the place turned out to be a DONUT shop. Which, did not fit the website name in my opinion. The URL sounded like more cake than donut.<br /><br />So, my kids and I decided to check it out and see if the donuts lived up to the hype so we wandered over there the first day of their Grand Opening. We showed up in the afternoon - wondering if there would be any donuts left. But, given the fact that they stay open until 10pm, I assumed they would be making donuts all day long. There was not much of a line if you don't count the busload of elderly people who arrived just 30 second before us and took most of the afternoon to order.<br /><br />I bought 4 donuts - two chocolate frosted custard filled, one german chocolate with coconut-pecan frosting and one Maple Bar. My total for 4 very average donuts was over $8. They put them in a brown box with a cutesty label on it that was sort of meant to be "signature" packaging since pink and brown are their signature colors. I think I paid $4 just for the packaging alone because what we got was 4 donuts I could have bought across the street at the grocery store for less than $4. And, to top it all off, my kids didn't get any custard in their donuts until the last 2 bites. They had skimped on the filling.<br /><br />The next day was the annual 5K Race and festival in this area. We happened to park near this donut shop when we arrived about 7:45 am for the race. This was the second day of this shop being open and I kept an eye on the foot traffic as I sat in the car waiting about 90 minutes for the race to start. I didn't notice a lot of people going in and out. It was surprising given all the hype.<br /><br />My husband went to warm up for the race and came back with a postcard he handed to me. Apparently, the book store at the other end of the parking lot just opened a branch of a very famous donut shop from Seattle where they had previously had a coffee shop. They were handing out postcards for free donuts. So, after the race, we went and got 4 donuts. We didn't use our postcard and paid $6 for 4 donuts. Still too high in my opinion, but they were much better than the other place and they had the "brand name" behind them as well as features on the Travel Channel and the Food Network. I immediately thought, DONUT WAR!!! You can't tell me that the legendary donut shop isn't going to throw their name and reputation around against this upstart across the parking lot. It will be interesting to watch. <br /><br />So, what's the lesson here? First, if I was doing a big "what are we?" promotion and everyone kept guessing I was a cupcake shop and they were EXCITED about the fact that a cupcake shop MIGHT be opening in our area - I honestly might have taken a step back and thought about changing my plans. Listen to your customers! People were THRILLED with the idea that it might be a cupcake shop. How many, including myself, were disappointed to find out it wasn't?<br /><br />Second, I can get donuts at 5 grocery stores and this other new "legendary" Seattle-based donut place all within about a 10-15 minute walk from this donut shop. And, none of them are going to charge me $2 for a custard filled donut. Actually, this new shop sits in the middle of a parking lot between the high-end (similar to Whole Foods) market with lots of donut and pastry choices and the legendary donut place in the bookstore. So, it's literally one of three choices from one parking lot.<br /><br />How many places can I get cupcakes? ZERO. Okay, I can get them at the grocery store, but they are prepackaged - nothing custom. How many times will I pay over $2 for a donut? Never again. I can't believe that I'm alone in that thought, either. The donuts weren't bad, but they weren't the best I've ever had, either. Perhaps they will develop their donut menu over time to include outrageous things like a bacon-maple bar you can get at <a href="http://voodoodoughnut.com/menu.php">VooDoo Donuts</a> in Portland. But for now, they are just a cute donut place selling donuts and I hope they can stand out in the crowd enough to make people want to pay the high price of their donuts.<br /><br />The scrapbook industry lesson is similar. You need to really evaluate how many other places around you are selling what you sell and try to figure out something of value to the customer that sets you apart from the others. Cute packaging isn't enough anymore. People want VALUE and UNIQUENESS. If you find yourself among lots of others doing the same as you, find that thing that makes you unique! Do you provide better customer service? Have unusually themed crops? Have custom papers for the local area? Stay open later? Can provide lots of "fan comments" about your store that will make others want to come check it out? What's your "hook" that will make people choose you over someone else? It's got to be more than cute colors and decent donuts - especially decent donuts that are higher priced than other decent donuts in the area. <br /><br /><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0