Hi and welcome to the latest issue of
'Nita's Helping Hands'! I'm glad you're here!
Happy first day of Spring! I hope it's much warmer in your
part of the world than it is here -- we're supposed to get
rain / sleet / snow mixture for the next few days! Yuk!
My daughter leaves for Washington D.C. next weekend. We
had her going away party this past weekend and it was a
great time! I was supposed to take all my kids go-carting
today but won't be able to because of the weather -- that
really stinks!
My youngest son received his driver's license this morning!
I now have another driver on my hands -- and on my
insurance! I need all the work I can get to help me pay
for it, so be sure to call me if you need anything at all!
I've included a great Small Business Marketing article
for you this issue. I wish I had found this article
earlier! Although it's a bit later than I would like to
have run this article, it still has great information that
can still be easily applied this early in the year.
Enjoy!
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At my website, you subscribed to 'Nita's Helping Hands'
newsletter / ezine. I sincerely hope you enjoy your
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you ever wish to unsubscribe, a link is included at the
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Note: I regret that I may need to replace some characters
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Quote:
"Everything is okay in the end. If it's not okay, then
it's not the end." -- Unknown
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Tip:
Did you know you can select text to copy from a PDF
document? Here's how you do it:
You can change the cursor into a Select Text tool by looking
up in the toolbar next to the hand icon and you'll see a
vertical line with a "T" next to it and usually the words
"Select Text". Click it and you are now able to highlight
text.
While we're there, you can also click the arrow and choose
"Select image" if there is a picture you want to copy from a
document. If your Acrobat does not have this feature, you
should download the latest version at no cost:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
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Guest Article:
Small Business Marketing:
10 Steps to Help You Plan for a Successful 2006
By Debbie LaChusa
As 2005 winds down, many small business owners will find
themselves naturally looking back at the past year and
evaluating how well their business did. It's normal to
look back at what we've accomplished and also at the long
list of things we intended to do but never got around to.
If business was good, that's great. But why not take steps
now to make sure 2006 is even better? To make sure you
actually accomplish all of your intentions so you're not
sitting around a year from now, lamenting all the things
you wished you'd had time to do.
If business was less than great, there's no better time
than right now to sit down and create a marketing plan,
or as I like to call them a "Success Plan" for 2006.
Because when you have a plan to follow you'll be more
likely to actually follow through on all of your ideas
and turn them into new clients and cash flow.
So what steps can you take right now to create the
success you want in 2006?
Here's a list of 10. Set an intention right now to do
one or two of these steps every week between now and
December 31st and you'll be ideally positioned for
success in 2006.
1) Evaluate your 2005 goals and how close you came to
achieving them.
2) Evaluate the current status of your business. How
close or far away is it from what you want it to look
like. This may be in terms of the size of the business,
the number and type of clients you're servicing, the
revenue your business is generating, the type of work
you are doing, and even the number of hours you're working
and whether or not you have any help.
3) Evaluate each and every one of the marketing activities
you undertook over the past year. How did they work? What
did they cost you? How many clients or how much revenue
did they generate in return?
4) Take a look at the clients or customers you're serving.
Are they the people you thought you'd have as clients when
the year started? Or are they different? Are they your
ideal clients, or are they just the clients you ended up
with.
5) Review your 2005 marketing budget. Did you spend more or
less than you planned? If you didn't keep track of your
spending, take the time to go back now and put together a
summary of what you spent on marketing. This combined with
the results you got and how close you came to reaching your
goals will be necessary information for creating a 2006
success plan.
6) Set new goals for 2006 and create a vision of the
success you'd like to achieve.
7) Establish your marketing budget for the year. Make sure
it's money you have available to spend on marketing and make
the commitment now to invest it in your business.
8) Determine the marketing activities you are going to use
in 2006. Refer back to your 2005 results and select those
activities that delivered the best return on investment.
This
may mean deleting a few of the activities you used this year
and adding some new ones to test.
9) Map out your marketing activities on a calendar. Include
prep-work on the calendar so you have a true map of what you
need to do each month to stick with your plan.
10) Determine a method for tracking each and every marketing
activity in your plan. And establish one day every month for
reviewing your results, both for your individual marketing
activities and toward your overall 2006 goals.
If you take the time to go through these 10 steps now and
create a marketing plan for 2006 you will greatly improve
your chances for success. So start now, take just one or
two steps a week, create your plan and watch your business
grow in 2006.
Debbie LaChusa created The 10stepmarketing System to make
marketing your own business as simple as answering 10
questions. Learn more about this unique, step-by-step
system and get a free 10-week Marketing E-Course when
you subscribe to the free, weekly 10 stepmarketing Ezine at
http://www.10stepmarketing.com
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/
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Quote:
"I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly,
acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all
I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a
grand thing." -- Agatha Christie
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Tip:
If you want to make your desktop icons larger or smaller,
right-click the desktop and choose "Properties". Select the
"Appearance" tab then click the "Advanced" button.
Under "Item", pick "Icon" from the drop down list. Under
"Size" use the arrow keys to make the icons bigger or
smaller (you could also type in a number). Click "Apply"
to save the changes.
You'll also notice "Font" and "Size". This is where you can
change these settings. If you make large fonts, you may need
to use a smaller font to prevent overlapping.
If you don't like the way the icons are spaced you can
always change that too. Under "Item" select "Icon Spacing
(Horizontal)" or "Icon Spacing (Vertical). Choose a number
slightly bigger than your icon size and it will adjust the
space.
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Quote:
"My philosophy of life is that if we make up our mind what
we are going to make of our lives, then work hard toward
that goal, we never lose - somehow we win out." -- Ronald
Reagan, 1911-2004, Fortieth President of the United States
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Tip:
Free411.com is taking advantage of the fact that most of the
phone service providers are now charging anywhere from $1-$3
to look up phone numbers for you.
When you use Free411's service by dialing 1-800-FREE411, you
can get your listing for free. The catch is that you will
also hear about another similar business and be given the
option to connect with them.
This presents a potentially valuable advertising medium for
local small businesses to have their ad or offer played
when someone is looking for a service just like the one they
provide. Callers can even ask for a generic category such
as an electrician and hear up to three ads for electricians.
A great way to get publicity!
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Quote:
"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions.
Small people always do that, but the really great make you
feel that you, too, can become great." -- Mark Twain
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That's all the handy tips and tricks for this issue of
'Nita's Helping Hands' -- I hope you enjoyed it and found
some useful information. As always, please e-mail me if
you ever have questions, concerns or would like me to
include information about certain topics.
Stay warm, always remember to count your blessings and
most of all, be happy!
I'll 'see' you in a couple weeks!
