Start a Business . . . Oh, you did that!

A friend recommended a book to me, not a lay on the beach and read it book - but rather a book I kind of pick up and flip through from time to time for little bits of inspiration.


"The Top 10 Distinctions between Millionaires and the Middle Class" by Keith Cameron Smith. Let me start with my own distinction. You need not stop reading right now if you don't have sights set on becoming a millionaire. I have changed to lingo to suit my own needs - in that my "millionaire-dom" is in more in terms of financial freedom, "middle class" to me, in the context of this book is living a bit on the "strapped" side . . .lacking said freedom.

You don't need to rush out and buy the book - I am going to spew most of what I find useful over time - little nuggets to take with you, ponder, consider and perhaps put into action.

Here's one: The author continues to express that millionaires depend on multiple sources of income. A ha, not just one W-2 from the primary bread winner. He gives lots of examples of where this income can come from, or does come from in the profiles of "millionaires" he sites.

One thing he recommends is: Start a Small Business.

"In my opinion, everyone should have a small business. I am not saying to quit your job and start a business. I am suggesting you start a part time business while working at your current job.

One way of doing this is to join a network marketing company. Direct sales and network marketing companies are a great way to start your own business. They are very low risk with the possibility of very high reward. They have proven systems in place that work and coffer support to help you . They are a great way for you to be in business for yourself but not by yourself. I have three recommendations if you are considering joining a network marketing company:

1. Make sure you sincerely believe in the products or service CHECK!
2. Make sure you fee at peace with the people you meet. CHECK!
3. Make sure the company is involved in some kind of charitable work. CHECK!

If these three requirements are met, then I believe you can create a very successful part-time business. Setting a long term goal to earn more from your part time business than you do from your full time job . . . ."

I am going to end this post here - but will continue to elaborate on the little nuggets of this book that not only motivate me to move forward, but that help confirm that in choosing Barefoot I have chosen well. My efforts will pay off in the end. I can find peace, success and financial freedom all from my at home business, because by chance or by strategy I choose the company I keep wisely.

Apps for your Barefoot Biz

Do you have an iPhone? and iPod Touch? If you do you might want to look at the "Ring it Up" app. Good Gracious - now this is getting good!

There are two versions of this app - The "Ring it up Free" - you got it, the app is free to down load. It has all the functionality - but can not interface with an additional app and account that will enable to you process credit cards.

The paid version of "Ring it Up" can partner with another app (they recommend) that will allow you to process credit cards, live and on the spot at your events.

So where do I begin? I have "Ring it Up" on my phone. In many cases it is just what the doctor ordered. It does allow me to ring customers up a little quicker (in that I need not hand write everything) A 'ring it up" transaction REQUIRES me to to get my customer's e-mail - because I e-mail them their receipt from the iPhone. This little nugget is great in two enormous ways:

1. I love getting a customer's e-mail! So often I feel I miss such opportunity when I meet a customer at an event, have great conversation sell some wonderful titles and then they walk away never to see me again - Now I get their e-mail and they can potentially be a long term customer!

2. It makes me paperless, it's green, it's easy, and throughout the event and at event end I can run all sorts of report and then e-mail the reports to my computer - I have a constant glance of how my sales are what is selling - etc etc etc!

It's really quite cool.

Down side. You have to enter inventory into the app. I chose to go by price point instead of entering every SKU. Mine looks like this:

Vendor: Barefoot Books
Product: Paperback with CD
Price: $9.99

Vendor: Folkmanis
Product: Puppet
Price: $14.99

and so on . . . It gives me a real nice look at what I sell without being too nitty gritty.

Other downside is that if you do a large event and have lots of sales (how could there be a downside to that ?) the sending off all the e-mails can take a lot of time. You have to send them one at a time . . . Additionally I have not found a way to "export" the emails I collect on location - but rather had to e-mail then print a sales report and manually enter them into my e-mail account ready for the the next e-campaign.

Looking Ahead - adding on a credit card processing service is music to my ears - I can think of no better solution when at large scale events (or any event really) than to be able to process credit cards right there on the spot. There are additional fees, apps and services to investigate. I could not justify the cost for myself in the summer which is my slow season, but when fall/holiday hits I will certainly sign right up.

With the new Barefoot credit card acceptance terms - we are now required to collect the customer's full billing info in order to process cards through Barefoot - might as well do it electronically on the spot!

If you don't have an iPhone . . . well, sell some books and buy yourself one and write it off at the end of the year!

"There's an App for that"

Moo Mini Cards

Have you heard of Moo.com?  Might be my favorite little business solutions/identity site  Anything this good of course is not cheap, but then again it's not over the top.

Moo offers these darling little "mini cards" they are half the size of normal business cards and have so many marketing uses it is endless.  (who set the standard size anyway . . . . Moo says mini cards are "green" as they use 1/2 the paper!) As soon at the Marketing Barefoot Etsy shop is open (hopefully mid month) you will be able to choose from many custom designed barefooty standard business cards, in the meantime you might want to add a little "moo" to your portfolio.

I have used Moo cards (was introduced to them by Barefoot Ambassador, JJ Blum's "GeekDad" Husband) for a while now and find all sorts of ways to use them:

Use Moo cards "Thank You" for purchase and have the text on the back include a discount code for their next purchase

Use Moo cards to drive customers to your blog - where you may host a barefoot button

Use Moo cards as business cards

Use Moo cards to simply promote your URL

The attached Jpeg image (end of post) can be uploaded to Moo for use in your moo mini card.

Visit Moo.com.

Select Mini Cards

Select start designing your mini cards

Select upload your image

Upload this provided Jpeg image of the barefoot kids.

 - this image is too big for the space provided - I "crop it" in their system by starting the image with the African girl in the green shirt - end it with the painters easel.

Moo allows you to upload many images to have all of your cards look different - but - this is the only image I have right now that works, and while fun to have multiple images - I think this one is good

 enough for all to be the same

For your text on the back I have found the purple text looks great (the orange is too light and very hard to read)

I have used their "Thank You" image on the back - when using the card as promotional offering on next purchase.

Enjoy poking around their site - and for all of our UK friends - guess what?  Moo.com is a UK company.

They have great sticker packs - that I look forward to getting enough images to fill . . . that too shall come in the mean time,  here is the image:  Enjoy . . . . & MOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

More Stationary

I know as a company Barefoot is not issuing a big push for our historical "Summer Sale" - however when ordering last night I realize there are many great selling titles at significant discount.  I do think worthy of a marketing / e-campaign push.  Attached to this post is a "Sale" image you can use as a signature or as an e-mail from your account.

As well - one more cutie to attach as a signature to keep your e-mails looking fresh and exciting.

Enjoy!

Coupon Code

I just received and e-mail with a coupon code for POSPaper.com.  If anyone is in need of a credit card imprinter I posted earlier or any other office supplies - shop from POSPaper.com and use this code:  POSJULY42009

the offer is valid until July 8th.

Happy Fourth!

Email Stationary

With the launch of the new website today . . . well it's just all too exciting. I know our friends in Cambridge are working full steam ahead to get all systems go . . . but there are just some little tools I think we NEED.

E-mail stationary being one, and one that suits Ambassadors well. I quickly pulled together two today . . . feeling a little manic today!




These are jpeg images you should be able to grab from this post. Use as an image in your e-mail signature.

Why do I re-create them? Most of these types items that come from Barefoot directly do not always suit the marketing needs of Ambassadors. These images in particular did not say "Barefoot Books". Since our e-mail addresses don't always indicate we are affiliated with Barefoot - I felt the image should communicate it for us. You could also use these for an e-mail campaign if you are itching to do so.

Make sure you get in there in test your new links and usage of the new address before blasting too hard! Best to you all - It's a new day!