Soulpreneur Success Web Log

Beware of businesses with free trials...

I recently decided to look into grants for women-owned businesses, so I looked online for legitimate companies that could help me track down grants.  That was my first mistake...  I found a company, which will remain nameless, that looked legitimate, so I sent them an email requesting a CD with information.  The CD was free, but they requested a credit card number to pay for shipping.  It sounded like a reasonable request at the time, but here's where the problems began. 

I printed out the information from the website, and upon further scrutiny I discovered that not only did I agree to pay shipping for the CD, the fine print stated that I would also be signed up with a wealth building company and charged $69.95 a month, if I didn't cancel within the first seven days of the free trial.   I, of course, cancelled this "free" offer right away.

Not long after this incident, I discovered an unidentified charge on my business charge card from a company selling diet pills.  After researching this on the internet, I found it was a large scam that has had numerous complaints from people who have never asked for these diet pills.  In this case, I not only called the company to have the charge removed, I also cancelled the credit card, since someone obviously used illegal means to obtain my credit card number. 

In a recent The Costco Connection magazine, an article was published about widespread online acai weight-loss double scams.  Some of these programs are set-up to charge ongoing monthly amounts, and they make it extremely difficult to contact the vendors involved to cancel.  Besides contacting your credit card company, the magazine's consumer advocate, David Horowitz, encouraged all consumers involved in these scams to also send the Federal Trade Commission a copy of any correspondence between you and your credit card company. 

Please be aware that scams seem to be more rampant in this struggling economy when people can least afford to loose money and/or time to fix these fraudulent charges.

Faith – the Key to Transforming Your Business

 

Faith is defined by Dr. Ernest Holmes, the founder of Science of Mind magazine, as “an idea so inwardly embodied that the mind can no longer conceive of its opposite.”   But what if your business is struggling and you feel like you are living its opposite right now?  What if no matter how hard you try, all you see is its opposite?  When you have faith, such as Dr. Holmes described, you don’t have to “try” to have faith – you just have it…  Here’s an example.

When you get up in the morning do you “try” to have faith that the electricity will work so you can have your morning coffee, or do you know and expect that it will?  When you go to bed at night, do you “try” to have faith that the sun will come up in the morning and you will have all the air you need to breathe, or do you know without a doubt and expect to have a normal day with the sun coming up and air to breathe?

That’s my definition of faith – a knowing, beyond a doubt, that whatever situation or circumstance you want in your life will be what you get.  And this knowing grows from the congruent actions you take, thoughts you think, and feelings you foster consciously.

We are living in a world of fear and doubt right now.  Businesses are closing, good people are having their lives turned upside down, and they’re running scared trying to make sense of life; and at the same time figure out what to “do” next.  Most of them probably believe that taking physical action is the first place to start. 

If you live a life based on faith, the first place to start is getting clear on your mindset, what you believe to be true, and what you are feeling and thinking on a daily basis.  If you’re constantly in a state of worry, fear, and you don’t see any way out of your situation, it’s going to be almost impossible for you to open your mind to receive the creative ideas and solutions that can be right under your nose, yet unseen…

Every night and morning I read something that helps me keep my mind open to what I believe to be true about life – that at its basis life is always good and that I am free to make choices about what I think and what I do to get access to this goodness.  No matter what appearances may be – I know people still have money (me included) and they are still spending it on what is important to them.  Just look around you and you will see this is true.

We all have limitless choices on what we can do to attract more customers to our businesses.  If you remain in an open and receptive state of mind, utilize the ideas that present themselves, and “expect” life to be your greatest champion, you will build a strong foundation of faith that will serve you and your business, no matter what is going on in the world. 

Getting clear and moving forward!

I just went on a good long walk on a beautiful California morning.  Makes me realize how cluttered my mind gets spending the days working, working, working.  If you ever get stuck and need a fresh perspective on a challenge, get up and take a walk.  After a few minutes of monkey mind chatter, you will begin to calm down and get insights you'd never get sitting at your desk stressing and straining...

Speaking of insights, I'm beginning to read good things in the morning paper!  What a concept!  The Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has given his most optimistic view yet on the economy.  Bernanke says he expects not only an end to the recession this year, but also a return to growth.  Hallelujah!

It's a celebration of life - and business!

It's Cinco de Mayo and even for those of us not of Mexican heritage, we get to enjoy the day and celebrate as if we were.  It's so much fun to go to any Mexican restaurant (some of my favorite foods!) and watch the celebration in action.  For those of you who don't know, Cinco de Mayo was started as a commemoration of a Mexican military victory in the 1860's, first in California but now nationwide.

Even in celebrating life events, we find a benefit to our businesses.  At all the Mexican restaurants nationwide they count down the days to Cinco de Mayo not only to celebrate the tradition, but  because they know it will bring prosperity and positive cash flow as we all take part in the fun and good food that is a part of the occasion. 

Appreciating each other's hertitage and celebrating together reminds us of our connection and our uniqueness at the same time.  As we are serving our customers in the myriad of businesses across the globe, we learn to appreciate each other and our contributions to the global economy.  We all need each other to make it work.  No one is less important than anyone else.  We all fit somewhere within the chain of service and product providers and consumers.  So today, as we join together in the celebration, let's take a few minutes to appreciate the contribution each and every one of us gives to the whole.  After all, we are all in life together.

Family businesses in the news...

Here are some interesting family business statistics from American Management Services, Inc.

• Family businesses comprise 80 to 90 percent of all business enterprises in North America (Family Business Review, Summer 1996)


• Family owned businesses account for 60% of total U.S. employment, 78% of all new jobs, and 65% of wages paid (Financial Planning, Nov. 1999) - These percentages are probably even higher now...


• Of the companies listed on the S&P 500, 34% are family businesses (Ronald C. Anderson and David M. Reeb, Founding-Family Ownership and Firm Performance: Evidence from the S&P 500)


• The number of family businesses run by women have grown 37% in the past five years with an average annual revenue of $26.9 million (Boston Business Journal, September 4, 2003)


• 52% of family firms have hired at least one female family member full-time, while 10% employ two female family members (Arthur Anderson/Mass Mutual, 2003)

Women in family businesses are becoming a dominant force in the marketplace.  It's a sign of the times that we are becoming stronger in our abilities to provide for ourselves and our families.  No longer are we at the mercy of a male dominated society - we can make as much or as little money as we want to - if we make the decision and believe in ourselves. 

The International Association of Women in Family Enterprises was founded on the principle that women who support each other and create symbiotic strategic alliances can create an even stronger presence and positive influence in our world.

At IAWIFE - We're Positively on a Mission!

In the September 2008 issue of Psychosomatic Medicine, the results of a study was published which concluded that adults who saw themselves as "very optimistic" had a 55% decrease in risk of death from any cause; and a 23% decrease in risk of death due to heart disease - as compared to people who were very pessimistic.  People who look for the good things in life stay healthier and live longer! 

I opened the local paper this morning and the first thing I saw was these words, "Warning the worst is yet to come, U.S. officials Sunday declared the rapid spread of swine flue to be a public health emergency..."  This is just one of the bold "hit you in the face" negative headlines in the news.  Makes me wonder why I even subscribe to the newspaper.  I keep looking for positive stuff, but it's extremely hard to find - just look for yourselves...

At IAWIFE we're on a mission.  Not only are we building our businesses to be healthy and valuable to the world economy, we fully intend to be part of the solution - not the problem.  The problems of the world cannot be solved with the same negative minds that created them in the first place (as Albert Einstein reminded us), so we're looking for the positive and putting it out into the world every chance we get.  If you're sick and tired of the negativity and pessimism in the world, come join us!

How is your business growing?

I read a quote by Jim Rohn recently reminding me that there is always a planting season and a harvest season.  We have been spending thousands of marketing dollars sending direct mail in the last few months, and not seeing the results we had hoped for...  In the past our direct mailing of an introductory letter and full color brochure has kept a steady flow of new customers calling us for remodels, additions, and new homes.

  Although the calls are starting to come again, they aren't from new customers.  They are from customers we have been cultivating relationships with over the last year.  In other words, we planted the seeds of how we can help them, and now we are beginning to reap the harvest.

Now, more than ever, it's important for all you business owners to cultivate your own customer relationships - to give them all the help they need to make an informed decision about what you can offer them to solve whatever problem they may have or how you can make their life more comfortable, peaceful, fun, whatever...

You can never know your customers too well.  Go out of your way to talk to them and find out what they need, provide it, and your business will reap the harvest.

Breaking through the recession into a new day...

As I look for something going on in the world that's positive everyday, I find it is not an easy thing to do. I look in the newspaper and see that it's the negative "stuff" that apparently sells newspapers.  In the entire first section of the paper I found not one positive thing to help overshadow the gloom and doom on almost every page.  But in the midst of all this there's a message to be found...

People everywhere on the planet are aware of the global financial meltdown.  It's at the forefront of everyone's mind right now as the unemployment figures rise, houses are lost, and businesses struggle to survive.  But all of this chaos is causing the world leaders to come together to work on a system of recovery.  One newspaper reported that they are working on a "financial new world order" .  Could it be that ultimately the world will end up better than it was when this financial meltdown started?  Could it be that in the midst of the pain and suffering that many people are experiencing they are being "rebuilt" stronger and more resilient?

I believe we are truly in the midst of creating a new day for people and businesses in the world.  We can see that after surviving the Great Depression, that began in 1929, the world came back better and stronger.  I believe this rebuilding is happening before our eyes, and it's happening in our small businesses.  Creative ideas and solutions are being born on how to become more valuable and customer service oriented in the marketplace.  As many big businesses close, small businesses are learning how to fill the void and reach out in new ways to an ever broadening client base. 

Yes, it may seem that chaos is everywhere around us, but history has shown us that we can come out of the chaos into a new day and not just survive but thrive, better than before.  Let's keep looking for the signs that it's happening, because it is, because we are strong, and because it's time to take back our power and create the world we want - today!

Business Innovation is alive and well in the USA

We have all experienced the results of the overseas workers dipping into our job market.  This begs the question, "How much better would our economy be if all the jobs being done out of the US were brought back into our country?"

One company has found a way to take the overseas work situation and turn it into a profit making machine.  Darn It!, a company based in New Bedford, Massachusets, has made a business out of repairing garments, toys, and other goods that have been shipped back to the US with defects in workmanship.

Darn It!, whose motto is "Your problem is our business!", has grown to 100 employees and $4 million in annual revenue since the mid-1990's.  They take lemons and make lemonade from such repair issues as re-labeling garments, re-bagging, re-boxing, removing stains. etc., etc...

This is a classic example of looking for potential business opportunities instead of relying on the old standby of critcizing, condemning, and complaining about what's going on in the world. 

There is positive to be found - it just takes some creative thinking to find it!

Economy got you down? Maybe it shouldn't...

I live in a small town in Northern California.  There's only about 7,500 people that live here, so news travels fast.  Today I was greeted with the news that an entire family from Valley Springs, where I live, was wiped out in the blink of an eye in a plane crash.  A local dentist, his wife, who was a pediatrician, and their two children were on their way to a ski trip in Butte, Montana.  The weather was below freezing and the air was at 100% humidity.  Ice is being looked at as the possible cause of the plane crash that killed 14 people. 

This is a shocking bit of news and affects all of us in Valley Springs profoundly.  It shows how little things like the economy can be put into perspective.  How seriously can you really take it, when your life can be gone in the blink of an eye...

When I went onto the internet the news still centered around Madoff's jail time, Dancing with the Stars disasters, and the latest gizmo from Apple.  Life goes on no matter what happens to your physical body.  If your business fails, if you lose your home, if someone you love leaves you behind - life goes on.

So, what's really important here?  I know it's tough when you're in the middle of a recession to thing logically about how important money really is because those of us still here really need it to live comfortably.  But I find it helps every once in a while to remember how mortal we are and how short our time really is on this Earth.  I propose that we keep thinking about the good things we have and how precious life is everyday and refuse to participate in the recession.

What do you think?