A FREE electronic magazine... January 30, 2002
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B I G B U C K S I N A B A T H R O B E
Make More Money & Have More Fun With Your Small Business!
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Publisher: Dave Balch, "The Stay-at-Home CEO"(tm)
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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT! SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT! SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!
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that will help you "Make More Money and Have More Fun" with your
business are now available online with secure ordering. Take a
look now! Limited time... FREE T-SHIRT WITH ANY ORDER OVER $30!
http://www.TheStayAtHomeCEO.com/boutique.htm
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I n T h i s I s s u e . . .
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1. A "Quickie" Personal Observation:
2. Feature: Article "How Will You Be Judged?"
3. Feature: "Ask Dave" - Can I help with a business problem?
Web site designer
4. Feature: "Meanwhile, back at the ranch..."
Keno goes to the hospital
5. About "Big Bucks in a Bathrobe" Newsletter
6. Who the Heck am I, Anyway?
7. How to Subscribe / Unsubscribe
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PLEASE FORWARD THIS to each of your friends who have small or
home-based businesses; they'll LOVE you for it! (Be sure they
know it's from you, or they'll think I spammed 'em!) Thanks!
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Copyright (c)2002, A Few Good People, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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11111 A "Quickie" - Personal Observation
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See's Candies is very popular in California; it's virtually
impossible to find a shopping mall that doesn't have a See's
candy store.
Every time I go in to one of those stores, they greet me with a
sample piece of candy. It doesn't matter if I'm there to buy one
sucker or a ten pound assortment, I still get my free sample.
And they've been doing it for years.
Now THERE's something to ponder. Successful candy store...
Years of free samples... Successful candy store... Hmmmmm, do
you think there's a connection between the samples and the
success?
The mere fact that they've been giving the samples for years tells
me that it must be working!
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22222 A r t i c l e "How Will You Be Judged?"
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By Dave Balch, the "Stay-at-Home CEO"(tm)
Like it or not, people DO judge a book by its cover. It's just
a fact of life. Everything having to do with your business that
is presented to the outside world is one more judging
opportunity. How do you measure up?
You've probably heard it said, "You only have one chance to make
a good first impression". There is a reason why it is an old
adage; it's true!
There are so many ways that your business presents itself for
that first impression. The first one that comes to mind is YOU,
which can be either in person or on the phone. In person, you
must look the part that you play. For example, if you portray
yourself as someone who can help a business be successful, you
must look successful. If you own a restaurant and you greet your
guests, you should look clean, friendly, and inviting. The owner
of a restaurant greeted us in a grease-stained T-shirt. Wrong!
Not very appetizing, is it?
On the phone, you need to sound like you care about the caller
and their problems. What kind of an impression would it make if
you (or an employee) answered the phone sounding annoyed at the
interruption?
Printed materials also make an impression, for better or worse.
Is your business card professionally done, or does it look
cheesy? Are your brochures professional looking or are they made
on a copier? If they were made on a copier, you may get away
with it if they are clean and neat, with good toner saturation.
A sloppily made copy that is too faint, uneven, and/or crooked on
the page will do you more harm than good. I am reminded of a man
who approached me at a trade show and wanted to work together
giving seminars. He handed me his 'brochure', which consisted of
about 10 pages of poorly copied pages, most of which were
crooked, and all of which were bent, crumpled, or torn. I could
not believe my eyes. I was appalled, but our parrot didn't seem
to mind when I used it to line his cage.
While we're on the subject of brochures, let me vent one of my
pet peeves: grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors.
Aaaaggghhh! Maybe it's just me, but if you want to make a bad
impression, bad punctuation is a good way to do it, especially a
misused apostrophe. For example, a local restaurant used
"tomato's" as the plural for "tomato", and made that mistake
throughout its entire menu. I can certainly understand a typo
once in a while, but geez.
You can only imagine how I reacted to this one: large, block
letters, in neon, above a pet store that read "Pet's, Fish, and
More". How many people saw that and didn't realize that there
should be no apostrophe??
I don't mean to make you paranoid. Wait a minute, yes I do! Be
very careful how you present yourself to the world. Little
things can mean a lot, whether your customers think so or not.
Remember that you only get one chance for that first impression.
Make it a good one.
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33333 "A s k D a v e"
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(Can I help you with a business problem? I will field
business questions in every issue. Send them to
mailto:DaveEZ@DaveBalch.com )
Ask whatever you'd like... all letters will remain anonymous.
Maybe my 2-cents'-worth will make you "Big Bucks"!
(Maybe not!)
Today's question:
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I am in the process of starting a business and I need company
that builds real estate type sites that will allow people that
password access to individual pages... for a reasonable
price....cheap. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Y.K.
Dear Y.K.
Thanks for writing... I don't know of anyone in particular,
but I would suggest that you do the following:
1. Go to a search engine and enter the search words that you
think YOUR customers would enter to find YOU.
2. Take a look at the sites that come up... see what you like
and what you don't like.
3. If you find a site that you really like, find out who
designed it and contact them. In many cases, the site
designer puts their contact info on the home page.
Good luck!
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44444 "M e a n w h i l e, b a c k a t t h e r a n c h..."
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A glimpse into the life of this "Stay-at-Home CEO"
(Photos and short bios of the complete "cast of characters"
are posted at http://www.TheStayAtHomeCEO.com/theranch.htm )
What a week! Here's the "Reader's Digest" version:
Keno won't eat. VERY unusual for him. Vet comes, says he has a
virus. Temperature is 104, normal is 100. $273. Next day, no
better. Vet comes back, is worried about him. Gives him fluids
and mineral oil. $176. That night, still won't eat. Needs
fluids, monitoring. Should go to equine hospital. We have no
horse trailer or means to pull one. Must find someone. Friend
of vet will do it; trailer is 45 minutes away. Hospital is 2
hours away. It's 6:00 pm. Rig arrives at 8:30. Keno won't
move. Very windy, 22 degrees. Finally he moves, slowly, toward
trailer. Kelly is upset. Keno hasn't been in trailer for 22
years, will he load? Yes! (He's such a good boy!)
Kelly very upset; running around in paddock, whinnying loudly...
we'll take her, too, and board her there so she won't be alone.
She won't get in trailer. Gets loose; runs around in the forest,
in the dark, cold, and wind. Catch her, still won't load.
Rearing up... very dangerous. Back to her paddock.
Off to the hospital with Keno. I follow. We get there at 11:00pm.
Will he unload calmly? Yes! (He's such a good boy!) $250.
Exam shows nothing, must wait until morning. He is in isolation
because of virus. X-ray to see if stones in stomach. No stones,
but there is a horseshoe nail! If it punctures his stomach or
intestine, he could die. No telling how long it's been there.
Maybe years. Maybe days. Possibly no effect for rest of his
life. Surgery too risky.
Kelly has calmed down now, but continues to stare at the place
where she last saw Keno. Heart-breaking.
Chris and I prepare to go to visit Keno. Emma acts normal, but
Chris discovers deep gash in her leg. Stop at vet on the way.
Six stitches. Antibiotics. $126.
Keno's temperature is normal for two days now; he can come home.
Uh-oh, snow is predicted. If he comes home and then has a
problem with the nail, we can't get help in storm. Decide to
leave him there. Good call; storm left 1 foot of snow.
He's doing well now. Out of isolation. Eating like crazy. Has
a buddy in his new location. (It's a mare... don't tell Kelly!)
Everyone at hospital likes him.
New X-ray shows that the nail has moved. A little. And there is
another metal object in there too. (TWO metal objects in his
gut??? Maybe Keno is really a goat!)
He can come home now, but roads are too icy from storm. Stay
tuned!
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55555 A b o u t "Big Bucks in a Bathrobe" N e w s l e t t e r
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66666 W h o t h e H e c k a m I, A n y w a y ?
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I've generated over $5 million (so far!) from my own home-based
software business and I have a lot to share with you about how I
did it and what I learned along the way. Now, as a professional
speaker, I offer programs that will help you and your employees
"Make More Money and Have More Fun" with your small or home-based
business!
Visit me at http://www.TheStayAtHomeCEO.com for descriptions of
the programs and educational resources that I offer.
The "Big Bucks Boutique" offers resources and materials that will
help you "Make More Money and Have More Fun" with your business.
Take a look at http://www.TheStayAtHomeCEO.com/boutique.htm
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77777 H o w to S u b s c r i b e / U n s u b s c r i b e
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A Few Good People, Inc.
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