Work At Home Business Options

Archive for April, 2010

During certain holidays throughout the year, I enjoy making a great tasting ham for our holiday dinners. Once the dinner is over…I am always left with a lot of left-over ham! To solve this problem, I like to freeze my left-overs to use at another time.

When it comes to freezing your ham, I remove the rind and bones and cut my ham into bite-sized chunks or I thinly slice it depending on how I plan to use it. I like to freeze mine in freezer safe storage bags in pint and quart sizes. I freeze in 1 cup, 2 cup and 3 cup capacities which is how I make most of my recipes. You will want to label your bags with the contents and how many cups are inside. Frozen ham will keep for 2-3 months if properly frozen.

Now…what can you make with all of that left-over frozen ham?

1 cup portions: great for ham sandwich spread (ham salad), pizza toppings, taco fillings, toss on fresh vegetable salads, ham and egg omelets.

2 and 3 cup portions: great for ham and bean soup, ham and green beans, ham pot pie, ham and potato soup, pork vegetable soup, split pea soup, ham stuffed manicotti or use it in lasagna in place of beef, ham and rice stir fry, meat and potato stuffed pastry pie, ham Sheppard’s pie, cheesy ham pasta dish, ham and broccoli casserole or tossed in a big fresh vegetable chef salad.

There are many things you can make with leftover ham once you have properly frozen it. You can find oodles of great recipes online by doing a keyword search for leftover holiday ham recipes.

Shelly Hill is a mother and grandmother living in Pennsylvania who enjoys cooking, baking and canning a variety of foods for her family and friends. You can visit Shelly’s online cooking and recipe site at http://wahmshelly.blogspot.com for free menu ideas, cooking tips and free recipes.

When it comes to having a Direct Sales home business, it is really important to listen to your customer’s wants and needs. Often times, I see consultants get too focused on giving their sales presentation and trying to get the big sale which can distract them from giving each and every customer some of their attention.

When a customer speaks up and says, “I can’t afford that product right now.” you should not stand there and try to convince them to purchase it. Instead, your time is better spent on listening to your customer and suggesting another way for your customer to obtain the item that they want. An example would be to book a party to earn it for free or for 1/2 price.

If a customer states they are not interested in booking a party at this time or that they are really busy right now, don’t stand there and pressure them. Instead, suggest that they book next month or in 8 weeks. It is better to get a booking that is 6-8 weeks away compared to not having a booking at all.

When it comes to providing excellent customer service to your customers and hosts…you really need to pay attention and LISTEN to what your customers are saying to you. Instead of pressuring them to do what you want, suggest other alternative that might interest your customer.

Shelly

When I was a young mother…I used to say to myself that I couldn’t wait until our daughter turned 18…then our (my) parenting job would be over and life would be easier.

However, I quickly learned that I was mistaken in my thinking. Once our children turn 18 years old, our parenting does not end…just the way we parent does.

When our children are young, we teach them right from wrong, advise them on their education, dating, clothing they should wear, music they should listen to and so forth.

Once our children turn 18…we still advise them on their education, career choices, dating and/or marriage, etc. Once they get a little older than that, we advise them on marriage, pregnancy, family (child rearing), careers and more.

Now that my daughter J is 25…I find that I am still “parenting” her even though she doesn’t live at home. What has changed is ‘how’ I parent her. I no longer control her decisions or the outcome of her decisions. My job now as a parent is to advise, support and encourage her to make the right decisions in her life. If she makes the wrong ones…it’s my job to support her (emotionally) and encourage her to correct her mistakes.

So if you are a parent of a young child…trust me, your parenting doesn’t end when your child turns 18.

What are your thoughts on this topic?

Shelly

Many people who are involved in Direct Sales participate in or plan their own craft show event. Displaying your Direct Sales products at craft shows is a great way to obtain host & recruit leads and to generate additional sales for your Direct Sales business.

My good friend Chris Carroll has agreed to share some of her wisdom on craft shows this week with all of our blog readers.

Thank you Chris!

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Want to put on your own craft show? Here are some tips to get you going~

Planning an Awesome Craft Show

Are you living in an area that has limited craft and vendor shows? Have you ever thought about developing your own but wasn’t sure how to go about it? Well here is the low down on how to grow your show into a well attended event.

Prep work for an event takes place months in advance. One of the first things you need to know is what type of event are you wanting to hold. Do you want retail items or a mix of crafts and arts? Think about your target market. What type of event would they want to attend and what type of items do they want to see and to purchase? Having a Direct Sales business, we may tend to want to only have Direct Sales people there as well as retail type items. But in order to grow your event and have good attendance and interest, a good balance should be the goal. Here is a secret that I learned. Most arts and craft vendors that make their own products do not like having too many Retail items at shows. It discounts the value of their hand made goods and they cannot compete price wise with something coming out of China. That is a good rule of thumb to keep in the back of your mind when planning your show.

Next on your list of things to do is find a great venue. The location plays a big part in how many vendors you can have as well as how many customers you will attract. Parking is a big part as well and having a place for the vendors to load and unload.

Advertising is huge! When figuring your costs, make sure you take into effect some advertising costs. A lot you can do free such as signs and press releases. But sometimes an inclusion into the Classifieds is not a bad idea. Don’t forget online posting in craft show listings as well.

Finding your vendors should not be too hard to do. Attending other shows with your application and show information in hand and personally asking people to attend is a great way to grow your attendees. Mind your location and map out your spacing so you do not over invite.

Think about food booths and drink booths. Many shows I attend do not allow other beverages sold as the sponsor of the show sells those. Adding a food or beverage booth will depend on your hours, location, attendance and availability to support these types of booths. If you are planning events that say a church or non profit is hosting, most of the time that group sells the food and drinks as a fundraiser.

Use your good customer service with your vendors. Showing them that you care and want to make this experience a great day for them is very important. Remember the vendors are there to make money and that should be tops on your list. Take care of them and they will take care of you!

Another tidbit regarding your vendors would be to make sure that you do not place competing products next to each other. Place them as far a part as possible. Remember that each vendor is its own store. A retailer would not build a jewelry store next to a jewelry store so be mindful of your placement of your vendors; ie. Your customer.

Work on your next show right way. Invite your vendors to the next year’s show and ask for feedback to help you plan and make it a better function. Growing your show each year will mean a better event for everyone! Good luck and Have Fun!!!

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Copyright Chris Carroll All Rights Reserved

Chris Carroll is a sales professional that has made direct sales her business of choice and enjoys sharing with others. You can sign up for tips on managing and increasing your business at her site http://DirectSalesTalk.com .Y ou can also find her at her business site http://ShopOnYourSeat.com .

When it comes to Direct Sales, do you have to be aggressive with sales and recruiting to be successful? What do you think?

In my professional opinion, if you are too aggressive you will chase off your customers, party hosts, team members and recruit leads.

I want for you to look at this shoe from the other foot. At some time or another, we have all experienced an overly aggressive sales person, how did that make you feel? Did you enjoy being pressured into booking a party or placing an order? Did you feel bullied into?

There is a difference between being motivated and hardworking compared to being aggressive and I have never met a truly successful Direct Sales consultant who was overly aggressive…it just does not pay (at least for the long haul) to be like that.

When people book parties from you, place orders with you, join your team or do any type of business with you, it should be a pleasant and care-free experience. So the next time you are out and working your business…remember that being excited, motivated and driven are entirely different than being aggressive.

What are your thoughts?

Shelly

Almost every day when I get online to check my email I receive some type of spammed invite to come join some type of social networking site or networking group. Frankly, I am just tired of it now.

In my personal and professional opinion, it is NOT okay to spam everyone on your contact list with an invite every time you go out and join some new networking site or group. Sure, so and so might be interested but surely, not everyone will be.

If I wanted to receive these types of emails from people, I would sign up for them or I would let you know. However, I feel that this is just another type of spam email method.

I am a very busy person and I am sure you are busy as well and getting emails on a daily basis to come check out this new forum, this new social networking site or group is becoming ridiculous and frankly, I am tired of it. To me and many others…its spam!

Now on when I get these types of ‘spammed’ invites, I reply with a not so nice message about it and then, I block them from emailing me that nonsense again.

If you want to keep those who are in your contact lists and email address books happy, I suggest that you NEVER spam email invites to them unless they have specifically told you that they would like to receive that type of communication from you.

How do you feel about this issue?

Shelly