Dog days of Summer: The Key To Effective Design

The most frequently asked question I receive as an Internet home business consultant usually goes something like this; "I would really like to start my own home business on the Internet, but I don't know what." The short answer is - Start with what you know and enjoy.

There are a number of good reasons for this

By drawing on existing knowledge, you can concentrate on building a business rather than learning about a new trade, product, or service.

Starting and running a home business means long hours and sacrifice. It is easier to do when you are doing something you enjoy.

Selling what you know and enjoy is less difficult for non-salespeople.Selling what you know and enjoy is less difficult for non-salespeople.

The Internet offers unique opportunities for the home business netrepreneur. It creates the ability to reach a much larger potential market for your product, service, or information at a much lower price than through conventional advertising mediums.

The Internet and World Wide Web are still in their infancy. Right now, you can get everything you need to put your business online - free. It is like someone offering you a store (web hosting), full time staff (web pages, auto responders) and advertising (lots of advertising) for free. All you have to do is come up with an idea for a product or service to put in the store.

One of my favorite examples is my mother's home business. She builds very creative and unique birdhouses. She uses scrap lumber from a local sawmill (free) and driftwood from the local beach (free), to keep her material costs low. Another local artist provides the miniature sculptures for a percentage of the sales. She started by building and selling these for the local tourist trade in Homer Alaska, and was doing ok. But when we put them on the Internet (http://www.ptialaska.net/~cortez/) sales really began to soar. Not everyone that would be interested in the birdhouses can afford to visit Homer, and we certainly couldn't afford to advertise to the world in any other way. We were able to reach this larger market by using free web hosting, design, and promotion services. Once we developed a flow of traffic, we were able to create additional income streams by selling other peoples products as well. (I'll discuss this further later in this article)

This business model can work for just about any product that can be shipped. What unique item can you build using local materials? Do you have a craft or gift idea that is unique? How about a kit or plans for something you have built?

Information is another type of product. What do you know or know how to do that would be of interest or value to others? You can either sell that information as a report, or a tip booklet. Or you can give the information away at your store and sell other peoples related products for a commission. The advantage here is that once you put your information in the store it is done. You don't have to keep building it and shipping it. If your not comfortable with writing your own material you can use a ghostwriter (http://www.home-work.net).

Another home business opportunity that is unique to the Internet is based on common interests. What do you have a special interest in that others may share? Music, books, computers, cars, gardening, collectibles, etc…? The idea in this business model is to create a site with information and resources available online of interest to others. Then you select products to sell of interest to people that would be visiting your site. For instance, if you had an avid interest in a particular type of music. You could develop a site that was a resource for others with that same interest. The site could include links to artists sites, reviews of the latest releases, concert tour information, photos, sound clips, interview excerpts, a chat room, or discussion board. You become an "associate" of one of the CD distributors online and receive a commission on CD's that are sold. The distributor does the entire order fulfillment. The number and variety of companies that have an associate program online is growing daily. They cover all kinds of products and services from gifts to computers or web hosting to credit cards.

Start with what you know, apply some imagination, and open your low cost home business online. The market is growing everyday - world wide.

Brought to you by: World Wide Information Outlet - http://certificate.net/wwio/, your source of FREEWare Content online.
Bob Cortez has 20 years of sales and marketing experience. Through Total Quality Marketing he is providing consulting services to home based entrepreneurs looking to expand their business online and take advantage of the tremendous opportunities available.

Total Quality Marketing
PO Box 338
Homer Alaska 99603

There are a number of good reasons for this

Start with what you know, apply some imagination, and open your low cost home business online. The market is growing everyday - world wide.

Total Quality Marketing
PO Box 338
Homer Alaska 99603

There are a number of good reasons for this

Start with what you know, apply some imagination, and open your low cost home business online. The market is growing everyday - world wide.

Total Quality Marketing
PO Box 338
Homer Alaska 99603

There are a number of good reasons for this

Start with what you know, apply some imagination, and open your low cost home business online. The market is growing everyday - world wide.

Total Quality Marketing
PO Box 338
Homer Alaska 99603

There are a number of good reasons for this

Start with what you know, apply some imagination, and open your low cost home business online. The market is growing everyday - world wide.

Total Quality Marketing
PO Box 338
Homer Alaska 99603

In these days, it's becoming increasingly difficult to make ends meet with just one source of income. Thus, more and more people are investigating the possibilities of starting their own extra-income business. Most of these part-time endeavors are started and operated from the comfort and privacy of the home.

Most of these people are making the extra money they need. Some have wisely and carefully built these extra income efforts into full-time, very profitable businesses. Others are just keeping busy, having fun, and enjoying life as never before. The important thing is that they are doing something other than waiting for the government to give them a handout; they are improving their lot in life, and you can do it, too!

The fields of mail order selling, multi-level marketing, and in-home party sales have never been more popular. If any of these kinds of extra income producing ideas appeal to you, then you owe it to yourself to check them out. But these aren't the only fields of endeavor you can start and operate from home, with little or no investment, and learn as you go.

If you type, you can start a home-based typing service; if you have a truck or have access to a trailer, you can start a clean-up/hauling service. Simply collecting old news papers from your neighbors can get you started in the paper recycling business. More than a few enterprising housewives have found success and fortune by starting home and/or apartment cleaning services. If you have a yard full of flowers, you can make good extra money by supplying fresh cut flowers to restaurants and offices in your area on a regular basis. You might turn a ceramics hobby into a lucrative personalized coffee mug business. What I'm saying is that in reality, there's literally no end to the ways you can start and operate a profitable extra income business from your home.

The first thing you must do, however, is some basic market research. Find out for yourself, first-hand, just how many people there are in your area who are interested in your proposed product or service, and would be willing to stand in line and pay money for it. This is known as defining your market and pinpointing your customers. If after checking around, talking about your idea with a whole lot of people over a period of one to three months, you get the idea that these people would be paying customers, your next effort should be directed toward the detailing of your business plan. The more precise and detailed your plan - covering all the bases relating to how you'll do everything that needs to be done - the easier it's going to be for you to attain success. Such a plan should show your start-up investment needs, your advertising plan, your production costs and procedures, your sales program, and how your time will be allocated. Too often, enthusiastic and ambitious entrepreneurs jump in on an extra income project and suddenly find that the costs are beyond their abilities, and the time requirements more than they can meet. It pays to lay it all out on paper before you get involved, and the clearer you can see everything before you start, the better your chances for success.

Now, assuming you've got your market targeted, you know who your customers are going to be and how you're going to reach them with your product or service. And you have all your costs as well as time requirements itemized. The next step is to set your plan in motion and start making money.

Here is the most important secret of all, relating to starting and building a profitable home-based business, so read very carefully. Regardless of what kind of business you start, you must have the capital and the available time to sustain your business through the first six months of operation. Specifically, you must not count on receiving or spending any money coming in from your business on yourself or for your bills during those first six months. All the income from your business during those first six months should be reinvested in your business in order for it to grow and reach our planned first year potential.

Once you've passed that first six months milestone, you can set up a small monthly salary for yourself, and begin enjoying the fruits of your labor. But the first six months or operation for any business are critical, so do not plan to use any of the money your business generates for yourself during that period.

If you've got your business plan properly organized, and have implemented the plan, you should at the end of your first year be able to begin thinking about hiring other people to alleviate some of your work-load. Remember this: Starting a successful business is not a means towards either a job for yourself or a way to keep busy. It should be regarded as the beginning of an enterprise that will grow and prosper, with you as the top dog. Eventually, you'll have other people doing all the work for you, even running the entire operation, while you vacation in the Bahamas or Hawaii and collect or receive regular income from your initial efforts.

For more details on market research, business planning, advertising, selling, order fulfillment, and other aspects of home-based businesses, watch World Wide Information Outlet for future reports.

Brought to you by: World Wide Information Outlet - http://certificate.net/wwio/, your source of FREEWare Content online.
Reprint permission for any medium is granted only if all information below this notice, including the WWIO web site link and authors biography are included as written.

A database is more than a simple list of names and addresses. What turns a list into a database is the additionalinformation, coupled with your ability to select names from or report on the list using any combination of data elements.

In this report, you'll see some examples of the benefits of developing and maintaining a database. Then, the specific information that a database can contain will be detailed.

BENEFITS OF A DATABASE

By maintaining your list as a database, you can segment in many ways for targeting. Targeting improves the productivity of your offers. You can use a database to isolate the segment of your list most likely to respond to a particular offer. With a good database, you're not mass-mailing your offer to parts of your list that may have no interest in it (based on their characteristics). Because the number you're mailing is smaller, your response rate (number responding/number mailed) - one measure of productivity - should be higher. (And, of course, you'll save on printing and postage costs.)

Here are two simple examples of targeting using database information:

You're the owner of a neighborhood beauty salon. For each customer, you keep a record (with dates) of all the services you've provided to that customer. You're planning a special pre-summer promotion on permanent waves for the month of May.

Instead of mailing an announcement of the sale to your entire customer list (many of whom don't have their hair permed), you select only those customers who had a permanent at least three months ago. In this way, you're targeting those customers who are most likely to take advantage of your upcoming sale.

You're the dinner chairperson of a local fund-raising organization. Your mailing list is made up of a wide range of contributors, from those who've donated only a few dollars to those who give annual gifts of thousands of dollars. For each contributor, you maintain a record of all past donations and functions he/she has attended, in addition to basic mailing information.

This year, you're asking for donations of $100 a plate for the annual dinner dance. To get the best response to your invitation, you first target those contributors who were at last year's dinner dance. Then you target those who weren't at the dance, but who donated more than $100 in the past year. Depending on the response you expect from these first two groups, you may next want to target those names on your list that didn't attend the last dance, but contributed $50 in the last year. You may even want to have a phone follow-up to the first two groups but use the mailing only for the third group.

A properly set up database can provide many benefits for your business or organization. But the usefulness of a database depends entirely on what elements you include in it.

WHAT TO INCLUDE IN THE DATABASE

Depending on your type of business or organization, you will want to include different fields in your database. Later in this report you will see some examples of the fields that are appropriate in specific instances. For all businesses or organizations, though, certain basic information is always necessary.

By including basic information in your database, you ensure that the people or companies on your list are deliverable. That is, the mailings you produce using your list will get where you want them to go - into the hands of the individual who is most likely to respond to your offer.

Basic information for Business Audiences

If your audience is made up of businesses, you will need to include the following fields for each name on your list:

A unique account number.

This number should not be tied into any other information about the customer, for example, phone number or address, since this sort of information may change over time. The account number should never change throughout the life of the customer. A sequential numbering system is simple and effective.

Company name.

Street Address.

Suite number, is necessary

P.O. Box, if necessary.

City

State

Zip Code, five or nine digit.

Phone number (with area code).

Job title or name of contact.

Some business mailers maintain the name of the individual within the customer's business or organization. Others simply use the appropriate job title. The alternative you choose will depend on the nature of your business and the amount of turnover associated with the position that is your contact.

Basic Information for Individual (Non-Business) Audiences

If your audience is made up of individuals, you will need to include the following data for each name on the list:

A unique account number.

Individual's name.

Street address or P.O. Box.

Apartment number, is necessary.

City.

State.

Zip Code, five or nine digit.

Phone number (with area code).

The basic information listed above is necessary to make sure that the names on your mailing list are mailable. But how do you decide which names are more productive?

Data Elements to Evaluate - Recency, Frequency and Monetary Value

Regardless of whether you're mailing to businesses or individuals, there are three factors - recency, frequency and monetary value - that are commonly used to measure the value of a name.

Recency: Recency refers to the last time that the customer ordered or responded to an offer.

Frequency: Frequency is the number of orders or responses that the customer has made since becoming a customer (or during the last year or other specified time period).

Monetary Value: The monetary value is the amount of money the customer has spent since becoming a customer (or during the last year or other specified time period).

How do these three factors determine the value of a customer (the likelihood he/she will order again)?

The more recently a customer has ordered from you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.
The more often a customer orders from you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.
The more money a customer spends with you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.

All three factors - recency, frequency, and monetary value - are considered to be good indicators of whether or not a customer is likely to respond to a future offer. But they are not equal. Recency is thought to be the best indicator, followed by frequency and then monetary value.

In order to use these valuable pieces of information, here are the specific fields you need to maintain on your database:

For recency: The date of the last transaction with the customer - the date of the customer's last order, purchase or donation.
For frequency: The dates of all previous transactions with the customer over a certain period of time.
For monetary value: The size (in dollars) of all of the customer's previous purchases or other transactions. (It is also common to maintain the dollar amount of the customer's most recent order as the monetary value indicator.)

In addition to evaluating the recency, frequency, and monetary worth of your audience, you will probably find that there are many other important ways to analyze the names on your database.

Additional Information for Business Audiences

If your audience is made up of businesses, there is additional descriptive information, some specific to your product or offer, that could be valuable to have.

You might want to consider storing some of the following data elements for each of the names on your database:

Number of employees in the business/organization.

Type of business/organization.

The United States Government four-digit coding system, the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system, is commonly used to identify businesses. For example, the codes 5211 through 5999 identify Retailers. Within that category, 5411 is the code for Grocery Stores, 5441 the number for Candy, Nut and Congectionery Stores. The SIC Manual is available through the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402.

Annual sales volume.

Credit status code

The credit status code could be developed by you, based on the customer's payment history or perhaps obtained from a commercial credit report.

Items ordered from you.

With data in this field, you can select customers for programs designed to get them to reorder an item, or to order complementary or supply items.

Location.

Is it a headquarters, subsidiary, branch, division, etc.? If you are making an offer that requires a decision by someone at the headquarters of a company, you may not want to send it to the branch office (unless there are employees involved in the decision too).

Source of the name.

This field is usually a code representing where you got the name. Assign a unique code for each referral program, publication advertisement, list, etc., you use to get a new name. Assigning a source code to each new customer allowsyou to evaluate the effectiveness of each technique you use to get customers or to collect prospect names.

Additional Information for Individual Audiences

If your audience is made up of individuals, you may want to collect information on the household unit, often the most relevant purchasing unit. Here are some suggestions for demographic information that could be useful to you in analyzing the names on your mailing list.

Household income.

Occupations of household members.

Number of people in the household.

Ages of the members of the household.

Genders of members of the household.

Marital status of members of the household.

Information on property belonging to the household:

Type of living quarters.
Owned or rented living quarters.
Number, make, model, etc. of each

automobile.
Number, make, model, etc. of each major appliance.

Political affiliation.

Hobbies and leisure time activities.

Now you know the secrets of how a database can turn your mailing list into a valuable asset for your business or organization. You understand what basic fields to include. And you have had an overview of what additional fields might be added to the basic ones that make a list mailable. Be sure to carefully analyze your own needs and to include information that would be of help to you in mailing smarter. In a future report, we will explain the details of how to go about collecting the names for your mailing list, starting with your customer list.

Brought to you by: World Wide Information Outlet - http://certificate.net/wwio/, your source of FREEWare Content online.
If you need an online database just email us and let us know. Database prices start at $99.

This article may be used online or off line in publications as long as credit is given to World Wide Information Outlet in the above resource box.

A database is more than a simple list of names and addresses. What turns a list into a database is the additionalinformation, coupled with your ability to select names from or report on the list using any combination of data elements.

In this report, you'll see some examples of the benefits of developing and maintaining a database. Then, the specific information that a database can contain will be detailed.

BENEFITS OF A DATABASE

By maintaining your list as a database, you can segment in many ways for targeting. Targeting improves the productivity of your offers. You can use a database to isolate the segment of your list most likely to respond to a particular offer. With a good database, you're not mass-mailing your offer to parts of your list that may have no interest in it (based on their characteristics). Because the number you're mailing is smaller, your response rate (number responding/number mailed) - one measure of productivity - should be higher. (And, of course, you'll save on printing and postage costs.)

Here are two simple examples of targeting using database information:

Basic information for Business Audiences

If your audience is made up of businesses, you will need to include the following fields for each name on your list:

Company name.

Street Address.

Suite number, is necessary

P.O. Box, if necessary.

City

State

Zip Code, five or nine digit.

Phone number (with area code).

Basic Information for Individual (Non-Business) Audiences

If your audience is made up of individuals, you will need to include the following data for each name on the list:

A unique account number.

Individual's name.

Street address or P.O. Box.

Apartment number, is necessary.

City.

State.

Zip Code, five or nine digit.

Phone number (with area code).

The basic information listed above is necessary to make sure that the names on your mailing list are mailable. But how do you decide which names are more productive?

Recency: Recency refers to the last time that the customer ordered or responded to an offer.

Frequency: Frequency is the number of orders or responses that the customer has made since becoming a customer (or during the last year or other specified time period).

The more recently a customer has ordered from you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.
The more often a customer orders from you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.
The more money a customer spends with you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.

For recency: The date of the last transaction with the customer - the date of the customer's last order, purchase or donation.
For frequency: The dates of all previous transactions with the customer over a certain period of time.
For monetary value: The size (in dollars) of all of the customer's previous purchases or other transactions. (It is also common to maintain the dollar amount of the customer's most recent order as the monetary value indicator.)

In addition to evaluating the recency, frequency, and monetary worth of your audience, you will probably find that there are many other important ways to analyze the names on your database.

Number of employees in the business/organization.

Annual sales volume.

Credit status code

The credit status code could be developed by you, based on the customer's payment history or perhaps obtained from a commercial credit report.

Items ordered from you.

With data in this field, you can select customers for programs designed to get them to reorder an item, or to order complementary or supply items.

Household income.

Occupations of household members.

Number of people in the household.

Ages of the members of the household.

Genders of members of the household.

Marital status of members of the household.

Information on property belonging to the household:

Type of living quarters.
Owned or rented living quarters.
Number, make, model, etc. of each

automobile.
Number, make, model, etc. of each major appliance.

Political affiliation.

Basic information for Business Audiences

If your audience is made up of businesses, you will need to include the following fields for each name on your list:

Company name.

Street Address.

Suite number, is necessary

P.O. Box, if necessary.

City

State

Zip Code, five or nine digit.

Phone number (with area code).

Basic Information for Individual (Non-Business) Audiences

If your audience is made up of individuals, you will need to include the following data for each name on the list:

A unique account number.

Individual's name.

Street address or P.O. Box.

Apartment number, is necessary.

City.

State.

Zip Code, five or nine digit.

Phone number (with area code).

The basic information listed above is necessary to make sure that the names on your mailing list are mailable. But how do you decide which names are more productive?

Recency: Recency refers to the last time that the customer ordered or responded to an offer.

Frequency: Frequency is the number of orders or responses that the customer has made since becoming a customer (or during the last year or other specified time period).

The more recently a customer has ordered from you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.
The more often a customer orders from you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.
The more money a customer spends with you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.

For recency: The date of the last transaction with the customer - the date of the customer's last order, purchase or donation.
For frequency: The dates of all previous transactions with the customer over a certain period of time.
For monetary value: The size (in dollars) of all of the customer's previous purchases or other transactions. (It is also common to maintain the dollar amount of the customer's most recent order as the monetary value indicator.)

In addition to evaluating the recency, frequency, and monetary worth of your audience, you will probably find that there are many other important ways to analyze the names on your database.

Number of employees in the business/organization.

Annual sales volume.

Credit status code

The credit status code could be developed by you, based on the customer's payment history or perhaps obtained from a commercial credit report.

Items ordered from you.

With data in this field, you can select customers for programs designed to get them to reorder an item, or to order complementary or supply items.

Household income.

Occupations of household members.

Number of people in the household.

Ages of the members of the household.

Genders of members of the household.

Marital status of members of the household.

Information on property belonging to the household:

Type of living quarters.
Owned or rented living quarters.
Number, make, model, etc. of each

automobile.
Number, make, model, etc. of each major appliance.

Political affiliation.

Hobbies and leisure time activities.

Now you know the secrets of how a database can turn your mailing list into a valuable asset for your business or organization. You understand what basic fields to include. And you have had an overview of what additional fields might be added to the basic ones that make a list mailable. Be sure to carefully analyze your own needs and to include information that would be of help to you in mailing smarter. In a future report, we will explain the details of how to go about collecting the names for your mailing list, starting with your customer list.

Brought to you by: World Wide Information Outlet - http://certificate.net/wwio/, your source of FREEWare Content online.
If you need an online database just email us and let us know. Database prices start at $99.

This article may be used online or off line in publications as long as credit is given to World Wide Information Outlet in the above resource box.

10 Ways to Maximize the Impact of TrainingRon Kaufman

A database is more than a simple list of names and addresses. What turns a list into a database is the additionalinformation, coupled with your ability to select names from or report on the list using any combination of data elements.

In this report, you'll see some examples of the benefits of developing and maintaining a database. Then, the specific information that a database can contain will be detailed.

BENEFITS OF A DATABASE

By maintaining your list as a database, you can segment in many ways for targeting. Targeting improves the productivity of your offers. You can use a database to isolate the segment of your list most likely to respond to a particular offer. With a good database, you're not mass-mailing your offer to parts of your list that may have no interest in it (based on their characteristics). Because the number you're mailing is smaller, your response rate (number responding/number mailed) - one measure of productivity - should be higher. (And, of course, you'll save on printing and postage costs.)

Here are two simple examples of targeting using database information:

Basic information for Business Audiences

If your audience is made up of businesses, you will need to include the following fields for each name on your list:

Company name.

Street Address.

Suite number, is necessary

P.O. Box, if necessary.

City

State

Zip Code, five or nine digit.

Phone number (with area code).

Basic Information for Individual (Non-Business) Audiences

If your audience is made up of individuals, you will need to include the following data for each name on the list:

A unique account number.

Individual's name.

Street address or P.O. Box.

Apartment number, is necessary.

City.

State.

Zip Code, five or nine digit.

Phone number (with area code).

The basic information listed above is necessary to make sure that the names on your mailing list are mailable. But how do you decide which names are more productive?

Recency: Recency refers to the last time that the customer ordered or responded to an offer.

Frequency: Frequency is the number of orders or responses that the customer has made since becoming a customer (or during the last year or other specified time period).

The more recently a customer has ordered from you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.
The more often a customer orders from you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.
The more money a customer spends with you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.

For recency: The date of the last transaction with the customer - the date of the customer's last order, purchase or donation.
For frequency: The dates of all previous transactions with the customer over a certain period of time.
For monetary value: The size (in dollars) of all of the customer's previous purchases or other transactions. (It is also common to maintain the dollar amount of the customer's most recent order as the monetary value indicator.)

In addition to evaluating the recency, frequency, and monetary worth of your audience, you will probably find that there are many other important ways to analyze the names on your database.

Number of employees in the business/organization.

Annual sales volume.

Credit status code

The credit status code could be developed by you, based on the customer's payment history or perhaps obtained from a commercial credit report.

Items ordered from you.

With data in this field, you can select customers for programs designed to get them to reorder an item, or to order complementary or supply items.

Household income.

Occupations of household members.

Number of people in the household.

Ages of the members of the household.

Genders of members of the household.

Marital status of members of the household.

Information on property belonging to the household:

Type of living quarters.
Owned or rented living quarters.
Number, make, model, etc. of each

automobile.
Number, make, model, etc. of each major appliance.

Political affiliation.

Basic information for Business Audiences

If your audience is made up of businesses, you will need to include the following fields for each name on your list:

Company name.

Street Address.

Suite number, is necessary

P.O. Box, if necessary.

City

State

Zip Code, five or nine digit.

Phone number (with area code).

Basic Information for Individual (Non-Business) Audiences

If your audience is made up of individuals, you will need to include the following data for each name on the list:

A unique account number.

Individual's name.

Street address or P.O. Box.

Apartment number, is necessary.

City.

State.

Zip Code, five or nine digit.

Phone number (with area code).

The basic information listed above is necessary to make sure that the names on your mailing list are mailable. But how do you decide which names are more productive?

Recency: Recency refers to the last time that the customer ordered or responded to an offer.

Frequency: Frequency is the number of orders or responses that the customer has made since becoming a customer (or during the last year or other specified time period).

The more recently a customer has ordered from you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.
The more often a customer orders from you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.
The more money a customer spends with you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.

For recency: The date of the last transaction with the customer - the date of the customer's last order, purchase or donation.
For frequency: The dates of all previous transactions with the customer over a certain period of time.
For monetary value: The size (in dollars) of all of the customer's previous purchases or other transactions. (It is also common to maintain the dollar amount of the customer's most recent order as the monetary value indicator.)

In addition to evaluating the recency, frequency, and monetary worth of your audience, you will probably find that there are many other important ways to analyze the names on your database.

Number of employees in the business/organization.

Annual sales volume.

Credit status code

The credit status code could be developed by you, based on the customer's payment history or perhaps obtained from a commercial credit report.

Items ordered from you.

With data in this field, you can select customers for programs designed to get them to reorder an item, or to order complementary or supply items.

Household income.

Occupations of household members.

Number of people in the household.

Ages of the members of the household.

Genders of members of the household.

Marital status of members of the household.

Information on property belonging to the household:

Type of living quarters.
Owned or rented living quarters.
Number, make, model, etc. of each

automobile.
Number, make, model, etc. of each major appliance.

Political affiliation.

Basic information for Business Audiences

If your audience is made up of businesses, you will need to include the following fields for each name on your list:

Company name.

Street Address.

Suite number, is necessary

P.O. Box, if necessary.

City

State

Zip Code, five or nine digit.

Phone number (with area code).

Basic Information for Individual (Non-Business) Audiences

If your audience is made up of individuals, you will need to include the following data for each name on the list:

A unique account number.

Individual's name.

Street address or P.O. Box.

Apartment number, is necessary.

City.

State.

Zip Code, five or nine digit.

Phone number (with area code).

The basic information listed above is necessary to make sure that the names on your mailing list are mailable. But how do you decide which names are more productive?

Recency: Recency refers to the last time that the customer ordered or responded to an offer.

Frequency: Frequency is the number of orders or responses that the customer has made since becoming a customer (or during the last year or other specified time period).

The more recently a customer has ordered from you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.
The more often a customer orders from you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.
The more money a customer spends with you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.

For recency: The date of the last transaction with the customer - the date of the customer's last order, purchase or donation.
For frequency: The dates of all previous transactions with the customer over a certain period of time.
For monetary value: The size (in dollars) of all of the customer's previous purchases or other transactions. (It is also common to maintain the dollar amount of the customer's most recent order as the monetary value indicator.)

In addition to evaluating the recency, frequency, and monetary worth of your audience, you will probably find that there are many other important ways to analyze the names on your database.

Number of employees in the business/organization.

Annual sales volume.

Credit status code

The credit status code could be developed by you, based on the customer's payment history or perhaps obtained from a commercial credit report.

Items ordered from you.

With data in this field, you can select customers for programs designed to get them to reorder an item, or to order complementary or supply items.

Household income.

Occupations of household members.

Number of people in the household.

Ages of the members of the household.

Genders of members of the household.

Marital status of members of the household.

Information on property belonging to the household:

Type of living quarters.
Owned or rented living quarters.
Number, make, model, etc. of each

automobile.
Number, make, model, etc. of each major appliance.

Political affiliation.

Basic information for Business Audiences

If your audience is made up of businesses, you will need to include the following fields for each name on your list:

Company name.

Street Address.

Suite number, is necessary

P.O. Box, if necessary.

City

State

Zip Code, five or nine digit.

Phone number (with area code).

Basic Information for Individual (Non-Business) Audiences

If your audience is made up of individuals, you will need to include the following data for each name on the list:

A unique account number.

Individual's name.

Street address or P.O. Box.

Apartment number, is necessary.

City.

State.

Zip Code, five or nine digit.

Phone number (with area code).

The basic information listed above is necessary to make sure that the names on your mailing list are mailable. But how do you decide which names are more productive?

Recency: Recency refers to the last time that the customer ordered or responded to an offer.

Frequency: Frequency is the number of orders or responses that the customer has made since becoming a customer (or during the last year or other specified time period).

The more recently a customer has ordered from you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.
The more often a customer orders from you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.
The more money a customer spends with you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.

For recency: The date of the last transaction with the customer - the date of the customer's last order, purchase or donation.
For frequency: The dates of all previous transactions with the customer over a certain period of time.
For monetary value: The size (in dollars) of all of the customer's previous purchases or other transactions. (It is also common to maintain the dollar amount of the customer's most recent order as the monetary value indicator.)

In addition to evaluating the recency, frequency, and monetary worth of your audience, you will probably find that there are many other important ways to analyze the names on your database.

Number of employees in the business/organization.

Annual sales volume.

Credit status code

The credit status code could be developed by you, based on the customer's payment history or perhaps obtained from a commercial credit report.

Items ordered from you.

With data in this field, you can select customers for programs designed to get them to reorder an item, or to order complementary or supply items.

Household income.

Occupations of household members.

Number of people in the household.

Ages of the members of the household.

Genders of members of the household.

Marital status of members of the household.

Information on property belonging to the household:

Type of living quarters.
Owned or rented living quarters.
Number, make, model, etc. of each

automobile.
Number, make, model, etc. of each major appliance.

Political affiliation.

Basic information for Business Audiences

If your audience is made up of businesses, you will need to include the following fields for each name on your list:

Company name.

Street Address.

Suite number, is necessary

P.O. Box, if necessary.

City

State

Zip Code, five or nine digit.

Phone number (with area code).

Basic Information for Individual (Non-Business) Audiences

If your audience is made up of individuals, you will need to include the following data for each name on the list:

A unique account number.

Individual's name.

Street address or P.O. Box.

Apartment number, is necessary.

City.

State.

Zip Code, five or nine digit.

Phone number (with area code).

The basic information listed above is necessary to make sure that the names on your mailing list are mailable. But how do you decide which names are more productive?

Recency: Recency refers to the last time that the customer ordered or responded to an offer.

Frequency: Frequency is the number of orders or responses that the customer has made since becoming a customer (or during the last year or other specified time period).

The more recently a customer has ordered from you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.
The more often a customer orders from you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.
The more money a customer spends with you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.

For recency: The date of the last transaction with the customer - the date of the customer's last order, purchase or donation.
For frequency: The dates of all previous transactions with the customer over a certain period of time.
For monetary value: The size (in dollars) of all of the customer's previous purchases or other transactions. (It is also common to maintain the dollar amount of the customer's most recent order as the monetary value indicator.)

In addition to evaluating the recency, frequency, and monetary worth of your audience, you will probably find that there are many other important ways to analyze the names on your database.

Number of employees in the business/organization.

Annual sales volume.

Credit status code

The credit status code could be developed by you, based on the customer's payment history or perhaps obtained from a commercial credit report.

Items ordered from you.

With data in this field, you can select customers for programs designed to get them to reorder an item, or to order complementary or supply items.

Household income.

Occupations of household members.

Number of people in the household.

Ages of the members of the household.

Genders of members of the household.

Marital status of members of the household.

Information on property belonging to the household:

Type of living quarters.
Owned or rented living quarters.
Number, make, model, etc. of each

automobile.
Number, make, model, etc. of each major appliance.

Political affiliation.

Basic information for Business Audiences

If your audience is made up of businesses, you will need to include the following fields for each name on your list:

Company name.

Street Address.

Suite number, is necessary

P.O. Box, if necessary.

City

State

Zip Code, five or nine digit.

Phone number (with area code).

Basic Information for Individual (Non-Business) Audiences

If your audience is made up of individuals, you will need to include the following data for each name on the list:

A unique account number.

Individual's name.

Street address or P.O. Box.

Apartment number, is necessary.

City.

State.

Zip Code, five or nine digit.

Phone number (with area code).

The basic information listed above is necessary to make sure that the names on your mailing list are mailable. But how do you decide which names are more productive?

Recency: Recency refers to the last time that the customer ordered or responded to an offer.

Frequency: Frequency is the number of orders or responses that the customer has made since becoming a customer (or during the last year or other specified time period).

The more recently a customer has ordered from you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.
The more often a customer orders from you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.
The more money a customer spends with you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.

For recency: The date of the last transaction with the customer - the date of the customer's last order, purchase or donation.
For frequency: The dates of all previous transactions with the customer over a certain period of time.
For monetary value: The size (in dollars) of all of the customer's previous purchases or other transactions. (It is also common to maintain the dollar amount of the customer's most recent order as the monetary value indicator.)

In addition to evaluating the recency, frequency, and monetary worth of your audience, you will probably find that there are many other important ways to analyze the names on your database.

Number of employees in the business/organization.

Annual sales volume.

Credit status code

The credit status code could be developed by you, based on the customer's payment history or perhaps obtained from a commercial credit report.

Items ordered from you.

With data in this field, you can select customers for programs designed to get them to reorder an item, or to order complementary or supply items.

Household income.

Occupations of household members.

Number of people in the household.

Ages of the members of the household.

Genders of members of the household.

Marital status of members of the household.

Information on property belonging to the household:

Type of living quarters.
Owned or rented living quarters.
Number, make, model, etc. of each

automobile.
Number, make, model, etc. of each major appliance.

Political affiliation.

Basic information for Business Audiences

If your audience is made up of businesses, you will need to include the following fields for each name on your list:

Company name.

Street Address.

Suite number, is necessary

P.O. Box, if necessary.

City

State

Zip Code, five or nine digit.

Phone number (with area code).

Basic Information for Individual (Non-Business) Audiences

If your audience is made up of individuals, you will need to include the following data for each name on the list:

A unique account number.

Individual's name.

Street address or P.O. Box.

Apartment number, is necessary.

City.

State.

Zip Code, five or nine digit.

Phone number (with area code).

The basic information listed above is necessary to make sure that the names on your mailing list are mailable. But how do you decide which names are more productive?

Recency: Recency refers to the last time that the customer ordered or responded to an offer.

Frequency: Frequency is the number of orders or responses that the customer has made since becoming a customer (or during the last year or other specified time period).

The more recently a customer has ordered from you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.
The more often a customer orders from you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.
The more money a customer spends with you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.

For recency: The date of the last transaction with the customer - the date of the customer's last order, purchase or donation.
For frequency: The dates of all previous transactions with the customer over a certain period of time.
For monetary value: The size (in dollars) of all of the customer's previous purchases or other transactions. (It is also common to maintain the dollar amount of the customer's most recent order as the monetary value indicator.)

In addition to evaluating the recency, frequency, and monetary worth of your audience, you will probably find that there are many other important ways to analyze the names on your database.

Number of employees in the business/organization.

Annual sales volume.

Credit status code

The credit status code could be developed by you, based on the customer's payment history or perhaps obtained from a commercial credit report.

Items ordered from you.

With data in this field, you can select customers for programs designed to get them to reorder an item, or to order complementary or supply items.

Household income.

Occupations of household members.

Number of people in the household.

Ages of the members of the household.

Genders of members of the household.

Marital status of members of the household.

Information on property belonging to the household:

Type of living quarters.
Owned or rented living quarters.
Number, make, model, etc. of each

automobile.
Number, make, model, etc. of each major appliance.

Political affiliation.

Basic information for Business Audiences

If your audience is made up of businesses, you will need to include the following fields for each name on your list:

Company name.

Street Address.

Suite number, is necessary

P.O. Box, if necessary.

City

State

Zip Code, five or nine digit.

Phone number (with area code).

Basic Information for Individual (Non-Business) Audiences

If your audience is made up of individuals, you will need to include the following data for each name on the list:

A unique account number.

Individual's name.

Street address or P.O. Box.

Apartment number, is necessary.

City.

State.

Zip Code, five or nine digit.

Phone number (with area code).

The basic information listed above is necessary to make sure that the names on your mailing list are mailable. But how do you decide which names are more productive?

Recency: Recency refers to the last time that the customer ordered or responded to an offer.

Frequency: Frequency is the number of orders or responses that the customer has made since becoming a customer (or during the last year or other specified time period).

The more recently a customer has ordered from you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.
The more often a customer orders from you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.
The more money a customer spends with you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.

For recency: The date of the last transaction with the customer - the date of the customer's last order, purchase or donation.
For frequency: The dates of all previous transactions with the customer over a certain period of time.
For monetary value: The size (in dollars) of all of the customer's previous purchases or other transactions. (It is also common to maintain the dollar amount of the customer's most recent order as the monetary value indicator.)

In addition to evaluating the recency, frequency, and monetary worth of your audience, you will probably find that there are many other important ways to analyze the names on your database.

Number of employees in the business/organization.

Annual sales volume.

Credit status code

The credit status code could be developed by you, based on the customer's payment history or perhaps obtained from a commercial credit report.

Items ordered from you.

With data in this field, you can select customers for programs designed to get them to reorder an item, or to order complementary or supply items.

Household income.

Occupations of household members.

Number of people in the household.

Ages of the members of the household.

Genders of members of the household.

Marital status of members of the household.

Information on property belonging to the household:

Type of living quarters.
Owned or rented living quarters.
Number, make, model, etc. of each

automobile.
Number, make, model, etc. of each major appliance.

Political affiliation.

Basic information for Business Audiences

If your audience is made up of businesses, you will need to include the following fields for each name on your list:

Company name.

Street Address.

Suite number, is necessary

P.O. Box, if necessary.

City

State

Zip Code, five or nine digit.

Phone number (with area code).

Basic Information for Individual (Non-Business) Audiences

If your audience is made up of individuals, you will need to include the following data for each name on the list:

A unique account number.

Individual's name.

Street address or P.O. Box.

Apartment number, is necessary.

City.

State.

Zip Code, five or nine digit.

Phone number (with area code).

The basic information listed above is necessary to make sure that the names on your mailing list are mailable. But how do you decide which names are more productive?

Recency: Recency refers to the last time that the customer ordered or responded to an offer.

Frequency: Frequency is the number of orders or responses that the customer has made since becoming a customer (or during the last year or other specified time period).

The more recently a customer has ordered from you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.
The more often a customer orders from you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.
The more money a customer spends with you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.

For recency: The date of the last transaction with the customer - the date of the customer's last order, purchase or donation.
For frequency: The dates of all previous transactions with the customer over a certain period of time.
For monetary value: The size (in dollars) of all of the customer's previous purchases or other transactions. (It is also common to maintain the dollar amount of the customer's most recent order as the monetary value indicator.)

In addition to evaluating the recency, frequency, and monetary worth of your audience, you will probably find that there are many other important ways to analyze the names on your database.

Number of employees in the business/organization.

Annual sales volume.

Credit status code

The credit status code could be developed by you, based on the customer's payment history or perhaps obtained from a commercial credit report.

Items ordered from you.

With data in this field, you can select customers for programs designed to get them to reorder an item, or to order complementary or supply items.

Household income.

Occupations of household members.

Number of people in the household.

Ages of the members of the household.

Genders of members of the household.

Marital status of members of the household.

Information on property belonging to the household:

Type of living quarters.
Owned or rented living quarters.
Number, make, model, etc. of each

automobile.
Number, make, model, etc. of each major appliance.

Political affiliation.

Basic information for Business Audiences

If your audience is made up of businesses, you will need to include the following fields for each name on your list:

Company name.

Street Address.

Suite number, is necessary

P.O. Box, if necessary.

City

State

Zip Code, five or nine digit.

Phone number (with area code).

Basic Information for Individual (Non-Business) Audiences

If your audience is made up of individuals, you will need to include the following data for each name on the list:

A unique account number.

Individual's name.

Street address or P.O. Box.

Apartment number, is necessary.

City.

State.

Zip Code, five or nine digit.

Phone number (with area code).

The basic information listed above is necessary to make sure that the names on your mailing list are mailable. But how do you decide which names are more productive?

Recency: Recency refers to the last time that the customer ordered or responded to an offer.

Frequency: Frequency is the number of orders or responses that the customer has made since becoming a customer (or during the last year or other specified time period).

The more recently a customer has ordered from you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.
The more often a customer orders from you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.
The more money a customer spends with you, the more likely he/she will be to respond to your next offer.

For recency: The date of the last transaction with the customer - the date of the customer's last order, purchase or donation.
For frequency: The dates of all previous transactions with the customer over a certain period of time.
For monetary value: The size (in dollars) of all of the customer's previous purchases or other transactions. (It is also common to maintain the dollar amount of the customer's most recent order as the monetary value indicator.)

In addition to evaluating the recency, frequency, and monetary worth of your audience, you will probably find that there are many other important ways to analyze the names on your database.

Number of employees in the business/organization.

Annual sales volume.

Credit status code

The credit status code could be developed by you, based on the customer's payment history or perhaps obtained from a commercial credit report.

Items ordered from you.

With data in this field, you can select customers for programs designed to get them to reorder an item, or to order complementary or supply items.

Household income.

Occupations of household members.

Number of people in the household.

Ages of the members of the household.

Genders of members of the household.

Marital status of members of the household.

Information on property belonging to the household:

Type of living quarters.
Owned or rented living quarters.
Number, make, model, etc. of each

automobile.
Number, make, model, etc. of each major appliance.

Political affiliation.

Newsletter tips beyond computers and software...

As we've said many times before, publishing a newsletter can be one of your best marketing activities.

For most however, the cost of adding a second or spot color to each issue of a newsletter can be prohibitive. This requires a second plate and in most cases a second press run.

Newsletters in the four to twelve page range can enjoy an additional color at very little per-issue cost by printing a year's supply of lanks in advance. Plan your year, or perhaps the next nine months, into the budget to cover the initial cost.

Design your blank with a color masthead, logo, tint boxes, or page graphics, leaving the body blank to be imprinted with each new month's text and graphics. (In the old days we called this a dough-nut!) Design carefully though, your color elements must remain the same for each issue. Make arrangements well in advance so your printer can print at his convenience, and when the color you want happens to be on the press for another job. You can probably make him happy, and get a little off the job if you ask what colors are coming up soon for other jobs and make your selection from those. Don't forget - each time the printer changes colors, he has to do a wash-up.

For small circulation NLs, monthly imprints can be printed by a less complicated, less costly jiffy-print type printers - or even on your own photo-copier. It will make your job a little easier, less expensive and will provide a nicer looking newsletter as well.

Put that marketing partner in high gear by adding easy, low-cost color!

Happy publishing,

Brought to you by: World Wide Information Outlet - http://certificate.net/wwio/, your source of FREEWare Content online.
Fred Showker is a 27-year veteran of the publishing and graphic arts industry, author and speaker. He is editor and publisher of DT&G: The Electronic Journal of Design, Type & Graphics, the design and publishing industry's longest running online magazine. The Design & Publishing Center hosts Photoshop Tips & Tricks, WebDesign & Review, The Designers Bookshelf and departments for the four areas of the graphic arts fields.

DT&G Magazine ('97 APEX Grand Award Winner)
The User Group Network News Service
http://www.user-groups.com/
Now serving 165,000 readers per month!

Newsletter tips beyond computers and software...

As we've said many times before, publishing a newsletter can be one of your best marketing activities.

For most however, the cost of adding a second or spot color to each issue of a newsletter can be prohibitive. This requires a second plate and in most cases a second press run.

Put that marketing partner in high gear by adding easy, low-cost color!

Happy publishing,

DT&G Magazine ('97 APEX Grand Award Winner)
The User Group Network News Service
http://www.user-groups.com/
Now serving 165,000 readers per month!

Newsletter tips beyond computers and software...

As we've said many times before, publishing a newsletter can be one of your best marketing activities.

For most however, the cost of adding a second or spot color to each issue of a newsletter can be prohibitive. This requires a second plate and in most cases a second press run.

Put that marketing partner in high gear by adding easy, low-cost color!

Happy publishing,

DT&G Magazine ('97 APEX Grand Award Winner)
The User Group Network News Service
http://www.user-groups.com/
Now serving 165,000 readers per month!

Newsletter tips beyond computers and software...

As we've said many times before, publishing a newsletter can be one of your best marketing activities.

For most however, the cost of adding a second or spot color to each issue of a newsletter can be prohibitive. This requires a second plate and in most cases a second press run.

Put that marketing partner in high gear by adding easy, low-cost color!

Happy publishing,

DT&G Magazine ('97 APEX Grand Award Winner)
The User Group Network News Service
http://www.user-groups.com/
Now serving 165,000 readers per month!

Guidelines' Guidelines. (Is there an echo in here?)Ed Churnside
Fred Showker

Newsletter tips beyond computers and software...

As we've said many times before, publishing a newsletter can be one of your best marketing activities.

For most however, the cost of adding a second or spot color to each issue of a newsletter can be prohibitive. This requires a second plate and in most cases a second press run.

Put that marketing partner in high gear by adding easy, low-cost color!

Happy publishing,

DT&G Magazine ('97 APEX Grand Award Winner)
The User Group Network News Service
http://www.user-groups.com/
Now serving 165,000 readers per month!

WHOLESALE - SOME PRICING CONSIDERATIONS

Your ideal goal here would be to set your price at 2x your Total Cost. But, you will more often have to settle for a lot less mark-up. The compensating factor here is that when selling wholesale, you are selling in larger volumes than when selling retail. The larger volumes should help you reduce the costs of your parts, since you can buy those in volume. It should also result in a lot more cash flowing through your bank accounts. While you don't measure cash flow in actual dollar amounts and profits, cash flow definitely has a value because it enables your business to keep operating smoothly, and with less fits and starts.

The minimum return you should settle for with wholesale is the ability to price your items at 1.25x your Total Cost. If any less, you need to rethink your product or your marketing strategy.

A reasonable return you should aim for with wholesale is 1.5x your Total Cost.

Again, your ideal goal would be 2.0x your Total Cost. [If you are only wholesaling a few pieces at a time, then 2.0x might be your minimum acceptable amount.

CONSIGNMENT: SOME PRICING CONSIDERATIONS

Many artists and craftspersons are dependent on consignment sales, since many of the retail outlets for these types of products must share the isk of sales with the artist. That is, the retail outlet cannot afford to buy the pieces outright. They can only afford to create a retail environment conducive for the sale of crafts and artwork.

Thus, the retailer, in consignment, basically agrees to accept a little less of a profit from the sale of any item. The artist/craftsperson also agrees to accept a little less money.

Typically, the retailer and artist/craftsperson might negotiate an item's price based on what they think someone will pay for it. Then they will agree how to split the money. A very common split is 60% of the sales price goes to the retailer, and 40% goes to the artist/craftsperson. Also common is 70% retailer/30% artist craftsperson. Less common is 50/50, 40/60 or 80/20.

Now the artist/craftsperson has to determine if the return is sufficient to result in a profit. If the decided-upon price for an item was $10.00, and the negotiated split was 60/40, the artist would expect $4.00 from its sale. This $4.00 would have to cover the cost of the parts, the general overhead costs, and hopefully some or all of the artist's labor, as well as some extra money to reinvest in the business.

Suppose the item was a pair of earrings, the cost of the parts was $1.00, the cost of labor $2.50, and overhead .88. The cost to the artist would be $4.38 -- .38 more in cost then in return. The artist could decide to take less for his or her labor. Or, the artist could renegotiate with the retailer to set a higher price for the item. The retailer would evaluate whether the item could sell at a higher price, or would sit around gathering dust, thus costing the retailing overhead costs, that could otherwise be offset with a better, faster selling item. [Retailers need to urn merchandise around at least 2x, and ideally 3x each year. That is, each square foot of selling space must generate a certain number of dollars each year to enable the retailer to pay the rent and other overhead costs generated by that square foot of selling space. If the retailer is resistant to raising the price, and the return is insufficient to cover the artist's costs, then the artist needs to re-evaluate the product or the location for selling that product.

One of the greatest thrills of all time is when someone pays real money for something you have designed and created.

The first question pops up: Can I make some serious money making jewelry?

Why not? With smart planning, strategizing and marketing, you should even be able to make a living from your creative impulses.

Some advice:

First, buy your parts cheaply.
Limit your inventory at first. Buy a few parts in large quantities.

The more expensive your parts, the harder it will be to mark up your finished product in order to make a profit.

If you try to design your business so that you can meet every contingency -- that is, respond to every request or market niche -- you'll end up buying a lot of different parts to have breadth, rather than depth, of inventory. This will cost you. Each part will have to be bought in smaller quantities, and thus will be more expensive.

If, instead, you concentrate on replicating a limited number of designs, (perhaps varying certain design-features rather than coming up with completely new and different designs), you'll be able to buy parts in larger quantities, making them less expensive.

[As your business develops and matures, your goals will change, and you will seek greater breadth -- but this is a subject for another article.

Second, know your market.
Who are your customers?

What will your customers be willing to pay, say, for a pair of earrings?

Where are your customers located? How will they get to you, or you to them?

What will it cost you to link up to your target market? - travel, displays, packaging, timing

You don't want to make a $100.00 beaded watch band if your most likely target market customer will only be willing to pay $20.00 for it.

Third, know your competition.
Check out similar merchandise in stores, flea markets and other places that sell jewelry like yours, and that target customers like the ones you want to target. How have they priced similar merchandise?

Fourth, mark up and price your products so that you will make a sufficient profit.

Sufficiency means that (a) you can buy replacement parts, (b) you can pay your overhead costs, (c) you can pay yourself, and (d) you can reinvest 5-10% of your earnings back into your business, such as expanding your inventory, or buying display fixtures and the like.

Remember, it's always easier to lower a price, than raise a price. Customers smile at lower prices, but frown on raised prices.

Some Formulas To Help You Price Your Pieces

You need to write down this information:

1) Cost of All Parts

Use your ypical costs. If you got a good buy on some parts, don't use the discounted cost, unless this is going to become your ypical cost.

2) Cost of your Labor

Figure out what you would expect to make per hour if someone were paying you a salary. $10.00/hour is reasonable for a beginner. Determine on average, how many hours it takes to make the piece. Figure out the hours to the nearest quarter of an hour. That is, if you took 1 hour 6 minutes to make a piece, consider that 1 1/4 hours. The number of hours times the hourly rate is your cost of labor.

3) Overhead costs (rent, electricity, consumable supplies, cost of travel to acquire your supplies, and the like).

Assume your overhead costs equal an additional 25% of the total cost of parts plus the cost of labor.

Now, compute your TOTAL COST:

TOTAL COST = Cost of All Parts + Overhead + Labor

It's always difficult to recoup your labor, that is, the amount of time you put into making a product. You usually have to discount your labor. Thus,

TOTAL MINIMUM COST = Cost of All Parts + Overhead + (Labor * 0.0)
TOTAL MAXIMUM COST = (Cost of All Parts + Overhead) * (1.5)

(1.5 is a labor cost adjustment factor)

If your parts costs $10.00 and labor cost $2.00, your overhead would cost an additional $3.00.

Your TOTAL MINIMUM COST (where you have charged nothing for your labor) would then be $13.00.

Your TOTAL MAXIMUM COST (where you have charged the maximum amount for your labor) would be $19.50.

Now you have to translate your cost into a price.

For jewelry, you want to price your items at least 2 times your Total Cost, and preferably 2.5 to 3.0 times your Total Cost. Too many people underprice their products.

Don't be afraid to adequately price your products. Jewelry is typically marked up higher than other goods. There are many reasons for this. The cost of getting and maintaining an inventory of parts is high; you can't buy just 1 bead at a time as needed. Jewelry fashions change every 3-4 months, often radically, leaving you with some unsaleable stock.

In our example above, if your product cost:

$13.00 (Total Minimum Cost), it would be priced between $26.00 (2*cost) and $39.00 (3*cost)

$19.50 (Total Maximum Cost), it would be priced between $39.00 (2*cost) and $58.50 (3*cost)

Sit back and evaluate your situation. If you feel your target market won't pay at least, in this example, $26.00 for the finished product, you need to rethink. Either reduce your costs or redesign the product.

YOUR PROFITS: Assuming your cost was $13.00 plus $2.00 labor, or $15.00, and you sold your item for $26.00, your profit would be $9.00. You would want to set aside between 25% and 50% of this profit for einvestment into your business. Thus, after you paid your labor ($2.00), bought replacement parts ($10.00), and paid all your associated overhead ($3.00), you would put between $2.25 and $4.50 towards purchasing additional things for your business, and the remainder in your business bank account.

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LAND OF ODDS - The South's Most Unusual Shop
150 Second Avenue North, Ste. 110, Nashville, TN 37201
PHONE: 615/254-4341, 726-1665
FAX: 615/254-4341
http://www.landofodds.com
oddsian@landofodds.com

WHOLESALE - SOME PRICING CONSIDERATIONS

The minimum return you should settle for with wholesale is the ability to price your items at 1.25x your Total Cost. If any less, you need to rethink your product or your marketing strategy.

A reasonable return you should aim for with wholesale is 1.5x your Total Cost.

Again, your ideal goal would be 2.0x your Total Cost. [If you are only wholesaling a few pieces at a time, then 2.0x might be your minimum acceptable amount.

CONSIGNMENT: SOME PRICING CONSIDERATIONS

Thus, the retailer, in consignment, basically agrees to accept a little less of a profit from the sale of any item. The artist/craftsperson also agrees to accept a little less money.

One of the greatest thrills of all time is when someone pays real money for something you have designed and created.

The first question pops up: Can I make some serious money making jewelry?

Why not? With smart planning, strategizing and marketing, you should even be able to make a living from your creative impulses.

Some advice:

First, buy your parts cheaply.
Limit your inventory at first. Buy a few parts in large quantities.

The more expensive your parts, the harder it will be to mark up your finished product in order to make a profit.

[As your business develops and matures, your goals will change, and you will seek greater breadth -- but this is a subject for another article.

Second, know your market.
Who are your customers?

What will your customers be willing to pay, say, for a pair of earrings?

Where are your customers located? How will they get to you, or you to them?

What will it cost you to link up to your target market? - travel, displays, packaging, timing

You don't want to make a $100.00 beaded watch band if your most likely target market customer will only be willing to pay $20.00 for it.

Fourth, mark up and price your products so that you will make a sufficient profit.

Remember, it's always easier to lower a price, than raise a price. Customers smile at lower prices, but frown on raised prices.

Some Formulas To Help You Price Your Pieces

You need to write down this information:

1) Cost of All Parts

Use your ypical costs. If you got a good buy on some parts, don't use the discounted cost, unless this is going to become your ypical cost.

2) Cost of your Labor

3) Overhead costs (rent, electricity, consumable supplies, cost of travel to acquire your supplies, and the like).

Assume your overhead costs equal an additional 25% of the total cost of parts plus the cost of labor.

Now, compute your TOTAL COST:

TOTAL COST = Cost of All Parts + Overhead + Labor

It's always difficult to recoup your labor, that is, the amount of time you put into making a product. You usually have to discount your labor. Thus,

TOTAL MINIMUM COST = Cost of All Parts + Overhead + (Labor * 0.0)
TOTAL MAXIMUM COST = (Cost of All Parts + Overhead) * (1.5)

(1.5 is a labor cost adjustment factor)

If your parts costs $10.00 and labor cost $2.00, your overhead would cost an additional $3.00.

Your TOTAL MINIMUM COST (where you have charged nothing for your labor) would then be $13.00.

Your TOTAL MAXIMUM COST (where you have charged the maximum amount for your labor) would be $19.50.

Now you have to translate your cost into a price.

For jewelry, you want to price your items at least 2 times your Total Cost, and preferably 2.5 to 3.0 times your Total Cost. Too many people underprice their products.

In our example above, if your product cost:

$13.00 (Total Minimum Cost), it would be priced between $26.00 (2*cost) and $39.00 (3*cost)

$19.50 (Total Maximum Cost), it would be priced between $39.00 (2*cost) and $58.50 (3*cost)

In much the same way that a resume displays your work experience to a prospective employer, a credit report provides prospective creditors (and in some cases employers and insurers too) with a detailed picture of your credit history. And like a resume, your credit report can influence whether you will receive what you are applying for.

Ideally, your credit report is an accurate, up-to-date reflection of your credit history. However, since we don't live in an ideal world, there are many reasons that your credit report could contain inaccuracies that might prevent you from receiving the credit you deserve. The good news is you can take action to keep your report accurate. Here are the top five reasons why you should make a practice of regularly reviewing your credit report:

Inaccuracies & Mixed Credit Files

Many inaccuracies on a credit report can be the result of simple human error, and are therefore are not difficult to dispute. Of course, if you don't order your credit report, you might never know about it. Whether the inaccuracies relate to payments not credited, late payments, or data mixed in from the credit file of someone else with a name similar to yours, you will want to contact the credit bureau to dispute inaccurate information promptly. If you would like to get a free copy of your credit report right now, click here.

Tracking Payments

One of the most important elements of credit is a demonstrated history of on time payments. Once you send the check though, anything can happen--a delay in the payment being received can kick you over to a 30-day delinquency. If you call your creditor and explain the situation, they might adjust the information. Of course, if you don't read your credit report, you won't necessarily know which payments are being received and reported properly. If you would like to get a free copy of your credit report right now,click here.

Identity Theft

This issue alone is reason to order your credit report immediately. Identity theft is an insidious crime, involving a thief who assumes your name to open new accounts, divert your card statements to another address, and run up all sorts of bad debt without you ever knowing about it until collectors come calling. Over time, identity theft could jeopardize your ability to obtain further credit. The best way to catch a thief who is using your name is by getting a copy of your credit report, which will show you if there are accounts listed you know you haven't opened. For example, if a thief has intercepted a pre-approved credit card offer in your name and sent it in with a change of address, your credit report will include the account. If you would like to get a free copy of your credit report right now, click here.

Inquiries

If you're shopping around for a loan or more credit, you should know that when creditors check your credit, it places an inquiry on your credit report. Inquiries can add up, which is often interpreted as a negative by creditors. For this reason, too many inquiries can actually make getting credit more difficult. Moreover, if you didn't authorize someone to look at your credit report and they did, they may have broken the law. If you would like to see who's been looking at your credit, click hereto get a free copy of your credit report right now.

Credit Fraud--Unauthorized Charges

Credit fraud involves the theft of your credit card or account number to make unauthorized charges to your account. Though consumers are protected financially from this abuse, other creditors may take note of all this activity and decide to raise your interest rates or refuse to grant you a loan. Ordering your credit report will help you catch new activity on accounts that you haven't been using, or may have closed. If you would like to get a free copy of your credit report right now,click here.

When it comes to managing your credit worthiness, your credit report is your best resource. Ordering your credit report gives you the opportunity to manage your credit wisely today, while planning your credit strategy for achieving future goals--a credit-savvy move every consumer should make! click hereto get your credit report right now, for free!

Inaccuracies & Mixed Credit Files

Tracking Payments

Identity Theft

Inquiries

Credit Fraud--Unauthorized Charges

Dog days of Summer

Sunday, April 5, 2009

The Key To Effective Design

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