Posted by: arlene on Thursday, 11th Jun, 2009
Although it is still relatively new in the craft world, another option for mail order selling is having a website through which you can sell over the Internet.
It is not without teething problems, particularly when it comes to money transactions. A craft business owner suggests using your website to display your products with price lists and colour charts. But to do the actual orders via email or fax. ..more
Posted by: arlene on Saturday, 6th Jun, 2009
Jewellery making can be practised at different levels, involving varying degrees of skill, more or less sophisticated equipment, and materials ranging from pebbles and shells found on the beach to alloys and precious metals like gold and silver. ..more
Posted by: arlene on Thursday, 4th Jun, 2009
Posted by: arlene on Monday, 25th May, 2009
Posted by: arlene on Monday, 25th May, 2009
Just to whet your appetite here are a few of the vast number of craft choices and possibilities: ..more
Posted by: arlene on Wednesday, 20th May, 2009
Supplying raw materials vary, from providing very specific products for a niche market or product to providing a wider range of supplies.
Ways of operating this business are:
Research the market well and imaginatively — and take the opportunity to be inventive. Look at what is being produced and then look at the component parts that make up that article. ..more
Posted by: arlene on Saturday, 11th Apr, 2009
Focus on trivial issues
Sometimes the owner becomes so engrossed in tiny details or an irrelevant issue, that important issues are ignored or glossed-over. For example, the owner may spend days reading through computer magazines simply to choose a personal computer. The problem often occurs when the business is experiencing some kind of difficulty and the owner finds it uncomfortable to think about the difficult problems and resorts to solving a few easy ones. It is a way of escaping from troubling concerns while at the same time feeling that useful work is being done. ..more
Posted by: arlene on Friday, 3rd Apr, 2009
After taking out an estimate of the value of the property, how many years‘ purchase of the pre-tax profits does the balance of the price represent? Many small businesses sell on around one to one-and-a half years‘ purchase of the profits, though the figure tends to be higher in the south of England.
If you are paying £54,000 for a business which is earning pre-tax profits of £18,000, you are buying it on three years‘ purchase. This is equivalent to a return on your money of 331/3 per cent before tax. If it costs you 17 per cent to borrow the money, a 331/3 per cent return is as low as it is sensible to accept. Businesses often sell at, say, one-anda-half years‘ purchase, a return of 662/3 per cent, but because this ignores your salary it is not a true return. ..more
Posted by: arlene on Friday, 26th Sep, 2008
The plan that you use must be:
The simplest forms of the project plan that will do this for you are:
The Gantt chart, and The Critical Path network. ..more
Posted by: arlene on Tuesday, 16th Sep, 2008
Even when they have selected for talent, some managers are hamstrung by their fundamental mistrust of people. This mistrust might be a product of some deep-seated insecurity, or it might be couched as a rational conclusion—”I think the human race is basically driven by selfishness, and therefore most people will cut corners if they think they can get away with it.” But whatever its source, their mistrust means that these managers are extremely reluctant to let each employee find his or her own route to performance. ..more
Posted by: arlene on Saturday, 13th Sep, 2008
The purchase incidence of toys, games, and dolls has been up and down since 2000, ranging from 45 percent in 2000 to 54 percent in 2001 and 50 percent in 2003. While children represent the core user market for toys, more adults are buying toys, not just for kids, but for their own playtime. Toys are popular adult collectibles, and more toy companies are recognizing that adults, just like their kids, want to play with toys. ..more
Posted by: arlene on Friday, 29th Aug, 2008
Each year, buoyed by the hope that leaders are made, not born, tens of thousands of budding executives traipse off to leadership development courses. Here they discover the many different traits and competencies that constitute the model leader. They receive feedback from their peers and direct reports, feedback that reveals the peaks and valleys of their unique leadership profile. Finally, after all the learning and reflection is complete, the hard work begins. Each willing participant is asked to craft a plan to fill in those valleys, so that he can reshape himself into the model leader, smooth and well-rounded. ..more
Posted by: arlene on Thursday, 21st Aug, 2008
Everyone talks about convergence, while just the opposite is happening.
Whenever a new medium hits town, the cry goes up, “Convergence, convergence. What is this new medium going to converge with?”
When television hit town, there were stories everywhere about the convergence of TV with magazines and newspapers. You weren’t going to get your magazines in the mail anymore. When you wanted an issue, you would hit the button on your TV set and the issue would be printed out in your living room. (We don’t make these things up. We just report the facts.) ..more
Posted by: arlene on Thursday, 14th Aug, 2008
About one-fifth of households reported buying a figurine or sculpture in 2007, about the same as in 2003. A popular gift item for collectors, figurines often carry a greeting or social expression that makes them perfectly suited to gifting or as a remembrance. Figurines have been popular collectibles in the past, with lines such as Precious Moments and Hummel passed from generation to generation. But today, figurine collectibles are looked upon with disdain by many as something that one’s grandmother liked, but not something for me. ..more
Posted by: arlene on Sunday, 10th Aug, 2008
Great managers have to survive in a hostile world. Most companies do not value excellence in every role. They do not provide alternative career paths for their employees. And they do not give their managers the leeway to design graded levels of achievement or broadbanded pay plans. If you find yourself living in this restricted world, what can you do? ..more
Posted by: arlene on Sunday, 10th Aug, 2008
The conventional career path lacks forgiveness. As the employee climbs from rung to rung, the rungs are burned behind him. If he climbs onto a rung and struggles, he knows that his reputation will suffer and his job will be in jeopardy. There is no turning back. By punishing career missteps so severely, this path discourages everyone from taking bold career steps. In conventional wisdom’s world, taking bold career steps in order to discover a latent talent or to refine an existing one is almost as foolhardy as volunteering to learn the trapeze without a safety net. ..more
Posted by: arlene on Sunday, 10th Aug, 2008
Here are two, of the infinite number of possible answers:
“I think it is very important to be persistent, particularly if you really believe in your ideas. We really encourage that kind of candor here. With my team, if I have a suggestion that others disagree with, I know they will expect me to keep supporting my idea until somebody comes up with a better one. In fact, it happens all the time.” ..more
Posted by: arlene on Sunday, 10th Aug, 2008
Recruiting can be a complicated process. The candidate has to learn about you, the company, the role, and the details of his compensation. You have to check his résumé, make him an offer; he may counter, you then resubmit your offer; and so the negotiating continues until finally you both feel comfortable enough to commit. This process is important, but all of it should be handled separately from the talent interview. ..more
Posted by: arlene on Monday, 28th Jul, 2008
Sooner or later you’ve got to begin someplace. Why not with Your own group? Sometimes, because of organizational constraints, the only meetings you can affect are the ones in which You participate. It makes sense to test these ideas in your own back yard. There is no better place to develop your skills and gain experience. If you’re going to spend valuable time and energy participating in meetings, why not make them more productive and enjoyable? Here are eight steps you can take as manager/chairperson to introduce the Interaction Method into your meetings. ..more
Posted by: arlene on Saturday, 26th Jul, 2008
People often think of ‘networking‘ as something that is only done at high-powered levels. Not so. Letting mothers at the school gates know about your services, swapping information with friends at the rugby club is all networking. ‘I found that other mums were my best customers,’ says Sarita, a beauty therapist. ‘When my sons were invited to tea with their friends, they’d often mention that I ran a beauty business and I got plenty of of clients that way !’
You cannot afford to be too indirect about offering your services. On the other hand, old contacts may be put off if you continually pester them for work. It is better to engineer a meeting about another matter and then explain what you can do for them, rather than endlessly cold calling. Persistence may pay off — but it can also put people off. This is why ‘forums’ for networking are so important. ..more
