Stamping Is My Business!

ANNOUNCING - The 2010 List Building Boot Camp - Early Bird Begins TODAY!

I'm happy to announce the 2010 List Building Boot Camp!

The Boot Camp is designed to give you the step-by-step process to add 500 or more qualified subscribers to your mailing list in the next 12 months!

We're also upgrading... the Boot Camp calls are no longer calls... they're WEBINARS!

Early Bird Discount period is NOW... and there are four awesome bonuses available for those of you who sign up.

For more information or to sign up, click here or the logo above.

Crunch Or Die! Avoid Bad Advice! 3 Steps To Evaluating New Ideas... And Why You Have To Take Them!

I was on a one-on-one call with one of my clients yesterday, when she told me a horror story I'm hearing more and more often:

"My downline was looking at a Yahoo Group she's on, and a well-known Demo suggested a 'business-building' idea to the group.  It basically involved giving a customer several free classes if that customer purchased some product.  Because she sees this Demo as 'successful,' she just ran with the idea.  She posted it on her blog and put it in her newsletter.  Then, she told me.  I couldn't believe it when I heard it, and couldn't believe anyone would give this type of advice.  I sat down with my downline and crunched the numbers with her.  When she saw how much money she was going to lose on this idea, she was not happy.  Unfortunately, because she perceived this Demo as successful, she had already put it out to her customers and is stuck with it."

Everybody has ideas, and we all believe our ideas are good.

I believe my ideas are good.  Other gurus believe their ideas are good.  Your peers believe their ideas are good.

Whenever you hear a new idea, though, you should never just jump right into it.

Before you decide to follow an idea or try something new, you should always evaluate it. And evaluating it requires a couple of steps:

1. Ask yourself, "Does this idea play to my strengths, or to my weakness?"

Obviously, if there is an idea that really focuses on an area you're not particularly good at, even if the idea is a good one overall, it may not be good for YOU!  So, it may not be the best idea for your business.

2. Ask yourself, "Will this idea get ME closer to MY goals?"

One thing you'll find in the stamping business community is there are a lot of different types of business owners with a lot of different goals.  If the goals of the person who had the idea are not the same as your goals, the idea may not be right for you. 

Also, there are going to be times when the goal of the individual, independent stamping business owner will not necessarily be the same as the overall goals of the corporation or the company.

That why it's always important to look at YOUR goals, and make sure the idea matches up with them specifically.

3. Crunch the numbers.

Finally, you have to make sure the idea makes financial sense to YOUR business.  Different stamping business owners have different types of businesses. They have different numbers. Some stamping business owners have a large downline.  Some, a small downline.  If the person who put forth the idea is collecting a big downline check each month, and you're not, an idea who's numbers make sense for them may NOT make sense for you.

But you'll never know unless and until you run the numbers.

Bottom line... not every good idea is a good idea for you.  And if you follow every idea you hear without evaluating it first, you could be jumping off a cliff.

Take the time to evaluate each idea, and you'll be fine.

For more on this topic, you can watch several videos on the SIMB YouTube Channel.

BSCG Hot Topics - Budgeting With The New Catalog & What To Post On Your Blog

Two really interesting conversations happening on the Business Stampers Coaching Group today:

• How to budget for your new catalog purchases
• What to post on your blog - a breakdown of topics that doesn't cause you to have a breakdown

Of course, these types of business-building conversation happen every week on the BSCG.

For those of you who don't know, the BSCG is the premier online Coaching Community for profit-driven, business-minded stamping business owners.

The Group is fantastic, and the content is killer.  In addition to the Message Board, which is where Members communicate, ask questions of me and fellow Members and receive tons of positive, professional support from like-minded business owners (and me), Members also receive:

• Exclusive, monthly business-building webinars
  
• Business-building How-To Videos every week
  
• Weekly blog evaluation videos
• Twice-weekly Coaching Challenges
• Weekly writing prompts to help with your blogging
• Motivational audio messages to start off every week
• A private Twitter feed
• Hundreds of links to business-building articles to further your knowledge and education
• Exclusive discounts on various SIMB products & services
• AND... The Newsletter Co-Op - you write one article every month, and you gain access to over 50 others you can copy and paste into your monthly newsletter!

If you're on the fence about joining the BSCG, take the free, 10-day trial.  If you don't think the information is worth the dirt-cheap monthly fee, or you can't benefit from it, just cancel before the 10 days are up and owe nothing.

To learn more or sign up, click here.

Why Do I Need To Keep Track Of My Finances?

For home-based stamping business owners, keeping track of finances is one of their least-favorite things to do. The truth is, many of them don't really want to know how much they are spending because, generally, they are spending more than they should.

As a business owner, though, it's very, very important for you to keep track of finances.

1. It gives you an honest view of your business.
If you don't understand exactly how much money you're making... or how much money you're losing, it's going to be very difficult to keep your business afloat long-term. 

2. You'll learn where, specifically, you're making and losing money.
This allows you to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your business. You'll be able to see where you're getting the best return on investement (ROI)... and where you're not.
By allowing yourself to identify those strengths and weaknesses, you now have the ability to make the necessary changes to maximize those strengths and minimize those weakness.

3. You'll make more money.
Keeping track of your finances... and being able to make the necessary changes, quite simply means you'll make more money!  You will be more successful and you will be in business a lot longer.

So, while keeping track of your finances may not be fun, especially in the beginning.  By the time you have your system established, you'll not only be having more fun... you'll be making more money as well!

If you'd like step-by-step help setting up a Financial Management System for your stamping business, check out the SIMB Quicken DVD!

Two-Week Tune Up - 30 Hour Warning!

In case you haven't already done so, this is just a quick note to remind you there are only 30 hours left to register for the 2010 Two-Week Tune-Up!

The Tune-Up begins tomorrow (Tuesday) evening at 10 p.m. eastern - if you can't make the live calls, don't worry... you'll have access to the recordings.

The Tune-Up is designed to help you position your business for maximum efficiency and profit as many of you begin a new fiscal year.

For more information, or to sign up, visit:

http://www.stampingismybusiness.com/2010tuneup2.htm

Hope to see you on the calls!

Last Chance To Sign Up For The FREE '12 Lessons In Leadership' Video Series

You have just 18 hours left (as of this writing) to sign up for my free, 12-part video series, "John Wooden's 12 Lessons In Leadership... and How To Apply Them To Your Stamping Business!"

This video series will be delivered FREE and EXCLUSIVELY to all members of my mailing list.

So, if you're not on my mailing list, you can sign up by filling out the form on the right, or clicking here.

As long as you're signed up by Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. eastern, you'll receive the series with my compliments.

Thank you again for your continued support.

And, of course, feel free to share this opportunity with any downline, upline or sideline you feel would benefit from it.

Free Video Series - The 12 Leadership Principles - Exclusively For Mailing List Subscribers

John Wooden was one of the greatest Coaches who ever lived.

In fact, his 12 Leadership Principles are still taught in businesses schools worldwide.

After his passing earlier this month, I was going to create a DVD on John Wooden's 12 Lessons In Leadership... and How to Apply Them To Your Stamping Business. 

However, instead of selling the DVD, I've decided to produce the videos online and give it to you for FREE.

This video series is exclusively for those people who are on my mailing list.  Consider it a gift for your level of support. 

If you're not currently on my mailing list, you can subscribe using the box in the upper-right hand corner of this blog.  

As long as you subscribe by Wednesday at 1:00 p.m., you'll receive the entire video series free.

You'll receive your first Leadership Video on Wednesday.

Every day or two after that, you'll receive another.

This free video series is for anyone on my mailing list, so if you know any fellow stamping business owners who you think would benefit from this video series, let them know about this series and tell them to subscribe using the box in upper right or directly at www.stampingismybusiness.com/subscribe.htm.

Enjoy... and thanks for your continued support! 

Is Your Stamping Business Ready for 2010-2011?

    * Are you hoping 2010-2011 is the year your stamping business REALLY takes off?
    * Are you less than thrilled with the progress (and profit) you've made so far?
    * Would you like to make the Disney incentive trip?
    * Do you just want to make sure you have everything in place to really kick butt this year?

Over the last ten years working with Stamping Business Owners, I've found there are three or four things most of them aren't doing or don't have in place.

And it was if and when they took action on those things, their businesses really took off!

The good news is, it doesn't take long to take those actions.  It's just a matter of knowing what they are and how to take action on them.

To that end, I'd like to invite you to take The 2010 Two-Week Tune-Up, starting June 22nd.

It's only two-weeks long, but you're going to get all of the information you need in that time to position you
and your business for the greatest possible chance of success in 2010-2011.

To find out more, including the dirt-cheap price (seriously), click here.

Hope to see you on the calls!