; charset=UTF-8 Business Opportunities Weblog Post-Honeymoon Price Kick Posted: 29 Mar 2008 01:30 AM CDT News.com.au: business owner wants a competitive rate when signing up for essential services such as gas and electricity but failing to look beyond cheap introductory honeymoon rates can come back to bite, as hundreds of small business owners found recently. In February the Federal Court found Wesfarmers Kleenheat Gas had misrepresented the true ongoing cost of supplying bulk LPG to some of its customers. Those affected included cafes, laundromats, sporting clubs and a range of other, mostly small, businesses around the country. Kleenheat placed many new or renewing small business customers on so-called managed monthly accounts without telling them they were receiving a honeymoon rate. Once signed up prices were gradually increased over a period of up to six months until they reached Kleenheats second, much higher preferred target price. Other businesses, typically existing customers deemed not to be profitable enough, were placed on a quick hit list. When gas prices went up, Kleenheat would use the opportunity to add an extra increase on top of the normal price fluctuation. When gas prices dropped, Kleenheat failed to pass on the full benefit to customers on its quick hit list, pocketing the difference. This also went on for up to six months until Kleenheat considered the particular account to be generating a more acceptable return. Of themselves, these practices were not the basis of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commissions complaints against Kleenheat, which ultimately resulted in the company offering refunds to customers totalling nearly $800,000. Kleenheat of Australia is a good reminder to all small businesses to beware of anything that seems to have a honeymoon cost or a new customer price that only lasts for a short period of time. Image from Stock.xchng. Advertising With Giant Green Dragons Posted: 28 Mar 2008 04:09 PM CDT Wtoc.com: Ive never understood the giant green dragons and purple gorillas that you see on the side of the road from time to time. Oh, I know theyre theyre for a reason. I just dont see their appeal to car dealers or their use as a marketing tool. I mean, has anyone ever been driving down the street, seen one of these things on the side of the road and felt suddenly compelled to pull into a dealership and drop $20,000? Somebody else in the business explained it this way: With their big blowups, dealerships are operating on the same principal as TV networks that run silly game shows or outrageous reality television rather than programs such as 60 Minutes. Its all about attracting attention. Image via balloonco A Beary Big Success from Build a Bear Workshop Posted: 28 Mar 2008 03:49 PM CDT News.Yahoo.com: The Entrepreneur: Maxine Clark, 57. Clark left a successful corporate career to start her own business, Build-A-Bear Workshop (NYSE:BBW - News), then a relatively new concept in retail entertainment. (According to Clark) I have always believed in listening to what others have to say, but being careful about the advice you actually take. Rather than adhering strictly to the traditional ways of doing things, I challenge myself and those I work with to think more creatively. Im constantly trying to come up with ways we can take a conventional product or task and put our own unique spin on it by making it more bearish. For instance, Build-A-Bear Workshop didnt invent teddy bears, nor were we first to create the places that make them. But we put an entirely new spin on the teddy bear business. We saw possibilities like no one else. People always say to me Why didnt I think of that? Well, because teddy bears werent their thing, they werent their passion, but perhaps they have a passion for something else. you should always allow yourself to dream and dream big its only through such thinking that great things happen. Dont limit yourself because you dont think your dream is attainable. You must start by believing you can truly achieve whatever you set your mind to, no matter how big it might seem. Not dreaming big enough is one of the biggest mistakes you can make if you cant see your dream, how do you expect others to? Photo via photobucket The Man Who Pushed The Blue Envelope Posted: 28 Mar 2008 03:13 PM CDT Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Terry Loebel wasnt looking to start an advertising phenomenon when he went to his mailbox in 1967 and inspiration struck. Valpak, the company Loebel soon started, is today an advertising giant, sending its trademark blue coupon-stuffed envelope to 45 million homes each month. Valpak wasnt the first company to start targeting consumers by mail, but it has become one of the most successful - it expects to ship 20 billion coupons in 520 million envelopes to U.S. and Canadian households this year from its massive new $220 million facility in St. Petersburg, Fla. As advertising has become more intrusive, spawning annoying pitches via e-mail, popup ads and flimsy mailbox fliers, Valpak has managed to find ways to stay in consumers good graces with discounts for everything from oil changes to kitchen cabinets. Valpaks early success could be filed into the annals of beginners luck. In late 1967, Loebel was living on Floridas Gulf Coast, a self-described scruffy factory worker on furlough from the American Motor Co. plant in Milwaukee. Thats when he did something he usually let his wife do - he picked up the mail. He stumbled upon an envelope stuffed with coupons for store products, and a spark of curiosity sent him to the post office. After learning that bulk mail could be sent for less than 4 cents, Loebel hatched his plan for Valpak. His first pitch to a Clearwater TV repair shop quickly led to other business owners who were skeptical of Loebels plans, but enticed by his promise they wouldnt have to pay if the experiment failed. Days after the first white, coupon-stuffed envelopes arrived in mailboxes, the business owners started calling. When was the next mailing, they wondered, and more importantly, could he expand to other cities? He began selling Valpak franchises, hired graphic designers and soon bought a factory. Loebel decided Valpak envelopes should have a distinct color, and began polling women at his factory. They chose blue - a color reaffirmed by focus testing. Within 11 years, the company was mailing nationally. Loebel semiretired in 1979, eventually selling his interest in 1986. Photo by Associated Press. Three Steps To Paperless Office Posted: 28 Mar 2008 02:12 PM CDT PC Magazine: 1. Think Before You Ink. The change has to start here. We all have to change how we look at paper. Before you print out anything, ask yourself if it is absolutely necessary. If you have a digital copy of that e-mail, why do you need a printed version? The green blog TreeHugger.com tried to build an eco-meme by asking people to add this line to their e-mail signatures: Eco-Tip: Printing e-mails is usually a waste. 2. Preview Your Documents. The average employee prints six totally useless pages per day. All you have to do is walk over to the network printer in your office to see examples of them. I did just that and found a tray filled with blank pages, misplaced spreadsheet fields, and random HTML fields from printed Web pages. The average employee prints 1,410 of these wasted pages per year. And this problem is easy to fix: Just preview it first. The easiest way to do this is to use the print preview feature in whatever software you are using to print. 3. Print to PDF. It took a while, but PDF truly is a universal portable document format. And just attaching a Word doc to an e-mail is pretty universal too (although I have it on very good authority that there are still those among us stuck using Word 2002 and unable to natively read the latest Office formats). Send digital files whenever you can. There are more ways to cut back, of course, including printing on both sides of pages, electronic invoicing, and using multifunction devices to scan rather than copy, but those three steps alone could put a huge dent in paper waste. Photo by LotusHead. Helpful Websites For Venture Start-Ups Posted: 28 Mar 2008 01:30 PM CDT Young Entrepreneur: Have you started a new business but donБ=80=99t have the time to sort through all the websites online to find the best and most relevant information? 1) Venture Hacks Venture Hacks is an guide to hacking venture capital. Their goal is to help entrepreneurs get on an even footing with their better-informed counterparts when negotiating an investment. 2) The Funded.com TheFunded.com allows entrepreneurs to research, rate, and review venture funds from around the world, providing invaluable information and guidance to other entrepreneurs looking to raise critical growth capital. 3) DocStoc Docstoc is a user generated community where you can find and share professional documents. You can find free legal documents and free business documents as well as upload your documents for all the world to share. 4) Instigator Blog The Instigator Blog is all about instigating discussion, ideas and better business. It is focused on small business, marketing and technology, with a heavy dose of humor. Read more. Photo by frencenz. Its A Whole New World Out There Posted: 28 Mar 2008 01:00 PM CDT Times Daily: Ever since I gave up the corporate life a few weeks ago and left the land of cubicles, memos and staff meetings, Ive realized why we created those things in the first place: Working at home is hard. Believe me, before I left the office to be a freelance writer, I spent many hours daydreaming about being my own boss and doing my own work in my own time in the peace and quiet of my own house. (Of course, I didnt daydream about leaving work while I was actually at work. That would be wrong.) But the reality is a bit different from my fantasies. For one thing, Im beginning to think that my former corner cubicle in the out-of-the-way and down-the-hall office I shared with two other people was much quieter and more peaceful - and for that I blame our four cats. When I first started hanging around the house instead of rushing out in the morning, they naturally were suspicious that my continuing presence would limit their secret cat behavior - or whatever cats do when were not around. Call China and order pizza is what Im thinking, although I have no evidence of that. Now, after a few weeks, the cats realize, of course, that Im home solely for their amusement. They have me playing all sorts of games, such as Whats On the Other Side of This Door? Now I Want To See What Was On the Other Side of the Door When I Was There A Minute Ago and the ever-popular Why Did You Think That I Wanted To Be On This Side of the Door, You Clueless Human, You? Endless entertainment. For another thing, when you work at home its hard to find time to actually be at home. Photo by OLD SKOOL Cora. "Remember the Hook" When Marketing Small Biz Posted: 28 Mar 2008 12:25 PM CDT The Profit Repairman: Have you ever been fishing or seen how fishing is done? Without some sort of device, very little fish would be caught (most do not just jump into the boat willingly). The same is true in selling your product line. Even when you have the most wanted product around, if you do not inform customers where to buy it (the hook in this example), you will see very little quantity sold. When you think of a hook, remember, it is to grab the clientБ=80=99s attention long enough for the sales process to begin between the buyer and seller. The hook is not meant to make anyone buy on the spot (but it could), rather the hookБ=80=99s goal is to have the clients open up their minds and communicate (verbally and/or non-verbally) to you, Б=80=9CI am interested in potentially buying your product. By having different hooks in the marketplace, your business unit increases the opportunity to produce sales across a vast number of potential demographics. Photo by colodio. Starting Childrens Party Biz Posted: 28 Mar 2008 09:07 AM CDT Work.com: Do you enjoy children? Do children like you? Can you tell stories, be a clown, play sports or a musical instrument? If so, then you may be able to start a small business doing kidsБ=80=99 entertainment. You can work for yourself and make good money at the same time. There are as many ways to entertain kids as there are interests and talents, and building up a niche with the under ten set can be a great way to supplement your income or build a solid business. While working with kids may seem like an easy gig, young children make for a very tough audience. If they donБ=80=99t like something, they get up and walk away, or yell and throw things. Your job at a party is to hold the attention of a group of people for whom a short attention span is the norm. The more well-versed you are in your area and the more prepared you are for the unexpected, the better off youБ=80=99ll be. While it is the children you are entertaining, it is the parents who do the hiring. Make sure to include their ideas into your act, and take into consideration the likes and dislikes of their particular child. Is the birthday boy shy? Is there a particular trick that the birthday girl especially likes? Be creative in the work you do as well as where and how you do it. Kids entertainment is not limited to magic and balloons. A kid who is interested in science for example might enjoy an activity such as making model rockets or working with magnets. I have even seen surfing taught in backyard on a surfboard fitted with wheels. And while birthday parties might be the most obvious choice, think about day camps, after school programs and local community events such as farmersБ=80=99 markets and street fairs. These last can be an excellent source of publicity and word of mouth. Read more. Photo by papaleguas. -- You are buy onlined to email updates from "Business Opportunities Weblog." To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubcribe now If you prefer to purchase via postal mail, write to: Business Opportunities Weblog, c/o FeedBurner, 549 W Randolph, Chicago IL USA 60661 This Email Delivery powered by FeedBurner. =09 ; charset=UTF-8 Business Opportunities Weblog =09=09=09h1 a:hover ! important;} tr td div ul { =09=09=09} =09 tr td div blockquote { 6px solid #dadada; =09=09=09} =09 tr td div li { =09=09=09} tr td a:link, tr td a:visited, tr td a:active { =09=09=09}=09 =09=09=09img {border:none;} =09=09 Business Opportunities Weblog Post-Honeymoon Price Kick Posted: 29 Mar 2008 01:30 AM CDT News.com.au: business owner wants a competitive rate when signing up for essential services such as gas and electricity but failing to look beyond cheap introductory honeymoon rates can come back to bite, as hundreds of small business owners found recently. In February the Federal Court found Wesfarmers Kleenheat Gas had misrepresented the true ongoing cost of supplying bulk LPG to some of its customers. Those affected included cafes, laundromats, sporting clubs and a range of other, mostly small, businesses around the country. Kleenheat placed many new or renewing small business customers on so-called “managed monthly accounts” without telling them they were receiving a honeymoon rate. Once signed up prices were gradually increased over a period of up to six months until they reached second, much higher preferred target price. Other businesses, typically existing customers deemed not to be profitable enough, were placed on a “quick hit” list. When gas prices went up, Kleenheat would use the opportunity to add an extra increase on top of the normal price fluctuation. When gas prices dropped, Kleenheat failed to pass on the full benefit to customers on its quick hit list, pocketing the difference. This also went on for up to six months until Kleenheat considered the particular account to be generating a more acceptable return. Of themselves, these practices were not the basis of the Australian Competition and Consumer complaints against Kleenheat, which ultimately resulted in the company offering refunds to customers totalling nearly $800,000. Kleenheat of Australia is a good reminder to all small businesses to beware of anything that seems to have a cost or a “new customer” price that only lasts for a short period of time. Image from Stock.xchng. Advertising With Giant Green Dragons Posted: 28 Mar 2008 04:09 PM CDT Wtoc.com: I’ve never understood the giant green dragons and purple gorillas that you see on the side of the road from time to time. Oh, I know they’re they’re for a reason. I just don’t see their appeal to car dealers or their use as a marketing tool. I mean, has anyone ever been driving down the street, seen one of these things on the side of the road and felt suddenly compelled to pull into a dealership and drop $20,000? Somebody else in the business explained it this way: With their big blowups, dealerships are operating on the same principal as TV networks that run silly game shows or outrageous reality television rather than programs such as 60 Minutes. It’s all about attracting attention. Image via balloonco A Beary Big Success from Build a Bear Workshop Posted: 28 Mar 2008 03:49 PM CDT News.Yahoo.com: The Entrepreneur: Maxine Clark, 57. Clark left a successful corporate career to start her own business, Build-A-Bear Workshop (NYSE:BBW - News), then a relatively new concept in retail entertainment. (According to Clark) I have always believed in listening to what others have to say, but being careful about the advice you actually take. Rather than adhering strictly to the traditional ways of doing things, I challenge myself and those I work with to think more creatively. I’m constantly trying to come up with ways we can take a conventional product or task and put our own unique spin on it by making it more For instance, Build-A-Bear Workshop didn’t invent teddy bears, nor were we first to create the places that make them. But we put an entirely new spin on the teddy bear business. We saw possibilities like no one else. People always say to me “Why didn’t I think of that?” Well, because teddy bears weren’t their thing, they weren’t their passion, but perhaps they have a passion for something else. …you should always allow yourself to dream — and dream big — it’s only through such thinking that great things happen. Don’t limit yourself because you don’t think your dream is attainable. You must start by believing you can truly achieve whatever you set your mind to, no matter how big it might seem. Not dreaming big enough is one of the biggest mistakes you can make — if you can’t see your dream, how do you expect others to? Photo via photobucket The Man Who Pushed The Blue Envelope Posted: 28 Mar 2008 03:13 PM CDT Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Terry Loebel wasn’t looking to start an advertising phenomenon when he went to his mailbox in 1967 and inspiration struck. Valpak, the company Loebel soon started, is today an advertising giant, sending its trademark blue coupon-stuffed envelope to 45 million homes each month. Valpak wasn’t the first company to start targeting consumers by mail, but it has become one of the most successful - it expects to ship 20 billion coupons in 520 million envelopes to U.S. and Canadian households this year from its massive new $220 million facility in St. Petersburg, Fla. As advertising has become more intrusive, spawning annoying pitches via e-mail, popup ads and flimsy mailbox fliers, Valpak has managed to find ways to stay in good graces with discounts for everything from oil changes to kitchen cabinets. Valpak’s early success could be filed into the annals of luck.” In late 1967, Loebel was living on Florida’s Gulf Coast, a self-described scruffy factory worker on furlough from the American Motor Co. plant in Milwaukee. That’s when he did something he usually let his wife do - he picked up the mail. He stumbled upon an envelope stuffed with coupons for store products, and a spark of curiosity sent him to the post office. After learning that bulk mail could be sent for less than 4 cents, Loebel hatched his plan for Valpak. His first pitch to a Clearwater TV repair shop quickly led to other business owners who were skeptical of Loebel’s plans, but enticed by his promise they wouldn’t have to pay if the experiment failed. Days after the first white, coupon-stuffed envelopes arrived in mailboxes, the business owners started calling. When was the next mailing, they wondered, and more importantly, could he expand to other cities? He began selling Valpak franchises, hired graphic designers and soon bought a factory. Loebel decided Valpak envelopes should have a distinct color, and began polling women at his factory. They chose blue - a color reaffirmed by focus testing. Within 11 years, the company was mailing nationally. Loebel semiretired in 1979, eventually selling his interest in 1986. Photo by Associated Press. Three Steps To Paperless Office Posted: 28 Mar 2008 02:12 PM CDT PC Magazine: 1. Think Before You Ink. The change has to start here. We all have to change how we look at paper. Before you print out anything, ask yourself if it is absolutely necessary. If you have a digital copy of that e-mail, why do you need a printed version? The green blog TreeHugger.com tried to build an eco-meme by asking people to add this line to their e-mail signatures: “Eco-Tip: Printing e-mails is usually a waste.” 2. Preview Your Documents. The average employee prints six totally useless pages per day. All you have to do is walk over to the network printer in your office to see examples of them. I did just that and found a tray filled with blank pages, misplaced spreadsheet fields, and random HTML fields from printed Web pages. The average employee prints 1,410 of these wasted pages per year. And this problem is easy to fix: Just preview it first. The easiest way to do this is to use the print preview feature in whatever software you are using to print. 3. Print to PDF. It took a while, but PDF truly is a universal portable document format. And just attaching a Word doc to an e-mail is pretty universal too (although I have it on very good authority that there are still those among us stuck using Word 2002 and unable to natively read the latest Office formats). Send digital files whenever you can. There are more ways to cut back, of course, including printing on both sides of pages, electronic invoicing, and using multifunction devices to scan rather than copy, but those three steps alone could put a huge dent in paper waste. Photo by LotusHead. Helpful Websites For Venture Start-Ups Posted: 28 Mar 2008 01:30 PM CDT Young Entrepreneur: Have you started a new business but donБ=80=99t have the time to sort through all the websites online to find the best and most relevant information? 1) Venture Hacks Venture Hacks is an guide to hacking venture capital. Their goal is to help entrepreneurs get on an even footing with their better-informed counterparts when negotiating an investment. 2) The Funded.com TheFunded.com allows entrepreneurs to research, rate, and review venture funds from around the world, providing invaluable information and guidance to other entrepreneurs looking to raise critical growth capital. 3) DocStoc Docstoc is a user generated community where you can find and share professional documents. You can find free legal documents and free business documents as well as upload your documents for all the world to share. 4) Instigator Blog The Instigator Blog is all about instigating discussion, ideas and better business. It is focused on small business, marketing and technology, with a heavy dose of humor. Read more. Photo by frencenz. It’s A Whole New World Out There Posted: 28 Mar 2008 01:00 PM CDT Times Daily: Ever since I gave up the corporate life a few weeks ago and left the land of cubicles, memos and staff meetings, I’ve realized why we created those things in the first place: Working at home is hard. Believe me, before I left the office to be a freelance writer, I spent many hours daydreaming about being my own boss and doing my own work in my own time in the peace and quiet of my own house. (Of course, I didn’t daydream about leaving work while I was actually at work. That would be wrong.) But the reality is a bit different from my fantasies. For one thing, I’m beginning to think that my former corner cubicle in the out-of-the-way and down-the-hall office I shared with two other people was much quieter and more peaceful - and for that I blame our four cats. When I first started hanging around the house instead of rushing out in the morning, they naturally were suspicious that my continuing presence would limit their secret cat behavior - or whatever cats do when we’re not around. Call China and order pizza is what I’m thinking, although I have no evidence of that. Now, after a few weeks, the cats realize, of course, that I’m home solely for their amusement. They have me playing all sorts of games, such as On the Other Side of This Door?” “Now I Want To See What Was On the Other Side of the Door When I Was There A Minute Ago” and the ever-popular “Why Did You Think That I Wanted To Be On This Side of the Door, You Clueless Human, You?” Endless entertainment. For another thing, when you work at home it’s hard to find time to actually be at home. Photo by OLD SKOOL Cora. “Remember the Hook” When Marketing Small Biz Posted: 28 Mar 2008 12:25 PM CDT The Profit Repairman: Have you ever been fishing or seen how fishing is done? Without some sort of device, very little fish would be caught (most do not just jump into the boat willingly). The same is true in selling your product line. Even when you have the most wanted product around, if you do not inform customers where to buy it (the hook in this example), you will see very little quantity sold. When you think of a hook, remember, it is to grab the clientБ=80=99s attention long enough for the sales process to begin between the buyer and seller. The hook is not meant to make anyone buy on the spot (but it could), rather the hookБ=80=99s goal is to have the clients open up their minds and communicate (verbally and/or non-verbally) to you, Б=80=9CI am interested in potentially buying your product. By having different hooks in the marketplace, your business unit increases the opportunity to produce sales across a vast number of potential demographics. Photo by colodio. Starting Party Biz Posted: 28 Mar 2008 09:07 AM CDT Work.com: Do you enjoy children? Do children like you? Can you tell stories, be a clown, play sports or a musical instrument? If so, then you may be able to start a small business doing kidsБ=80=99 entertainment. You can work for yourself and make good money at the same time. There are as many ways to entertain kids as there are interests and talents, and building up a niche with the under ten set can be a great way to supplement your income or build a solid business. While working with kids may seem like an easy gig, young children make for a very tough audience. If they donБ=80=99t like something, they get up and walk away, or yell and throw things. Your job at a party is to hold the attention of a group of people for whom a short attention span is the norm. The more well-versed you are in your area and the more prepared you are for the unexpected, the better off youБ=80=99ll be. While it is the children you are entertaining, it is the parents who do the hiring. Make sure to include their ideas into your act, and take into consideration the likes and dislikes of their particular child. Is the birthday boy shy? Is there a particular trick that the birthday girl especially likes? Be creative in the work you do as well as where and how you do it. Kids entertainment is not limited to magic and balloons. A kid who is interested in science for example might enjoy an activity such as making model rockets or working with magnets. I have even seen surfing taught in backyard on a surfboard fitted with wheels. And while birthday parties might be the most obvious choice, think about day camps, after school programs and local community events such as farmersБ=80=99 markets and street fairs. These last can be an excellent source of publicity and word of mouth. Read more. Photo by papaleguas. You are buy onlined to email updates from Business Opportunities Weblog To stop receiving these emails, you may purchase now.Email Delivery powered by FeedBurner Inbox too full? Buy online to the feed version of Business Opportunities Weblog in a feed reader. If you prefer to purchase via postal mail, write to: Business Opportunities Weblog, c/o FeedBurner, 20 W Kinzie, 9th Floor, Chicago IL USA 60610

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