4 Tips to keep moving your small business forward

Tonight we are going to cover 4 tips to keeping your small business moving forward. In the current economy, it is very easy to find that your business is not moving forward and may even be moving backwards. Instead of considering packing it all in and calling it quits, now is the time to get back to basics. New, trendy ideas right now are not what is going to gain your customers' trust, they are tired of empty promises. What is really going to resonate with your customers is good, old fashioned customer service.

As we have become more digitized, we are losing the personal touch with people, in particular our customers. How many people now choose to order products directly from the Internet instead of dealing directly with a living, breathing person. Granted, since we are all so busy, it is extremely easy to order products and some services over the Internet, but now is the time to find a way to personalize your customer's Internet experience. So many websites gather e-mail addresses, names, phone numbers, but none the ones I have seen actually thank you for providing that information. I am personally uncomfortable providing all that information when I know what I want to order. I worry about receiving mountains of junk e-mail after submitting that information. It is important as a small business to collect this information, but perhaps instead of collecting it in order to send out more marketing pieces, perhaps you would want to send out a nice, homey, friendly (and SHORT) letter to your customers, thanking them for their patronage. Do not sell them anything, just thank them for coming to you with their request. If you want to open a dialog with them, ask them for any suggestions to improve their shopping experience. I like to periodically (about once or twice a year) send just a little news letter that is entertaining. I will not sell anything directly, but will provide my website and phone number at the bottom if the recipients are interested. You want your customers curious and happy about receiving occasional messages, not dreading all your selling pieces. This friendly, fun newsletter will keep your name uppermost in your customer's mind without all the negative feelings.

Another suggestion to keep your business moving forward is to do the right thing for your customers, even if may not be the most profitable thing for you to do. Customers will remember a bad experience 3 times longer than they will remember a positive experience. If there is a problem with your customer's order and you catch it before your customer does, do the right thing and correct the error instead of waiting for the customer to come to you. It may hurt initially, but your customer will remember your diligence far longer than your brief pain. Your customer will happily tell all their friends about your integrity and honesty when you correct a problem before they even knew about it. Sitting back and hoping the customer will not notice a problem is not realistic. Sometimes customers will discover a problem and if it is minor, will not let you know. The downside is that they will probably not ever shop with you again. You may not know how many customers you lose this way, you may just notice a decrease in customer activity. If you find a problem, be proactive, let your customers know and resolve it without being asked to. This gesture will increase your loyal customer base much faster than you can imagine.

The third tip is to treat your customers like family. No, not like a dysfunctional family, but care for them. Listen to their concerns, because those concerns may provide clues for you to assist your customers further. Families talk with each other, air their concerns and offer support to each other. Do the same for your customers. Listen to their concerns, strive to assist them where you can, and honestly care about their well being. You have to honestly care because your customers will know if you are not sincere. Your customers will return to you more often if you stop to listen to what their needs are instead of trying to tell them what you believe they need. Family strives to help each other for the betterment of the whole, you should do the same for your customers. Then both you and your customers will win.

The last tip to help move your business forward is to over deliver on your promises. This all goes back to good customer service. I am not suggesting always giving more product than what the customer purchased, but to be sure you go above and beyond what your customer was expecting. Remember the days of the "bakers dozen"? If you purchased a dozen donuts, the baker might throw in an extra donut. Didn't you feel special when you found that extra donut? Do a little something extra for your customer. It does not need to be expensive, but provide a little extra service or product so that your customer will be smiling when they see what they have. Especially now, when money is tight, based on your customers' needs, find something small, that won't impact your business financially, but will give great pleasure to your customers when they get a little extra something with their purchase. If you have products to deliver, always be sure to deliver on or before the date you told your customer. They will always appreciate accurate and timely deliveries.

Following these for tips may make the difference between remaining successful or closing your doors. Remember to treat your customers with respect, do what is right, not what you think you can get away with, care for your customers like you would your family and lastly over deliver on what you promise. These four tips will pay dividends for years to come.

If you are looking for a business opportunity that requires minimal cash outlay, check our our website. We offer business opportunities in stem cell nutrition, Pre-Paid legal services and Mona Vie - a nutritional drink. We can also help you start up your own waterless technology vehicle detailing business if that is what you are interested in. Please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have.

Until tomorrow...

Are you Healthy?

Today we are going to change the topic a bit. We have talked much about what is going on, where we have been in the last 2 months, and our pet's health. But beyond all of those items, tie biggest question that you need to ask yourself is, Are you Healthy?

If you are not healthy, you cannot do a fraction of the things you want to do. Not only that, but your attitude may also reflect your declining health. If you are not healthy, you will find yourself doing less and less and before you know it, you are letting things fall apart around you. The funny thing is, if you are not healthy, you may not even notice that you are letting little things slip at first. Sometimes you may look at a task that you would have in the past taken for granted, and decided that the task was too much for you to handle now. If that starts happening, you need to ask, are you healthy?

"A life filled with quality in work, thoughts, companions and activities can strengthen your natural immunity to germs, viruses and negative hereditary influences". - Stephen Blauer

You may have noticed that when you don't feel great, not sick, but just tired, that little tasks seem insurmountable. Most likely those tasks seem so difficult because your body is trying to heal itself and doesn't want to be distracted being forced to do other things. In this busy world we are currently in, and especially in this extremely stressful job market, it is very easy to forget to listen to your body and determine if you are healthy. Many people get really stressed about their financial situation (actually, I don't know ANYBODY who doesn't get stressed about that..) I realize that the term "healthy" is a relative term, but you know when you are not performing at your best, or when you are feeling run-down. It is important to at least listen to your body and be aware that something may not be good. As you become less healthy, you may also tend to make bad business desisions. It is critical to remain healthy so that you can make the best decisions possible when decisions are needed.

High stress levels can constrict circulation and can negatively affect the organs of the body. If you notice that you are under a lot of stress, you may want to consider some methods of relieving some of that stress [and no, shooting the object of your stress is NOT an option ;-)]. Some people believe that meditation is a good tool to promote relaxation and manage stress, others believe physical exercises can do the same. I know when I am really stressed, meditation is the last thing I need to do, I need the release of physical energy before I can even consider meditation. After a good work-out (which could simply just be a brisk walk outside for 30 minutes) I am much more inclined to effectively meditate, but that is me. Everyone has a different way of dealing with stress, and relieving it.

Physical activity does release endorphins, which do make you feel better. So, if you can do physical activity for a brief time, you may feel better and then be able to get a better perspective of how to handle the stressors of your life. Stress is a part of life, the key is to find ways to manage it so it doesn't manage you. If you continue to remain stressed, it is like having your body in overdrive for extended periods of time. That will wear your body down and you will start finding that you are not as healthy as you used to be.

Little things will wear you out, little annoyances will seem huge, you may find that you catch colds easier, or your allergies bug you more. If you start seeing some of these warning signs, take a step back and ask yourself, "Are you healthy?"

We at Hawgwash, LLC may have some nutritional items that could help reduce the effects of stress on your body, but you will need to not just rely on nutritional products to keep you healthy. Nutritionals are good in addition to a healthy lifestyle, but do not expect the nutritional products to "fix" all that is unhealthy in you. A sound nutrition and exercises plan are among the most important factors in reducing your stress levels. If you are interested in working towards improved health, please check out our website, we carry two types of nutritional products that may work well with your lifestyle. One is Stem Cell Nutritionals by STEMTech, which help support your natural stem cell physiology. The other nutritional product is a variety of juice blends by MonaVie.

If you have questions regarding either of these nutritional lines, please feel free to contact us at hawgwash1@yahoo.com. We would love to hear from you and we will strive to answer your questions quickly and accurately.

Until tomorrow...

Nutritional Drinks in General vs MonaVie in Particular

Tonight I learned an interesting lesson with some nutritional drinks that can be purchased in the various local food stores. During my visit with my father, he offered me a nutritional drink for the evening. Since I drink MonaVie nutritional drinks regularly, I didn't think hard about his offer, and accepted.

What I learned though was that some of the nutritional drinks that are sold in the stores, may be technically good for you, but they taste NASTY. What really surprises me is that the price of these nutritional drinks is no different from the prices of a bottle of MonaVie (Active, Original, Mmun, or Pulse). What I discovered is that this particular nutritional juice was so NASTY tasting that my father had to mix an ounce of it with about 8 ounces of grape juice. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of having a nutritional juice? I didn't think you should have to mix a drink into another drink, just to hide the flavor.

MonaVie does not have that problem at all. I find my problem with MonaVie is that I like the juice so much that I will find excuses to drink it. I happily take an ounce or two of MonaVie Active in the morning and at least an ounce or two of MonaVie Mmun in the evening. No need to mix it with other things to hide the flavor. MonaVie is excellent as it stands. You would be tempted to drink the whole bottle, and not have to worry about mixing it with anything. This experience I had with my father's choice of nutritional juice reminded me of the time I thought I had found the perfect health drink.

This drink was supposed to be really good for your body. The label claimed that it contained absolutely everything that your body needed to stay healthy. It was supposed to supply you with added energy and vigor. The problem started when you opened the bottle. The running joke was that this particular juice drink smelled like a medicine bottle. You didn't smell any fresh juice smells, you smelled what can only be described as crushed up vitamin pills. You know what I mean, that nasty pill, mediciney (I know that is not a word, but it is the best way I can describe it) smell. This juice smelled so bad that you almost had to literally hold your nose before you drank it. I also remember my almost choking on the drink after it passed my tongue. It was definitely not the most enjoyable drink to take, but I treated it like bad medicine, you took it because it was good for you.

Luckily MonaVie is very good for you (probably better than that juice was I took years ago) and it tastes great. Each MonaVie drink, Active, Original, Pulse, or Mmun has a slightly different flavor because they use different mixes of fruits, but the overall flavor is very pleasant. There is no nose holding in order to drink the juice. You can even have a conversation after downing a few ounces of MonaVie instead of making faces and almost gagging as I did with other drinks. We even have MonaVie tasting parties because their juices taste so good. Even better is that you can't drink too much MonaVie. Granted taking anything to excess is not good for you, but at least with MonaVie you are not taking excessive amounts of refined vitamins and minerals. Everything that is in the MonaVie is natural and tasty.

Not only are the MonaVie nutritional juices tasty, but their energy drink (80% fruit juice) is also awesome. If you want an energy boost without the jitters and an energy drink that contains 80% fruit juice, MonaVie Energy is the drink to have. MonaVie Energy has just enough bite to be fun, but it does not make you make funny faces as you try to drink something else that tastes NASTY. How many other energy drinks have you tried that could only be described as needing a "acquired taste"? MonaVie Energy does not need an acquired taste, it is good from the start to the end. No more funny faces when you swallow the drink.

Hopefully you will try some of the MonaVie drinks, if you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail us at hawgwash1@yahoo.com. If you see us at a rally and are curious about how the MonaVie nutritional juices compare, please ask and we will be willing to provide you a sample to taste. Then you will see we are not joking about how good the MonaVie drinks really are. Better yet, you can make money with MonaVie too...ask me how...

Until tomorrow...