Joyce Reid Business Lessons Learned at the Gym I Hate Exercise . . . But. . . I’d much rather curl up with a good book than go for a hike or, heaven forbid, to the gym. But after developing sciatica, I learned that if I didn’t want to hurt, I had to build those core muscles. … Read more
A Marketing Tip That You Are Probably Not Using We, as small gift companies, are fighting not only Amazon but also the search engines themselves for placement in “search results.” Catering to ad revenue over actual information, Google and the search engines will list all those companies that pay Google before listing companies that … Read more
In today’s world, customers are looking for value when making a purchase more than ever before. Sending a gift is still an accepted way to express feelings–regardless of the occasion. But that gift has to be more than just an ordinary gift. That gift has to be special. It has to speak louder than words. … Read more
Do You Understand SEO? Why Should You? I’m going to be blunt here. If you don’t like blunt, just skip this article and move on. I’ve heard over and over from people in our industry that they want our magazine and the information that we provide to be just about design with lots of pretty … Read more
Learning how to make a bow for a “wow” presentation is easy if you know the techniques. As with anything practice helps. There is no one right way or one method to make a beautiful bow. I suggest that you try as many different methods as you can find and then choose the one that … Read more
Business Lessons from the Presidential Election The election that ended on November 8th with a result that shocked the world provides some valuable insights to operating a business. Don’t worry, this is not going to be a political article. I’ve made it very clear how I feel on my personal Facebook page but politics and … Read more
Do you work a lot but when you look back at your day you realize you really haven’t accomplished much? I’ve found myself in that situation and I suspect many of you have as well. When I really look carefully at what I did that day, I see that my activities could be diagrammed on … Read more
I’m often asked, “How many choices should I provide my customers in each category?” Or I’ve been told, “I don’t have enough designs to have a website?” So the two questions are: “How many designs are enough and how many are too many?” If you look at all the big boys who have gift basket … Read more
Planning Your Blog from the Beginning Saves Time and Headaches One thing I’ve learned is that no one feels comfortable when they first start blogging. That’s why I suggested in the previous blogging post (What is Blogging?) that you might want to get your feet wet slowly by creating a trial blog at one of … Read more
Do You Have a Small Town Mindset? During my lifetime, I’ve lived in towns and cities of all sizes. Large cities like Washington DC and Berkeley, California. Mid-sized cities like Pensacola, Florida and San Jose, California. Small cities like Santa Cruz, California and Flagstaff, Arizona (where I finally landed). But since my husband was a … Read more