December 15, 2009 - Elks

Laura Edwards, IT Works Consultant is putting together a Expo at the Elk's downtown Grand Haven on Third Street on December 15th. She is looking for people interested in having a booth.  She would like to have 20 to 30 vendors. If you are interested, please contact Laura at 231-750-2191 or by email at itworkswrap@yahoo.com

November 21, 2009 - Party on the Greens

The Party of Parties on the Green:
A unique shopping event with a “home party” feel

Shopping • Refreshments • Style • Fun

Purchase locally provided specialty and one-of-akind gifts and beat the holiday rush! Hand crafted baby items,jewelry, children’s clothing
and accessories, tote bags, purses, decorations and more.

Featuring local consultants from:
• Tastefully Simple
• Creative Memories
• Longaberger
• Pampered Chef
• BeautiControl
• Shaklee
• Juice Plus
• FlashPoint Global

. . . along with area artists and Jillyn Segroves, photographer, and
Michele O’Brien, chiropractor.

Saturday, November 21
9:00 am - 4:00 pm
Grand Haven Golf Club

Yak About It

Sunday, November 15th, our friend, Jan Rohr's from Norton Shores will be competing for your attention on the website yakaboutit.com.  She is the inventor of the PooDunki.  You may have remembered the story a few weeks back when she was featured in both the Muskegon Chronicle and again in the Grand Rapids Press. 

Let's help Jan be a winner in tomorrow's competition by either casting your vote, talking about her product (online), or purchasing a PooDunki for the pet lover on your Christmas shopping list.

For a link to this website, click here.

On Monday, November 9th, I won my competition on Yakaboutit and captured 80% of the votes, conversation, and even had a few purchases!

Style 'n Wrap - Heat Resistant Hairstyling Tool Organizer (November 9th Competition)

Wag Your Tail . . .

Okay the title to this post is a little pun, but I'm so happy to announce another accomplishment of one of our ladies in this network, Inge Bonfoey, inventor of the Towel Tog® just appeared last evening on Happy Hour, Fox News Network.  She was presenting her patented mirco-fiber towel for pets.  She has put a lot of thought and energy into creating a marvelous product for pet lovers.  Want to save your furniture and carpet from the effects of a wet animal . . . wrap them in a cozy towel tog and your pet will be happy and so will your animal.

See the Clip below and learn about this program on Fox News Network.  Maybe you'll find there is an opportunity for your invention or business venture too.

Keep Your Dog Dry (click on this story)

Training Resources

Are you looking at your To-Do list of all of the things you need to accomplish before the end of 2009 and saying,    "CALGON - take me away!"?


Are all of your 'rocks' getting too heavy to push uphill by yourself?

As we are all running lean and trying to do more with less, our To-Do lists are in danger of becoming Not-Done lists. Know when to say when. Ask for help.


Not So Basic Training can assist you in your time of need. Areas where we can help:

• Training you need to design and run before the end of 2009 that you are thinking "that is SO not going to happen", but does need to get done.

• Projects that need assistance (manpower, direction, accountability, etc.)

• Coaching that needs to happen to bring an employee back in line, but you have no time to train the 'coach' to do the job that needs to be done.

• Employee surveys. How are they feeling about your company, leadership, the culture. VERY important information in these tough times.

• Team building. Your people don't have to like each other, but they DO have to work together respectfully.

• Strategic Planning. What is your plan moving forward? Are your people trained in setting good solid goals?

• Interviewing. It IS all about getting the right people on the bus....

• Develop New Hire Orientation programs. Please do not just throw people into their new jobs and expect them to sink or swim. Help them succeed!

Much, much more!

Mitzi Taylor will be one of our upcoming speakers at 3 Degrees-Connected™ and share ideas to assist small business entrepreneurs.  Click on her name to read her personal biographical information.  

Come join us in January and refresh your business objectives and set obtainable goals.

Making a Difference

As holiday season approaches, we are hearing lots of conversation about the economic conditions here in the U.S. Merchants are frantic about whether this years sales will help them avoid bankruptcy. I know that our purchase dollars can have a significant impact on the outcome for many retailers. If your home is like mine, now more than ever, the phone is ring off the hook asking us to contribute to all sorts of causes. Everyone has needs.


Consider this year instead of passing the $25 to $50 gift card to your relatives in exchange for the same $25 to $50 gift card; do something significant with your purchasing power this holiday season. Not only think of the gift recipient, but whether your spending keeps a business afloat, does your gift serve the needs of your community, does your gift serve the needs of someone who might not otherwise receive a gift.


A recent article about what big box stores plan to do this holiday season showed that we depend on materialism. The plot of the story goes, "we will limit supply to increase the demand". Do we really want to buy into this form of commercialism, or do we want to rethink our holiday strategy.

• Think about giving the $25.00 gift card toward a cause on behalf of someone else. In an organization such as KIVA, you can purchase a gift certificate for someone to invest in a micro-loan of their choice.  This gift is then invested as a micro-loan on behalf of a business in need.   When the loan is repaid, the recipient can chose to either re-invest or withdraw the funds for their own use. Is the gift still worth $25.00?

• Consider supporting local businesses with your purchase dollar rather than looking at larger discount chain stores.  Let the merchant know that you are doing this because you feel their business is important to the community.

• Consider making personalized gifts with special meaning from your heart, rather than spending your resources unnecessarily. 

• Consider the phrase "time is money" and give someone your time as a gift this holiday season.  Create your own gift card indicating what you plan to do, go ahead and print a value and redemption date on the certificate. 

3 Degrees-Connected has set up a KIVA lending group which supports women-owned businesses in other parts of the world.  A link to support this collective giving through 3 Degrees-Connected is found in the left sidebar to this blog.  

Setting Up An E-Commerce Shopping Cart

Have you ever heard the phrase, or have you ever used the phrase "you don't know what you don't know"? 

I think this is a common phrase uttered a time or two by small business entrepreneurs.  That is why we are always on the look out for good mentors, good books, free classes, and sometimes good articles on the Internet.

Lately I've been trying to learn a little more about e-commerce, driving traffic to my website, creating a simple, clean presentation of my products, and resolve the dilemma of what is the best shopping cart experience I can give my customers without costing an arm and a leg.  I'm sure I'm not much different than any other new entrepreneur faced with this same task.

Making the decision on whether to process credit cards or continue to use a PayPal solution has also surfaced a time or two.  Comparison shopping takes time and how do we know that there isn't a solution we haven't evaluated that would be better than the best we've looked at thus far.

While considering all these questions, I came across a well-written article that provides a great outline of what to look for when considering an e-commerce shopping cart that I will share below.  Although this article was written in 2005, the outline and topic is still very relevant today.   I know that I will answer all the questions in this article before talking with anyone about a lasting solution for my website. 

10 Things You Should Know About Shopping Carts by Robert Speyer was published on the Best Syndication website.