DIY Market Research

Hi there! Hope the summer is going well for everyone:) I do wish business at comfycozy.com was as hot as the temps here in eastern PA!

Below is the link to an article from Country Business Magazine. Great tips on do it yourself marketing. I've already gone to surveymonkey.com and hope to generate some well needed feedback from my customer base.

http://country-business.com/growyourbiz/marketing_promotions/article.aspx?id=10200

Good Luck!!

When does the merry go round stop?

I feel like it's been going around and around forever...and I HATE merry go rounds! I can't even watch my kids playing on one at a the park and the "real" ones w/ the horses I can't even THINK about them without getting a little queezy (how do you spell that anyway?).

Apparently, for a WAHM, it never stops! Jill mentioned yesterday learning new tricks. As a WAHM, we learn new tricks every day - we HAVE to. When you're a one woman business, there isn't any delegating. For some things I pay folks that know what they are doing. Other times, if the budget is tight, you have to "figure it out". That isn't necessarily a bad thing. On Monday I found out I needed an ad banner by Tuesday at 10am - YIKES! I don't have one, don't know how to make one, don't have the money to pay someone to do it right now.

So, after asking for help and waiting for replies, I said to myself "wait a minute - I have an idea!" Instead of re-inventing the wheel, I've learned to use what I have. Sometimes you don't have to make something totally new, you have the pieces, you just have to put them together differently. It worked like a charm.

I had spent lots of money on the photography and packaging for my Comfy Cozy pillowcases.
James Applebaum at Electric Bluefish Productions created the inserts using images from a photo shoot with Jeff Blumberg at PictureTHIS! Photography. So, my "lightbulb moment" came just when I thought I'd have to cancel the ad - use the insert! A few text modifications for the ad and help from James in formatting it and "ta-da" - banner ad for MomFinds.com was ready to go.

Sometimes we have to take a deep breath and for me, that can be hard sometimes. I'm always 3 steps ahead of myself and am learning the trick of stepping BACK to look at a situation before I jump in. Usually, things work themselves out and I can avoid adding any stress and anxiety to my life:)

My merry go round is still spinning. Another day, another ride! Hopefully with this ad, it will mean another dollar or two!! Today I'm hoping I don't have to learn any new tricks. I'll leave that up to our beagle puppy LOL