September Team Meeting 2016

We had a full table and lots of fun! The following members attended: Tracy Elsom, Brenda Woodard, Lynn Sibley, Carolyn Long, Linda Berger, Sandra Hatfield, Caitlyn Hatfield, JoAnn Melanson-Crossman, Carol Matthews, and our newest team member Heather Best from Bridgewater.

Heather is from Saskatchewan originally and she was one of the first Demos when Stampin' Up! came to Canada in 2002. Since then she has moved to Nova Scotia, spent a few years sailing around the Caribbean and is now excited to get her fingers inky again. Welcome to our team Heather!

Promotions! Tracy has promoted to Silver! Brenda and Sheila have promoted to Bronze Elite! Congratulations ladies!

We saw some terrific samples brought by everyone - lots of Christmas inspiration!!

Our first Make & Take was by JoAnn. I love that DSP and the Pretty Pines dies.

Tracy Elsom presented the next Make & Take. It was gift card designed for cash/gift certificates/show tickets etc. and fits in a regular #10 business envelope.

And the inside and envelope:

The final Make & Take was an autumn card (I know - I blew the Christmas theme...)

This card uses Timeless Textures and Vintage Leaves, and I cased it from another demo changing a few things.

Our Secret Swap cards were by Lynn Sibley (gorgeous Copper embossing!):

and Brenda Woodard (love the bright colours!):

Then, of course, we had the Clean Out The Closets Craft Sale - I hope everyone got something fun in their $5 bag! I'm a happy crafter because the room was almost empty when all was done! Thank you!

I'm already looking forward to November 12th! Hope you can make it. :)

Happy Stamping,
Carol

March 19th ASI Meeting

Happy Spring - although it wasn't a rough winter, it's still great to have spring (on the calendar at least!)

Here are photos of some of the projects shared at our meeting. (If you have photos that I missed, please forward them to me and I'll add them here).

This was our table treat - including a package of Subtles Candy Dots and Chocolate (of course!)

Sandra & Caitlyn's marvelously masculine swap card.

Carol's Make & Take card: (You'll have to trust me that there's Wink of Stella on the dragon fly...)

Carolyn's Make & Take Bunny:

Tracy's Botanical Blossom Make & Take:

Make and Take Makers for our May Meeting:

Sandi 

Caitlyn

Carol

DATES FOR UPCOMING ASI MEETINGS:

May 14

July 11

September 10

November 12

Happy Stamping :)

What is a Team?

And I'm so glad you're part of mine.

Photos for ASI January 2016 Meeting

Photo Frame Challenge

Linda's

Sandi's

Lynn's

JoAnn's

Tracy's

Carol's

So many different, wonderful ideas!!

These are the two M&Ts

Carol's:

Sandi's:

And here are some of the projects that were shared - sorry I don't have photos of them all. If you want to send me photos I will post them!

Sketch for June Swap

Quotes to Inspire

"Pricing low is shortsighted, because someone else is always willing to sacrifice more profit margin and drive you both bankrupt."
- Tim Ferris, author of 'The Four Hour Workweek'

"A schedule defends from chaos and whim."
- Annie Dillard, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction, 1975

"What gets measured gets managed."
- Peter Drucker

"Perfect is the enemy of good enough. When your product or service is good enough, get it out, because cash flows when you start shipping. You'll also learn what your customers truly want you to fix."
- Guy Kawasaki

How to Become Profitable as Quickly as Possible

By John Sanpietro, Certified Business Coach

Stamping Is My Business!

Whenever I begin working with a new Coaching client, I ask them what they want out of their business.  Most of them will tell me, among other things, that they want to be profitable.

I tell them that isn't a problem… IF they're truly committed to profitability.

And even though they all say they are, many come to realize they really weren't, and once they can change that, profit will soon follow!

So, what does it mean to be truly committed to profitability?  It's really quite simple.  There are just 2 criteria:

1. You Don't Allow Yourself To Waste Time

Wasting time is easy!  There are so many things you can do that distract you from your actual business.  Things you may even convince yourself are necessary, but, in reality, don't pass the profitability test.

Time is the one thing you truly have a finite amount of.  And the amount of time you have to spend on your business is even more finite.  EVERY MINUTE of that time spent on tasks that don't build your business is making you less profitable. 

And those minutes add up! 

Even if you spend just two hours per week wasting time, that adds up to almost three weeks of lost productivity and profit per year!  Imagine what you could have done with those extra three weeks!!

What Can You Do?:  Take a good, hard look at where you're spending your time.  Ask yourself… is this REALLY helping me build my business?  If the answer is no, eliminate it.  Plain and simple.  Like I said, becoming profitable isn't complicated.  You just have to be committed.

2. You Don't Allow Yourself To Waste Money and You Stick To Your Profit Margins

This is the classic battle between stamping as a hobby and stamping as a business.  If you want to truly build your business, you have to be committed to doing everything you can to make sure EVERY DOLLAR you spend yields a profit.

Not just breaking even… but a real profit!  You have to base your decisions on ROI (return on investment). 

For example, you may have an idea for a class, but when you crunch the numbers, you realize it doesn't make you enough profit to justify the time involved.  What should you do?  Can it!  Or, at least, change it so you can meet your profit margins. 

Plenty of ideas I've had have died in development.  Not because they wouldn't have made me money.  Because they wouldn't have made me enough money.  They wouldn't have met my margins.

Remember, profit margins are important.  A higher profit margin means you can work less and make more.  This leads to better work/life balance, as well as greater opportunities for growing your business.

Another example… I'm a big believer in professional development.  I like to take courses and attend conferences.  However, I won't even think about purchasing a course or a ticket unless I was 90-95% certain I was going to earn TEN TIMES what I was spending in the first twelve months.  So, if I spend $750 on a conference, I expect to make $7,500 in new profit as a direct result of that conference within twelve months. 

If I don't think that's a real possibility, I don't do it.  And I have no hesitation and no regrets because I'm committed!

What Can You Do?:  Take a look at everything you're spending money on, and analyze the return on investment you're getting.  Determine what you want your profit margins to be.  It doesn't have to be 10X like me (although it could be), but it should be at least 3X.  If you find things not meeting your margins, drop them… or figure out a way to change them so they do.

Again, this isn't rocket science.  It's very straightforward stuff.  Sticking to it is tough, though, because the commitment it requires is very, very high.

But if you can maintain it, you'll be amazed how profitable you can be… and how quickly it can happen!

Good luck!

Warmest regards,

John

John Sanpietro

Certified Business Coach

STAMPING IS MY BUSINESS!

http://www.stampingismybusiness.com

THE BUSINESS STAMPERS COACHING GROUP

The Premier Online Community for BUSINESS-MINDED Stamping Business Owners!

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