Business & Entrepreneurship
Sunday 15 November 2009
- - What an incredible weekend we had! After receiving almost 1,000 written entries from teachers all over the country, we picked our winners. We flew teachers in from all over the country, had a beautiful awards ceremony followed by a lovely... (23:01 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
- - What an incredible weekend we had! After receiving almost 1,000 written entries from teachers all over the country, we picked our winners. We flow teachers in from all over the country, had a beautiful awards ceremony followed by a lovely... (22:40 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
Tuesday 10 November 2009
- - Our public relations firm scored a big hit for Catalogs.com this week. We were featured in WomenEntreprenuer.com, and quite frankly, we are all thrilled with the results. I remember vividly the 55 minute in-depth phone interview with Eve Gumpel. One... (20:21 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
Wednesday 28 October 2009
- - "How often have you heard, “Making small, minute changes can dramatically effect a company's Return On Investment (ROI)?” Heard it and done nothing. We're a perfect case in point. We've been on the web running a website for 13+ years... (11:32 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
Tuesday 27 October 2009
- - We just got notice that our annual health insurance company has raised the premiums for Catalogs.com about 17%. I was told my insurance consultant that out of hundreds of companies he is representing, ONLY Catalogs.com has the same number of... (12:00 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
Wednesday 21 October 2009
- - It’s no surprise to me that the Rockefeller Foundation’s recent poll shows that “women have become dominant in our society … women will soon constitute a MAJORITY OF THE WORKFORCE; they earn 57% of college degrees; and they make 75%... (13:14 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
Friday 2 October 2009
- - Tools For Teaching Contest Closed. Catalogs.com's Tools for Teaching contest has officially ended and we are THRILLED with the results. Almost 1,000 teachers from small towns to big cities have entered.
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Tuesday 29 September 2009
- - Catalogs.com Tools for Teaching Contest Deadline Approaching. The clock is ticking as I type and the deadline for entering Catalogs.com's “Tools for Teaching Contest” is soon approaching. You only have 2 days to get those essays in for a chance to win up to $2,500 in school supplies for your classroom! What are you waiting for? (10:09 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
Friday 25 September 2009
- - It was only recently (about 2 years ago) that I decided to ABSOLUTELY SPLURGE on a pair of Donald J. Pliner shoes which I bought. With the average cost around $300 - $400 per pair, I previously never considered wearing... (13:31 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
Sunday 13 September 2009
- - Tools for Teaching Contest Entries Pouring In. Catalogs.com staff is buzzing with excitement, as more than 450 teacher entries have already been submitted in our first week. It’s either because our contest "Tools for Teaching” is so cool and enticing, or it’s indicative of hard economic times and the tough realization that public schools are feeling the federal governments budgetary cuts.
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Friday 11 September 2009
- - Why our Women's Leadership Retreat Rocked. This past Sunday morning, I participated in something extraordinary. It was not a usual Sunday morning, where you might leisurely wake-up, enjoy the morning coffee and read the New York Times. Instead, I awoke at 7:00 am and quickly did last minute preparations to welcome 32 highly accomplished women. You see, I hosted at my own home a women’s division Board of Directors retreat, where we spent 7 hours fine tuning our executive skills, learning new ways of time management and organization, and exploring creative alternatives to raising money to help the needy.
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Tuesday 1 September 2009
- - Back To School Contest Gives Teachers the Chance to Win $5,500 in School Supplies. Catalogs.com and eNasco.com Offer Extra Credit to Teachers with ‘Tools for Teaching’ Contest. As the school year begins and teachers struggle to find adequate resources for purchasing school supplies to get them through the year, Catalogs.com, the Internet’s foremost authority on shopping and saving from a world of print catalogs and catalog websites and Nasco (www.eNasco.com), a leading provider of school supplies, art materials and educational and teacher resources, have teamed up to launch the 2009 “Tools for Teaching” contest. (17:17 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
- - Entrepreneurship Interview - the Sweetness of PR. Great news from the world of Catalogs.com... I just landed a big interview with an online entreprenuership interviewing site - Entrepreneurship-Interviews.com.
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Thursday 27 August 2009
- - Strategic Planning for Entrepreneurial Internet Companies. If you think that strategic planning should be reserved for large multi-national corporations that have over 1000 employees… you are dead wrong. I am stretching my stiff neck, rolling my shoulders back and walking out of a 4 ½ HOUR long Catalogs.com strategic planning session. All I can say is WOW! (11:56 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
Friday 10 July 2009
- - 5 Qualifications to look for when interviewing a Headhunter. With today’s lousy economy and thousands of people unemployed, you might ask yourself WHY a company would employ a headhunter. At Catalogs.com, we are facing this exact dilemma regarding a highly skilled computer programmer with a very specific skill set required. All too often, company’s end up hiring who they “thought” would be perfect candidates for a specific job, but as it ends up, the person fails miserably at following through on the tasks assigned and after 1 full week on the job, you realize you hired an incompetent person. (11:07 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
Wednesday 1 July 2009
- - Catalogs.com is looking to hire a full time, in house programmer in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. This is a salaried position. Benefits include: Health, Dental, 401K, and paid vacation and sick days. Local South Florida Residents Only Out of region resumes... (20:06 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
Tuesday 30 June 2009
- - Landed PR feature story in technology – Is Public Relations paying off? So Catalogs.com just secured two major victories in the fight for FREE exposure (and no, I’m not talking about the exposure from a man in a trench coat). (12:11 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
Friday 19 June 2009
- - Highlights from the IRCE Conference. Catalogs.com Founders and executive sales team share our thoughts on the IRCE conference - Attendees more pleasant at the IRCE than other shows, Mobile and social marketing seems to be the new hot topics
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Tuesday 16 June 2009
- - IRCE Conference - Learning How to Survive the Economic Storm. Exciting news! We're here at IRCE the Internet Retailer 2009 Conference & Exhibition in beautiful Boston, MA and are all having a grand old time! Said to be the world's largest e-retailing trade show, the fifth-annual Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition, presented by Internet Retailer magazine is devoted this year to the strategies and tools that e-retailers can use to thrive in a recession that pulls the rest of retailing down. The timely theme - Rising Above—Not Just Surviving—the Economic Storm.
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Sunday 14 June 2009
- - Tomorrow I will be joining three other Catalogs.com'ers who will be attending and exhibiting at the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition, and I personally am really looking forward to joining in on several workshops and discussions. Our whole team is... (21:45 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
Thursday 14 May 2009
- - From Cavemen to brain signals being read onto a computer screen. I met Herschell Gordon Lewis back in 1994, when my husband and I launched a necktie catalog and turned to Herschell for some marketing guidance. Back then Herschell was quite the character and has become the ever-so popular author of 31 books and the quintessential marketing genius of today. (12:00 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
Wednesday 29 April 2009
- - Printed catalogs or online catalogs, take your pick. I read an interesting catalog themed article yesterday from PIWorld.com that reported that: “...the number of print catalogs with online editions continued to grow from 8,675 to 8,894 over the last year, according to the 2009 National Directory of Catalogs..." (12:57 | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments)
Tuesday 14 April 2009
- - USPS Summer Sale - Postage shop 'til you drop. It has recently been announced that the USPS is proposing a Summer Sale for many standard mailers and I think it's definitely about time the US Postal Service recognizes that they need to do something to incentavize catalogers and direct mailers to continue mailing. The constant increases in postage rates for the past several years have made it extremely difficult to reach desired ROI on direct mail pieces.
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Tuesday 24 March 2009
- - The Key to Saving Money - Just Ask. In a blog last week I brought up how I might have missed my calling as a financial adviser. I was giddy from lowering my American Express Credit Card fees and was now on a roll. A savings roll.
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Tuesday 17 March 2009
- - Many Happy Returns on Investments - Why Walk away from an Incredible ROI. I'm angry. One phone call has put me in total bitch mode, so prepare yourselves accordingly.
We just had a cancellation from a shoe company that has been with us for many, many years. This company claims to be cutting back on their advertising budget and complained that their ROI (Return on Investment) was not high enough to stay with the program.
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Friday 13 March 2009
- - How to Hire a Public Relations Firm - Putting all the PR pieces together. At the beginning of the New Year I blogged about our company's goals for 2009 and our search for the perfect PR Firm. Well ladies and gentlemen, I'm proud to report that the ballots are in.
And the winner is…
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Monday 2 March 2009
- - PJs to work, yay or nay. One of my employees came in to work in his pajamas yesterday. In all fairness, he was working on a Sunday, but I couldn't help but giggle at him in the sight of his Jumpin Jammerz pajamas with feet. (09:00 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
Tuesday 3 February 2009
- - Extra Extra Read all about it - Catalogs and newspapers are not dying! I read this brilliant article recently by John R. MacArthur regarding The Catalog Factor, a theory detailing why investors should buy newspaper stocks and disregard all of the menacing rumors predicting the imminent death of newspapers. (12:00 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
Wednesday 28 January 2009
- - Catalog Company looking for some good PR. You might remember a business oriented blog I wrote earlier this month, detailing how our company has made our own list of New Year's Resolutions for our Business. (10:00 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
Tuesday 6 January 2009
- - New Year's Resolutions for a Company - How to improve your business every calendar year. It's 2009 and we're all sharpening our pencils and making out our neverending lists of New Year's Resolutions. Lose 5 pounds, drink more water, give to more charities... It's an endless cycle, but one most of us embrace every year as a chance to better ourselves. (09:40 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
Tuesday 9 December 2008
- - Catalogs.com gets an A+ for customer service. Recently, a newly appointed employee of one of our merchants - The Himalayan Institute received an invoice from Catalogs.com and had no idea who we were.
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Wednesday 3 December 2008
- - Catalog Christmas Shopping, it's not too late! - Shop like it's Cyber Monday every day. Despite the current financial crisis, it is reported that E-commerce is continuing to thrive over holiday mall shopping. A little over $16 billion dollars was spent online annually during the late 90's with the figure climbing to $220 billion in 2006. This year it is estimated that consumers will be doing at least fifty percent of their holiday shopping online. (10:00 | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments)
Thursday 20 November 2008
- - The Customer is always right on the money. I just read an interesting article the other day claiming that Poor Customer Service practices are more of a deterrent for continued business than raised prices. It is customary for most companies to focus mainly on price points, price points, price points when they should be focusing on service, service, service. (09:05 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
Wednesday 15 October 2008
- - Take a stand or a seat for Breast Cancer Awareness. How proud was I to see that several of our merchants feature pink ribbon gifts and items with a portion of proceeds going to raise money for breast cancer research! (09:01 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
Monday 6 October 2008
- - What makes a great catalog cover? I wasn't able to make it to Louisianna due to Rosh Hashanah festivities, but had a chance to view some of the featured catalogs on display and it got me to thinking...what makes a great catalog cover? (09:00 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
Tuesday 16 September 2008
- - Catalogs are Still Primary Medium for Merchants Over the Internet! According to a recent DMA article, Catalogs are still the primary medium for multichannel merchants. This doesn't surprise me one bit. Of course Catalogs are still the primary medium … that is precisely why Catalogs.com is thriving, and Merchants are growing every single month, even in this horrible economy. (14:30 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
Thursday 11 September 2008
- - Philanthropic Business Practices and rules to live by. When making a decision concerning whom to do business with, ask yourself first if this particular person or company supports the same philanthropic charities that you support… or for that matter, if they support philanthropic charities at all. (09:00 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
Monday 8 September 2008
- - Tips For Getting That Job Interview. For all of you job seekers out there, wise up …1. Read the ad and learn how to follow instructions. 2. Provide the employer with ALL of the required and requested information.
3. If the add says local, in-house full time position, don’t bother to email a resume if you live out-of-state UNLESS you clearly mention when you will be living in the same city soon...
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Friday 5 September 2008
- - Keeping calm yet prepared with Hurricane Ike. As business owners, not only must we think of securing our homes, but we have the added stress of securing our businesses as well. The two go hand in hand for without a place to continue conducting business, our personal lives would suffer greatly. (08:47 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
Friday 29 August 2008
- - Hiring and Firing Using MySpace and Facebook. There has recently been a lot of hype in the media today concerning instances where employers reject potential job candidates or fire employees based on information obtained from social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. (09:00 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
Friday 15 August 2008
- - Michael Phelps is Going For Speedo Gold. Whether you're following the Beijing games or not, everyone is talking about the swimming Olympian sensation Michael Phelps. He's going for his 8th gold medal, looking to break Mark Spitz's record from the '72 games, and broke his own record with his first dip in the pool during the 400m individual medley... (09:45 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
Thursday 31 July 2008
- - My Maintenance Not Maintaining - Still no ice ice baby. Within the last 12 months, repairmen have come out to my house not one, not two, but ten freaken times. Yes, in my opinion, that deserves a freaken. Readers, I have no damn ice. (10:50 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
Monday 28 July 2008
- - Flowers and gifts make good business moves. Sometimes you have to go the extra mile past handing someone a business card...Flower future employers or customers with a little extra something that sets you apart from the rest. (09:00 | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments)
Friday 25 July 2008
- - My Biggest Pet Peeves about online ordering- 1. Forcing the consumer to “register” or become a member. 2. Asking for credit card information prior to shipping charges being disclosed. 3. Asking me to remember my password. (08:56 | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments)
Monday 14 July 2008
- - Turning the Pages for Profit. I will be speaking later this week at an education event for all marketers both online and offline sponsored by IPaper USA and the Florida Direct Marketing Association...Just between you and me, I'm excited...and nervous. (17:17 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
Wednesday 9 July 2008
- - Store Closing Frenzy. It’s a bad time for shopping and an even worse time for retailers. Tons of cash-strapped consumers are ditching malls these days, forcing dozens of popular US retailers to close hundreds of stores. (08:30 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
Wednesday 25 June 2008
- - DMA business conference gone bad. Last month, the Catalogs.com team packed up our offices and went Orlando or bust to attend the DMA’s: the Direct Mail Association’s Annual Conference for Catalog & Multichannel Merchants. (11:20 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
Thursday 12 June 2008
- - Phone Etiquette Take Three. I absolutely loathe it when people leave rushed phone messages where you can barely make out the area code to call back, much less the entire phone number. (09:00 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
Monday 10 March 2008
- - How a square watermelon gave me an AHA moment. What sets apart a true entrepreneur and highly successful business woman or man is the following:
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Tuesday 4 March 2008
- - Hospice – is doesn’t mean death is around the corner. Recently, I unfortunately learned a ton about Hospice Care. I never thought that I would need to call them (at least not so soon) but found that after my Dad was hospitalized for a long time, and upon his return home, his primary care physician of 10+ years recommended that we use Hospice. (15:39 | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments)
