Personal Case Study Wanted

I'm looking for women aged 35+ who have started their own food production business - i.e. women who grow or make their own food products - it could be an organic veg company, make their own cakes, jams, to sell.



The key is that this has to be a relatively new career for them and that they were doing something different before.



Please respond below with the following details:



Why did you start the business?



Why did you choose this product?



What's been your most challenging issue?



What do you love the most?



How do you promote and advertise?



Remember to add your contact details and website, so we can link back to you



Tina

Please share your viewsTina Jesson - The Visibility Creator http://www.whatthemediawants.com/ for free promotion of your businesshttp://www.tianjesson.com/

Home Office Energy & Cost Saving Ideas

With more and more people working from their home office, I am looking at ways to keep costs to a minimum. This includes the best computers, laptops, printers, scanners, routers and office consumables. I am interested in energy saving ideas as well.


Please share your views

Tina Jesson - The Visibility Creator http://www.whatthemediawants.com/ for free promotion of your business
http://www.tianjesson.com/

Part of Indiana Green Pages, http://www.myhomegreenpages.com/ a consumer web site the most comprehensive source of information and customer reviews of local green products and services. Green pages directory is a statewide community effort to help Hoosiers products and services that are health conscious, socially responsible and safe for the environment.

Small Business owners and 'selling' value of 'green'

Business owners of construction and construction-related industry contractors are convincing customers that you can go green while not getting into the red.

How are you marketing 'green' to customers?

As solar panel installations, energy-efficient appliances/renovations, etc., cost money, how do you quantifiably justify and market jobs so customers can see the benefits of savings over time? What cost concerns from customers which you need to overcome to make the sale?
Do you only sell in if the return on investment (ROI) is less than 2 years and what kind of energy saving percentage can you expect to achieve?

Are you finding ‘selling green’ more difficult in this market or are more people green aware and want to consider a greener build?

Please share your views


Tina Jesson - The Visibility Creator
http://www.whatthemediawants.com/ for free promotion of your business
http://www.tianjesson.com/

Part of Indiana Green Pages, http://www.myhomegreenpages.com/ a consumer web site the most comprehensive source of information and customer reviews of local green products and services. Green pages directory is a statewide community effort to help Hoosiers products and services that are health conscious, socially responsible and safe for the environment.

Can this Entrepreneur save the postal service?

http://www.ukpostbox.com

A 30% sell-off. Huge pension deficits. The use of email rising to unimaginable levels. All signs point to a faltering Royal Mail, and a troubled postal service.

However, a light at the end of the tunnel has emerged, in the form of a revolutionary new concept from Canadian-born entrepreneur, Allan Chester, who lives and works in the United Kingdom. Frustrated by his inability to control his post whilst away, Allan started UKPostBox.com, for UK residents who needed a way of sending and receiving their mail without actually being in the country. His members may be travelling across all four corners of the earth, but Allan believes his site provides a safe and affordable means of controlling their post.

To some, paper mail is going the way of the dinosaur – but to Allan, it is very much alive. “There will always be a need,” Allan said. “I don’t think that we will ever see a time when we rely completely on email. What about documents that need to be sent via recorded/signed for items, business, financial and legal papers? I believe that my company's services will change the way we all view and respond to our postal mail, alongside our email." Allan finds that people who sign up for a UKPostBox account are able to manage their mail easily and effectively. By harnessing the availability of the Internet, members can view all of their incoming post online, from their homes, offices, cafes and even mobile phones. If desired, their UKPostBox account also allows the customer to read, recycle, shred or respond to the letter from anywhere in the world. Allan said: “This is a postal service that allows people to travel and move freely around the globe, without restriction. It’s completely secure and I know that it will save traditional post from becoming extinct. After all, I have seen the way that this concept has completely changed the way my customers live, do business and keep in touch with their families.” For more information about setting up a UKPostBox account, or the other services the company offers, visit http://www.ukpostbox.com


ENDS________________________________________________________________ Notes for Editors: 1. Allan Chester is Canadian-born, but lives and works in the United Kingdom. He holds dual nationality. 2. UKPoxBox.com is an exclusive service in the UK. 3. The company is already well established and will soon me moving to new, bigger premises. 4. The company is growing rapidly, and new staff will soon be recruited. All press queries should be directed toward: UK Postbox Limited PO Box 7169Poole BH15 4EL Tel: (+44) 0845 474 0817

Booming in a Recession?

The technology and communications revolution!

So what types of businesses are booming in a recession and where are companies focusing their resources?

Certainly in the UK the Government is ploughing millions of pounds in to training to save the economy and Obama’s $825 billion plan to jump-start the economy and create or save up to 4 million jobs with an additional $102 billion going to help victims of the recession with unemployment insurance, health care, food stamps and job training. (USA Today 15/1/09)

Tina's Training

This backs up my view that with output falling and some firms having to lay-off or go to the shorter working week, companies and individuals will need to spend their free time on education and training so they can keep their heads above water let alone get ahead.

This is good news for training and education businesses. I know of a number of trainers and training companies who, funded through government indicatives, are seeing an increase in business as they attempt to train people back in to jobs.

Even small businesses, entrepreneurial business and consultants are spending their free time in getting as much education as they can while times are tough. It’s the only real way to stand any chance of getting ahead. Everyone seems to be looking for the ‘magic bullet’ that will win the next order and as investment in your own learning is just that – an investment – those who do have a little savings are spending it in this way in the hope it will make them more appealing to companies and clients alike.

As a result this recession will fuel a massive leap forward ‘tomorrows technology’ and in the way people communicate and use technology. More and more people are becoming expert in blogging, social media marketing and use of tools such as YouTube and Second Life for training, marketing and consultancy based businesses.

With small entrepreneurial businesses needing to keep overheads to a minimum, many will choose to work from home and have virtual offices on the web instead of actual premise. I expect that Second Life will be used in a much more business savvy way. The creation of virtual training rooms will be available for staff in large companies to work on at slow times, to suit their companies or to take training in their spare time from the benefit of their own homes.

This will be a technology and communications revolution.

But face to face will still have its place and I predict an increase in local networking groups seeing a rise in membership. Small business owners will come together and work the leads and connections that are available. I have joined 2 new groups in one week alone, and the turn out for these groups is much higher than in previous years. Where in the past, you might become TOO busy to attend, now, with more time being available, people are getting out and making those contacts and forming longstanding relationships with a view to gaining more business. Business is becoming harder to come by and takes more work to find it, targeting and win it.

Another strategy being adopted by many consultants is, ‘let me do the work and pay me AFTER I get you the results’. That takes away the cash flow problem that might be preventing companies from doing things in a new way and only when new business comes in, does the company then pay the consultant for their input. I can see this approach being taken on by many entrepreneurial businesses who work from home and have the advantage of no/low overheads which makes it an option they are able to offer.

Be interesting to get your thoughts on this. Are you an entrepreneurial business or a consultancy that is having to find new ways of doing things. Are you a company who is working with trainers and consultants to get the edge? Please give your views below

Tina Jesson - The Visibility Creator
Author, business growth & markting consultant, trainer and speaker. www.tinajesson.com

Starbucks recycle ’shame’


Did you know that Starbucks don’t actually recycle!

Well not as much as you would think and you’ve just got to hear their reasons. Talk about Starbucks passing the buck.



Just think of all those hundreds of milk containers alone from each store which doesn’t recycle, pilling in to land fill and with over 4500 coffeehouses in 47 countries, that’s an enormous amount of land fill. It wouldn’t take long to fill the Grand Canyon!!

A friend of mine works in one Starbucks store. He felt so strongly about the sheer volume of waste NOT being recycled, that he asked the manager if he could take it home to recycle himself.

Now here’s the interesting part. They said no! because of various legal liability etc but because the state doesn’t provide a commercial recycling service, the company says it would be too expensive for them to do it and they actually prevented him from it himself.

In a recent press release on their recycling policy (September 18, 2007) they say…
“Starbucks and RecyclingStarbucks ability to recycle customer and store waste, including cardboard, paper, milk jugs, and organic waste, is dependent on the availability of commercial recycling services where our stores are located. Our policy for Starbucks company-operated stores is that where recycling services are available, stores are expected to recycle. In fact, at the end of fiscal 2006, 79 percent of our U.S. and Canada company-operated stores where Starbucks controls waste and recycling had recycling programs in place, a slight increase over the previous year.

Unfortunately, many local communities that offer comprehensive residential recycling may provide minimal or no commercial recycling, which limits our ability to provide recycling within our stores. In those cases, we encourage our customers to consider taking recyclable items such as glass and plastic bottles with them to recycle outside the store. “

You would have expected that a company the size of Starbucks would actually be able to put enough pressure on local state recycling services to provide the service rather than use it as ‘a get out’ for them ‘not to recycle’. Which brings me back to my friend, who works for in a store where commercial recycling doesn’t exist. If this is Starbucks position, to “encourage our customers to consider taking recyclable items such as glass and plastic bottles with them to recycle outside the store”, why was my friend expressly told he couldn’t do that.

Their mission statement declares…“Our NeighborhoodEvery store is part of a community, and we take our responsibility to be good neighbors seriously. We want to be invited in wherever we do business. We can be a force for positive action— bringing together our partners, customers, and the community to contribute every day. Now we see that our responsibility—and our potential for good—is even larger. The world is looking to Starbucks to set the new standard, yet again. We will lead.”

Come on Starbucks, stop passing the buck. You can lead the way in recycling EVERYTHING!Will they indeed lead the ‘green’ revolution and at least re-cycle within each store? Or will it take the people to rise up and demand it.

And come on local commercial recycling services, aren’t you missing a massive opportunity for your businesses! Don’t you think that if you could win Starbucks business you would win the business of eveyother fast food place too!

I’m sure each State in the USA could put this higher on their priority lists too. I’m convinced there would be more jobs as a result, less waste in land fill and more social responsibility for us all.

If you represent Starbucks, a local State government or commercial waste disposal company, or if you are passionate about our planet and recycling in general, I’d love to hear your views. Time to speak out. Time to make a change.

Tina Jesson - The Visibility Creator
Author, business growth & marketing consultant, trainer and speaker. www.tinajesson.com

Husbands Helping Hands

Is your husband a domestic god?! Or are YOU a domestic god! UK daily newspaper is looking for an article in which we take a look at the fact that more men are becoming involved in domestic chores and childcare at home, either because they’re now working more at home or are looking for work as a result of the credit crunch. This will be very light hearted and fun. US newspapers would possibly pick this up too.

“My husband has always been very good around the home, helping in collecting the children from school and doing the weekly shop. He’s very good at the shopping because unlike me, he ONLY buys what’s on the list and when we are watching the expenses, he gets sent out.
He also has ‘his only’ chores like taking out the rubbish/trash, which is great WHEN he remembers.”

Well guys, are you available to more help around the home or are you having to stay at the office longer and work harder because of the recession.

Your case studies are welcome.

Tina Jesson - The Visibility Creator
www.tinajesson.com

The Recession Is Dead?

An international magazine celebrating the intersection of business and innovation, seeks to change the current dour economic narrative.

Do you agree that the press ALWAYS makes things ‘all doom and gloom?”

Like mushrooms in the dark, innovation tends to sprout during recessions.

We’re seeing it all around us - from the labs brewing diesel from algae, to the guys in the garage building new breeds of tidal turbines and more efficient combustion engines, to the woman in California making sex space suits (oh, and a new type of rocket technology).

History’s repeating itself. Innovation is brimming. So we’d like to skip the moping around part and move right on to kick-ass enterprising.

President Obama noted in his inaugural address that our products and services are needed as much today as they were last week, last month and last year, and that our freedom and prosperity rely on the risk-takers, the doers and the makers of things. Why, then, are we gazing at our collective navels?

Interested in interviewing economists and business leaders for a story on economic optimism. Want to hear some hope. Want reaffirmation in our belief in compassionate capitalism.

Sir Richard Branson has said the recession will provide “massive” opportunities for entrepreneurs.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/davos/7860333.stm

Many are now seeing setting up in business as an alternative to trying to get hired. I certainly think there is a great opportunity for training and consultancy firms. It’s also a good time to buy property and any asset based company right now if you have cash in the bank.
What do you think?

Tina Jesson – The Visibility Creator www.tinajesson.com

speaker, trainer and consultancy for marketing yourself, your services and your company in a difficult market

What The Media Wants

Tina Jesson - The Visibility Creator

I have been creating visibility for businesses and working the press for publicizing my own expertise and my own businesses for over 8 years. I have achieved a massive $1Million worth of press coverage based on column inches and air time that I might have otherwise had to pay for in advertising. I have a policy of NEVER paying for advertising. Not when you know ‘What the Media Wants!’. In this ‘What the Media Wants’ section, you too can benefit, for your own self promotion and that of your business.

I admit it - I am a PR tart! I will do almost anything to get PR for my companies. It’s fun and FREE – but it does take a little time, writing and finding an interesting way to put your message and story across.

Don’t beleave me? Well after being featured on UK TV numerous times, twice on BB1 including Live TV, been an expert of Tonight with Trevor McDonald (the UK equivalent in prestige to Oprah or Larry King) featured in the Wall Street Journal – the European edition (I didn’t even knew there was an European edition, but there I was being quoted on the front page of their property section.) Featured in most of the UK Lifestyle magazines and been on front pages of property sections of the daily Telegraph, Observer and Sunday Times. I’ve even appeared in my underwear for SHE magazine. Now that’s commitment to the cause. How far would you go in getting free PR for you and your business?

I speak to start-up businesses and small companies on ‘How to get a $1million worth of PR with no money down’ and share my personal success ideas on how I achieved that. All backed up with case studies and no absolutely no theory guaranteed.

In the best selling amazon book Teach Yourself How To Get On A TV Show
by Katherine Lapworth, I go in to some detail of how I have been actively sort out as an expert.

What I have learned is PR really does sporn more PR. How did the author find me in the first place?

I have created ‘What the Media Wants!’ as a collection of articles especially written and aimed at the subject matter which the press is actively looking for.

How it works

In this BLOG you will be invited to comment on articles which journalists are actively seeking from both the USA and UK.

By contributing your thoughts, case studies and ideas, and leaving details of who you are and the company/business you represent, the press is more likely to a) pick the article as it is more rounded and contains more views that the view of a single author and b) you and your business gets picked up and promoted too. The article links then get sent out to my freelance friends and journalist contacts. It’s that easy.

Please come back regularly and feel free to contribute. Even if you don’t agree with my ramblings, that’s great, because the press really want to know – it’s ‘What the Media Wants!’

Tina Jesson - The Visibility Creator
Author, business growth expert, consultant, trainer and speaker. www.tinajesson.com

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