Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Wishes!

I just love the new card layout book, Wishes! Have any of you bought yours yet? The cards are really stinkin' cute! I opened it up and immediately decided to try some circle cards. Easy! These are all made from 1 card layout (Box it Off on page 93). I just traded around different paper combinations and rotated the design (long piece on the top or on the left side?) and voila! Eight very different cards!

So, here is your first artwork challenge for a "virtual" swap:

Create one card from the new book Wishes, using any CTMH inks, papers, and stamps that you would like. Post the card to the blog (or email it to me and I will post it for you) by next Tuesday, May 26th. Include the name of the pattern you used and a suppy list. Don't have the book Wishes yet? No worries! There are 3 free downloadable layouts from the Wishes book on the corporate website! Just go to the corporate website and under "Marketing Your Business" click on "Flyers" and you will see not only patterns that you can copy from Wishes, but from our other idea books as well. This is a great way to hook your customers on using our books. Print them out one of the approved patterns and show they how it works! They will love it.

On your mark, get set....CREATE!

Smiles,
Tracy

Thursday, May 14, 2009

I have a Bachelor's of Close to My Heart Business Degree!

I'm so excited! I finally earned my Bachelor's degree with the Training Academy! Woohoo!! When the program started, I had some computer issues that wouldn't let me access the Training Academy, but now it works and I have my degree!

Now I'm moving on to my Master's Degree! I hope you join me and try out the training academy too! I have a challenge for all of you! Sometime in the next week, I challenge you to take this Training Academy class: "Making Workshops Work for You" (business 201 class). Post a comment on our blog about what your thoughts on the class are by next Wednesday, May 20th and I'll send you a little surprise! :) It's only a 19 minute class...you can do it! If you have already taken the class then either review it, or choose another one you haven't done yet. Come on, take the class and let's chat about it!

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

WOW Workshops On the Go!

Sheila is having fabulous success with the Workshops on the Go program and rotating hostesses, so she graciously wrote up some notes about what is working for her to share with all of us. Workshops on the Go really is a fabulous program that has made my business so much easier so I whole heartedly agree with Sheila on the program. If you haven't given it a try, you NEED to! :) Thank you, thank you Sheila for sharing!

WOTG with Rotating Hostesses
Sheila Cantowine

I am SO excited about the new Workshop on the Go (WOTG) program with rotating hostesses. I was a little skeptical at first but once my customers started seeing the completed layouts, they fell in love with them. Here are all the ways it’s been great for me and my customers.

  • CTMH has the pricing of the kits all figured out for you! With the basic, better, and best kits, my customers know exactly what they need to complete the gorgeous layouts and they pick what fits best for their budget. Some of them even order the tools too! My club sales have increased from $25/person to $45/person and I never have to wait for club members to pick what they want from the Idea Book.
  • Bigger orders mean more hostess rewards and more hostesses. I divide the hostess rewards among multiple people so if I have a $350 order with $60 in hostess rewards then I have 3 hostesses who all receive $20 in FREE product. With the old $25/6 club they used to be the hostess once every 6 months and now they’re the hostess every 2 months!
  • Great techniques in the WOTG. I have been so impressed with all the techniques in the WOTG projects. I have a hard time thinking of new techniques for my experienced scrappers but these projects always have new techniques that my club members just love.
  • Less designing and planning. I used to design and precut all the projects for my club. I save hours of time each month now that they layouts are already designed for me and my ladies cut their own papers. They were a little hesitant at first but now they love it.
  • No commitment. I let my customers come and go with the club and there’s no 6 month commitment. If they skip a month then their name drops to the list but I don’t have to make up the difference myself like I used to. With the economy the way it is, they appreciate being able to skip a month.
  • Flexible number of people. With the traditional $25/6 club, you had to have 6 ladies in the club, no more, no less. With the new club, I can have as many as I want. The new ladies just get added to the bottom of the hostess list and they start rotating upwards when they start placing orders. I have been able to add 1-2 new people each month without having to tell them to wait for a new club to start.
  • Members keep all the scraps. We typically have 6-8 pieces of paper left over as well as lots of embellishments. My customers love being able to take that home with them. It’s such a great value when they have 2-6 completed pages AND leftover papers and embellishments.
  • Fabulous instruction booklet. I love the instruction booklet! Everything is very detailed and easy to follow. I’m more of a visual learner so I usually work off the pictures of the finished pages but some of my ladies find it helpful to read through all the instructions like a recipe. The patterns are so versatile so they love that they can use them again and again with future layouts.
  • They don’t have to attend the club. If they can’t make it that night then you just give them their kit with the complete instructions and they’re all set. You don’t have to make anything for them and this allows you to even have club members who live out of town.
  • Hostess rewards are based on how frequently you attend the club, not on how much you order. I have a few customers who can only afford $15-$20/month so they still get the same rewards as everyone else as long as they’re participating in the club.
  • More completed pages for me! I used to have a hard time keeping up with my own personal scrapbooking and it seemed like I was always behind. With the new WOTG, I complete at least 6 pages every month which adds up to 72 completed pages/year. I’ll be caught up in no time at all!

I just love everything about he new club. There were a lot of drawbacks to the old $25/6 club but I have found very few with the new club. I spend less time as a consultant, offer better projects which my customers love, and my sales have been much higher. It’s a great program for consultants and my customers love it too!