Western Dairyland
Women's Business Center
Newsletter |
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| Your Business News |
December, 2007 |
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Greetings!
This is our first newsletter that we will be sending out monthly with news and updates on what is going on with the Business Center. This newsletter is designed to keep you all informed of events that are taking place in a more efficient manner. It is also here to give you some helpful business tips. If you have any suggestions or comments on our newsletter, please reply to this email.
Western Dairyland's Business Center would like to congratulate Sandy Meinsen of Dessert First on her grand opening in downtown Eau Claire in October, along with Becki Spina with Becki's Mediteranean Salsa who shares a space with Sandy.
Western Dairyland's Business Center would like to thank Donna Murr of LarsonAllen Financial, LLC for presenting on retirement plans for small business owners at our Women's Business Networking Meeting in November. Thanks to everyone who has referred current and future entrepreneurs to our services here at Western Dairyland.
Please enjoy our newsletter and don't miss our upcoming events calendar and our small business links.
Sincerely,
Sara Bates,
Western Dairyland's Business Center
If you have any questions or comments about our newsletter, or if you have any news happening with your own business, please email me at jbdassist@westerndairyland.org. |
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 Women's Business Networking Meetings
On Wednesday January 9th, 2008 Cheri Harrison of Evolve Wellness will come to present "Balancing Your Health and Your Business", an educational and inspirational session on keeping your health a priority in order to succeed in your business. Join us in learning how to start the new year off on the right foot, and to make this your best year yet in your business.
This meeting is FREE for women entrepreneurs, and attendees are encouraged to bring their business cards to pass out and a lunch to eat during the meeting. Check out our training calendar for more details.
All Women's Networking meetings will be held at 418 Wisconsin Street in Eau Claire and are from 11:00-1:00pm, and future meetings will tentatively held on the 2nd wednesday of the month.
Our 5th Annual Women's Business Conference will feature a full day of resources to help you start or grow your business. The event will be held in Eau Claire at the Plaza Hotel and Suites on April 17th 2008. Our keynote speaker will be Peg Leinenkugel of Jacob Leinenkugal Brewing Company.
We are currently seeking Sponsors and Exhibitors for this event. If you are intersted in getting involved, please email Sara at jbdassist@westerndairyland.org. |
| Tax Time is Coming Around the Corner!
Evlyn Carlile, owner of Simple Office Solutions, presents a series of noon hour tax chats to help small businesses get ready for tax season. Male and female business owners are welcome to attend. There will be a short presentation of information on different topics, followed by a question and answer session.
These chats will take place at Western Dairyland's Business Center, 418 Wisconsin Street in Eau Claire. Click here to register online. There will be a small fee of $5.00 per chat session which will include class materials, snacks, and beverages. Please feel free to bring your own lunch to eat. All 5 chat sessions are as follows:
Wednesday, December 5th 2007 - Exploring Recordkeeping Systems
Wednesday, January 16th 2008 - Home Office Deductions
Tuesday, January 29th 2008 - Mileage/Vehicle Expense
Tuesday, February 19th 2008 - Travel, Meals, and Gifts
Tuesday, March 4th 2008 - Assets vs. Expenses
Also, check out our new Tax Center located on our Business Center website. It has a wealth of information to help answer those burning questions about Small Business Taxes. | |
| Upcoming Business Center Events:
Western Dairyland will be hosting the following events in December and January in Eau Claire at 418 Wisconsin Street. Click here to register online.
"7 Steps to Starting a Business" - $25 from 1:00-4:00pm
Dec. 11th - feasibility, market research, financials, etc.
Tax Ready Recordkeeping Noon Chats - $5.00 per chat from 12-1pm
Jan. 16th - "Home Office Deductions"
Jan. 29th - "Mileage/Vehicle Expenses"
Women's Business Networking Meeting - FREE 11:00-1:00pm
Jan. 9th - Cheri Harrison "Balancing Your Health and Your Business" |
| WisconsinCommonMarket.com News and Tips:
Photos that Sell, but Don't Cost a Fortune! You don't need a professional photographer to take enticing digital snapshots of your products. Instead, consider a few practical and inexpensive tips the next time you pick up your camera.
- Staging: Take a few moments to create an appropriate back drop for the product you are photographing. Although you may run your business out of your home, no one wants to see a counter full of dirty dishes in the background! Draping a white (or other contrasting color) sheet over the back of a chair can create a clean, inexpensive, studio-quality back drop that will draw focus to the product itself.
- Lighting: Don't rely solely on the flash of your camera to adequately and appropriately light your shot. This is particularly important with shiny objects that are prone to emit glare. Instead, pick a spot with plenty of natural, ambient light. Note any shadowing that may be entering and consider either blocking it or combating it with common household lamps.
- Closing In: With each product listing on WisconsinCommonMarket.com, you may load up to three photos. Consider loading one or two shots that emphasize specific details of the product. Things you may take for granted may be of particular interest to an online shopper who can not physically handle the product. For example, if you make a point of using high quality clasps on your hand-made necklaces - snap a photo specifically of the clasp to illustrate this point.
- Editing: Snapping the perfect photo is only half the battle. Before uploading a product photo to your web page, utilize a photo editing software tool. Your camera and/or your computer may have come with editing software. Otherwise, consider downloading Picasa, a free photo editing tool from Google at picasa.google.com.
- Cropping: With any editing software, you will want to first crop your photo to eliminate as much unnecessary background as possible. This will customers to see more detail of the product, particularly after the photo has been re-sized for the web.
- Re-Sizing: Most importantly, make sure you use photo editing software to re-size each photo you upload to your web page. A typical 2.5mb photo will take six minutes and 14 seconds to download on a dial-up connection. That's about six minutes too long. Potential customers will most likely surf to another site rather than wait for your photos to download. Website photos should be no more than 400x600 pixels, or 100kb - the equivalent of a 14 second download on dial-up.
Track Your Online Orders directly from your WCM Control Panel! Learn how by reading the PayPalŪ Integration Instructions with Wisconsin Common Market: http://www.wisconsincommonmarket.com/Paypal.pdf
Technical Writing Assistance Available: If you would like help with improving the text of your WCM web page, please contact Karman Briggs at kbriggs@wisconsincommonmarket.com. A new UWEC technical writing intern will be starting in January specifically to assist WCM vendors with better search engine placement that will hopefully result in more sales! Because the intern's time is limited, preference will be given to vendors who have not yet been assisted by previous technical writing interns.
Please contact Karman Briggs, e-Commerce Site Manager, at kbriggs@wisconsincommonmarket.com with questions, comments or suggestions for future tips and topics. |
| Featured Business: Panache Jewelry
Nancy Forman is the owner of Panach Jewelry located in Hixton Wisconsin. She made the leap from selling to friends and family to marketing her jewelry online in March 2004. In addition to her online sales, she now sells her jewelry line at seven stores in Wisconsin. Forman attributes her success largely to her involvement with WisconsinCommonMarket and Western Dairyland's Business Center.
"I design my jewelry by selecting genuine semi-precious gemstones. I choose quality sterling and Bali silver, solid brass, Swarovski crystals and faceted Czech glass beads to accent the stones. Each strand is made with stainless steel wire and sterling silver crimps and toggles. The earrings are made with sterling silver findings. Every item is individual and unique due to the materials' natural variances. I love beaded jewelry and working with gemstones. I have met many wonderful people and am really enjoying the jewelry business."
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| Other Helpful Small Business Links
Here are some very helpful business links you may want to check out.
- Wisconsin Entrepreneurs' Network (WEN) - WEN's mission is to create seamless access to entrepreneurial resources and expertise from across Wisconsin to both spawn new ventures and help grow existing businesses. Check out the events calendar for more trainings throughout Wisconsin.
- Small Business Administration (SBA) - The SBA is a great resource with a wealth of information for Small Businesses including; Small Business Planner, Events Calendar, Local Resources, Online Trainings, and other Tools to help you and your business succeed.
- Small Business Development Center (SBDC) - SBDC offers seminars and counseling services, in collaboration with the UW system, for small business owners, managers and people thinking about starting a business.
- SCORE - Counselors to America's Small Business (SCORE) provides free business counseling by successful business executives and owners who want to help other entrepreneurs succeed.
- Eau Claire Area Economic Development Center (ECA-EDC) - This website has excellent market statistics for the Eau Claire area. The EDC also has an Idea Pathway to help you bring your idea into reality. Check out their Idea Challenge and the Create Your Own Business Contest.
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