Cited: Business Wire

A program called “Marketing Your Business: Five Strategies to Position Your Company in a Challenging Market” featuring Carolyn Sawyer, Founder and Chief Creative Strategist of the Tom Sawyer Company will be live on June 30 at 12 PM (CT), a hosted by The Principal Women in Business Teleclass Series complimentary teleclass.

“Now, more than ever, clients seek results-focused partners and that’s where opportunity emerges,” said Michelle Swanson, assistant director, Advertising, The Principal. “Having started her company from scratch and working with national brands, coupled with leading a successful broadcast career, Carolyn knows the meaning of perseverance especially in a tough market. She’ll inspire our listeners with her story and proven approaches to turn today’s market into opportunity.”

Held on “Teleclass Tuesdays,” the series of four complimentary teleclasses are squarely focused on bringing the best leaders, ideas and tools to women business owners to navigate the recession. This second session in 2009’s program allows the audience unique interaction in a casual format with Sawyer. To take part in the program and become a member, register at www.principal.com/women.

A respected author, Sawyer wrote, “Forget the Glass Slipper, Build Your Own Castle: 10 Traits of a Million Dollar Business.” Sawyer has served as a correspondent for ABC News and as a news anchor for Lifetime Television. She is an active member of the Women’s President’s Organization (WPO,) an association for multi-million dollar business owners, and is a founding member of the Coalition of 100 Black Women-Boston Chapter.

Those looking for invitations or announcements . . . Life has so many special occasions and you make each one truly special. From graduations to first communions, from anniversaries to Baptisms, wedding announcements to birth announcements you can find unique invitations for every occasion you want to celebrate. That includes the most popular in invitations.

While bridal showers are great fun, they also take a lot of time to coordinate. When you order professionally printed bridal shower invitations, you will save time with a quick and easy ordering system. You can save even more time and money when you order your marriage announcements.

For a special occasion like a baby, you want adorable baby shower invitations that truly express how much you care. You will be thrilled at the wide selection of baby shower invitations from which you can choose. Ask for a free proof to ensure it is printed exactly the way you want for your invitations.

Any birthday party is a blast, but those that fall on landmark years are especially fun. Spend your time tending to the details, and let someone create memorable birthday party invitations for your special event. You can even find coordinating party supplies to go with the invitations. Your friends and the birthday boy or girl will be impressed!

The teleclass is provided by the Principal Financial Group. It features nationally recognized business leaders and thinkers from bestselling author and “Today” show financial contributor Jean Chatzky to chocolate visionary and multi-million dollar business owner Katrina Markoff. Class summaries and audio of all past programs are available for download at www.principal.com/women. The program’s moderator is Pamela Mitchell, Founder of The Reinvention Institute and Inc. Women in Business Contributor.

The Principal Financial Group (The Principal) is a leader in offering businesses, individuals and institutional clients a wide range of financial products and services, including retirement and investment services, life and health insurance, and banking through its diverse family of financial services companies. A member of the Fortune 500, the Principal Financial Group has $236.6 billion in assets under management and serves some 18.8 million customers worldwide from offices in Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America and the United States. Principal Financial Group, Inc. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PFG. For more information, visit www.principal.com.

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My Take: I think it is always a good idea to keep learning when you own a business. Programs like this allow business owners to improve themselves, which improves their business. They can even do it from the comfort of their own home.

Many large corporations offer their employees and executives educational opportunities within the company and they even will pay them to attend these opportunities. However, a small business owner may not have the opportunity to take advantage of additional education because he or she is too busy running their business. This type of program gives that small business owner the opportunity to increase their knowledge and improve their business without taking precious time away from that business.

Small business owners need more programs like this, especially if they are free. I believe it would help the economy more if small businesses could grow without additional expense. Sometimes, that additional expense could be a problem for small business owner.

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Other Resources

Simpler Times

In a much simpler time, children grew up in a small towns or neighborhoods. They experienced a childhood lifted straight from the pages of a Norman Rockwell book. They rode bikes to baseball practice, fished in the local river for whatever would bite, and delivered newspapers each afternoon through rain, sleet, or snow.

From the art of Bob Byerley, featuring nostalgic paintings of children building tree forts or soapbox cars, to replica tin signs and wooden airplane propellers, you can bring that same smile to every person who remembers something from their childhood.

Genuine Irish Jewelry

Celtic jewelry is hallmarked by the Assay Office in Dublin Castle. The Dublin Assay Office was established in 1637 to supervise the assaying of all gold and silver throughout the whole kingdom of Ireland. Originally, hallmarks consisted of the goldsmiths’ proper mark, which was the maker’s mark originally used to identify the silversmith or goldsmith responsible for making the article. The fineness mark, the crowned harp, was applied to 22-carat gold and sterling silver, which was silver of a standard of 925 parts of fine silver in each 1000.

In 1638, a date letter system was introduced and used in conjunction with the above marks. This date letter denotes the year in which the piece was made or hallmarked and is changed on January 1 each year. A new mark in the form of Hibernia was introduced on March 25th 1730 to indicate that a duty had been paid on all articles manufactured on or after that date. The Hibernia mark is used on all claddagh jewelry of Irish manufacture hallmarked at the Dublin Assay Office.

Value of Marital Property

Once a couple has made the final decision to divorce, the court or their Pittsburgh family attorney will hire a valuator who will determine the “fair market” value of any business or property they may share. However, separate property that was placed in both names during the marriage may be “transmuted” into marital property. However, a spouse may be able to “trace” separate property from one account to another during the marriage, thereby preserving separate property. By utilizing the date of separation, a court can identify marital assets and give credit the spouse who has contributed non-marital property to the marital estate. A Pittsburgh divorce lawyer can assist his client who also utilizes post-separation income that is used to maintain marital assets get credit.

Had an Accident?

A traffic collision or car accident is when a road vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, or geographical or architectural obstacle. Traffic collisions can result in injury, property damage, and death. Many factors contribute to an accident including driver behavior, speed, driver impairment and even road design. Let us not forget that even a well-designed, well-maintained vehicle with good brakes and tires can still be involved in an accident. Car collisions will usually carry legal consequences in proportion to the severity of the crash. This means that you should contact a Portland OR personal injury attorney if you have been involved in a motor vehicle accident.

Epoxy and Tires

Keep epoxy and your hot car tires do not mix well! Most epoxies react to your hot tires during the curing process. That means that your new garage flooring is going to come up quickly because the heat from your tires make epoxy softens, then this color, bubble, appeal or even stick to your tire. Not only that, but your hot tires are extremely abrasive and wear the high gloss finish off most epoxies that new garage floor in no time at all. In addition, did you know that all solids based epoxies are not UV stable and need a topcoat of urethane based topcoat to prevent it from yellowing from sun exposure?

That would depend on whether you are a collector or not. The answer is no if you are a collector because refinishing it will lower the value. If it is in its original condition, wood propellers may show imperfections that can add character and value to the propeller. It is evidence that that propeller may have been through an air battle. A collector would know that only refinishing that improves the provenance of a propeller is possible. A good example of this is the Bristol propeller. It requires you to cut down the blades to bring it home and is part of its provenance.

To improve the appearance of an old propeller just rub it down with linseed oil and after it dries apply a coat of furniture wax. Do not use water-based cleansers or varnish on it. This will lower its value.

Mounting a propeller is very simple. Simply cut a circle the size of the hub or a little larger and drill holes where the bolt holes are into the wood. Then remove the prop and glue small enough wooden dowels (same size as the hub bolts) into the wood so that they will not be visible when mounted. Once the glue dries, you can easily slip the propeller over the dowels. Make sure the bracket that you attach it to is strong enough to hold a propeller. You can use bolts instead of dowels for a more secure attachment.

Just like old wooden beer signs or lake house signs, you want to avoid moisture and large variations in temperature to avoid damage to the propeller.

Some people think an old wooden propeller would make a wonderful wall clock. Never alter the hub in any way because it detracts from the appearance of the propeller. It also lowers the value!

If you run a small business you know one of the keys to success is how you market yourself.   Are you a professional lawyer, doctor or dentist?  If you are, you probably are registered with one or more professional association’s representing your industry, which speaks to your level of professionalism.

You also very likely have a web site by now and probably even a page on Facebook or one of the many other social Web sites out available, and may even have the budget for some TV or radio advertising.

Each of these forms of marketing are great for spreading the word that you are “open for business.”   But what about advertising your personality?   Research suggests that, when choosing a doctor or dentist, for example, that consumers are more inclined to gravitate toward a professional who speaks to their style and sense of humor.

You can offer to show the public a little bit about how you operate, no pun intended, from the inside out with specialty signs—doctors signs, for example, that hearken back to days of yore, when the black bag and stethoscope were pretty much the tools of the trade.

Perhaps you have a brand new bar opening up and you want to offer a light-hearted form of entertainment, such as pool and or shuffle board games.  Why not evoke the feel of the old west with old wood signs that tell saloon stories in print and offer a glimpse into the past.

Many companies out there are specializing in manufacturing reproductions of historic business signs, welcoming lake house signs, signs for cabin rentals and other places to advertise the warmth of a vacation rental for example, which invites guests in to your establishment—even if it’s a B & B in the middle of a suburb.

These old wooden signs (others are made of tin and metals), can attract customers to your doors while providing a form of entertainment and joy to those out there who may be just as plugged in to every technological gadget on the market as the next guy, but somewhere still find themselves ultimately drawn to nostalgic forms of advertising.