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?

Designing announcement cards can be difficult and require more work than you may think. You also may never realize when an announcement may turn into an invitation. However, you can save time and energy by utilizing one of the many cards that are available that can be used for both an invitation or announcement. You can find them for birthday invitations, wedding announcements and even birth announcements.

There is such a large variety of both invitations and announcements that you can be confused or even lost. There are that many different kinds of cards. You can find some of the most unique sweet 16 invitations to the most tacky marriage announcements.

You may end up deciding to design your own unique announcements or invitations cards. It may even be cheaper for you to do so. It mainly depends on whether you have the time to accomplish it. Whatever your decision, you need to make sure that it reflects your personality. That is what makes announcement cards or even invitations effective.

You will need to decide on the paper either with a design or pattern, will it include a photograph, and the type of information you will be putting on your card. Will your card be a combined announcement/invitation or will you have separate cards for both? Remember you want your card to be both stylish and classy.

Your final decision will be how many you are going to send out. This will depend on what your card is for. Is it an invitation to a shower or an announcement of a wedding? Just remember, if you are announcing your wedding, you may not be sending invitations to the same people that you are informing of the upcoming wedding. You also have to live with the fact that you may insult some people by telling them of the upcoming wedding but not inviting them.

So your little prince or princess is about to turn 1 and you’ve decided to throw a birthday party.   Where to begin?

Check out 1st Wishes.com to get started.  This is a fantastic site offering a comprehensive and fun selection of ideas to help you throw a first birthday party that everyone will enjoy.

The site has links to more than 200 pages devoted to party themes, ranging from animals and insects to princesses and warriors and everything in between.  You can scroll over to “Party Basics” once you’ve established a theme and select matching items to go with your theme: apparel; balloons and decorations; party favors; toys; games; tableware and invitations.

OK: what if you aren’t a fan of themed-parties?  What if your heart says $500 Dora The Explorer backyard extravaganza, but your budget says pizza and a home-made cake. That’s fine.  There are so many ways to get creative, toss together a fun and lively party, and make a lasting first-birthday party memory for you and your family without going into financial overdrive.

Start with the Invitations: You can get really creative by turning your favorite photo of your baby and creating as set of artful and memorable 1st birthday photo invitations.  Most local drug stores, such as Rite Aid and CVS offer quick digital photo printing services.  Cut colorful note cards from heavy card stock, glue the photos on to one side of the card and put the details on the back.

Spice them up with sequins or shells.  Or, instead of a photo, what about making a customized hospital announcements that “recreate” that special day for everyone.  List the details of your child’s birth: time; weight; name given; birth location; maybe even include that first newborn photo.

These adorable little baby announcements as invitations not only communicate the who, what, why and where of your party on one side, but make it possible for you to hand out a beautiful keepsake to invitees who may not have the entire details about the birth of your baby.

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Related Resources

Creating a Memorial Website

One hosted website service gives people everywhere the ability to announce or memorialize special events or occasions in their life or a loved one’s life. How you ask? By putting up a website dedicated to that event or person. It could be a wedding website that not only announces an upcoming wedding but memorializes the event forever. This service allows you to upload unlimited number of photos as well as videos with titles and descriptions. Visitors can even view the photos in a slideshow if that is what you want. You can even use the event feature to set up an unlimited number of events and share information with visitors.

Childcare Expense

These three things in a family’s budget that can be a strain on the family finances are the mortgage/rent, car payment and daycare. A significant percentage of one salary will go to paying for childcare. Childcare costs range from $500-$1200 a month. In a two parent home, most of one paycheck will go towards childcare. In a single-parent home, you really do not have a choice unless you have a family member who will take care of your child. You should choose a daycare center carefully and make sure that the cost is not more than 15-20% of your gross income.

Applying Wall Decals

Applying details to your walls or even vinyl lettering is fairly simple. First you need to choose where you want to place them. Then using a ruler, draw a light line so that the lettering will be placed even on the wall. Before you peel off the back paper, burnish the surface of transfer tape with an old credit card or gift card to ensure that the quote or letter is adhered solidly to the transfer tape. Now carefully peel back the backing paper away from the letter or quote, which should remain on the transfer tape. Not using your drawn line, position the letter or quote correctly onto the surface.