Wealth Tip: Customer Service
Posted by Jana | Filed under Healthy, Wealthy & Wise Tips
Ah, it’s been such a long time since I’ve been in front of my computer for more that 3 minutes. I wish I could tell you I’ve been on some exotic vacation, but no, I’ve been painting and prepping a house for new renters to move in. After 50 hours of unexpected work, it’s done and I’m back.
Recently I was reminded of why customer service is so important. About a month ago we ordered our favorite protein powder from All the Whey. I’ve been purchasing this product for years and never had a problem. But this time something went wrong. The order was placed and usually arrives in 2 weeks. After that time frame both my husband and I contacted the company leaving phone messages and emails. No response. On their website was posted a note that due to the East coast storms orders had fallen behind. We were patient, thinking it should arrive anytime. Another week passed, and another, still no word on the shipment. Finally after more emails and phone messages – of which none of these were ever returned, a month later the product was shipped.
Whether you’re running a business or working for someone else, we all have customers we serve. There are external customers who purchase your goods or services, and internal customers such as other employees or people from other departments. No matter who you’re serving, people do business with people they like.
Good customer services makes or breaks a business. If people don’t like doing business with you, they won’t! Customer service sets businesses apart. Here’s what you can do to improve your customer service:
How can you serve your customers better?
Make a list of your external and internal customers, evaluating how you can work better for them.
What kinds of customer service does your competition have?
Do your homework and learn what others are doing so you can set yourself apart.
Do you pass off customers because it’s not your job?
Many people simply ignore requests because it’s a hassle. If someone asks you a question or needs help follow through until you find the answer or the right people to talk with, even if it isn’t your job or department. You’re building relationships that may help you in the future or perhaps you learn more about the business as a result.
What do your customers want or value?
Communication is one of the most important aspects of customer service. Talk with your customers! Find out what they want or areas you can improve. Be open to suggestions and if it makes sense implement them. If a product is delayed, let the customer know. If there is a communication gap in the office, figure out a way to resolve it. Everyone appreciates communication instead of making assumptions about what they think is going on.
Do you respond to your customers or ignore them?
If you’re not a people person, hire someone who will do that for you.
People are more cautious where they spend their dollars these days. If you want to increase business, set yourself apart by creating great customer service. Improving customer service reaps monetary rewards and customer loyalty.
Your customers are you lifeline. Make them feel important by providing great customer service!
Health Tip: Dandelion Tea
Posted by Jana | Filed under Healthy, Wealthy & Wise Tips
For the past two summers we have diligently worked to eradicate all dandelions from our yard. It turns out these tenacious weed have some wonderful health benefits.
Over the past couple of months I have had two friends who recommended dandelion tea. Both mentioned the healing benefits and the fact that it tastes like coffee. I really didn’t believe it, so I had to buy some just to try it. And guess what, they’re right. I’m not a big coffee drinker because I have an adverse reaction to caffeine, but from time to time I do enjoy a latte. However, my husband who drinks coffee daily tried the DandyBlend and decided to make the switch as a coffee substitute. He liked it so much he immediately ordered a 2 pound package.
We purchased the DandyBlend from Better Than Greens. In their catalogue they mention the benefits of the DandyBlend, which contains roasted barley, roasted rye, roasted chicory root, roasted dandelion root and roasted beetroot. They mention that dandelions are an excellent blood purifier and liver detoxifier. “Dandelion is one of the most complete plant foods on earth,” says prominent herbalist, Gregory Tilford. The DandyBlend contains over 50 trace minerals, plus vitamins, macrominerals, and other health promoting substances.
Better Than Greens owners Al and Tammy also talk about how the dandelion tea potentially helps people with:
Celiac & Gluten Intolerance
Asthma
Macrobiotic Dieters
Gastroesophogeal Reflux
Low Carb Dieters
Diabetes
PMS Suffers
High Blood Pressure
May Lower Cholesterol
Liver/Gallbladder
Heart Disease
Cancer
And other health concerns
If I hadn’t tried it I wouldn’t have believed it: a coffee tasting tea with wonderful healing benefits! The facts that it purifies the blood and detoxifies the liver are huge benefits. With all the toxins we are exposed to we need as much help as we can get. The liver is the organ in the body where we store anger and frustration. With heightened levels of stress and frustration, everyone would benefit from liver detoxification. What a great way to get rid of these toxic emotions.
I now have a different perspective about dandelions. I’m not quite sure how I’ll handle them in my yard after learning about their wonderful healing benefits.
Wealth Tip: FREE Marketing!
Posted by Jana | Filed under Healthy, Wealthy & Wise Tips
Marketing, marketing, marketing! Every business needs it. With the internet being such a big part of everyone’s life, it’s easier than ever to get your message and product out there.
So many of the marketing tools we use today are available for FREE! You’ve got to admit, you can’t beat the price. Yes, you could spend thousands of dollars getting your message heard. But is it really worth it? Perhaps you believe if you spend more you’ll get more customers/clients. Spending more money doesn’t guarantee your success. The idea is to get yourself out there, sell some stuff, and get some referrals, and sell some more stuff.
Jason, my husband, and I have discovered so many ways to get our stuff, both products and services, out there. For example, start getting your information and expertise out there with a blog. Sure you can go the traditional route; buy a domain name, pay someone to create it, and pay someone to host it. But both Jason and I created FREE blog sites at WordPress.com.
After recently attending a writer conference, Jason discovered everything he’s currently doing to market his novels is more than most writers have even thought about. Several people he spoke with at the conference told him that he provided more marketing tips than the “experts” at the conference did. As a result, he is writing an ebook called How to Make, Market, and Sell Your Ebook – All for Free. You can check out his new FREE blog at ebookSuccess4free.wordpress.com
We all have information or a story within us. The traditional means of getting your stuff out there is changing. Writing your story and marketing it as an ebook is an inexpensive option and you start making money immediately! As a business coach I’m always looking for ideas to help my clients expand their business and presence. Since Jason began this project I’ve been following his advice. I’ve created a new blog called Wealth and Health Goddess. There will be some cross over with my New Moon blog, but I wanted to create something new, simple, and free.
With the economy changing, how can you market and sell your services or products over the internet? It’s so cool to have so many free marketing tools available! Plus it’s easy to do! You can have a free blog or website up in an hour or two. Jason’s new ebook How to Make, Market, and Sell Your Ebook – All for Free will be available soon. It is packed with information to build your web presence and your pocket book. Even if you never formalize your expertise into an ebook, which you need to do! (Oh, did I say that outloud?), his book is full of information about FREE internet marketing ideas.
Health Tip: Water Wellness
Posted by Jana | Filed under Healthy, Wealthy & Wise Tips
Did you know our bodies are on average 70% water? What you drink each day is vital to your body functioning well. Here are a few functions our body uses water for:
Water forms the fluids that surround the joints.
It is the base of saliva.
It regulates the body temperature by heating and cooling through perspiration.
It is a detox agent, helping move food through the intestinal tract.
It regulates metabolism.
It is necessary to brain function.
It helps with weight loss.
Since water is such a big component of our physical body, the quantity and quality of water are important. To determine your daily water consumption needs, take your body weight and divide by two. This is the recommended number of ounces you need to consume daily.
The quality of water depends on where you live. The tap water in most places is undrinkable. Pollutants have even been discovered in lakes, springs, and glaciers; areas considered to be pure and uncontaminated, yet, the proof is in the results from testing. Since most people don’t have the ability to test everything in their water there are a couple of simple alternatives to make sure the water you put in your body is as pure as possible. First, you can purchase bottled water, but there are a couple of downfalls to bottled water. The toxins emitted by the plastic bottles will contaminate the water inside, and secondly, some bottled water isn’t as pure as you might think.
The second way to purify your water is to purchase a water filter system that either attaches to your faucet or a pitcher to have on your counter. The purifiers are very efficient and easy to use. There are reverse osmosis filtration systems that can remove 90-99% of all contaminates.
For many people drinking 60-100 ounces of water a day may be difficult or, let’s face it, boring compared to the empty calories of soda and vitamin water. But, there are a few options that count towards your daily water intake, such as adding herbal tea (non-caffienated) to your water. Also, soup broths count as part of your daily water consumption. So add some chicken or veggie soup to your day.
One of the greatest gifts you can give yourself is drinking the necessary amounts of water your body needs. You’ll be rewarded with a body that functions more efficiently!
Wise Tip: Break Out of the Cocoon
Posted by Jana | Filed under Healthy, Wealthy & Wise Tips
“Emerge from the cocoon of guilt, shame, anger, and fear and allow it to fall away, so that you can identify with your spiritual self, so that you can finally stand in the light of love and merge with it.” –Kerry Dennis from her book “In Less Than A Second”
Wealth Tip: Know Your Cash Flow
Posted by Jana | Filed under Healthy, Wealthy & Wise Tips
Wealth tip: Know your cash flow! Wealthy people are very aware of all aspects of their money. They spend with awareness.
1) Look at your spending habits for a 3 to 6 month period. Categorize your spending by living expenses, utilities, insurance, car expense, car loans, credit card payments (break down by each credit card), school, insurance expenses, clothing, kids expenses, entertainment, food, child care, and anything else you want to summarize it into.
Get the information from your bank and credit card statements, and any other sources. If you pay for car insurance bi-annually, make sure you include the pro rata portion for each month so you see the full effect of your cash flow. Create a spreadsheet showing having the months as the columns and the rows be the categories. This way you can see the fluctuation in cash flow for the specific categories.
2) Understanding where your money goes, helps you begin to make more conscious choices about spending, saving, paying off debt, and investing it. Are you spending from an emotional perspective to make yourself feel better about yourself or your life? Do you have thoughts such as, “I had a bad day so I’m going to buy “this” so I feel better.”
3) Take the emotion out of your spending. Once the emotion is gone, you can freely spend based upon your budget. If you have a budget, then stop feeling guilty or ashamed for spending money – especially on yourself! If it’s in the budget then spend it.
4) Develop a budget. I know for many people the word budget is similar to diet. People often see a budget as being “restrictive.” But actually a budget gives you the freedom to spend. When I worked as a Budget Analyst I knew exactly where every penny was going, so when someone came to me for a request for money, it was in the budget and the request was granted. It took any emotion out of the equation. For example, if you have a budget of $300 a month for clothes and you used to feel guilty for buying something for yourself, now you can buy with confidence because you’ve given yourself permission to spend a certain amount of money for yourself.
5) Find areas of your spending where you can make changes. When you understand where your money is going, you can consciously decide how to change your habits. Perhaps you go out to coffee, snacks, or meals every day. Can you bring something to the office a couple of days a week instead of going out? Where can you cut back your spending so you can pay off debt and invest, so you’re making your money work for you!
6) Pay off debt! Use the extra money you’ve trimmed from your spending to pay off debt. (More tips about paying off debt in future posts)
7) Invest. Wealthy people make money work for them instead of them working for money. (More tips about investing in future posts)
Money is a very emotional issue for many people. Until people harness their emotions related to it, it is difficult to attract more of it to them. Knowing your cash flow is a start in understanding how your money is being spent. Then shift your spending habits so your consciously spending instead of emotionally spending. Through this process you can learn to manage money instead of chasing it. You can learn how to learn to employ money instead of you working for it. And that’s what wealthy people do, they learn to make money work for them by generating passive income streams.
Health Tip
Posted by Jana | Filed under Healthy, Wealthy & Wise Tips
Health Tip: Eat at least 10 grams of protein within the first hour of waking up.
Why? Carbs and protein work differently in the body. Carbs are like kindling when you start a fire – they burn off quickly; proteins burn more slowly like hardwood. Our body needs fuel to work. When we deprive it of necessary fuels it creates other sources of energy. If you skip breakfast your body creates a substance called cortisol. This provides fuel to the body until it receives food. Cortisol tells the body to “protect itself” by storing belly fat since food isn’t available. Also, the cortisol blast in the morning eventually burns off and by early afternoon people feel sluggish and tired.
Each morning I have vanilla protein powder with a cup of orange juice. As a fitness professional I’ve tried many different types of protein powders and the two I like most are EAS Myoplex and Opti-Blend. Both products have a low fat content and are high protein (around 22 grams/scoop).
Do you want to feel better? Then feed your body the right way instead of depriving it of the fuel it needs. Would your car run if you didn’t give it fuel? Do you expect your body to perform when it isn’t given the right stuff? Our bodies are amazing! They create fuel when nothing is provided. For the next 21 days eat at least 10 grams of protein in the morning and see what a difference it makes.
To prepare for the manifesting, write down a list of goals or intentions you want to attract or issues you want to release during the lunar cycle. After the cycle is over, review your old list crossing off goals achieved and file it, then begin a new list for the new cycle. To maintain balance in your life, look at goals on several different levels including financial, spiritual, mental, emotional, and physically.