“Part 2- Organizing Your Embroidery Business – Receiving Area – Receiving The Orders”

In part 2 of this series on Organizing Your Business I am going to start talking specifically about the individual work areas or work stations within your embroidery shop. In this article I am going to start with the first area in your business after the order has taken. That area is Receiving.

In part 1 of this Organizing Your Business series, I showed you a floor plan that is below on this page.  This is a small shop with 2 embroidery machines and the square footage for this shop is about 1,000 square feet.  I drew up this basic plan, but it is not drawn perfectly to scale.  This plan was to show how you can lay out your shop for a good work flow and not specifically for an exact floor plan.

This is a basic floor plan that I had when I had a 6 head machine and a 2 single head machines. The single head machines were sitting next to each other and in the floor plan it is listed as one machine.  At the time I had 5 employees, 2 machine operators, 1 hooper, 1 person finishing, and 1 person doing shipping & receiving.

It does not matter how large or how small your shop is, what matters is how you have it laid out and how many steps you are saving going from one area to another.  Each one of your areas or work stations need to be laid out in such a manner that it is physically easy for the person working in that area and efficient for the work flow.

One of the main concerns for employees is the table height that they are working at.  It must be the right height for the person so that they do not have back aches and are not wasting time with the movements that are required for them to take as they are performing their tasks.

Received Orders Ready for Processing

Whether you have a large shop or a 1 person at home embroidery business, you must follow the same type of a system in order to be efficient in your work flow. The first process that occurs after the order is taken is the Receiving of the order.

Your Receiving area needs to consist of a large table preferably with a back (like a short wall) built on it so that you have a place to hang your orders that are not complete in one form or another.  The tools that you need for this area are a Copier or Computer and Printer and Plastic Job Folders for your orders.  If you do not have a wall that you can hang the orders on, you can file them in a file box under your table.

As soon as the Order Processing is completed you are ready to Log in the Order. This is the first step in Receiving.  You can Log the order in on the computer and then print out a copy daily and place it in a 3 ring binder.  This binder will be stored on the Receiving desk. If you do not choose to Log in on the computer, you can create your Log in Form, print out the blank forms and fill them in as the orders come in.  If you are an embroidery shop where you have someone that receives the orders specifically, you can have them fill in the form as they receive the orders and at the end of the day, it can be input into the computer. This is the process for many small to medium sized shops.  The Log in form should include the following information:

• Date (the order came in)
• Job Number
• Customers Name
• Job Name
• Item Description
• Quantity of Pieces in Order
• Process (embroidery, screen printing, twill, heatpress)
• Date Due
• Date Goods Arrived from Distributor
• Date Shipped

The work order may come in from the customer by phone or email without the garments. If you are working with a Retail customer, you will be the one that is ordering the goods.  The garments are shipped in separately from a distributor or manufacturer.  Log the order in, assign it a job number and attach a copy of the order to a clip board marked “Waiting for Goods”. When the Goods come in from the distributor or manufacturer, you pull out the Work Order and match it to the packing slip from the distributor.  The order must match exactly.

• PO Number
• Quantity
• Item Number of the garments
• Color
• Sizes

You need to physically count all of the items and check to make sure that the color and sizes are correct and that there are no damaged goods. Notify the customer that the garments have been received and that there is a complete match or that there is a problem with the order and it is up to the customer to make whatever corrections there are to be made with the distributor or manufacturer.  If it is for a Retail customer, you are the one that has to solve the problem with the distributor or manufacturer.

Design Work Can Begin As Soon As Job Is Logged In

After the goods have been successfully Logged In and even before the Goods are received the process for the design can begin.  The design and sew out can be done and approved by the customer while you are waiting for the Goods to arrive.  Many times the entire job can be ready for production as soon as the goods arrive from the distributor.  I will talk more about the design process in another article.

Once you have all of the information together and you have all of the correct items, place all of the information along with the order inside of a clear plastic Job Folder and tape it to the front of the box that has the goods inside of it.  If there is more than one box label each box with the Order No.,  Job Name and Box 1 of however many boxes in the order.   It is now time to place the order in Staging area of “Received Orders Ready for Processing”. At that point the order can be picked up by the next person that is going to process that order.  In the case of the Embroidery area, the next stop is Hooping.  In our next article I will talk a lot about the Hooping area.  This is a big subject with lots of variables!

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How To Create A High Quality Sales Tool For Your Embroidery Business!

Creating High-Quality Sales Tools for your embroidery business will increase your sales and help save a lot of time that is normally spent working with a customer.  This will also create confidence with your customers because they can see immediately the type of quality that they can expect with their finished product.

Sew Out Designs You Want To Feature

Using White felt, sew out many of your best designs and the fonts that you use the most or want to feature.  When you are sewing out your designs, add a number under each design signifying the stitch count.  This makes it easier when you are trying to explain to a customer about stitch count and they can see approximately what a 10,000 stitch logo is going to look like.  If you have some generic stock designs or sports symbols that you like to use, this would be a good choice.

As you are sewing out the fonts leave enough space between each one so that they will have a neat even border. Sew each font in a different color. Use the colors of thread that you carry in stock.  Sew out the fonts that work out best for you first and then you can sew out other fonts and have them for your Premium fonts at a higher price. As you are sewing out the fonts, use the font name.  This makes selection easier and there is no question as to what they are looking for.

Use Different Sizes For Your Embroidery Fonts

Choose different sizes for your fonts so that you can use this as a tool also.  Example:  If you sew names out in a certain font, sew that font out in the same size that you sew out a name in.  That way the customer totally understands exactly what he is getting.  If you have a certain size that you prefer for a left chest, sew out a block or script font that is popular for the left  chest in the size that you normally use for the left chest.

After they are sewn out and trimmed perfectly, press a heat bonding material onto the back side of the embroidered sample pieces. Purchase the heat bonding material from the fabric store or an embroidery supply house.

Cut out each one of the fonts and designs using a pinked edge. To get a straight even line turn your embroidery over to the wrong side and draw a line with a ruler measuring up from the edge of the embroidery. Make sure that they all have the same amount of space around the embroidery so that they are all cut in a uniform manner.

Purchase 8 1/2″ by 11″ business card stock from the office supply store. With a hot iron or heat press machine, lay your cut pieces onto the business card stock and press them in place in a neat uniform manner.

With a 3 hole punch, punch holes on the left side of the page when you are finished and place all of your sample pages into a 3 ring binder.  Use one with the clear plastic storage view on the front.  Create an attractive cover with your business name on it to slide into the front of the binder.

This is not a great picture but I want you to see exactly what I am talking about and just know that it comes out looking like a much higher quality than the actual photo looks.

A Great Sales Tool For Your Counter

This makes a great sales tool that you can leave on the store counter or take with you.   When I had my large embroidery business, I furnished each one of my dealers with a sales binder and it really did increase my sales. It was very easy to use and the customer always knew exactly what type of quality they could expect.

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Part 1 In Organizing Your Business – Creating An Efficient Floor Plan And Workflow In Your Embroidery Business!

Over the next few Ezine issues I am going to be sharing with you about how to “Create An Efficient Floor Plan and Workflow in your Embroidery Business.”  In part 1 I am going to be talking about how to create a Floor plan  that will give you a good work flow and not waste steps.  One of the key elements to a highly profitable embroidery business is a good management system and part of that management system is a good work flow.

Setting Up Your Work  Room To Create An Efficient Work Flow

Creating a blueprint for a good floor plan for your embroidery work room is one of the first things that should be done to insure that you will have an efficient work flow.  A layout for the most efficient work flow should be done in a loop if at all possible so that each area is not conflicting with another area.  In a good work flow the work runs efficiently from one production area to the next and without it, there are too many wasted steps  from one job process to another.  Below is a basic drawing of a small shop that has 2 embroidery machines.  No work should be on the floor that is not in progress.

The workflow is as follows:

1. Order Processing
2. Receiving – Receiving should be located as  close to the incoming door as possible.
3. Staging – Received orders waiting for the prep work and hooping.s
4. Prep - Where they are hooped and placed into baskets or bins ready to be transported to the embroidery machines.
5. Staging 2 – After they are placed in Baskets -Orders hooped ready to go to the machine.
6. Embroidery Machine – To be embroidered
7. Finishing - Where they are trimmed and packed.  The Packed garments are then ready for Shipping.
8. Shipping or Picked up

If you are working from your home, your floor plan may be a little different and you may have only one door into your embroidery room. If this is the case, Shipping can be located in the same area as the Receiving, but on the other side of the area.

The best physical layout of your shop will determine how you will be able to place your embroidery machine for the best possible production.  The most efficient layout I have found has been having tow machines across from each other with one side table in the center or two narrow tables in the center, one for each machine.

Another efficient way is a U shape having the third or smaller machine at the end of the U.  In a single head shop or an in home shop, the prep area and Finishing area can be located on the same table directly across from the machine but keep your areas in different locations at each end of the table and you will be able to function more efficiently.  The Prep area at one end and the Finishing area at the other end. If you have two machine, you can have them both across from table or one can be at one end of the table at the Prep area and one across from the table.  It will depend on how large your room is and how it physically set up.  Both layouts can be efficient.

Create A Blueprint Of your Embroidery Workroom Area

Before you start moving anything around, draw up a blueprint on a large piece of graph paper.  Draw and cut out pieces of paper that represent the machines, tables and all other existing equipment.  Draw these peices to scale so that it will work for you.  Lay the marked pieces ont he graph paper and move each piece of the area that will represent where it should be moved.

Have every thread shelf, backing shelf or racks, hoops steamer, everything that you use that takes up floor space in these drawings so that nothing is missed.  Once you have your layout exactly the way that you want it, take a glue stick and glue them into place.  This will help you make sure that everything does get placed in the proper location when you do make your move.  It will help everyone that is involved with the move be more efficient.

If any electrical or carpentry work is required, supply the contractor with a copy of the blueprint.  This will help to explain exactly what is needed and will make it easier for everyone concerned.  A well-organized floor plan is a critical factor when you are creating a highly efficient work flow.

The next article in this series we will about organizing each work area within your embroidery business.  This is a very important aspect in creating a well organized business!

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How To Solve A Problem When The Embroidery Design On Your Finished Garments Do Not Look As Good As Your Design Sew Out!

When your Embroidery design on your finished garments do not look as good as your design sew out, this creates a huge problem.  Sometimes it can be solved and sometimes the garments are totally wasted!   This is a  problem that was created by an embroidery machine operator and it could have been totally avoided. I have always been adamant about making sure that the design sew out was done on the same type of fabric that you are going to be using for your finished garments. This is very important and will pay off in big dividends in both quality of embroidery and time.

As I am working with an embroidery company trying to help reorganized their production and get it up to speed, an issue came up that is very common with many embroiderers, especially new or inexperienced embroiderers.

One of the embroidery machine operators sewed out a design they had received back from the digitizer. She created her sew out to make sure that the design was OK and ready for production.  She then embroidered her 6 knit shirts for the customer on an 8 head machine.  When she finished them, they were way off registration and it caused the material in the shirt to look stretched around the embroidery.

What caused this Design Registration to be so far off?

She called me over to look at the problem and wanted to know why it happened. She also wanted to know what she could have done to avoid this and how to get this issue solved. The shirts were quite expensive and they are totally unacceptable the way that they are.

I was shocked as to how bad it looked when I first saw it. I quizzed her about her process, what fabric she used for the sew out, what thread she used, how did she have it hooped and how her tensions were set.  She created her sew out on 2 layers of firm cutaway backing.

Her sew out was NOT done on the right type of fabric; that was her main problem!  You always use the same type of fabric, or very similar,  that your finished garments are going to be.  She also used 2 layers of a heavy cutaway backing, and the hoops were not tight enough. The backing was much too heavy for the shirt or design.  She would have been better off with a lighter weight backing such as a 2 oz cutaway or the No Show cutaway backing. The No Show backing is a mesh backing that holds up very well with a lot of stitches and yet it keeps the garment soft and pliable.  She was correct in using a topping on the top of the garment.

Now the question is, how do you solve this problem?

First of all, do not remove the garment from the hoop or the topping from the top of the embroidery.  Lay the garment face down over a firm surface and use a tool called “Peggy’s Stitch Eraser” and remove the stitching from the backside of the garment.  I use a large candle jar, one with a smooth bottom, turned upside down. You must be very careful that you do not cut any holes into the fabric.

After you have removed all the stitching and thoroughly cleaned up all of the threads, it is time to embroider the design again.  This time you must increase the size of your design by 2 or 3 percent.  This will be large enough to cover everything that you removed.  You must make sure that you do not loosen the hoop as you are removing the stitches.  This is very important. If you do, you will need to tighten the hooped area before you begin sewing out the design, and it makes it more difficult to line it up.

Repair your Embroidery on a Single Head Embroidery Machine!

You already have it hooped so you are not going to re-hoop your garment to add new backing. Load the hooped garment back into the machine and lay new backing down under the hoop. For this you will need to use 1 head only because you are not going to be able to line up all 6 shirts to sew out perfectly on the multi-head machine when you are repairing a design like this.

Print out a new design sheet of the larger sized design, cut it out following around the edge of the design and lay it inside the hoop covering the entire area that had the embroidery removed.  Make sure that you have the center starting point of the design marked on the design print. Line up the needle with the center starting point.  Remove the cut out print, lay down a piece of topping and tape it into place.  Now you are ready to re-embroider the design.

This repair method did solve the problem with this order but this embroidery machine operator will make sure that she uses the correct fabric for her sew out the next time and will also use the correct backing.  This is a problem that could have been totally avoided if she had been instructed properly!

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Why Is It Important To Use Water Soluble Topping?

Water Soluble Topping is a very important element in creating quality embroidery designs and can be used as a remedy when you have designs that do not turn out with the quality look that you are expecting.

Using a water soluble topping when you are embroidering on any type of fabric that has a raised or rough texture will make your embroidery look smoother and help to climb over those rough spots.  Topping will help to keep the thread on top of the garment instead of letting it sink into the fabric.

I have always used topping on my knit fabrics, especially the pique knits.  I always want high quality embroidery and this will help to give you that look.  If you will do an experiment and embroider 2 samples, the same design on the same fabric, one using a topping and one without the topping, I am sure that you will see a noticeable difference.

Some digitizers know how to digitize to eliminate this issue, but the vast majority of digitizers have no idea as to how to solve this problem with their digitizing.  The best way to get around it is to use a topping.  Some people claim that if you use the topping and wash your garment, the topping is removed and so are the benefits of using it.  I have never found this to be true.  Sometimes it is necessary to use two layers instead of one if a design is badly digitized, but for the most part, one layer works just fine.

Use Topping To Help Small Text Embroider Smoothly On Top Of Fill Stitches

When you have a design that has small text on top of fill stitches and the stitches from the text want to sink into the fill stitches because it has a rough texture, laying down a piece of topping over the fill area before you embroider the text will solve this issue and give you a smooth edge on your text.  This rough textured fill can sometimes be eliminated by shortening the stitch length giving it a smoother texture, but if you are not a digitizer, this is out of your realm of being able to solve that issue, but the topping trick will work and take care of it for you.

I had a design that has been digitized for a woven fabric such as light denim and my customer wanted me to use the same design on a canvas bag.  It looked horrible. It was extremely rough looking and it was a stitch file that he had provided me and the customer did not want it edited in any way. I did not want an item going out of my shop looking terrible so I laid the topping on the bag before I embroidered it and it looked great!  My customer was very excited when he saw the finished product.

Topping Protects Your Fabric On Dress Shirts!

I always use topping on dress shirts also.  I do this not because of the fabric, I do this to protect the fabric.  If I have a monogram to embroider on a white shirt, you can be sure that dirt or oil from the machine will magically get on the white shirt!  With the topping on it, it protects it and the oil cannot penetrate the topping!

Topping can also be used as a backing when you are embroidering on delicate light weight fabrics that you do not want to see a backing on after it is finished.  I have embroidered the bottom of wedding gowns using topping as the backing and they came out great!  I was able to remove the topping and the white embroidered design on these white chiffon skirts was beautiful!

I also use the topping as a backing when I embroider blankets. I do not want to see backing after the job is finished on the back of my blankets, throws, shawls or scarfs.  It is also good for lubricating the needle when you have a fabric that wants to skip stitches.

If you are one that does not use topping or have not used it very much, get acquainted with it and I think that you will discover just like I did that you can use it to solve many problems and issues along the way.  It took me a long time to use it as a first resort instead of a last resort when I was faced with an issue that I did not know how to solve when I wanted the highest quality embroidery possible!

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How Do You Figure Pricing For Your Embroidery?

How do I figure pricing for my embroidery is a question that is on every new embroiderers mind and a question that seems to have a lot of different answers depending on which expert you talk to in the embroidery industry.

I teach from my experience, my own 20+ years of having my own multi-head embroidery business and then another 12 years that I have been training and helping other embroidery professionals start and grow their embroidery businesses.

You may have heard my story of how I almost lost my business because of underpricing.  I did what most embroiderers do; I gathered everyone else’ s price lists and averaged them out to create my own price list! Sometimes I would give the customer the lowest price around just to get the business and this was a huge mistake!  So many embroiderers start out doing exactly the same thing that I did and that is a practice that must stop!

It Is Time To Stop Undercharging For Your Embroidery!

I would love to start a movement for embroiderers to stop working for nothing and start pricing their work for a price that is worthy of them.  We are highly skilled professionals, not unskilled laborers, but so many embroiderers charge like they are unskilled laborers!  This is not fair to the embroiderers that are trying to make a living and it is really causing many of them to second guess what they are doing! This is very disheartening!

There are many embroiderers that are working from home and they are just getting started.  They think that their time is worth nothing and to get the work they must practically give it away.  When you are first learning your craft, I can understand this way of thinking but it really must stop. Most embroiderers do not offer their products until they feel confident that they are ready and that their quality is good.  You did not get into this business to kill time, you go into this business because you wanted to earn an income doing something that you love to do!

It is time to stand up and start charging what you should charge like the professional that you are so that you can actually make a living from your business or at least give you a good supplemental income.

There Is More To Pricing Embroidery Than Stitch Count!

When you are trying to come up with a good price list you must consider several factors and it is not all by stitch count.  There is so much more that goes into figuring your pricing other than stitch count and that is what the majority of embroiderers are charging for.  When your embroidery machine is not running, you are not making any money, how can stitch count be your only factor?  It isn’t.  You have color changes, stops and starts, the time it takes to put the garment into the machine and take it out along with other factors.

Who is paying to hoop it, who is paying to trim it, who pays for the packaging of the finished product?  Most of the time it is the embroiderer and not the customer that chokes on all of those charges.  This is not the way that it is supposed to be!  You are performing a service and each piece of that service needs to be figured into your pricing structure.

You need to know exactly how much each one of these pieces are costing you and the only way that you can accurately know that is to start timing each one of your steps.  Each function that you perform in your business has a time and cost attached to it; start timing each one of these functions and figure out how much it is costing you. I have always been an advocate for timing everything that I do.  Time is money and you cannot get it back when you give it away. Your time is precious.  Use it wisely and start charging for your time.

Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach

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Embroidery Tip- Quoting Designs While Your Customer Waits!

This embroidery tip is all about quoting a design for your customer while they wait? Do you ever have a customer that brings in designs that they want you to reproduce?  Of course you do. Do they want a price while they wait?  Sure they do.   Have you ever wondered how to quote a price without having to go to your digitizer to find out how many stitches there would be in that design?

I have come up with a system that is fairly simple and works great for me and has worked for the past 20 years. I started creating my system by typing in letters at different sizes into my digitizing system to find out what the stitch count would be. Of course each style is a little bit different but for the most part it worked.  I averaged out the different letters and here is my result.

• 1/4″ letter = 150 stitches
• 1/2″ letter = 200 stitches
• 3/4″ letter = 350 stitches
• 1″ letter = 500 stitches
• 1 1/4″ letter = 600 stitches

These are the sizes that I have always used the most.  If you will add up all of the letters in the design by the size and multiply then by the number of stitches you will have the stitch count for the lettering.

To figure the other areas in a design, there are approximately 1600 fill stitches in a square inch.  These of course vary with the pattern and length of your stitch, but this is an average.
Satin borders are approximately 175 stitches per inch.  This again is an average, it depends on the density of your stitch.  You must also remember to add a little extra for underlay stitching but this will at least give you a starting point and it will make it much easier to look at a design and give a quick quote while the customer waits!

Do you have a method that you have used that has worked great for you? I would love to hear about it!

Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach

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5 Easy Steps to Successfully Market Your Embroidery Business Offline

Marketing your business is one of your top priorities and should be done on a daily basis. Even if it is a small step, you need to get into the habit of doing something that will create traffic into your business on a daily basis.  No matter how successful your business is, ignoring ongoing methods of traffic generation and promotion also means ignoring a rich source of sales and profit.

I am going to give you 5 easy steps that you can start using immediately to effectively market your business.

Step #1:  Create Your Plan

Every successful marketing campaign begins with a plan.

Creating Your Plan: Your marketing campaign plan should do three things:

1. Cover at least one entire calendar year
2. Feature any relevant seasonal or sporting events, holidays or trends
3. A  method that you can use to track and analyze your results

Planning an entire year’s worth of strategy isn’t as difficult as it seems.  It will help you be consistent in building momentum and maintaining visibility.  You can always make changes as you see your results.  Consistency is the real key to success in marketing your Embroidery business.

Seasonal or sporting events and holidays provide the perfect, reason for extra contact.  Make sure that you analyze and track your results! This is very important. It will have a bearing on how you plan your next campaign.

In creating your plan you must:

1. Use a calendar.  Either a physical chart you write in or an organizer.
2. Plan backwards.  Write in the campaign launch date -then go backwards and then break down each step that has to be started and completed, in order to set that launch up and make it happen on the target date.

Step #2:   Start Reaching Out to Your Clients or Customers

Now that you have your plan in place, here are some methods of reaching out to your clients or customers.

• Telephone
  Do a short telephone survey asking your customers what you can do for them, how you can help them, what can you provide that they are not able to get elsewhere?  You can let them know in advance about your next promotion.  They will feel special.  Make sure they are aware of your Referral Program.
• Direct Mail
  If you are uncomfortable with the phone, create a postcard.  Give them a special offer on the postcard. They will be required to bring the postcard into your shop in order to be eligible for the special offer.  If you have a website, send them to a special page on your website with an offer-either something free or very low cost just to get them into your autoresponder so that you can start marketing to them on a steady basis automatically.
• Free Samples or Coupons
  If you are using coupons, make sure that they are self-limiting, whenever possible, such as a particular holiday or event.  (Mother’s Day special, no longer available when Mother’s Day is over)

Step #3:  Promoting to Current Clients or Customer and Attracting New Clients or Customers

Here are five highly effective promotion strategies you should implement immediately as part of your plan for the year.

Put your logo on every piece of physical material you wear, use or distribute.  That include:

• Business cards
• Stationery
• Envelopes
• Brochures
• Invoices and receipts
• Your car
• Your office window or sign
• Promotional items (pens, t-shirts, mugs, mouse pads, etc.)
• Sample items
• Your own t-shirt, golf  shirt, jacket, cap or visor when attending public events

Sponsor a local team, charity or even an individual event participant.
It doesn’t matter how big the amount -showing your community involvement and “giving back” is always a great way to promote your business.

Donate prizes
Create a contest, or donate to an existing local charity or contest.  Just be sure to put your logo on the prize item or accompanying freebie or card somewhere!  (HINT:  Contest creation for seasonal holidays gives you the perfect, natural excuse!)

Promote your contest or event participation
Send out a press release to your local radio station, TV station or newspaper in advance of the big event, so they can show up and either do a story on you (“Local Business Owner Gives Back”) or photograph the prize recipient, if it’s significant enough.  Just make sure your press release is not solely about you and your business, but offers them a real story for their readers , the more heart-warming the story is, the better.

Propose a workshop to your local community college or library.
If your business is already established, you’ve certainly got the credentials- and it will establish you as their own, resident “go-to” expert in that field. (This can be about how to select the correct promotional items for their needs or something that would be fitting to or for your market.)

Step #4:  Advertising

Don’t hesitate to include advertising as part of your annual strategy, if you can allocate a budget to it.  Surveying your intended market and using the method most favored by them are the keys to ensuring this strategy gives you a return for your investment.  Consider advertising with:

• Local newspapers
• Local business or trade directories
• Local Radio
• Local TV

Finally, consider creating an advertising contra – a “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” exchange of services or goods you already own with any of these organizations.  It’s a time-honored custom in advertising and all venues above are thoroughly familiar with the idea. This is a very effective way to reach a large audience with a smaller dollar outlay! You will need to show the newspaper, radio or TV station how they will profit from this partnership venture.

Step #5:  Boosting Visibility and Credibility

You may have multiple goals for your promotion plan.  You can use any or all of the above methods (and any others you can think of) to:

• Increase your expert status
• Increase your visibility
• Increase ease of contact to prospective clients
• Brand your business or product

And, last but not least increase your sales.

In my Embroidery Business Plan Workshop that I will be starting on January 12, I show you exactly how to create a very effective Marketing Plan. If you order by December 31^st, you can receive a $50.00 discount by using Coupon Code PLAN2012

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How To Plan Efficiently For Your Embroidery Business!

Now is the time to start planning more efficiently for your Embroidery Business for 2012!  In this video I talk about how to start planning more efficiently and I give you 10 Tips to Help you start planning more efficiently for your business!  I divided this up into 2 videos because of the size of the files.  Part 1 and Part 2.

In Part 2 of this video I give you a link and a special price to the Embroidery Business Plan program.  Make sure that you get the Coupon Code from the video and use it when you purchase the Embroidery Business Plan Workshop.  It will save you $50.00!

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Time To Start A New Embroidery Business Plan For The New Year 2012!

It’s that time of year again to start a New Embroidery Business Plan for the New Year 2012! It is hard to believe that another year is about to close and a brand New Year is almost here! This has been an incredible year in my business.  I have been able to make many strides forward in my business this year and have learned a lot this year about marketing and growing my business.

Learning new ways to improve my business has always been a priority to me and any time I have the opportunity to receive new information to make my business better I make sure that I jump on the chance to do so.

This is the time of the year that we need to get caught up with our bookkeeping, turn our information over to the accountant and make our plans for the New Year.  This is always an exciting time to me.  I love to look back on what I have done and look forward to the New Year.  I am not always happy with the past results or accomplishments but with every New Year there is a new beginning.  There is always something new to look forward to in the New Year.

Set Aside Time To Close Your Books And Create New Business Plan

For several years, I have set aside the week between Christmas and New Years, to close my books and create my new plan for the year.  For all of those that have taken my Embroidery Business Plan Course, you know that I always plan out my entire promotional activities for the next 12 months and I plan consistently on a 60 day cycle.  This allows me to make changes during the year and it also helps me to have a plan in front of me every morning so that there is no guess work at what I have to do to start my day!   With this type of planning I do not have the overwhelm feeling that so many people feel when they are trying to put a plan together.

Planning for your embroidery business does not have to be hard or overwhelming.  You need to have a plan in front of you at all times to help you run your business and keep you on track.  This is very important and it helps you to grow at a much faster rate.

Many of you also know that I time out every task that I do regardless of what it is. I keep track of all of my tasks and try to improve my timing on them consistently.  I am always looking for ways to save time and increase my income.  I have heard for many years that “Time is Money!”   I think of that every time I am doing a new project and I look for any opportunity that I can to save even a few minutes with each task.

My Favorite Timing Tool!

I have a little tool that I use on a daily basis that I want to share with you.  This will be my Christmas Gift to you!  It is called the Pomodoro Technique! It is a method of timing yourself  using a Pomondoro (timer) that is simple but very effective. It was developed by a French gentleman.  I do have the timer that they are showing and I am using it as this very moment, but  a simple kitchen timer will work just as well and teaches you to work in blocks of time.  This tool that I am sharing is a downloadable pdf booklet showing you what the method is and it also has downloadable forms and a cheat-sheet that will help you get started.    I love this tool.

I found out quite a while ago that many of the very successful internet marketers use timers to control their time and it seemed very intriguing to me.  At first I thought that it was a crazy idea, but when I started using it myself I found out how effective it really was.

Embroidery Business Plan for 2012

To help you get started on your new Embroidery Business Plan for the New Year, I have decided to put my Embroidery Business Plan course on sale.  I want to make it easy for you to get started creating your new plan for the New Year!  This course is easy to follow but there is a lot to it.  At the end of the course, you will have your Embroidery Business Plan together and your entire Promotional Calendar in place for 2012.

Go to EmbroideryBusinessPlan.com and you will see that the home study course is $147.00.  I will be offering this to you starting today for $97.00 until 12/31/2011.  When you click on the link, it will take you to the order page and you will type in the Coupon Code of PLAN2012 in the lower left corner of the order form.

Now I want you to click on the link and download your booklet The Pomodoro Technique and start using that today.  Then order your Embroidery Business Plan course so that you can get started on your new Embroidery Business Plan for the New Year 2012!  Don’t forget to enter your Coupon Code PLAN2012 so that you can get that big discount!  I want you to have a great New Year and I want to see your business grow at a faster rate than you have been able to make it grow in the past!  2012 is a whole new beginning for each one of us!

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