WNA + GBA = Great Visibility!

If you're tired of the local networking groups, frustrated at the lack of referrals your getting and the inability to truly make a connection with businesses you can use, then perhaps you should consider becoming a Chapter President for WNA. In 2010, WNA will be putting on twelve new chapters and its a great opportunity to get into a networking organization that is small, simple and genuine. As a Chapter President, you'll be looking for 29 members that own their own companies, literally. These women business owners have a business license, either started the company from scratch or purchased it from someone who did and have a solid personality of support and collaboration. You'll be selecting your chapter board from your members, allowing them an opportunity to step up and be in an leadership position. And every few weeks or weekly - however you and your chapter decide, you'll be having meetings to encourage discussion, partnership, learning, sharing and collaboration about business, leads/referrals and a genuine focus on helping one another.

Can it get any better than that?

Sure! If you're a member of The Gift Basket Association, you already know the efforts we're making to gain additional visibility for you and help you be a part of our efforts to uplift the entire industry through partnership and collaboration. WNA is just another one of those opportunities. Step up and lead a local networking organization in your area and you'll be in a position of leadership that will bring you even more visibility. It's a great way to increase your sales and help others.

Day Three of GBA Talk!

It's been three days since GBA Talk! has been launched and I'm still so excited. I've gotten a ton of compliments about the logo, especially those that are seeing it on Facebook. I have to admit, I love it too. I think branding is important so I love creating logo's and sayings that explain/describe programs, services and projects. Anyway, everyone is enjoying the way we built the discussion forum. We created specific categories so that you can get to what you need quickly. Lisa Bevan is a social networking specialist so she's already put some tips in there. Overall, we are having fun and in just three days, already have over 20 members, not bad!

An interesting thing happened - we received 9 new memberships to GBA once GBA Talk! was launched. I think the fact that there is just yet another reason to join pushed several people that were considering it, to join. Now for just $99 a year, they get their listing on www.findyourgiftbasket.com, ten categories, the discussion forum, discounts and a ton more. I'm proud of what we've built and thank all of your for your on-going support.

It's not a new concept but it's new for GBA

I'm so grateful to be surrounded by so many people that share the same vision as I do. Lisa Bevan, our latest advisory board member add, has been "all in" since the beginning. And when I say "all in", her initiative is amazing. She quickly agreed to be a guest blogger, wrote an article for our first Trends & Tips magazine (which was rated one of the highest articles in the mag) and has helped me bring GBA's discussion forum to fruition. Thanks Lisa for all you do. I hope I can return the favors.

Yes, I said it - a discussion forum. I know, I know, there are many of them out there but hey, the more the merrier right? Sometimes. Here's my opinion, experience and general perception on discussion forums.

First, let me tell you that I stayed away from them for many years. When I first got involved in the greater gift basket community, it was many years ago. I jumped into a few forums as a guest and I really, honestly, didn't find it to be of value. And for those of you that know me, I spend my time in places where I can help others and I get value out of it. So, off I went. When I started GBA, I decided I better get back into the broader community if I was going to make GBA known.

I talked to several different people including Adriana of GB Exchange and liked her. I liked her concepts, her professionalism and the way the board was organized was very impressed. So, I joined. Then I found out about Basket Chat and joined that one too. Gary & Dorothy are wonderful people but after going through some attacks and turmoil on Basket Chat and some ridiculously juvenile behavior, I decided that I needed to do my own. I want the GBA community to have a sense of bonding as members and a discussion forum is the best place to do it. In addition to provided a central "bonding" location, I'm hoping that it will reduce some of my email traffic too and get some of these conversations in front of everyone, not just me. I get about 25-50 emails per week asking for my advice, direction and opinion on particular subjects. Just think - if you were to get more than just my opinion!

And in terms of my opinions of discussion boards, here they are...

1) DB's are great if you have good people participating. Ego's and competitiveness must be checked at the door. If you have dominate people in the DB and their "tone" isn't appropriate, the members won't be comfortable.

2) You have to be overly cautious with your language and the way you write things. It's hard for people to know you online so if you're sarcastic, people make not take it right.

3) People have different levels of experience. What worked for you ten years ago may not be appropriate now. You have to take advice from people for what its worth and not take it a concrete evidence.

Just three of my opinions. So here's the question I get regularly...should I be a member of all the boards or just one? Here's my advice:

1) Watch the amount of time you're spending. If you're spending too much time on them, you're losing money. You could be spending that time selling a gift basket. Get in and out. I personally only allow myself 30 minutes per day to hit the discussion boards I'm a member of...GB Exchange and Basket Chat. I just don't have time to be a member of all of them.

2) Know who the people are...if the people that are give advice have bad reputations, then why would you listen? Go to their website and decide if you like their style and business model. Find people to follow and partner with that you appreciate. Don't just assume that what everyone is saying is right. There are some bad people out there and its important that you qualify them first.

3) Participate. Give as much as you receive. Even if its just your opinion or experience. Share what you know and help others. Good things happen to good people.

....more to come...if you're a member of GBA, join GBA Talk now!

The Trends & Tips survey is out!

For those of you who ordered your magazine, Trends & Tips, the official magazine of The Gift Basket Association, you should have received an email asking you to take a short survey. If you didn't, please email us at info@giftbasketassociation.com. Your feedback is critical to us as we form the next issue and plan for 2010. So far we've had many respondents and comments and we appreciate each one. It's pretty interesting to see such consistent feedback. I wanted to share some of the feedback we received with you, just as a point of reference. We will make some changes and improvements but 99% of the feedback we received is telling us we're right on the money. Out of all of the responses we got, only 1 person gave us negative feedback. That's pretty dang good and I'm proud of the whole team; especially since it was our first magazine and none of us knew what we were doing!

Overall rating 3.8/4.0
Only 1 person gave us a 2 or that score would be even higher
My favorite comment: "Awesome magazine - it's about time we have something this high quality for our industry!"

Highest rated article: Your Next Target Market, 3.9/4.0
And, for some reason, everyone loved my welcome note

Most helpful for your business: Preparing for the Upturn, 3.9/4.0

Least valuable: One person put that we didn't need to incur expenses for notes pages but if you know magazine publishing, you have to have a certain number of pages and we were short!

What you'd like to see - our most favorite comment:
Articles or interviews with successful designers - showing where they came from and where they are today. This has always inspired me to hear stories of how others were able to overcome obstacles, etc.

85% said compared to other industry and business magazines they read, this one is better.

Other comments:

"Loved the magazine, cool idea, and cant wait till the next one comes out. I am very impressed and pleased with everything in it. Congrats to all involved."

"The magazine is indexed very well. And having all of the contributors with their contact information on the back pages is brilliant! It's been a GREAT reference guide for me!"

"A great balance between content and advertisements."

"Why aren't you doing it monthly?"

"It's about dang time we get something that is properly balanced between design, business and ads."