Longing

The Iroquois believe that sickness is the souls way of letting us know that we are missing something in our lives. If this is true, then a body in pain is a soul that is longing. And a soul that is longing, is a soul that has something to say. A story to tell.

Symptoms are often dreams trying to come true and therefore the best medicine is hidden in the symptoms. It seems obvious to me that when we medicate and try to eradicate the symptoms, we are in essence killing the messengers before they can deliver the dreams our souls are longing for.

Body symptoms will present you with information, like the dreams of which you are unaware until you awaken and remember. If you read your body symptoms as symbols they will have meaning. Can you put words to your body symptoms? Can you "draw" your body symptoms perhaps? Can you describe your body symptoms with color or shapes? Can you give your body symptoms a voice?

Simply telling someone to "get well" or "get over it" can be very sad words to hear if you have been struggling with painful body symptoms. Your messengers are waiting to tell your hidden story. The truth is, there is no right or wrong way for your story to be told. It may be the written word or a painting. You could sculpt your story of clay or you could sew it into a quilt.

If you give your messengers a voice, and let them roar, your body symptoms will quiet and you will be more at peace with yourself and the world will be more at peace with you.

The Crash

The modem fried in my computer 9 days ago. I felt a sense of panic. All of the work I have been doing is in my computer. All of my pictures, all of my writing, all of my personal thoughts, struggles and visions for what I dream my little business would someday be. I called Toshiba and talked with Tech Support several times before realizing that I would have to send my laptop off for repair.

I back up my computer once a week so everything is saved, and I am glad that I did. I finally got my pc back last night and everything is gone. My Toshiba Satellite is in original condition. No files, no pictures, no documents, nothing. I'm wondering at this point why all of my hard drive had to be dumped to change the modem? Is this a standard practice at Toshiba? I don't claim to be very computer literate and called my internet service provider (Surfbest) who walked me through getting back online and getting my email back up and running and has always been great in the customer service department. They always make you feel like you are the only person they have to deal with and are happy to help! A shout out to Wesley at Surfbest for great customer service this morning!

However, Toshiba customer service has some serious problems. They are rude and degrading. When I talk to a customer service technician I want to feel better about my problem when the conversation is over. I want to feel that the person that I have talked to cares about the product and the person on the other end of the phone. When I pay hard earned money for a big ticket item, I expect service to match.

Granted, Toshiba makes a good product, but they sorely lack in customer service.

This rant brings me to the reason for the post. Customer Service! As business people, our reputation is decided by how we treat our customers. Has Toshiba made me a repeat customer? No. Will my ISP (Internet Service Provider) get referrals from me for being so helpful and happy to talk to me this morning? A wholehearted YES! If you are having a bad day, don't take it out on your customers. If you don't care about your job, get a new one. If you have a bad attitude, change it, or someone will change it for you in short order.

Employees can make or break a business. Maybe you handle your business as it should be, but what about your employees? How are they answering the phone when you aren't there? Something to think about...

Keywords and Links

As an online presence and a store owner we rely on search engines to bring our customers to us. How can we use the search engines to our best advantage? I've written about keywords before, but they are important enough for another article and I will include links here as well.

Keywords are how our customers find us. What are keywords? Keywords describe your item. I make handmade clay jewelry, so the keywords, for my store items, would be, polymer clay, handmade clay jewelry, clay jewelry, polymer jewelry, North Shore Clay Jewelry, North Shore Clay, I think you get the idea. Use these keywords throughout the text of your site. What makes it tough sometimes is that some words are so obvious that they are only implied and are never stated often enough. Like your town name, state, or brand name. So let me go back to my keywords and revise the list now with the keywords that I left out. North Shore, Lake Superior, MN.
Be sure to use these "implied" words often throughout your text, certainly more than once.

Regarding links. Search engines consider incoming links as signs of popularity and will move you right up the list in a quick fashion. A successful tactic is to guest author an article at another site in exchange for a link. Exchange links with a fellow crafter. Etsy has many wonderful store keepers who help with this all the time. http://Etsy.com

A final word regarding your online profile. It is much better to use a few tools wisely and consistently than be spread so thinly that you can't keep up and have outdated information. Find out what works for you, what you have time for, and remember that keywords and links are, well, key!

Finding New Customers

Having an online store is simply not enough. But the question is, how do you find customers? The answer is simple, but it does take some work on your part. Go to the sites your customers visit. How do you find them you say? You ask. Then you go to those sites and engage in meaningful conversation with them. The operative word here is "meaningful". You are not trying to make a sale when you are visiting these sites that your customers visit. You are building a relationship. For example, if one of your customers frequents Flickr, and is interested in photography, figure out how it relates to your line of work and meet them there. Then you can decide which tools to use to best reach your potential customers. When you meet your customers on their turf and are interest in what they are interested in and can talk with them about those things, it will be a natural extension that your sales with climb.