Although marketing is essential to your business, it’s easy to spend too much of your hard-earned money on strategies that return very little.  In order to get the most bang for your marketing buck, you should find low-cost or even free ways to reach your local demographic.  Here are some suggestions to get you started.

•  Sponsoring story time at a local library and other community workshops.  Most libraries have at least one, if not several, story groups for children of varying ages.  Offer to sponsor one by providing the refreshments, or even by being a guest reader.  In doing so, you will be able to network with potential customers, the children’s parents.  You could base your time at the library around a theme that is relevant to your business and provide samples that include your business card.  For example, a private children’s instrumental music instructor would read a book about a certain instrument, bring some different mouthpieces or small instruments for children to try out, and talk about what is offered at his or her studio with parents.
• Form connections to local businesses.  By teaming up with local businesses, you can pool your resources together to draw in customers that would be able to use both of your services.  The owner of a hair salon could team up with the dress shop down the street.  Come prom season, each business could recommend the other and offer discounts if a customer uses both services.  To go even further, connecting to a local business would allow you to sponsor joint marketing events, like sidewalk sales or craft fairs. 
• Create an e-newsletter or start a blog.  To make the ever-increasing cost of postage and mailing supplies a non-issue, you may want to develop a monthly newsletter to send out via email.  Collect the email addresses of your past customers, and with their permission, send out a newsletter that highlights information about products or services they have recently purchased, and introduce new products as well.  You can even make it more relevant by choosing some frequently asked questions to answer in each issue.  As an extra incentive for subscribing to the e-newsletter, consider offering a coupon or voucher in each issue.
• Use your vehicle as a promotional tool.  Decals for your car that contain your business’s name, phone number, webs
  
  
  ite URL, and slogan can be found at affordable prices, especially online.  Think of how many people see your vehicle, especially if you live in a congested area where there is a good deal of traffic.  That level of exposure is constant after the initial cost, which doesn’t have to be much.
• Ask customers how they found you.  Keep track of how new customers are hearing about you.  This will give you accurate information about which of your marketing tools is most effective. From here, you can decide where to focus your efforts and your money.

• Share great ideas that help everyone. Whether the idea is your own or someone else’s, if you think it will help others, don’t hesitate to share it with your prospects. While presenting your opportunity to a recruit, for example, share an idea for having a successful launch party that worked for you. Your method will help the recruit by giving him or her a jump start on the business, and it will help you by finding customers for your downline. By sharing great ideas that are mutually beneficial, you generate excitement and enthusiasm about your opportunity, which will in turn increase your chances of signing your prospect.
• Do both big and small things to help make your team members’ lives better.  After a team member’s initial launch and first few months working the business, it can be easy to lose touch or at least frequent contact. One small way of making your team members’ lives better is to check in regularly with words of encouragement, a motivational quote, or even a little gift of appreciation. On a bigger scale, you might host a weekend brunch at your house or local restaurant to reward your team’s hard work and accomplishment. Take the initiative to be a positive force in their lives. You can recruit others to join your team by introducing them to people in your downline who will attest to your role in their professional lives.
• Stay optimistic and enthusiastic. Even if a prospect seems skeptical, unsure, or even confused about the opportunity, it is important to maintain a positive attitude and enthusiastic outlook about the business. If you don’t falter, he or she will notice that you are confident enough not to be shaken by a possible rejection.
• Always do the right thing. There may be times when you are faced with some sort of conflict or dilemma. One direct sales consultant was excited to sign her very first recruit, but it became clear during the presentation that this person was so eager that she didn’t think to ask a lot of important questions that might sway her decision about whether or not to sign with the company. The consultant was tempted to ignore that fact and let the recruit sign on the dotted line anyway, but she listened to her conscience and offered the important information to the recruit as well as a chance to ask more questions. The recruit wound up signing, but even if she hadn’t, doing the right thing will allow you to never have to look back at your past action and feel guilty. Direct sales is about helping people, so your actions should always reflect that.
• Listen more than you talk. A prospect wants and NEEDS to be heard. He or she may want to tell you why joining this business is even a consideration. And although, he/she may have lots of questions for you and provide you with plenty of opportunity to speak, make sure that you are doing most of the listening. By truly listening to others, we can tune into what their message is, and find effective ways to help.
• Stay humble. No matter how high you climb to the top of that proverbial ladder of success, ALWAYS stay humble. Remember that there are always improvements to be made and higher levels to reach. Continue helping those who are just starting out, take compliments with gratitude and grace, and pay it forward. Your sincere humility will increase your likeability and have a positive effect on your business.

Home-based business owners have many advantages. Often the schedule is more flexible, you don’t have to face a daily commute, and you can be available for your family during the work day when necessary. But it’s still work, and your success often depends greatly on your ability to focus and remain disciplined. Here are some tips for working better from home.

1. Dress for work. Although we often get the idea that working from home means working in your pajamas, don’t fall into that trap! Dress for work each day to help yourself make the mental shift that you’re going to work.
2. Connect with others. It can be easy to become isolated when you’re working from home, which can make you less effective. Make time to connect with others regularly, either on the phone or by making time to get coffee. Connecting with others will help you stay sharp, grow your business, and prevent you from getting wrapped up inside your own head.
3. Separate your work and personal to-do lists. If you were working in an office, you would very likely only have work-related tasks on your to-do list. Your personal to-dos would be kept separate. Do the same thing when working from home, and keep yourself focused on work during the time you have set aside for your business.
4. Make a schedule. Even though your schedule may be more flexible, it’s still important to give yourself a regular work schedule, and a routine that you can get used to. This will keep you on task. You may want to schedule administrative work and other tasks at the same time the rest of the working world is working. This will also help those around you understand that you are at work, and give you more time for others when they are home from work. Lay out on your calendar when you will accomplish certain tasks related to your business, and hold yourself accountable.
5. Communicate your schedule. If your family is home during the day while you’re working, it’s essential that they understand when you are at work. Post your work schedule so that your family understands when you are working, and doesn’t interrupt you. Close the door to your office, and put up a “work in progress” sign. If you have young children, you may want to provide a special set of toys that they may only play with when you are at work, and schedule some time after work for your kids to enjoy with you as a reward for not interrupting.
6. 
   
   Assess daily and weekly progress. At the end of each day and week, take a look at what you have accomplished on your to-do lists, and identify the places you got off track. Are there places you became distracted, or did your family need time you had set aside for work? Make adjustments regularly based on these results, so that you can be sure that the time you set aside for work is as efficient and realistic as possible.

• Share great ideas that help everyone. Whether the idea is your own or someone else’s, if you think it will help others, don’t hesitate to share it with your prospects. While presenting your opportunity to a recruit, for example, share an idea for having a successful launch party that worked for you. Your method will help the recruit by giving him or her a jump start on the business, and it will help you by finding customers for your downline. By sharing great ideas that are mutually beneficial, you generate excitement and enthusiasm about your opportunity, which will in turn increase your chances of signing your prospect.
• Do both big and small things to help make your team members’ lives better.  After a team member’s initial launch and first few months working the business, it can be easy to lose touch or at least frequent contact. One small way of making your team members’ lives better is to check in regularly with words of encouragement, a motivational quote, or even a little gift of appreciation. On a bigger scale, you might host a weekend brunch at your house or local restaurant to reward your team’s hard work and accomplishment. Take the initiative to be a positive force in their lives. You can recruit others to join your team by introducing them to people in your downline who will attest to your role in their professional lives.
• Stay optimistic and enthusiastic. Even if a prospect seems skeptical, unsure, or even confused about the opportunity, it is important to maintain a positive attitude and enthusiastic outlook about the business. If you don’t falter, he or she will notice that you are confident enough not to be shaken by a possible rejection.
• Always do the right thing. There may be times when you are faced with some sort of conflict or dilemma. One direct sales consultant was excited to sign her very first recruit, but it became clear during the presentation that this person was so eager that she didn’t think to ask a lot of important questions that might sway her decision about whether or not to sign with the company. The consultant was tempted to ignore that fact and let the recruit sign on the dotted line anyway, but she listened to her conscience and offered the important information to the recruit as well as a chance to ask more questions. The recruit wound up signing, but even if she hadn’t, doing the right thing will allow you to never have to look back at your past action and feel guilty. Direct sales is about helping people, so your actions should always reflect that.
• Listen more than you talk. A prospect wants and NEEDS to be heard. He or she may want to tell you why joining this business is even a consideration. And although, he/she may have lots of questions for you and provide you with plenty of opportunity to speak, make sure that you are doing most of the listening. By truly listening to others, we can tune into what their message is, and find effective ways to help.
• Stay humble. No matter how high you climb to the top of that proverbial ladder of success, ALWAYS stay humble. Remember that there are always improvements to be made and higher levels to reach. Continue helping those who are just starting out, take compliments with gratitude and grace, and pay it forward. Your sincere humility will increase your likeability and have a positive effect on your business.

1. Offer 3 Choices – When offering products to customers, choose one high priced item, one medium priced item, and one lower priced item. Most often, the customer will choose the item in the middle. By choosing a medium-priced item that is priced higher than your average order, you can increase the order size.
2. Bundle – Everyone likes a good deal, and bundling is a great way to increase your customer order size. Show your customer how much a set of items would cost individually, then offer a bundle price that saves the customer a few dollars. Rather than just buying one item, the customer will often decide to go with the bundle, increasing your order size even with the discount.
3. Upsell – There is a reason that supermarkets often provide candy and other lower-priced items at the register. They hope they can entice you to add a few dollars to your order. Be sure you know what lower-priced items complement some of the items you usually sell, and suggest them when your customer is checking out. Show them how the items work together, and highlight the benefits of owning both. (“Do you want fries with that?”) When you make upselling something that you do consistently, you will find that your average order size increases.

Pinterest is the hottest new social network, with articles filling up the web about how fast it’s growing. And it’s little wonder…most people are visual learners, and the ability to capture and organize photos of the things we love online can be very addicting and satisfying.

• Share product photos. This, at its core, is the simplest way to use Pinterest. Share photos of your product line that others can share as well, and link to your sales page. Just be careful not to be TOO product-centered or you’ll annoy your friends and be in violation of Pinterest rules.
• Create a vision board for your business. Pinterest is a great tool for collecting photos of where you want your business to be in 1, 5, 10 years. Is your eye on a car, a home, or a fabulous vacation? Collect photos and put them on your vision board on Pinterest.
• Create a personality for your brand. Pinterest is a great tool to show people the personality of your brand. Do you have a sense of humor? Share funny quotes. Do you have a brand that leads to a luxurious lifestyle or high fashion? Share related photos. By being mindful of the brand image you want to project, you can share photos that help people develop a sense of your overall brand.
• Share training resources you find on the web with your team. Come across a great blog article or training piece online that would benefit your team? Pin it! Then let your team know that you’ve got a board with great resources that can help them build their businesses.
• Run a contest. Many brands are now experimenting with running contests on Pinterest. It’s a great way to promote viral visibility of your products. This article from PR Daily may give you some ideas to get you started: http://prdaily.com/Main/Articles/How_to_launch_irresistible_Pinterest_contests_11079.aspx
• Collect inspiration for your own content. For example, you might collect recipes that inspire you to create your own recipes, or makeup or fashion looks that give you ideas about ways you can suggest customers use your products.
• Do research about the things that excite your customers by checking out their boards. It can give you ideas for theme parties, specials you might want to offer, or prizes you might want to award in contests.
• Give people ideas about additional ways to use your product line. For example, if you sell home decor items, you might show rooms and point out where your product would be perfect in the layout.
• Create an opportunity board that highlights the benefits of your business opportunity, and share it with people who are considering joining your team. It could include your recruiting video, a link to your recruiting brochure, a video about your next incentive trip destination, etc.

Job Description

Skills

Education

With many Pakistani actors crossing over to Bollywood, India has taken the opportunity to help bridge the gap further between the two nations - this time through music.

On Independence Day, Indian band, "Maati Baani" launched a melodious song, "Rang Rangiya" in collaboration with various Pakistani music artists, to celebrate the unity in diversity between both nations.

The word “Maati Baani” literally means language of the earth.

Originally formed in 2012 in Mumbai, by guitarist Kartik Shah and classical singer, Nirali Kartik, the vision behind the band is to transcend borders and connect people through music despite their differences

"Rang Rangiya" is a humble offering to friendship between India and Pakistan, noted the group, especially when the leaders of both countries are making such strong efforts to foster peace between the nations.

Speaking to Dawn.com, Evelyn D’souza, one of the main members of the production team and head of talent search and coordination, said, "Everything was online."

This was the main reason, she said, that helped in reaching out to artists in Pakistan.

The team found Pakistani artists, Komal Rizvi (singer), Gulab Afridi (Rubab player), Omran Shafique (guitarist), Kurt Menezes (drummer) and Asfandyar Junejo (beatboxer) on YouTube. They reached out to them and started recording. No musician from either country charged any fees for working on the song.

“We used two different cinematographers, each from Karachi and Lahore. They did the video shoot with us and sent it across for editing,” explained D’souza.

This is the first time Pakistani and Indian musicians have worked together online to create a song – that too for Independence Day.

“It’s been amazing [to communicate with people in Pakistan]. Initially, we were a little apprehensive because we weren’t’ sure what response we’d get, [but] they were actually more eager to do this [project] than anyone else,” shared D’souza.

D'souza highlights that because Kartik and Nirani only got the idea for this project a month ago, this was the first time they produced a great song in such little time.

“It would be so much nicer and bigger if had more time. We received a wonderful response, [but] It was a very last minute project so couldn’t do more.”

The main idea behind the song is to spread love across borders, and music is one of the best mediums – one in which there is room for all kinds of differences, be it language, culture, or rhythm.

“We’d like to make more music with message of love,” said D’souza. “When people all around are fighting, I think musicians should come together to spread peace.”

She further added that the team would love to come to Pakistan to collaborate with more Pakistani artists, knowing that there is an abundance of unexplored talent in this country.

“What’s more interesting is that people in this song are from remote areas and it is amazing to see that they’re so technically sound. [We] want to pack our bags and come to Pakistan. There’s so much unexplored talent.”

The song incorporates beautiful lyrics and a diverse set of instruments, including some lines of poetry from the great mystic Kabir:

Preet Na Kije Panchhi Jaise,

Jal Sukhe Ud Jaaye,

Preet toh Kije Machhli Jaise,

Jale Sukhe Mar Jaaye.

The song is soulful, soothing and upbeat at the same time. Not to mention, Pakistani singer, Komal Rizvi's talented voice compliments Nirani's notes spectacularly, as she incorporates Bulleh Shah's poetry.

D'souza mentioned how in awe the team was by Gulab Afridi's (Peshawar) playing of the Rubab, which he described, as "the lion of all instruments."

"It [rubab] gave a beautiful touch to the song," says D'souza.

D'souza shared that this project took a lot of effort from all the members of the team and could not have been possible, had they not believed in themselves and in world peace.

“Musicians have to make an effort. [They] have to know deep down that this is what they really want to do.”

“Miracles can happen if you believe in yourself and your music.”