Issue 10
"My soul maginifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior" (Luke 1:46-47)
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Issue 10: Table of Contents
* Letter from the Editor: Have You Responded to the Survey?
* Business Building Article: Final Steps to Decision Making
* Business Definition for the Week: Learn about Contracts
* Home Business Quick Tip: Teaching Others Can Build Your Business
* Biblical Applications to Business: Elizabeth- Waiting for Perfection of Time
* Online Business Article: Create Your First Autoresponder Series in Wahmcart
*Business Resources & Announcements
*NACWIB Association News
*Subscriber News
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Greetings CWIB Reader!
Merry Christmas! It’s here - well almost.
Christmas has come around again.
I’m sure you hear the doom reports on television as retailers talk about the lack of buying that’s going on. If you’re in business, you have to adjust to meet the needs of the marketplace. However, as Christian women in business, it’s also a time to rejoice that the true meaning of Christmas will have a chance to be the focus this year as the buying diminishes.
When people face hard times, they tend to focus more on spiritual things. This year will be a great opportunity to add a reminder about the true meaning of the season of Christmas according to the Christian faith as you interact with your customers, friends and family.
Survey News: Have you responded to the survey on what you want NACWIB to provide for you in 2009? You can see it in the right hand blog column.
So far most people want NACWIB to focus on how to grow a business for 2009. That’s a great topic because recession or not, growing a business is not only feasible but necessary. As the economy shifts so do the needs of society. Businesses serve the needs in society so business women must learn to read the economy in order to make adjustments. This is a skill business women must acquire in order to grow their business and NACWIB will be showing you how to do this in 2009.
All of the suggested survey topics will help you to move your business ahead so answer freely. You have the rest of this month to respond to the survey. Go there any time while reading the newsletter and put in your response.
Decision Making Series: I decided to wrap up the series on decision making this week. You’ll find the last four steps listed in the next article.
Bible Principles: The second of three lessons on Bible women who waited for their dream and were rewarded for their faith is presented this week. Last week we talked about Mary, the Mother of Jesus. This week we take a look at her cousin, Elizabeth, the Mother of John the Baptist and see how that relates to this modern time as you look forward to seeing your business purpose unfold.
NACWIB News: Have you noticed that a FREE membership level was developed for NACWIB just by subscribing to the newsletter? So much information is provided each week (and it will get better next year) that it was decided that membership is already happening at the subscription level. Next year, different membership levels will start and the benefits I have planned for you will be fabulous.
Have a Joyous and Blessed Christmas,
Consuelo
Editor, CWIB News
Founder & President
National Association of Christian Women in Business
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Business Building Article: Final Steps to Decision Making
Our series on learning how to make a decision has been going on for the past three weeks. This is the last week of that series.
Last time you learned to develop a list of alternative solutions for your problem. Now you’re going to review the final steps required to make a good business decision.
Evaluate the Alternatives: Review each alternative solution and determine which would be the best for the business situation. Determine if there are any things that would cause additional problems if you selected that alternative such as increased costs, need for trained people that are not already with the company, time constraints or other problems.
Make Your Selection: It’s time to make the decision. Decide on the solution that you’ve determined is best for this decision.
Implement the Decision: After deciding on a solution, you have to implement the solution. Develop your action plan, determine the steps it will take to monitor and establish priorities for the solution, and identify the resources you have already to make the solution work. Then get busy implementing the decision.
Evaluate the Decision Results: Always take time to review your decision and the outcomes. Evaluation is a key point to know when you make a good decision or not. It will let you learn from your decision process and know what to do next time it the same or similar situation. You’ll understand how to make the decision quicker next time and whether or not you need to make changes.
To review the series on How to Make a Business Decision here are the 7 steps we’ve covered over the past few weeks:
1. When You Have to Make a Decision
2. What is the Problem?
3. Explore Alternative Solutions
4. Evaluate the Alternatives
5. Select Your Solution
6. Implement the Decision
7. Evaluate the Decision Results
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Business definition for the week: Learn about Contracts
When you sign a legal document, you are entering into a contract. Starting a business lets you sign and enter into contracts on behalf of the business. If you are a sole proprietor, the contract will be between the other person and you. If you are a corporation the contract will be between the other person and your company, not you. Having a corporate structure gives you some protection from liabilities incurred through a business. As a sole proprietor, you would be personally responsible for liabilities from the business. This means your personal assets (house, car, bank accounts, etc.) could be garnished to pay for a business debt if you get sued.
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Home Business Quick Tip: Teaching Others Can Build Your Business
People want to learn new things like how to change their oil, do a craft or build a tree house for their kids. Show them an easy way to learn and you will make them feel more capable and independent. This is a great way to grow your small, home based business. Start teaching other by providing detailed instructions with your products, giving a workshop, or coaching them through the process.
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Autoresponder and Shopping Cart – Recommended by NACWIB
If you want to build an online business you will need a reliable autorespoinder and shopping cart system. Wahmcart is both. Click on the name to learn more. You can get a free 10-day trial of this Autoresponder Service and Shopping Cart. This week’s Online Business Article tells you more about this great business resource.
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Biblical Principle to Consider: Elizabeth- Waiting for Perfection of Time
“Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.” Luke 1:57-58
Elizabeth was the wife of Zechariah the High Priest and the cousin of Mary, Mother of Jesus. She was old by reproductive terms and past the age of being able to have a child. In her day and culture, that meant the Lord had not blessed her with the gift of motherhood. But there was a reason for the delay. Elizabeth was to give birth to the man who would announce the coming of Christ - John the Baptist.
Elizabeth’s story of waiting is a great one to encourage any Christian woman who is waiting to either start a business, see that business grow or waiting to see how the economy will affect her business. Waiting is something that gives God time to do His work in your life. While you are waiting and praying, He is working on responding to those prayers. If you are not praying about what you want for your business purpose, perhaps that’s the first thing to start doing. Elizabeth prayed all of her life to be able to have a baby. Even when past the age of potential, God was doing his perfect will in his perfect time for her perfect season.
When Mary visited Elizabeth what a joyous meeting it was between the two women; one older and one young, both pregnant with the promises of the Lord. This is the season to be pregnant with the promises of the Lord. Use this season to pray until the fullness of your prayers are answered, knowing that in your waiting allows God to do His perfect work in your business and your life.
Read the story of Elizabeth in Luke 1: 39-80
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Online Business Lesson: Create Your First Autoresponder Series in Wahmcart
Creating an autoresponder series is a great way to build a mailing list on the Internet. Your list will become the most important part of your business operations as it provides the way to get in touch with people who are actually interested in what you have to offer.
WAHMCart is an autoresponder and shopping cart program that has all of the functionality of a major shopping cart and autoresponder with one great exception – the price. WAHMCart is reasonably priced for a hardworking piece of software on the Internet. That means great value for you while you get exactly what you need to get your business up and operating on a regular basis.
Click the name to check out WAHMCart for 10 days without cost. Go there to see how easy it is to set up an autoresponder series using these quick instructions.
To create an autoresponder series for a list in Wahmcart, first create a mailing list as you normally would, making sure you add a welcome message as your first message in the series. This message will have a 0 day delay so that your subscribers will receive it immediately after they sign up.
The steps to follow will walk you through setting up more messages in your autoresponder series. We'll use the example of “New Life Coaching Services” who sends a plain text email to their subscribers once per week.
1. Login to your account. Choose Followup => View Lists => Choose the list you want to add to and click Messages => Click Add Message
2. Choose whether you would like your message to be delivered in plain text or HTML. By default Wahmcart does plain text.
3. Next enter the delay of the message. This is in days and is the number of days after a subscriber signs up for the list. Since this is the first followup email (not counting the welcome message), set the delay to 7. Subscribers will then receive their first email 7 days after they sign up.
4. The set of buttons "First Name" and "Last Name" that appear under the Delay section are for your subject line only. If you wish to enter either of these in your subject line, click them...otherwise simply type (or copy and paste) your email subject into the next section.
5. The buttons in the following section (First Name, Last Name, Email, URL, Company, & Date) are for the message itself.
Tip: If you copy and paste your email into the body section and then click any of these buttons the information will default to the end of the email, so be sure to cut and paste to where you need it in the email itself.
6. Now, copy and paste or type your first message into the section labeled "Body:"
7. Click the "Preview Message" button at the top to see what your message will look like. If you need to make changes simply click the "Edit Message" button to go back and edit the message. To save and add the message to your autoresponder series click "Save Message".
8. Complete the steps again for each additional message you would like to add to the series.
Be sure to check out WAHMCart and start building your mailing list today.
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Business Resources/Announcements
NACWIB recommends WAHMCart as the autoresponder and shopping cart of choice.
FREE Membership Level:
Tell your friends, family, and business woman to subscribe to CWIB News to have a FREe first level membership to the National Association of Christian Women in Business (NACWIB). The monthly newsletter of the National Association of Christian Women in Business is featured on the CWIB News blog at cwibnews.blogspot.com. It is PACKED with business building and business leadership information, resources, tips, Biblical Principles and Home Business Tips.
NACWIB Will start membership levels in 2009 that will provide more benefits to women in business and leadership.
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Subscribers Talk
So glad some of you are starting to write to say how much you are enjoying the newsletter. I continue to consider how to make this resource more informative and timely for you. Please fill in the survey in the right hand column to help out with that.
I'd love to hear from you too - info@cwibnews.com
Consuelo
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Again, I appreciate your joining us and I'll see you next week!
God Bless,
Consuelo
Consuelo Meux, Ph.D.
President & Founder, NACWIB
http://www.nacwib.com
http://www.nacwib.org
"Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!" (Luke 2:14)
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DISCLAIMER: All information is intended for your general knowledge only and is not a substitute for professional business advise. Use of this information is at your own risk. We make no warranty, express or implied, regarding your individual results.
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Sunday, December 21, 2008
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