New Features For Embroidery Tips And More Video Training Site

I am so happy to announce that we are adding some exciting new features for all of the members of our Embroidery Tips And More Embroidery video training site.

• Personal Call In Time Once Per Month
• Personal 15 Minute Consultation For All New Members
• Private Members Forum
• Webinar Will Be Held During The Day Time Hours Every Other Month

Call In Time-Personal One on One Time With The Embroidery Coach

This new feature will start on January 21st.  This call in time will be held the 3rd Thursday of every month.  This will be your personal one on one time that you can call in and ask me anything that you would like to know about running your embroidery business.   I am very excited about being able to spend time with you personally.

I would love to be able to work with each person  on a one on one basis,  and I thought that this will be the  best way for me to be able to connect with you and give you your own personal time with me. You will be allowed 10 minutes for this call. Save up your questions and be ready for this one on one time with me.  All members will receive an email with the actual call in times and phone number to use.

Personal FREE Embroidery Business Consultation For All New Members

Each new member will be called and welcomed.  You will receive a 15 minute consultation about your embroidery business.  This will give me a chance to find out a little more about you, your business and will help me to discover how I can help you more with your embroidery business.  Each new member will be sent an email to schedule their Free consultation.

Private Embroidery Tips And More Club Members Forum

We are working on a Private Members forum.  This will only be available to all of the Embroidery Tips and More.com Embroidery Club members.  This forum will be open to any questions about embroidery applications, design issues,  or any other embroidery business issues.  I will be announcing when the Forum is open.

New Day Time Embroidery Webinar Hours

I have heard from many of you that  you cannot attend the Embroidery webinars because they are held in the evening.  I have decided to rotate the times for the webinars so that you will be able to attend during day if the night times for the webinars have been impossible to work with your schedule.  Traditionally our webinars have been held at 8pm Eastern Time and this is not always the best time for everyone.

When I first started holding the Embroidery webinars, I asked for the best times and this time worked for the majority of the club members.  Times have changed and I have decided to rotate the times for the webinars to best suit everyone.   The webinar this month will be held at the same time, at 8pm on the last Tuesday of the month,  but next month I would like to start the rotation schedule.

The recorded version of the Embroidery webinars has been available for all of those that register, but the live interaction is always better for the attendees.  I will continue holding the webinar on the last Tuesday of the month, but I would like to have some opinions as to which times of the day works best for you.  At the end of this post, I would like for you to comment and let me know which times will work for you.

• 11:00 am Eastern Time
• 1:00 pm Eastern Time
• 2:00 pm Eastern Time
• 4:00 pm Eastern Time

I would like to accommodate everyone, but obviously that is impossible.  If you will please let me know which time is best for you, then I will schedule the day time webinar for the majority.

Thank you so much and I am really looking forward to working with each and everyone of my Embroidery Tips and More Embroidery Club Members in 2010!  This is going to be such a great year!!

Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach
Author of the forth coming book,
“The Truth About Embroidery Business Success”

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Brenda Adams, one of my students, won a “Monogram Wizard” contest for a pillow that she entered.  This pillow is being featured on the back cover of “Designs In Machine Embroidery” magazine.  Brenda stated that she learned a lot from my Underlay class and applied those skills to designing and sewing out this pillow.

Brenda also took my “How To Create Monograms” class and was very creative in putting this monogram design together for this pillow.  She did a beautiful job and I am so proud of Brenda; this is a huge accomplishment.

The picture on the lower right of the dark gold pillow is Brenda’s.  She was in a fabric store shopping and picked up the magazine and saw her pillow on the back and was extremely surprised and excited.  I cannot even imagine the feelings that she went through when she saw her picture on the back cover of that magazine.

If it had been me, I am sure that everyone in the store would have know about it at the time, but Brenda is not like me, she is a bit more quiet!

I just wanted to share this with everyone. What a way to start off the New Year!   Brenda definitely needs to be congratulated on her accomplishment!

Thank you Brenda for sharing your win with all of us!

Joyce Jagger
Your Embroidery Coach

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I want to wish you a very special Merry Christmas.  You only have a few more days for preparing all of your Christmas presents and finishing up all of the embroidery for your customers presents!  This has really been a busy time for all of us embroiderers!

It seems like December goes by faster than any other month of the year!  There are so many necessary preparations for our own celebration and yet this is the busiest month of the year for most embroiderers.  And then there is the coming new year!  You are bombarded with so many tasks that need to be finished by the end of the year in preparation for starting the new year.  The bookkeeping needs to be all caught up with, the taxes have to be paid and much organization and planning is a must for the coming new year.

Even though you have so much to do, please do not forget to take time out to celebrate our season and the reason for the season.  Enjoy your family time; those children are grown and gone way too soon.

I want to give you a special present for this holiday season.  It is a beautiful embroidery design that I created and it has been very popular for me.  I have embroidered this design on pillows, blankets and even the neckline of a blouse.  It is a large design, measuring 8.5 inches wide by 6 inches tall.  It really works out great for a corner placement.  Here is a picture of the design.  I can only offer it in a .dst file.

This design is 15,500 stitches with a lot of open areas.  It has 10 color stops.  I have embroidered this design using all white thread and I have embroidered it using the pinks, reds, yellows, purples and blues.  All of the color combinations work out very well.  I wish that the .dst design would show up in the correct colors, but this never happens.  When you  bring up the design in your software, you can view this picture and change the colors that will work for you and the item that you will be using it on.

Click on this Large Rose Bouquet design to download it and use it for your own, but you cannot sell it.  What I mean by that is, you can use the design for your customers items, but you cannot sell the design to anyone else.  This is my design that I created and I am allowing you to use it.  I hope that you enjoy it and have a wonderful Christmas!

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I just want to wish all of my embroidery students and friends a very Happy Thanksgiving.

This is such a beautiful day and I just wanted to stop and let you know how much I appreciate you being in my life.

Today we have a special holiday, Thanksgiving, but actually we need to be thankful for everything that we have and all of those special people that are in our lives every single day.

This past few months have really been a busy time for me.  I have my foot surgery in June that has taken such a long time to heal, but for that I am very thankful.  This past week I was in Morris, Ill working with 2 new students and they were such a blessing.  It is so much fun and I get such a great deal of satisfaction working with new people, especially when they are so eager to learn.  I love to share what I know and see how excited people get when I show them shortcuts.

I would not have been able to do that if I had not had my surgery. Walking through the airports was tough, but I can do it!  I have to travel for 3 more Digitizing trainings for new students before the end of the year and again, without that surgery, I would not be able to even attempt going out to do any embroidery trainings.

We have so many people in our lives that we have touched or we are been touched by them and for that we all need to be extremely thankful!  We do not realize how many people are affected by our daily actions in our business and in our personal lives.

Mixing our business and personal life is sometimes very hard, especially trying to create a perfect balance in both areas.  I am still working on that one!

I am doing a lot of the cooking today and then my husband Dale and I will be taking it to my daughter Carolyn’s home for our family dinner.  It is so good to have family to be able to share these holidays with.  Unfortunately my daughter Kathy and her family will be unable to join us this year.  They are now living in Florida and have their own commitments.    My son David will also be joining us.  We need to be thankful for each and everyone of these family gatherings. It is very exciting watching how all of the grandchildren have grown and changed over the years.

I am in the process of writing a book, “The Truth About Embroidery Business Success” and I am trying to concentrate on it for this weekend, but I just wanted to stop and tell you how much I appreciate you for being there and for being understanding when I am not always on top of my game,so to speak!

I love my students; they are all like family to me and it is so great to be able to share with them the knowledge that I have gained over the past 32 years that I have been in the embroidery business.

Thank you again for being there,

Love,

Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach

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How can I write a blog post?  I cannot write!  How do I not know what to say?  This is what I hear over and over when I am working with my students, helping them to create their On-Line Embroidery Marketing System.

I understand where you are coming from and what you mean!  I have been there myself and I finally discovered that writing a blog post is not hard!

Write As If You Are Talking To One Person At A Time!

I always thought that I was writing to a large group of people and I did not have a clue as to what to say.  I then discovered that I had to write as if I was talking, and you are merely talking to one person at a time.

Before you start trying to write, create a picture in your mind of the person that you are writing to.   He or she is not just a customer, they are a person.

• Who is your target audience?
• Approximately how old is she or he?
• What are their interests?
• Is this a small business person?
• Is this person an end user of your product?
• What type of a relationship do you want to have with this person?

Once you have a clear picture of that person in your mind, it is easier to create your message. 

• What is it that you want them to know?
  
• What do you have to offer them that is going to help them? 

Remember: keep it short and to the point.  People do not have the time to read long posts.   You are creating a relationship with that one person. This may help you to overcome your fear of writing. It worked for me!  Leave a comment and let me know if this has helped you!

Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach

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The big question that I get a lot is What Golf, Polo, or Knit shirts can I order for my embroidery customers that will not shrink?  I ordered from Sanmar and the shirts that I ordered shrank after I washed them.  Who should I order from?

Actually Sanmar is about the best out there that I know of.  They are very easy to deal with and offer a huge variety of products and quality.  What brand did you order?  That is what you are going to have to pay attention to, not the supplier.  All of the knit shirts are going to shrink a little bit.  This is something that is totally unavoidable.  Knit shrinks no matter what, especially when it is put in the dryer.  I do not care how expensive the shirt it, there will be a small amount of shrinkage.  Some are a lot worse than others.

“Order 3 Different Golf, Polo Or Knit Shirts In 3 Different Qualities And Test For Shrinkage”

Try ordering 3 different shirts, 3 different qualities, all well known brands and test from there and see how you make out.  How are you testing the shrinkage?  Lay the shirt out on a piece of backing,  I mean from a large roll and trace around it.  Wash and dry it and then lay the shirt back on your drawing again and compare that way.  This is how I used to test my shirts.

I always offered 3 different qualities to my customers and I told them in advance about the shrinkage.  If they were more interested in price, that was their issue, not mine, they were told.  Sometimes they just order the next size larger to compensate for the shrinkage.  Not only does this work, but it also covers your butt, so to speak.

Good luck, and remember no matter what shirt or how much shrinkage, the shirt will always need a little press to look great!  The embroidery will always pucker or cup under a little after washing and drying when you have a lot of fill stitches in the design.  A little press takes care of this issue.  So many embroiderers think that it is the design when this happens, but that is not necessarily true.

If this tip helps you please leave a comment and let me know!  I would really appreciate it.  Sometime I do not know if my information is getting to you or know.  If you let me know, then that will help me to deliver the kind of information that you are looking for.

Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach

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The Best Way To Promote Your Offline Business to Online Prospects And Increase Your Google Rankings At The Same Time!

I wanted to share with you an article about how to promote your business and get higher rankings in Google for your off-line store front that I found this morning when I logged into my Twitter account.  Click on the second title link above to read this article.

It is very important that you read this and follow what he has to say.  The sooner you get this done, the better chances you have to rank very high in your area for your business type.  In this day, we need every bit of help that we can get to promote our business’ and get our name out there.  This can really make you stand out from the other embroiderers in your area!

Newt Barrett is a content marketing expert and his posts are worth your time to read. You will learn a lot from him about marketing your business.

After you read this article, leave a comment below and let me know how you liked it!

Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach

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Setting Up Your Marketing System

In Lesson 2 of our “How To Create Your Own Embroidery Marketing System On-Line“, we are going to be going through  and setting up the back end of your Marketing System so that it will be search engine optimized from the very first blog post.  Next Tuesday night July 28th, at 8pm is Lesson 2 in this series.  If you missed the first lesson, you can sign up for the next lesson and get caught up.  Videos of the first Lesson will be sent to you.

Having a website and marketing system is just as important to a home based embroidery business as it is to a large corporate embroidery business.  You need to be able to stay in front of your customers at all times and make it easy for them to find you and purchase from you.  I have created an entire system that will walk you through step by step as to how to create an entire marketing system from choosing your domain name to filling up your shopping cart.

This is not a marketing system that is available any place else, especially for the price that I am charging.  After our series of webinars, I will be creating an entire home study course on  DVD’s with workbooks and it will not be sold at this rediculously low price!

I am making this available to all my Embroidery Tips Club Members for free because I want everyone of my students to succeed.  It is extremely important to me to be able to help all of my students  to succeed to whatever level they aspire to!

How To Create Your First Blog Post

During Lesson 2 I will also teach you how to create your first blog post.  Creating your blog posts is an easy way of keeping in constant contact with your customers.

Step by Step Embroidery Marketing Course

This step by step course is divided into one hour sessions held every 2 weeks for the next several weeks.  This course does have homework with it, but at the end of the course, you should have your fully functioning website on-line and fully optimized for the search engines.

Monday I will be sending out a link to all of the Embroidery Tips Club Members to register for the webinar.   Last month I sent out a link to all of the members to the videos after the webinar.  I will not be doing that this month.  In order to be able to view the videos after the course, you must register for the webinar.

If you are not a member of the Embroidery Tipsandmore.com Embroidery Club you must go to The Embroidery Webinar of the Month website and sign up for the program.

If you have a website that is NOT bringing you lots of sales each month, or DO NOT have a website at all, you need to be apart of this webinar series.

Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach

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Each morning I receive a Quote of the day from Brian Tracy.  My quote of the day is “Time Flies.  It is up to you to be the navigator”!  This quote was first by Robert Orben, but it is so timely, I just had to share it with you.  Thank you Brian Tracy for those words of wisdom for the day!

I am sitting here in my bed, recouping from surgery with my foot in the air!  I am working from my laptop, my phone is ringing off the wall with requests for digitizing of embroidery designs, emails are coming in with  more requests for embroidery designs and I am trying to prepare for Lesson 2 of our series teaching home embroiderers “How To Create Their Own On Line Embroidery Marketing System”!   I thought the quote was totally prefect for the day and I know that all embroiderers will understand when they read this email.

When you are involved in your own business, you do not have the luxury of taking too much time off.  You have to keep going and adjust to whatever the circumstances are that are thrown at you from hour to hour.  This is especially true for embroiderers.

Last night about 8pm my Son came in, Mom I need a favor!  He is still the manager of the embroidery shop that I owned for 25 years.  He had a last minute order of caps that needs to be done today and of course had no design for it.  He did not need the digitized design until noon today!  Of course Mom came to the rescue!  I was preparing for my upcoming webinar at that time, but dropped  what I was going to digitize his design!

That is a typical in the life of an embroiderer! That is unless, you are the type that has everything planned out and lets nothing change your plans!  Do you know anyone like that?  I don’t!

Stop, Have A Cup Of Tea And Laugh!

Just remember when you day starts off like this one has for me, the first thing you need to do is Stop, have a cup of tea and laugh!  That is My Quote for the day!!

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Having a website and embroidery marketing system is a major part of any embroidery business, yes, even for the home based embroidery business!  It is just as important to the local embroiderer as it is to one that is trying to reach the market globally.  Before you can begin to reach a worldwide market, you must first reach out to your local market.  The best and most cost effective way to do this is through your own web presence.

Many embroiderers today already have a website but are not receiving the amount of traffic or orders that you need to even cover the cost of the monthly website fees.  This is most unfortunate!  There is a  saying, “Build it and They will come!”  This statement is far from the truth.  You can build a beautiful site with lots of products, but if you do not have a way to market your website, then you have wasted your money.

Marketing Your Embroidery Business-The Missing Ingredient!

Creating a website, no matter what system you are using, takes times and a lot of effort.  Whether you have paid a lot of money to create your website or had it created by a friend, a way to market your embroidery business in the key ingredient that is missing in most systems.

Cost Effective Embroidery Marketing System With Huge Time Saving Features!

I have found a total embroidery marketing system that is very cost effective and has unlimited possibilities.  This system is going to save you a lot of time over many other systems;  however, it is still going to take a little time and effort to get it all set up and indexed in the search engines. This is a system that will work for you if you already have a website.  For those of you who have not yet started the process of creating your own website,  I have found an easy step by step  way to get started that does not cost a lot of money but yet it is not free!  Do not ever make the mistake of getting into any type of free system, they absolutely do not work.

Last Tuesday night was the first in a series of webinars, “How To Create Your Own On-Line Embroidery Marketing System”   showing you exactly what to do to create your own embroidery marketing system.  These webinars will continue every two weeks until your entire system is set up and running.  Even if you missed the first webinar, you can still get caught up.  I have created videos showing you step by step from the very beginning.  This is an exciting series and the reception has been wonderful!   I want to thank all of my students that are participating in this program.

Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach

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