Today the Embroidery Cruise group spent a fabulous day in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Some of the group toured the Rainforest and the rest of us toured Old San Juan and New San Juan.  It was very interesting, with a lot of history, beautiful buildings and even some familiar spots like Starbucks and Burger King!

Leaving the harbor tonight in San Juan was absolutely beautiful. Visiting Puerto Rico was a lot of fun and tomorrow is Grand Turk.  I have been told that the beach at Grand Turk is extremely beautiful!  I am looking forward to spending the afternoon on the beach with so much warm sun and perfect weather!

Yesterday we visited St. Thomas.  With all of his beauty, St. Thomas is only 13 miles long and 2.5 miles wide.  In our tour we learned a lot about the native plants and all of their medicinal purposes along with a lot of history about the island.

Tuesday I taught embroidery classes about Working with Stock Designs, Saving time in Design Creation and Working with Small Lettering. Saturday we are having classes about Marketing, Search Engine Optimization and Website Creation.

I have really enjoyed teaching the classes. The embroiderers that are on the cruise are such an incredible group of individuals from every walk of life.  They are from all over the US including Alaska and Hawaii and cover so many different niche markets. It has been such a blessing to me to be able to get to know each one of them. I am really looking forward to Saturdays classes.

Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach

Tweet This Post

SIMPLE 10K Conference Tote Bag

Bob Jenkins, known as Bob The Teacher placed an order for 60 Essential Tote bags for his SIMPLE 10K Internet Marketing Conference that will be starting tomorrow.  These tote bags  will be used to hold a large binder and other tools that the conference attendees will be using during the conference.

I digitized his Simple 10K Conference logo that I embroidered on the front of the bag and the signatures of his guest speakers were embroidered on the back of the bag.  Each design was 8 inches in width.  When I came up with the idea to put the signatures on the back he thought that it would be a really nice addition to the bag and a total surprise for the speakers.  When he received the bags he thought that they were totally “Awesome!”

Why as I telling you this?  I just wanted to share with you how I digitized and embroidered these bags and show you what can be accomplished in a short time and yet bring in some real dollars!   I only had a few days to get this together.  I ordered the bags and they were shipped out the same day and I had them in my hands in 2 days.

To begin  with; Bob created the logo in Corel Draw so I had good clean lines to start with.  The lettering at the top of the logo was very small, but the remainder was a good size and easy to work with.  It was very hard trying to get the signatures from the speakers without them knowing what he was going to do with their signature.  Digitizing the signatures was a lot easier than trying to get them!

The fabric for the Essential Tote Bag is  a rough textured 600 Denier Polyester, so I  used a Contour or Edge Run underlay along with 2 lines of perpendicular underlay to create a good smooth surface to make it easy to embroider the top stitching.  I also used a .20 millimeters Pull Compensation and a total of 72 stitches per inch for the density.  I hooped the bag with a 12 inch square hoop with a firm 1.5 oz tear away backing. The bags really did turn out great.

Front and Back of SIMPLE Conference Tote Bag with Signatures

Bob Jenkins wanted his signature to appear backwards.  This is how his signature appears on some of his websites!  He loved it!!   The pictures definitely do not do the bags justice, but I wanted you to see that this was an easy job that was very profitable!

Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach

Tweet This Post

Sunday, February 28th we get on the ship for our Embroidery Cruise.  This is such a busy an exciting time for me, preparing the lessons for the cruise and, finalizing my book and getting it to the printers, just in time for the cruise!  I am busy preparing the lessons that I will be teaching on the Embroidery cruise and  I am really looking forward to sharing what I know with my students.  Some of the embroiderers will be new to me and I am so anxious to meet them.   My daughter Kathleen will be joining me for this spectacular event!  7 days of fun, relaxing, sharing with my daughter, networking with other embroiderers and teaching my favorite subject!  Life does not get any better than that!

I will be teaching the following courses:

• How To Work With Stock Designs
• How To Save Time In Design Creation
• How To Work With Small Lettering
• How To Create  Pricing Structure That Will Create A Profit For Your Embroidery Business
• How To Market Your Embroidery Business -Including Marketing Your Business On -Line

I finished writing my book and I will have some copies  with me on the cruise.  My books will arrive just in time for me to leave!  The title of my book is “The Truth About Embroidery Business Success”  and the sub title is “7 Elements To A Profitable Home Based Embroidery Business”.  I have been working on this book for several months but it is finally finished.  As soon as I am back from the cruise, I will be creating a website for my book and I have some exciting plans for the future that I will be sharing with you shortly!

Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach

Tweet This Post

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”

Tweet This Post

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

Tweet This Post

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!

Tweet This Post

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

Tweet This Post

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

Tweet This Post

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

Tweet This Post

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

Tweet This Post