Some of us are gifted gift givers; we love shopping and finding just the right gift for each person on our list. Others are gift challenged. The mall is a frightening place and one to be avoided if at all possible. Today’s blog post is for the latter category, for those folks who consider themselves successful if they only forget one or two people on their list. This is for those who when told they should give gifts to their employees break out in a cold sweat.

Of course, dedicated and earnest employees are the backbone of a company. It is vital to acknowledge the importance of their hard work and you sincerely want to express your gratitude. But what to get them to show your appreciation?

Here are some ideas:
-Apparel with the company name and logo printed on them.
-Generic office gifts such as pen sets, briefcases, office stationery
items, pen stands, with or without the company logo.
-Food items- chocolate, wine, candy boxes, gift baskets, even a ham!
-Gift cards to a restaurant.
-Visa card to be used as they see fit.
-A bonus check.

Or what about a group gift like:
-A company party or family picnic. Time spent together socially builds morale.
-A huge basket of bagels, croissants, muffins, jellies and jams. This is a charming way to get everyone together for a coffee break before the holidays.
-Lunch brought in for employees- whether simple or extravagant just depends on your budget.
-Take your employees out to lunch or dinner.

An alternative charity related idea:
-Rather than giving gifts to your employees, give gifts in their name. For example, Heifer International offers gifts of chickens, goats, and cows given directly to those in need in poverty stricken nations.
-Organize a shopping trip to buy gifts for those in need. Perhaps Crime Survivors

And if all else fails,
check out this gift idea on Mighty Goods
Marshmallow Shooter – This gun holds 20 mini marshmallows for rapid-fire up to 30 feet. Could be the most fun gift you have ever given!

Ready, set, GO Shopping!

Facebook and Twitter are all abuzz with the first-ever Small Business Saturday, a national movement to drive shoppers to local small retailers.

American Express’ CEO Kenneth Chenault said that large retailers have Black Friday and online retailers have Cyber Monday, “and now, starting on Nov. 27 of this year, small-business owners will have Small Business Saturday.” (Associated Press, November 8, 2010)

American Express has launched campaigns on Facebook and Twitter driving consumers and business owners to http://www.facebook.com/smallbusinesssaturday where they can participate in many ways.

Chenault said that the first 10,000 small business owners who sign up to participate will get $100 worth of Facebook advertising. American Express will give a $25 credit to 100,000 of its cardholders who pledge to use their cards at independent businesses on Nov. 27. (Associated Press, November 8, 2010)

Consider these statistics:

For every $100 spent, $68 returns to the community – Civic Economics

Small businesses employ half of all private sector employees – SBA

Small businesses represent 99.7% of all employer firms – SBA

For every year over the last decade, 60% – 80% of new jobs were generated by small businesses – SBA

Small Business Saturday is:

A day to come together in support of the small businesses we love.

An opportunity to reinvest our money into the shops and restaurants that employ our neighbors.

A moment to recognize the businesses that are the heartbeat of our communities and local economics.

So as retailers are being encouraged to patronize community businesses, how are you as the small business owner going to reach out to them? Will you sign up for Small Business Saturday? Will you offer special promotions? Are you reaching out to hire employees from your community? Will Small Business Saturday take a nationally recognized spot between Black Friday and Cyber Monday? Time will tell, but for the local economy, the concept is fantastic.

Orange County Advertiser welcomes guest blogger, Kari Adler, founder and owner of Have a Tiki Day in Laguna Beach. She shares her tips as a young entrepreneur in Orange County.

Are you Having A Tiki Day? I am and you can to! I decided to Have A Tiki Day™ in 2009 after graduating from UC Irvine with a Criminology and Law Degree. Like many college graduates, I had no clue what I wanted to do or if I wanted to use my degree at all. And for those who know me personally, you know I’m not one to take orders, from anyone!

My solution, become an entrepreneur and create my own brand! Easy? NOT SO MUCH. I soon realized that having an idea is one thing, but actually creating a business with it was a totally different ballgame.

Many people have innovative ideas, yet don’t follow through out of fear and rejection from others. Learn to THROW THAT AWAY! Fear has no power and will only paralyze you from life. If you don’t try, you’ll never know. If I listened to those haters who said I was wasting my time and college education by creating my own industry, I wouldn’t have clients wearing HAVE A TIKI DAY™ all around the world! My clients have been from Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Japan, Singapore, Hawaii, and more! Hmmmmmm, who was right? Instead of Having A Tiki Day for the past year, I would still be in Law School wondering what if.

My strength and wisdom has brought HAVE A TIKI DAY™ to life at the Laguna Village Arts & Flowers in Laguna Beach. My following Tiki Tips are helpful tools I have learned as a 24 year-old entrepreneur building an apparel brand in Orange County.

TIKI TIP: Confidence, Confidence, Confidence

I cannot emphasize this enough. Confidence is the key to everything we do in life. If YOU don’t have confidence in yourself, no one else will either. This relates to everything from starting a business, to dating, to how we dress. Always be your genuine self because a copy can be spotted a mile away. Besides, copying is boresville, and no one likes a bore! As any entrepreneur knows, you must have the passion first before anyone else can.

True Story Last Week: My friend walked into my shop with dog hair all over his shirt. As a crazy perfectionist and lover of lint rollers, I literally lint rolled him from head to toe before he could hug me. I know I know a little obsessive. But that’s who I am and as a confident man he didn’t mind at all. Imagine a 47 year old man getting lint rolled by a 90lb. 4’11 woman. It was pretty funny.

My point is, confidence with who you are makes life a lot easier to deal with. It’s draining to worry about what other people are thinking about you, so why bother. Fear of rejection and judgment will only hinder you in life. Entrepreneurs especially MUST overcome fear. I did and I now have a trademarked brand of apparel that is worn by men, women and children all over the world!

TIKI TIP: Say Goodbye to Flappers

Everyone knows a flapper. I’ve known many and many is an understatement. A flapper is someone who flaps their mouth about anything and everything but will never actually help you. People love to make suggestions about what you can do and who you can go to and who they know to help you. Most of this chatter is exactly that, chatter! My tiki tip is to view everyone as a flapper and then see who really comes through for you.

Surround yourself with Doers, not flapper’s! If someone doesn’t return a phone call and email after they said to contact them, they’re a flapper! Don’t take it personally, just move on to the next. You don’t have time to waste mental energy on wishing and wondering why someone doesn’t respond. Who cares why because it won’t make a difference. Once you get the hang of this, it’ll be easy to let the flapper’s just flap away from you!

Stay tuned for my next blog and more Tiki Tips for your personal and professional life. I’ll keep it fun and informative with a dose of Kari’s personal perfectionism!

Grab a Tiki Tee, Tote or Tip and HAVE A TIKI DAY™!

At 10:21 a.m. on October 21, 2010, millions of Californians will Drop, Cover, and Hold On during The Great California ShakeOut, the largest earthquake drill ever! The ShakeOut is our chance to practice how to protect ourselves and to be prepared in the event of a large-magnitude earthquake on the Southern San Andreas Fault.

When considering disaster preparedness, we most commonly think about our family and our home. But now it is time to expand our thinking and consider our place of employment; the survival of our business depends on it.

“Roughly 40 to 60 percent of small businesses never reopen their doors following a disaster” according to the U.S, Small Business Administration.

So where to start? We recommend Ready OC. Ready OC is just that…Ready to help you and your OC business.

Their website offers a comprehensive guide to assist you in planning for all hazards (both man-made and natural disasters) that can impact business. It starts with making a plan to assess the situation as well as using both common sense and available resources to take care of yourself, your co-workers and your business. Effective communication with employees is the second consideration. Every employee should know where to go, who to contact and what to bring along in case of emergency. Lastly, review the steps you can take to both safeguard your company and secure your physical assets and protect your investment.

Participating at work in The ShakeOut is a great way to start your business on the road to preparedness. Right now there are 147 businesses registered in Orange County for the 2010 Great California ShakeOut, with a total of 38,103 participants. But even if your business did not register, you can still have your employees practice Drop, Cover, and Hold On as the first step in your emergency preparation.

Utilize the resources on Ready OC and don’t let your business become a statistic!

Orange County Advertiser welcomes guest blogger Rhonda Burgin from Burgin Construction with an informative post on EPA regulations regarding lead paint.

So, what’s the big deal? Why is everyone so up-in-arms and worried about the whole lead paint issue? Why is the EPA creating new regulations and going to such extremes?

In order to answer this question you have to have some basic information on lead poisoning. The most common sources of lead poisoning are:

Deteriorating lead-based paint
Lead contaminated dust
Lead contaminated residential soil
Long-term exposure to lead can cause damage to the brain and nervous system, behavior and learning problems, slowed growth, hearing problems and headaches in children. For adults it can lead to reproductive problems, high blood pressure, nerve disorders, memory and concentration problems, and muscle and joint pain.

If your home was built before 1978 you may be exposed to this hazard on a daily basis. Due to these serious health concerns the EPA has enacted new regulations which will affect the entire Home Improvement industry. These new rules went into effect for all projects beginning from April 22nd of this year. To meet the requirements, all contractors who work on homes built before 1978 must have completed the course and received their EPA Lead-Safe Certification.

For those in the industry who have not completed the requirements yet, you have less than 28 days remaining to do so. For all homeowners who are, or will be interviewing contractors, make sure you ask them about their certification and request to see a copy of the certificate. If you would like more information visit the EPA’s site at http://www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/renovation.htm or contact Burgin Construction at 714-558-1094.

Orange County businesses and homeowners can always use clear language regarding EPA regulations. Thank you Burgin Construction!

Going Green in OC offers additional environmentally friendly businesses in Orange County for the savvy consumer.

To combat empty store syndrome, many retailers are thinking outside of the box in order to attract customers. To stay competitive they are realizing that they must appeal to their community and become not just a retail location, but a destination.

Of course, many restaurants have already discovered the value of this concept by offering live music on Fridays and/or Saturdays. But does this concept work for say, jewelry stores or furniture stores? Business owners say yes and no. Not all are seeing a spike in sales, but they do see that they are cementing their place in the community.

Live music is not the only event businesses can add to their repertoire. Clothing stores are adding fashion shows. Fitness clubs are adding juice bars. Gift stores offer cookies and freshly brewed coffee. Events or perks are definitely becoming an integral part of retailers trying to reach out in a recession. And most retailers seem to agree that connecting with the community is key in the longevity of their business.

What ideas do you have in these tough times? Have you added events or special perks? We’d love to hear your comments!

Orange County Advertiser welcomes a guest blogger today -
Greg Reed from Globalbizz – Australia

The Diamond Emporium is one of the largest jewelry chains in my area. They got to be that way in the very competitive jewelry business because of how they built their business.

While most retail outlets lead with ‘price style’ advertising (you know the type – Diamond ring was $1995 now just $995), the Diamond Emporium advertised FREE diamond grading classes at their outlets. Now instead of advertising specials for Valentine’s Day, they didn’t advertise at all.

People could attend a showroom and be taught how to select a diamond, grade it and when they needed to buy a diamond they could recognize value; no matter where they bought it. This ingenius ‘education’ program saved the company a fortune in advertising. While their competitiors spent hundreds of thousands of dollars marketing the latest price reduction,

Diamond Emporium were opening new outlets. Brilliant isn’t it. They became the hunted instead of hunting for customers.

A local car dealer also did something similar with their WOW (Women on Wheels) program. They showed women how to change a tire, check the oil and put water into the wipers all around a fashion parade and nibblies in their workshop. When it came time to buy a new car, guess where most of these women bought from. Yes you guessed it.

So how do you become the hunted in your business?

Plumbers – hold handyman hint nights on keeping your drains clean

Real Estate – how to get more money when you sell nights or property investment seminars

Pizza shop – how to make a pizza dough or the perfect tomato base

Hairdressers – how to change your style in 10 minutes

Beauticians – classes that create a younger looking you

Give it a go. Your competitors will hate you for it but your bank manager will love you.

By Greg Reed
Globalbizz Australia