Get Organized! Solution #17: Gather the Miscellaneous

You know all the little (and not so little) stuff that seems to collect near your arm chair or near the dining room table?  You know how much it bugs you?  Well, Longaberger has an attractive and very functional solution to those problems.  Their Sort and Store Small Rectangle Storage Basket (available in four stain colors) can hold a collection of items that you can hide from view with a beautiful woodcraft lid or leave open for easy access.  Put one on the bottom shelf of an end table or next to your bed or arm chair and you can quickly and easily "tidy up" by putting everything in the basket and topping it off with the lid!  Save yourself from going crazy and invest in some  beautiful organizational baskets--they're cheaper than a shrink!

Join Longaberger for FREE and Earn Extra Cash for the Holidays

Starting September 1st through December 31st, Longaberger is offering you the opportunity to try an online Longaberger business for FREE. Earn some extra holiday spending money with 25% commission on all Wishlist and Monthly Flyer sales. Recruit your friends and earn 5% commission on their sales until Dec. 31 as well (Fundraising, Factory Store, and Supply/Sample Orders excluded).

To join my team, simply go to my website and click on 'Join My Team' or 'Join' on the homepage. You will get your own website and receive weekly email promotions directly from Longaberger which you can then forward on to your friends, family, and colleagues just in time for holiday shopping! You can run your business completely online with no product samples or home shows, or you can order samples or a kit during your first 30 days. Customers can access the Wishlist and Monthly Flyers online and then order directly from your personal website.

Longaberger will also be offering weekly training calls for all new consultants. If you sell at least $500 worth of product by December 31st you will be offered the opportunity to continue as a Longaberger Home Consultant at no extra charge unless you choose to maintain the MyShop Gold membership for $4.99 per month. 

Please call if you have any questions (541-752-8247) or email me at cindypaden@live.com.

Get Organized! Solution #34 Reclaim Counter Space

The Small Baker's Rack is one of my favorite items.  I use one in my kitchen to hold a fruit bowl on the bottom shelf, and tea bags in a one pint crock with a sugar bowl and creamer on the top shelf.  I still have room underneath to tuck away my  two wrought iron trivets as well.  At right, you see it being used to hold dishes for a buffet setting. The bottom shelf also holds the 9x13 baking dish.

You can earn the wrought iron Baker's Rack plus two furniture-quality maple wood shelves for  just $69 plus an additional half-priced item when you host a $350 home show.  Call me to schedule your show today (541-752-8247).

Quick Dinner Solutions: Nachos!

Longaberger's handled platter is the perfect piece for preparing and serving nachos.

Layer tortilla chips on the platter with shredded cheddar cheese and top with canned black beans (drained), shredded cooked chicken or pork, black olives, diced green chilies or jalapeno peppers and more shredded cheese. 

Bake in the oven at 300F until cheese is melted.  Top with Salsa Fresca* and sour cream or guacamole (or both!) and serve on your Longaberger wrought iron trivets. People can eat straight from the platter with just a napkin! 

One dish does it all--simple and beautiful!

The Woven Traditions Handled Platter comes in all the pottery colors including the new chocolate color.  Get yours for $60 plus S/H or for just $30 when you host a $150 show or more.

*Fred Meyer has a nice Salsa Fresca in the Deli section near the prepared fruit and vegetable platters.

Quick Dinner Solutions: Spring Salad With Chicken and Fresh Fruit

This is another family favorite for summer.  Before all the fresh berries are gone, you need to try this refreshing and healthy salad!

Ingredients (Per Serving)
2-3 chicken tenders, cooked & lightly browned
Prepared Spring Salad Mix
4 strawberries, sliced
1/6 apple, thinly sliced
Brianna's Blush Wine Vinaigrette (strawberry on label)

Preparation
Cook and brown chicken tenders in skillet with a small amount of olive oil or butter.

Fill plate with salad greens, top with sliced strawberries and apples followed by chicken tenders.  Drizzle with vinaigrette and enjoy!

Get Organized! Solution #21: The Medium Market Basket

The Medium Market Basket was Founder Dave Longaberger's favorite basket and he fashioned the company's home office after its design.

This basket can serve multiple purposes when you also have a plastic liner or two and look beautiful while its doing it:

1. Put one in your car to corral all the "stuff" that seems to accumulate there.
2. Remove the liner with the "stuff" and carry the basket into the market when you are picking up just a few items.  How green is that!
3. Keep one near the front door or kitchen to store the unopened mail that usually accumulates on the dining room table.  Sort & open the mail when time allows.
4. Put one in a place that you like to keep neat and use it as a cache for stray items around the house.  With a woodcraft lid you can keep things covered until you can carry the basket around the house and put things where they belong!
5. Put a lidded Market Basket in the kitchen to store accumulating newspapers until you can recycle them.  It looks just beautiful.  Imagine how that will make you feel!

Ever Considered a Marketing Career?

Last year I decided to sign up to be a Longaberger Home Consultant because I loved the product, but also because I wanted to expand my world and the people in it.  What has amazed me since that time is how unpredictable people are in what they buy and when.  Being a scientist by training, this has been perplexing because I cannot see any pattern (yet, anyway).  Mind you, my current list of customers are my friends and neighbors so you would think I would know something.  It strikes me that this business is an excellent opportunity to gain some marketing skills and experience, especially for those who are interested in the subject, but not able to find a career position in this economy.  Here is what I have learned or am doing as part of my Longaberger home-based business:

1. Learning to talk to people about this product when I am not always comfortable doing so.  I can see that without a God-given gift for sales or public speaking this can take some practice.
2. But, I have been saved by a recent decision on the part of The Longaberger Company to allow home consultants to advertise online and in print advertising.
3. I have since worked with a marketing person at our local university to create an ad for placement in the alumni magazine.  I took product photos and he laid the design out in Photoshop with my feedback on the image placement and ad copy.
4. I have obtained a domain alias for my Longaberger website so that my print ad URL will be shorter and more relevant to the ad content (www.TailgateBaskets.com will forward to my site at www.longaberger.com/cindypaden).
5. I took a web design class a few years ago "just for fun."  After a grueling quarter, I created my first website, having learned HTML and CSS.  Since then I have been recruited by my family's business to help them with their website where I learned more about Content Management Systems and understand what is behind the Longaberger website to some degree.
6. I will now be creating a one-page website at www.TailgateBaskets.com to highlight the Team Spirit, Collegiate, and NFL baskets from Longaberger and then direct people to my consultant website to purchase.  More online marketing skills.
7. I have read about inbound marketing and find myself enthralled with the internet and social media.  So today I decided to learn how to use ConstantContact so that I could send out weekly (hopefully) newsletters to my Longaberger customers with "inbound" links to my online store.
8. I have contacted another, larger university to inquire about placing an ad in their alumni magazine, only to find out that the prices there are 5-10 times higher!!  I guess it would make sense because they have a larger readership than our local university and are much more well known.
9. We had a meeting last night for our Branch (our group of Longaberger consultant's under one leader) and discussed the recent conference and how to enhance our social media presence by adding a page to our Facebook account.  Of course we only have Facebook accounts (being of a certain age) because people have asked us to be their "friend", not because we "write on our wall".  Being in sales with a company like Longaberger forces one to consider multiple marketing avenues and to stretch and learn the new technologies that are available.

All this made me think of my niece, Lauren, who recently received a degree in marketing.  She finally was able to find a job that was not 60-80 hours a week at a start-up company when she accepted a position as an administrative assistant at Stanford University. It occurred to me that starting a Longaberger business would provide one with a lot of opportunity to practice and learn marketing skills.  For only $49 plus S/H you can get a sample basket and catalogs plus your own website.  You are automatically part of a team that meets and communicates with one another to learn how to promote the product.  But most of all, you have a real life opportunity to see consumer spending habits and likes and dislikes.  What better way to keep on learning and growing while you move up the career ladder to your final marketing position.  To join, got to my website and click on "Join My Team" near the top of the home page and follow the instructions or call me for questions and/or help.