“The RoseBouquet”

As you may recall, MyPowerMall went under at the end of January. I found some other places that help you find discounts and get rebates for your online shopping, so the other week when I was ready to place another order for supplements at Puritan’s Pride, I went to BigCrumb to see if I could get there from there. Sure enough. No problem.

Last week i got an email telling me exactly what my rebate will be. $10.04. They don’t make us wait until we’ve got $25 coming to us before we receive it, but they do make us wait until the month after it arrives in their bookkeeping, so now I know that in April I will receive this money in my PayPal account. Suddenly shopping online looks more appealing again.

Would you like to Follow me to BigCrumbs! to check it out?

We all know or should if we haven’t closed our eyes to it, that it is not right to help ourselves to the photos or graphics of others. That’s stealing. I try to be careful not to do that.

However, sometimes I’ve found some sites on the internet that are willing to share their graphics for free. Naturally I bookmark them, and when I need something, I head back to those sites to see if they might have what I need. Just yesterday I followed a lead in my SBI training materials and found a pretty special stock photo/graphics site that offers free access and use of the graphics as long as you sign up to become a member of the site.

Doing some more browsing there at sxc.hu/, I am finding more and more really lovely graphics there. It seems a shame to keep this discovery to myself.

In my research I’ve followed some interesting links and found some serendipitous fun. Here’s a couple of videos I saw yesterday that really tickled me. Both of these are about giving the customer more than they expect in good service, but the way these stories are told is quite novel.

GiveEmthePickle.com This one is about giving customers that extra touch, going the second mile. Bob calls it ‘giving them the pickle.’

CatchtheFishPhilosophy.com This one is about creating a fun place for customers to shop. The example used is a fish shop where the employees play catch with fish and sometimes involve their in-store customers too. It’s about giving undivided attention to clients and customers. Be ALL there with them!

I really like that philosophy.

The more research I’m doing in this area the more I am discovering that a really smart and frugal shopper - like me - is not truly smart and frugal until shopping online and able to find the best deals and even freebies of whatever you are looking for. I had no idea there were so many shopping portals - similar to MyPowerMall - and yet most of them are far more simple, AND FREE.

On top of that, there are lots of sites that scour the internet for the very best deals or coupon codes on anything that can be sold online. There is really no excuse any more for paying full price, on most things.

So far I have signed up for BigCrumbs.com and though I felt a bit tricked when I couldn’t explore Ebates.com until I gave an email address, which signed me up, I am seeing that it offers some good deals too. I have not really shopped at these places yet, so I can’t give you a review in that sense, but if you would like to go have a look, do go ahead.

I have found some others that list sites that give away freebies, but I think I should research those some more.

Here’s a chance for you to give me your opinion or recommendation. In checking to see if there are any other sites with a shopping rewards program similar to MyPowerMall, I’m discovering that there are quite a few out there!

Just today I’ve been looking at BigCrumbs.com, Ebates.com and UPromise.com. All are free to join. Some have more stores, and some have less. BigCrumbs allows those who have a store on eBay to list it and thus get traffic to their own store. It also has an active forum and it appears that the users are enthusiastic about it. If they are all free it may not hurt to sign up for each of them.

However, it occurs to me that there may be still others out there, and I should do further research. So rather than me offering you tips and solutions today, I’m asking YOU to let me know what methods you recommend for great deals and frugal shopping online. I might just sign up under you. - and provide a link here next week.

Amazon Settles with Booklocker! I just learned this outcome yesterday. Booklocker.com is the publisher with whom I published my novel, Ruthe’s Secret Roses. Angela publishes the widely read weekly ezine, Writers’ Weekly, and have often been known to go to bat for authors to get a fair deal from traditional as well as POD publishers.

Here’s the start of their press release:

“As many of you probably remember, in March, 2008, an Amazon / BookSurge representative called us on the phone and told us we (and other Print on Demand publishers) must start paying Amazon to print our books. If we didn’t, they would remove our “buy it now” buttons from Amazon.com.

Our publicity efforts forced Amazon to finally make public what targeted POD publishers claimed to have been told through what some considered intimidating phone conversations. Until that point, Amazon hadn’t appeared to want to put anything in writing. . . . .”

You can read the rest of this release here.

Yesterday I received a check in the mail from Disciples’ Cross. That reminds me to tell you the story of my involvement with them. Way-wa-y back, maybe in 2003 or 2005, I found a link to that site, and went to check it out. I discovered that I would have to be an American resident to order the kit. That left me out, but since it looked like such a great idea for a small home business, I told my friend Connie about it.

She ordered the kit, but she and her husband could not seem to figure out how to bend the horseshoe nails just right to form the crosses for the necklaces. Even with the video enclosed in the kit. I bragged that my Dad could figure out such things without an instruction manual as a rule. So Connie sent me the kit.

Sure enough Dad figured it out and decided that he would gladly make those necklaces to sell. Since we could not order directly from Pastor John, the founder of Disciples’ Cross, I went online and found other suppliers and ordered them for Dad. He began to make them in batches of 30 to 50 and 80 at a time. I prepared little cards to put with them, and he got a heat-sealing machine to enclose each in its own plastic envelop. We found some local stores to carry them on consignment. He asked $7 for each, and they charge $14 to the public. I still pop into those stores once in a while to pickup the profits. I always call them a gift from Dad!

Well, there was nothing to stop me from signing up as an affiliate with Disciples’ Cross, so I have put some banners for them on my sites, and basically forgot about them. I guess visitors still click on them, and I make a commission on those who order the starter kit. That’s called passive income.

Now you want to have a look? Disciples’ Cross

P.S. This last fall I gave the kit to my brother Tom, and he has started to make the cross necklaces too. I continue to keep the stores stocked, but now I’ll have to bring the profits of those necklaces to him. He doesn’t have a website, but if you contact me, I’ll forward your email to Tom. It would really boost his morale too. And say, if you order directly from him, I believe he’d let you have them for $7/each rather than the $14 the stores charge.

Last week I was checking out Ginny’s weekly update, and offered a link to this special short story video she had prepared. It is really a great story of the apparently miraculous Chinese Bamboo. If you have been working on a dream and it seems to be taking forever, and you are not seeing the results you wanted - yet, then you will find some inspiration in this story; The Miracle of the Chinese Bamboo

SiteBuildIt! suites with the annual subscription that covers ALL related expenses are available on some sort of special or other at most major holiday periods of the year, but the one at the end of the year is the biggest and best - 2 for 1!

And just how wonderful is that?

Have a look at what these things would cost individually - and in some cases IF they were available anywhere else;
more info on value

Newest case-study: Patty.

After a few moderate successes Patty had hit a wall experienced by many service providers who try to strike out own their own…

“If you are a coach or any other type of service seller, you may have experienced a frustration similar to mine. Here you are ready and excited to put your skills to work, offer assistance, even change lives, yet your seemingly endless marketing efforts simply do not bring in the clients.”

As a Nutrition Coach, Patty needed a vehicle to take her great idea to the masses in a way that not only provided the satisfaction she craved, but the lifestyle she always wanted. And although she knew very little about building a Web business (at the time), she found SBI! and decided to take the plunge.

Boy, is she glad she did… “I can’t express how fantastic it feels to have the desire to reach out to help people and they come knocking at your virtual door! It is surely the easiest way to build a coaching business.”

Patty began with a great idea. SBI! set that idea free… Read about Patty and more case studies with REAL people!

If the people you would like to give some gift recognition already have all they need, how about giving a gift to the needy in their name and then just tell these individuals that you have honoured them by giving a gift to someone else. There are many missions and ministries, or charities, that provide a place on their website for you to give such gifts.

This year I have become aware of a number of struggling missionaries and small ministries in third world countries. They plead for funds and I cannot divide my gifts enough to help but a few of them. There is always so much more need. If you are looking for such places to send gifts to, and you need some suggestions, feel free to write me and I can name several. If you have a preference for certain situations or places, I can narrow now the list for you. I know some in Pakistan, Tanzania, Uganda, and other places.

It would take too much time or space here to describe them all, but I hope to do more of that in the new year on the generosity-alive.org site.