The Transparent Hypnotist

While I am watching old movies on this fine Saturday, I am also trying to print out a newsletter for my weight loss hypnosis group. Normally I would send a newsletter to a printer, but I am doing less then ten copies. However, one page is full color (pictures from Halloween) and the other three are black and white. So, when this is done, I need to look at buying new ink cartridges. I use an Epsen Stylus CX5000, which means that several cartridges are needed.

So this time, I got industrious and found a few tips at www.inkjetdeals.info for ink conservation. I guess it is not an urban legend that turning off and on your printer uses ink. Interesting. It also recommends that when printing in black and white (three of my pages), that one should set the print settings to just black and white. This is just part of their Seven Steps to Saving Ink.

This site also explains in plain English the differences in generic print cartridges, refilling ink cartridges and why one might or might not want to use these products. This information can be found in their article on Generic and Remanufactured Cartridges. I have my own biases, but it is good to be a bit more educated.

Along with this information, inkjetdeals.info provides online sources for cheap inkjet cartridges and discount laser toner and coupons for these, up to 80% off retail prices. The company collects coupon codes for specific online sellers and makes them easily accessible.

So, another tool for finding the best deal for your printing needs.

Hmmm. The coffee is not cutting this one. Looking at yesterday’s mail, I notice that one my client’s checks bounced recently. Yikes. Sadly, this does happen, even to those of us with the best intentions. Many of us have been on both sides of this expensive fence and seen the domino effect it has in increasing bank charges to one and all.

And so, I breathe a heavy sigh. The bounced check is from a client who was recently laid off and is working on self-esteem to get back into the work force. We have been increasing his positivity about this situation and how it is a new beginning, a chance to do what he has always wanted to do (he has yet to figure this out). And now this. Well, guess it will be a test to see how well the hypnosis suggestions have worked to keeping him positive.

You know, though, it rather incenses me. Not the bounced check so much, but the banking fees that he will face. And I know, we can talk about responsibility all day long, but it will not change this that has come to pass.

And you know there is actually someone doing something about this in Britain. Soon their Office of Fair Trade will be doing an inquiry into this and have frozen all claims against banks regarding these fees. For those across the pond, they pay between 25 and 38 pounds for bouncing checks. According to a BBC money program, with the technology increasing efficiency with transactions, the cost should only be four pounds. Think how much banks make on all these Unfair Bank Charges. There is a company there that is now helping people with excessive charges called Keypoint, so that is a positive step.

I really think the US should consider looking into such fees, but I guess over here, we are a little side tracked.

About a month ago, I posted about a Halloween party I was thinking of hosting for my clients. I have progressed with that and sent out snail mail invites (you know, the real invites that are tangible). I believe this is really personally and that is not a bad thing to embrace as a small business owner.

There have been a few people who mentioned that it would have been just as good to send out the invites as an email invite. I could have used an email marketing program that could handle it all, like Email Express Direct. This would have meant handling the party as a marketing campaign, which ultimately I guess it is. Rather than hand addressing the envelopes (which the intern did), I could have uploaded them into the program, created a graphically enticing message (rather than the glossy paper I used), and I could have tracked the response, as in who opened the email, who responded, and more.

I see the corporate look with the email, but I see the personal touch with the invite. Which would you have preferred to receive? Would one influence you decision to attend?

The great cover-up. Literally. One of the most useful items I have in the office is a blanket. I throw it over a chair and if clients want to cover up, they can. And it always surprises me as to who actually does this. Sometimes it is the high school quarterback who wants to improve his concentration, the blue collar worker who is kicking smoking, or it could be madame CEO herself.

Always in a state of keeping the office fresh through the idea of redecorating, I have come up with another interesting concept. Since I have gone the route of digital picture frame inductions (for some), it might be fun to coordinate the images into other parts of the office, thus perhaps stimulating and reinforcing the suggestions. For instance, one of the pictures that makes a quick pass through the picture frame is now also framed in my rest room.

But what about the blanket, the cover up? This gives certain people a feeling of security, so would it not also make a great reinforce? Visionbedding.com offers such a product, the Photo Blanket . They reproduce your image onto a micro-suede fabric and the back is solar fleece (which means soft and comfy). They are machine washable and dryable.

I have to be careful thought…too many flowers might make the office too girly. I do not want the session room to look alike a teenage girl’s bedroom. Perhaps a landscape might be best.

Well, the intern caught up with reading the blog and is now giving me a hard time about the post I did about getting a portable DVD player to use as a pre-talk. She thinks it is horrible idea. In her words, “It’s not real.” Hmmm.

So rather than saying, “Real? I’ll give you real,” I asked, “What is your suggestion?”

Now she seems to think I should suck it up and take the plunge. “Hire a receptionist,” she said.

I asked if she had read my blog and noted where I said I was not quite ready for it. She said I was just being unrealistic. She said a receptionist would give credibility to the office. A receptionist could do the pre-talk. Yeah, and she could do the hypnosis as well…and who said she? Why not a he?

But I digress in my pithy panic.

By the end of the day she sent me a link to Trovix Recruit, among others. She said it would be timely for me to look into their service, just put the whole thing in their hands, or that of their intelligent website services. It is tempting to say the least, but of course I know I am not ready for a head hunter. But as my intern explained, Trovix Recruit is Internet based, sort of like putting out a job posting to one source and getting a lot more for the bang. It is a full
applicant tracking system, which means you can get feedback on potential candidates from different recruiting managers and you can track everything online from the job posting to the interview/hiring process.

So, it is in the thought process. We will see. We will see. Again, any thoughts are welcome or even advice.

There are times when the Internet feels like one big catalog. You can order anything and everything (and if you do not enjoy shopping in general, like me, it is a godsend). And so, with this in mind, my intern and I are discussing the concept of creating an online store. I suspect many of you have these, so any thoughts or opinions would be helpful.

From what I have disseminated from the growing list of resources, one’s success with an online store has as much to do with ecommerce software as it does the actual the products. Even knowing a little coding is nothing in the scheme of finding the ultimate shopping cart for your customer. I do not know about any of you, but I find this all a bit daunting.

I have looked at various ideas from free shopping carts and vendors who do not require much, but it gets complicated when it comes to creating an actual cyber store. I spend enough time marketing that I do not want to spend my time on complicated Internet resources. It needs to be relatively painless from my end, look professional, provide reliable service to customers and have a user-friendly back-end.

A potential solution is from Ashop Commerce. What I like about them is similar to the reason I like the idea of online storage of files – the software does not live on one computer, but is assessable by several. It means I do not have to cart stuff between the office and home, worrying about having this disk or that, it is all there, online - everything – the store, the shopping cart, the files and the back end.

Essentially, they do it all. Working with their templates (this blog for instance is a template), you upload logos and such, set up the store online, which is hosted on their servers. You can sell tangible goods, downloads, anything and it covers it all. They provide the shopping cart. The customer pays through it and you fulfill the order.

So, I like the ease of this. Anything to make life, especially the business side, a little easier.

How many of us have, during the course of our pre-talks, done the “try” to shake my hand routine? And of course when the client goes to shake the hand, we say that is “doing,” not “trying.” We do this to make a point when our clients say, “I’ll try…to be a non-smoker (etc.).” There is no try, either there is or there is not.

When discussing this with my partner one evening, in high wisdom, he emulated our favorite wise-one, Yoda, “Do or do not. There is no try.”

How fabulously perfect. So, for a while I have been known to quote Yoda rather than shake hands. And it is always fun to see who is a Star Wars fan, and who is clueless. Their eyes either light up, they think I am crazy, or they think Yoda is akin to Socrates.

So, at gift giving holiday times, I find myself collecting Yoda figurines and such. But, I have found something wonderful that trumps even the most detailed figurine (excluding the handmade sculpture I received from a young client, nothing beats homemade).

In looking for a theme for a special “child’s-view” office, I have found a center piece. I have found the Yoda monument. Yep, a fiber glass monument that stands 27 inches. And one could say it is an investment for the practice (it is part of a limited edition of 1000).

I found Yoda at a place that sells really cool toys at low prices. If you do cater to children at all, they have some interesting things from electronic toys to the ever-necessary Legos (they aren’t just for client kids, you know - they can be a great stress reliever).

Do not let the name of the site fool you though - shoplift.com. They cater to hobbies as well, and have some interesting arcade-like games and pinball (even we serious types need an outlet). I am still trying to work out a pinball induction. Let me know if you have any ideas.

Now I just have to decide on the rest of the furniture.