I was invited to speak at the Orem Small Business Developement Center on the topic ‘Marketing Strategies for a Home Based Business’. I shared with the class attendees my top at home business ideas for marketing their businesses. I feel honored to have been given the opportunity to address them. I believe I was chosen to address this issue because my business has done so well. Even in this tough economy. I tripled my client base and doubled my income this past year. I am a business strategist and my marketing campaigns have something to do with this, but the main reason my at home business has done so well is because I am very good at doing something that services a growing need, returning order and simplicity to someone’s life…plain and simple! As a Utah based professional organizer and a national online show organizing expert, I help people set up office systems that work and continue working as time goes on…plain and simple!

Class attendees below are the links and additional information I promised you. Remember, before you go any further, you promised to leave a tip for other blog visitors at the top of this post by clicking on comments THEN sharing a marketing tip that has worked well for you or someone you know. If you just happened upon this post titled ‘At Home Business Ideas’and did not attend my class, please share a tip with us before you read on. I am a believer in sharing our successes with others. Now that you have completed that, here is the information I promised you:

• A list of the best blog directories to which you should join: Technorati, Blog Catalog, and Google Blogs
• A great book on writing your own Press Release by my mentor Janet Meiners Thalaer. Click here to find it on Amazon
• The place where you can submit your own Press Release announcing your blog, business, or important business happenings.
• An easy way to send email newsletters, manage your subscriber lists, and track campaign performance with MailChimp. FREE if you have less than 500 subscribers
• Affiliate Marketing Partnership options found at: Commission Junction or Linkshare.

In my opinion, when dealing with at home business ideas and marketing strategies, there are a few things you should avoid:

• Spending your scarce marketing budget on PR firms or major advertising campaigns
• Spending too much money in the beginning
• Investing in expensive marketing materials that soon become obsolete or outdated

If you have not yet designed your own business plan click here for a business plan template.

If you are interested in hiring me to help you simplify your life and better organize your office spaces, papers or computer data, OR you would like to know more about marketing strategies for your home based business please contact me at www.OrganizingMindOverMatter.com

Home Organizing Workshops

Join Vicki for any or all of the 3 classes she will be teaching during the month of January 2010 in conjunction with National Get Organized Month. The class information is listed below. If you have any questions about the Utah professional orgainzer, Vicki Winterton, and her organizing classes please contact us.

“I just wanted to say thank you for your time in teaching me about time management. As you promised, the “Action File” has changed my life. I’m able to stay on top of the paper mess that comes into my home. I knew the importance of daily maintenance prior to your class (I only learned this in the last year!), but you’ve taught me how to perform daily maintenance on the paper mess, not just tidying the house. Wow! What a great thing!” –Diane, 2009 UVUcommunity education class

You control Christmas OR Christmas controls you. By learning to simplify Christmas through Holiday Planning this holiday season can be both peaceful and joyful.

I was invited again to do a Studio 5 TV segment titled “Overcome the Overwhelm: Tips to Simplify Christmas”. I shared some great tips for Holiday Planning including some clutter-free gift ideas to make this holiday season easy to manage.

The three tips I shared for better holiday planning were:

1. Make a list of ALL your holiday plans, activities and events, THEN PRIORITIZE your list.
2. Schedule your “Must Do’s” on your December Calendar. Then add in pencil your “Might Do’s”. (see below to print your own Calendar pages)
3. Simplify EVERYTHING you’ve kept on your calendar.

To receive a FREE copy of your very own Christmas Holiday Planner pages, click any of the page links below you would like to have. These are PDF pages and will print just as they are shown. Please leave a comment telling us what you have found to be a “must do” holiday tradition for you or your family.

1. Christmas Holiday Planner (cover page)
2. Holiday VALUES Analyzer
3. Holiday Priorities List
4. December 2009 Calendar
5. Holiday Family Traditions
6. Holiday Decor Inventory
7. Gift List Planner
8. Gift Closet Inventory
9. Holiday Meal Planner
10. AFTER the Holidays Analyzer

We had 75 entires in our drawing and I am pleased to announce that Heather McDonald of Pleasant Grove is the LUCKY WINNER of the Smith’s Food Stores gift card center $100 certificate. She will be able to choose any combination of gift cards from the more than 300 retail stores sponsored and stocked through Smith’s Food & Drug Stores. To enter, Heather subscribed to The Organized Woman Show by email. YOU can subscribe too, right below the show summary (scroll down one or two inches to find it on the left hand side). Click on the link and fill in your email address. You will then be asked to go to your email inbox and finalize the request. It is very easy; 1,2,3 and you are signed up. Once signed up you will be entered in the Smith’s gift card drawing AND will receive weekly updates of new shows with easy tips to help you better plan and organize yourself, your home, your workplace, your family and/or your career.

My online radio show, The Organized Woman Show has many new shows to help you maneuver the holidays easily and with greater finesse. Click on the link above to listen and learn. Some of the shows my co-host and I have recorded this month include:

• 025  Goal Setting including Resolution tips
• 024  Organize your Christmas Decor Storage
• 023 Blended Family Holiday Tips with special guest Janet Peterson
• 022 Organizing a last minute Party
• 021 Winter’s Fun Family Traditions with special guest Cindi Barton
• 020 Clutter Free Gift Ideas
• 019 Preparing a Holiday Meal
• 016 Preparing For House Guests

Do you stress out as you contemplate gift ideas for any occasion? Is the idea of a unique, well loved gift a “swing and a miss” for you when you shop for gifts? As the holidays approach, do you find yourself saying,”Wait, what about the joy?” Have you found that holiday shopping is neither peaceful nor joyful?

Today as I prepared my online show, The Organized Woman Show, I settled upon some gift ideas and shopping tips that may be just what you need to make your experience more joyful AND peaceful. Contemplate my gift idea suggestions below and see if something sounds good to you:

1. Consider your budget, then be sure you stick to it! Holiday Spending Worksheet
2. Clutter free giving is often the preferred, expecially with people middle age or beyond. We often have all the things we need. Something we can use up is a great “green” gift alternative. Four ideas were mentioned in the podcast show. Here are those and a few more clutter free SERVICE gift ideas for you to consider:

• Home organizing services (click to look at my services page)
• Cleaning services
• Community education classes (I offer one in January and October of each year Check back soon for January’s information on my home page.)
• Babysitting or Petsitting
• Scrapbooking
• Sewing Services
• Yardcare
• Donation to a favorite charity

Gifts of service are my favorite gift to receive. I am a woman who likes to live a simple life. I have more money than time. If you need a gift idea for someone who seems to have all they need, service options are GREAT gifts for them.

3. Another type of clutter free giving might be consumable gifts such as these:

• Gift cards and certificates
• Cell phone minutes or text packages
• A gasoline card
• Consumable foods – a food basket or membership in a food of the month club
• Landscaping plants
• Lessons such as music, art, drama, sports
• Entertainment options like concert tickets, theater tickets, cinema tickets
• Gifts of relaxation such as a get away weekend, a round of golf for two, a manicure or pedicure, an afternoon at the spa

Why is this post of value? Think back to last year. Do you remember any gifts you received? Do you remember the gifts you gave? The newspapers tell us that overconsumption has ruined the economy. The holiday season is notorious for over consumption. The ideal gift ideas this Christmas SHOULD include gifts of service and consumable gifts. Give it a try. I’m certain the receiver will be pleasantly surprised. Happy Holiday’s and JOY to the World!

I help frazzled women and men remember how peace looks and feels. As a Utah Valley organizer (professional), productivity coach and small business owner, I have learned much about business development through the Utah Valley Small Business Development Center located in Orem. One of my favorite parts of being a business owner is recognizing ways to better my business services and offerings. Five days ago I attended a class on Social Networking offered through the center.  I thought social networking might be a new way to inform others of the benefits of organizing and managing 1st their time, then their office spaces, papers, data, and computer’s email inbox.

The instructor, Sean Roylance, began talking about Facebook and Twitter; pointing out the benefits of each option. As he discussed the benefits of twitter, he brought up a sample of his twitter page after saying that he was very careful to ONLY follow those individuals that he felt gave him consistently good information. In fact he, as a computer website programmer and SEO specialist, limits the people he follows to a mere 20 individuals.

I was delighted to see my friend and mentor (a tech savvy wonder woman) Janet Meiners Thaeler aka NewspaperGirl up on his screen. Janet made a big difference in my business a year ago. I heard her speak at an event and we became friends. She helped me get my newly redesigned website up and taught me some basic tips about marketing my business online. She is known more recently for her insights involving Press Releases (see her new book, I Need a Killer Press Release, Now What??? )

Along with Sean, I too value her insights and knowledge. She helped me set up this blog and convinced me that taking my business online was a good idea. Her work has allowed many clients to find me and benefit from the organizing services and productivity coaching I offer them. Her insights have allowed me to help others live their best life.

If YOU are a small business owner and would like to better manage your business, I would suggest looking into the classes offered through your local Small Business Development Center. And be sure to read Janet’s posts (here’s a recent one she wrote for Small Business Trends about getting publicity).

Each day I acknowledge something I am grateful for. Today I found three: Janet, Sean, and the Utah Valley Small Business Development Center.

I was interviewed on the WIN Show (The Womens Information Network) this month because I am a show host with The Organized Woman Show. In the interview, we talked about how my FREE WIN online radio show, The Organized Woman Show, can benefit listeners in their lives. We touched on systems for organizing your shoes, systems for organizing your papers, systems for organizing your time, and how to organize any portion of your life.  To watch the interview, click the title here: The Organized Woman Show with Vicki Winterton.

My show co-host, Laura, and I record and upload 8 new shows a month. Our shows talk you through the steps to plan and organize your spaces, your papers, your office, your family, your personal time, etc.  If you would like to be notified by email each time a new organizing show is available to our listeners, subscribe to The Organized Woman Show through RSS or Itunes feeds by clicking on this link and then click on  the or logos on the right side of the web page to subscribe yourself through your email account. You can then pick and choose which shows interest you.

I’d love to have you join me to win online at The Organized Woman Show for ANY of the many 12 minute shows that meet your needs or may be the answer to an organizing question you need answered. If you have an organizing concern that a new show could answer for you, just email me at vicki.theorganizedwomanshow@gmail.com and recommend a show topic. Be sure to include your specific question or concern.

My goal and the goal of The Organized Woman Show is to allow you to live a better life by learning a new way to accomplish your life goals. I want to help you live your best life!

Are you tired of feeling overworked and unable to maintain control of your life?  I offer you options to organize your life and bring relief to life’s obvious pitfalls! After participating in any of these three options you will feel you are better able to take control of your time, spaces, family, etc. Click on the photos or green links below to gain further information.

1. Please join me as I conduct a Utah Valley University community education workshop, Organize your Office (I teach this 2 hour class each January and October) which will focus on helping you better organize your life by implementing the following:

• Balance – Time management for busy people in 3 easy steps
• Five steps to organize your home and/or business office
• How to organize your inbox with my 6 D’s and
• Three systems for managing your incoming papers AND file cabinets

Now, if that is not enough, here is help #2 for organizing your life a little better.

2. The Organized Woman Show has added 4 NEW shows including:

• Fun Fall Family Traditions
• Perfectionism – Is it worth it?
• Setting up a Family Management Center
• Setting up Family Rules

We are now recording eight new shows each month to help you better organize your life. Click on the or feeds in the middle right of the show page to be automatically notified through email of new shows as they are loaded. If you subscribe, you get to pick and choose the shows that interest you most.

3.  I was invited for the 5th time to be the organizing expert on a KSL TV’s Studio 5 segment “How to Prepare for Murphy’s Law”. I shared the trick to preparing for Murphy’s “drop in” visits. Click here to learn which time management options help most.

I was called by my friend and the CEO of the WIN online, Paula Fellingham, a few months back and asked to organize many of the comings and goings of show hosts for the upcoming Women’s Information Network National Launch on September 26, 2009 in Salt Lake City, Utah. I used my SPARK formula to organize three points of need for the WIN executive team. (I always consider it a great compliment to be asked to manage or organize anything by someone who already knows me.) Yesterday I finished up the job they had confidence I could do:

Set into Categories all the show hosts coming into Utah from out of state

Purge from the list those, who after financial consideration or time constraints, had reluctantly changed their minds

Assign incoming show hosts a recording time for the WIN Show and lodging accommodations during their stay

Round up airport transport times for pick ups and deliveries

Keep the documents easy to find and organized on my computer until Paula and the WIN executive team were ready to put my plan into action

Oh, the mind of a professional organizer and experienced corporate events manager. (I gained “events management” work experience years ago by working with three of the largest corporations in Utah. That experience benefited me greatly.)

The WIN online executive team

I learned much as I worked this event. I am excited to greet these accomplished WIN show hosts who have been communicating with me the past 30 days.

Please, join us for a day of learning at the Salt Lake Community College Campus Auditorium just west of the freeway on 9400 South. I’ll be speaking. See you there.

Four techniques and time management tips were discussed in my recent TV appearance on Studio 5. Click here to view How to Pad your time for Murphy’s Law.

Here they are again:

• Plan Ahead to Prioritize your Tasks with only a 5 minute investment each day–two of my favorite locally produced planners are: daily home planner & jot it down
• Simplify by shortening your morning routine
• Delegate Tasks that someone else can do nearly as well as you
• Estimate Time Accurately by rewinding your journey

For additional time management solutions click here

Kristin Nielsen of Salt Lake City, Utah won a SET OF 3 FAVORITE TIME MANAGEMENT PLANNERS in a random drawing held September 10, 2009. See her biggest challenge in the comments for this post.

Studies show that children lose much of what they have learned during the summer school break IF their brains are not encouraged to retain. Organized summer programs for kids are now available at a very reasonable cost. The school year has come to a close. Are you wondering which summer activities will enrich your child’s learning while allowing them fun participation.

For the Utah area, here’s a link for Summer Programs filled with learning options at Organize Summertime Activities For those of you who live in other states, contact your school district special education or gifted and talented resource director about organized summer programs and learning options for your children.