Send ‘em something

Posted: November 22, 2010 by suntidesigns

How do you relate or connect with your clients, friends, and family during the holidays?

Social Networking makes it so easy to just post a Happy Holiday message and hope that everyone will see your post. Many will, but if you want to keep it simple. Go back to the basics and send them a holiday card in the mail. We have new exciting designs that nobody else will have. We can customize it with your logo or family name. Choose from different messages or leave them blank to give your own personalized message.

Since so many people are surfing the web and hanging out on social networking pages, I think it is still a good idea to spread some holiday cheer on the cloud. If you are into relationship building, then do it by mail or hand deliver a special present.

My insurance agent, Jamie with Country Financial, makes salsa from scratch each year and give it out to his clients. I helped make the label for the jars. Yummmmm! It smells so good. This is a cute way to say thanks.

What can you do special to let them know you care? Email suntidesigns@aol.com to order your holiday cards or have us help you with a customized goodies to give out for the holidays.

-W Samantha Newman

Sunti Designs, owner

Personal Growth: Put Good In and Get Good Out.

First of all, I want to tell you how hard it is to be a good wife, good mother, run a household, and a business. I am not saying that I am the expert. I have shortcomings as we all do. But here are a few ways to overcome some of these personal obstacles.

At the end of the day of working---or still working long hours at night, I would have trouble finding time to make dinner, cleaning up clutter, even do laundry or spending time with my family. Well this definitely impacts how well I was eating, how clean my house was, or if I had to look for something to wear at the last minute each morning. What I missed most was being able to help with bath time or help cleaning up toys...or just having fun.

I would like to take a moment to tell you about a great tip on how to be more productive in business. I personally have made a few changes in my life. I have instituted a no-tech zone. I set aside a few days each week and from 6-8p, I do not use technology. Yes - I mean my cell phone, computer, and even the TV. Now I can not do this everyday for obvious reason, but I try to institue it at least 3 times a week. Try it. I run Sunti Designs, Peace-of-Mind Marketing and Graphic Designs. So this was hard to do, but worth it. Not being available for 6-9 hours a week is not going to ruin my business.

There is DVR for those who really don't want to miss a show. Which is great because when I do get around to watching 5 episodes of my favorite soap-I can fast forward throught the commercials or the couples I don't care to watch and get through them in about 2 hours. There is a thing called voice mail for those who can not get to the phone. Remember when we didn't have cell phones....heck, I remember when we didn't have voice mail or even an answering machines with tapes. I do remember always having TV, but I do remember having only one in the house vs. one per person. I get to spend more time with my family. Sometimes we clean up, eat, read, or just have fun being silly.

My next big tip is exciting and easy to do. I also started the 'put good in get good out' rule. I used to listen to all kinds of music on the radio in the car. Now I either listen to upbeat music when I need energy, slow listening for when I need to wind down, or listen to motivational CDs (Zig Ziglar is one of my favorites) or a book on CD. I will keep you posted on how this goes. But I have gotten a chance to listen to some wonderful motivational speakers, learn about the history of England, and 2 great books so far. Stay tuned for a new blog next month on personal growth-as it pertains to my life.

My Monday Revelation

Let me tell you that I was hard at work on Monday finishing up several projects so I can start some new ones. I kept getting important phone calls which lead me to new projects. At the end of the day, I had plans to visit a wake for a friend of mine who had just lost his 9 month old son, who was born prematurely. I would just like to tell you the impact of Bradley Oliver in my life.

I first met Bradley when I was visiting a friend of mine who just had a baby, also early-but only by four weeks. I was already sad to be going into see little Mason who was hooked up to tubes. I am a real cryer, you know. I was escorted in with the father of Mason and we saw this little boy running around the NICU. We asked the nurses where his parents were.

They said, "Oh, that's Gregory. I'll get his father." Gregory has lots of energy for a five year old boy. This was familiar territory to him as he spent the first few years of his life in this very NICU. I saw his father and to my surprise it was my old co-worked Tom. Tom greeting me after wrangling up Gregory. I asked him if Gregory was doing ok and why they were here. He told me that thier second son had been here for 8 months and they had thier own room. I told him after I saw baby Mason, I would come back to see Bradley.

I was already trembling at the thought of seeing baby Mason hooked up to all those tubes. I did ok, he is so incredibly sweet looking. He looked very healthy and I was happy to meet him.

Then I asked the nurse to get Tom so I could visit with him. Don't worry, I was thourghouly scrubbed down so I don't pass any germs-hospital rules. Tom came out with Gregory and showed me where they were.

They had thier own room at the NICU. There was a nice baby bed, not like a little incubator would look. So it looked more like a baby's room. They had so many pictures of Bradley, Gregory and thier parents. The whole family are huge Cardnial fans-that is St. Louis Baseball for those of you not into baseball or St. Louis sports teams. There was a big stuffed Red Bird and lots of fun stuff for Bradley to look at. It was very home-like. As much as could be for a room in the NICU. Bradley was struggling, but looked very somber in his grandmother's arms. I think I got a half smile out of him. I was pleased with that and left shortly so I didn't impose on grandma time.

I went to pick up my phone to call Tom to see how little Bradley was doing. I saw on my Blackberry that I had a new email. It was an announcement for the times and dates of the wake/funeral for little Bradley.

We went to the wake and the reception line was enormous. I just wanted to let you know, that even though little Bradley was only here for 9 short months. His impact on the world touched so many lives. Just to let you know-Gregory and Mason are both doing very well and healthy. Rember to hug those today that you love in rememberance of baby Bradley.

Social Networking-Is it for you?

The key to marketing is that you must put your name out there - a lot! Social Networking works for people differently because people use it differently. Some want to socialize with people they haven't talked to in ages. Some want to sell their products and services. Then there are people like me who do both.

You must not forget the key words in this. Social means to engage with others. Networking means you are in a supportive group of sharing information and services.

You can use social networking to meet people or grow your business. Remember that you need to follow up. If you want to make friends with that girl from high school and be best friends or her boyfriend, you can not just send her cute IM's. You should see if you can meet in person. That is the social part.

In the same aspect - if you are trying to build relationships for business networking, you should offer the olive branch and try to see how you can help that person grow their business and usually givers gain. I mean if you find a way to help a business save money each year or get them a new client, they will be more willing to do the same. This is not always true. But if you help eight people and one helps you, you are a better person and now someone helped you in return. This is the networking part.

Use the same grammar skills and etiquette rules that you would in person. Always be professional because even if you are on social networking sites (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogger, etc.) anyone can see what you are doing. That is unless you have set up blocking devices where only your network of friends can read.

Many employers are checking up on existing employees by reading their sites. Other employers are using that as a reference when they are in the interview process. Google yourself to see what others can find out about you. You might be surprised as to what comes up. This could be the determining factor about whether or not you get your dream job.

By: W Samantha Newman
Sunti Designs, Marketing & Graphic Design Firm
suntidesigns@aol.com