Month: September 2022

Air Jordan’s for the Smallest Person in the House

Is there anything funnier than watching a toddler wibble-wobble as they take their first steps? After the tears of laughter come the tears of joy. The moment baby puts one foot in front of the other for the first time represents the end of one era and the beginning of another.

For one, walking changes the dynamics of the parent/child relationship; there’s no doubting it. Your baby has become a child – with enough independence to make it from the living room to the bedroom without you noticing. Gone are the days when you could run some errands around the house while your baby was confined to the soft surroundings of the playroom. Your baby has its legs and is now active. Highly. Active.

Besides arming yourself – and the house – with locks and safety gates and soft padding and every other safety feature on the market, you have to consider what kind of footwear is best for your baby.

One thing is certain: shoes are not an item you want to be skimping on. Why? For one, baby’s balance needs to be strengthened, as does their grip. Their small feet will also need proper cushioning and the right kind of comfort.

Another thing is also certain: all babies are active. Highly. Active.

Bearing in mind the two certainties of Baby Footwear Science, it seems fitting (and rather cute) that Nike has designed a range of Air Jordan shoes for infants. The shoes are made with the best of sports technology precision, and take into account the needs of developing babies.

The Air Jordan line is now sold by the Jordan Brand subsidiary of Nike. Since its first release in 1985, there have been new designs of the shoe released each year, even after Michael Jordan retired from the NBA.…

What is a Great Boss and Why Are Employees Grateful to Have One?

I’ve had some really great bosses in my life. When I think of them, I often smile because I know how instrumental they were in shaping my career, giving me a thirst for the pursuit of excellence, and launching me into the world of owning my own market research firm. I will forever be grateful to those who encouraged, inspired, disciplined, and recognized me throughout the early years of my career. They made me a happy employee and in turn, I did as much as I could for the customers we served together.

As part of our annual tradition, we canvassed our database of mystery shoppers and contacted some of our clients to ask them to share the stories of the great bosses they’ve had in their lives. We were overwhelmed with responses but selected some of our favorites to pass along to all of you.

Take the example shared by one of our valued clients who works for a publishing firm we serve. She says. “I think the best boss I ever had was “the best” to me because of the mutual respect she had for each employee. She took the time to get to know her employees beyond their job titles. This particular boss understood everyone’s quirks along with their likes and dislikes. She also took the time to understand the role that each employee played in the office, understood each person’s responsibilities and how their functions related in the day-to-day operations. She respected the employee, the job they had, and in turn it was very easy to respect her and the position she held. I would definitely work for her again in a heartbeat! She rewarded hard work and was there to encourage and support you when you needed it. In my opinion, the greatest bosses understand the idea that respect needs to go in both directions, and this boss in particular had that down pat!”

The managing partner of a Philadelphia-based special events company and friend to Market Viewpoint, said that his definition of a great boss is one who truly “listens” to their employees and is aware that there are many ways in which people need to be heard.

Our mystery shoppers had some wonderful stories to share, too. One of our shoppers from Florida had this to say. “I was working at the airport when I got the news that my Dad had a heart attack. I needed to leave town and help the family. My boss told me to go and take care of the things that needed my attention. He told me that my job would always be here for me. I can’t tell you how good that felt – how much pressure was lifted from me when my boss told me to go and take care of my family assuring me that I would still get paid, and not to worry about my job! That man was a saint. I was truly dedicated to my job from that point forward – all due to the way I was treated by that manager. I spent the rest of my career at this airport until my retirement.”

Another story from one of our mystery shoppers involves the way she was trained to do her job as a shopper. As independent contractors, shoppers really appreciate it when they are coached on the areas of their work that need improvement. Our shopper had this to share. “This experience involved an editor at the company for which I performed my very first mystery shop. Rather than dock my pay for some corrections that needed to be made this woman called me and coached me on how to improve my report. It paid off because the next two jobs I did I got a rating of 10 -superior work!!”

So, how about you? Who were the bosses you worked for that inspired you? Are there any qualities that you can weave into your own management style that will help to inspire and encourage the next generation of employees? Remember happy employees result in happy customers and isn’t that what we’re all after?

Happy Thanksgiving and thanks to all the great bosses out there!…

Tips to Save While You Shop!

Shopping is often perceived as a task that involves spending lots of money, most of which is spent on things that one does not need. From one perspective this could be true but nowadays new avenues have been created to help customers save while they spend!! Shopping for groceries, household supplies, clothes etc. is inevitable. So how does one make allowance for savings in this equation? In this article, we will discuss on how to form certain habit patterns, which will enable you to save while you shop!

Make a list

Make it a practice to jot down a quick list of items that you need from the grocer’s before you head out to shop. You will find that this is more effective in narrowing down the list of items you actually want to use, so that you do not end of accumulating items, which you buy on a whim rather than out of necessity. If you do not agree with the idea of carrying a list, just try shopping with and without one to see the difference yourself! Your shopping basket is guaranteed to be filled with items you never intended to use in the first place. This could range anywhere from an ice-cream tub with a new launched flavor to fancy looking cutlery, both of which you may not really need!

Look for bundled offers

Marketers promote bundled offers, which typically consist of products that are sold together. These products have related use! For example, a packet of tea sold with a packet of biscuits is considered to be a bundled offer. Most of these offers are used for promotional purposes, especially during those times when a brand is trying to diversify its identity.

Sometimes you will find these offers during off promotion seasons as well! Look for such offers because this gives you an opportunity to save that much extra. Quantity wise, you may end up buying a little more but this will not do any harm because the extra quantity can always been carried over to the next month’s utility.

Sign up for store cards

Mega marts often provide their customers with the facility of using a store card to gain credits based on the number of purchases made. Many people discard this as a waste of time but if you frequent a particular store in your neighbourhood for your month’s supplies then this option can turn out to be quite handy.

All you need to do is fill out a form and the store will present you with a card. Upon reaching a certain point limit, you can use the option of converting these points into discounts for any shopping you do further!

Utilise some of the tips mentioned about to gradually change the way you shop, which will help you optimise your savings!…

Build and Manage Your Lists With Your Shopping Cart

You already know that to be successful with your Internet Marketing business, you need to build a list and use it to market products and services.

In fact, you really need more than one list. For example, prospects should immediately go into a customer list when they buy something from you. If you are active in various niches, you need separate lists for them all.

Once you have a list of any size, you need to start building a relationship with the people on it, and that always involves sending out regular messages. But with more than one list, that could take up so much time you would quickly fall behind. The answer is to create autoresponders for all your lists.

With autoresponders, you can preload a whole series of messages, set them to go out on a specified schedule, and it all happens automatically. My favourite method is to write a whole bunch of messages at one sitting and load them in for publication over a certain period of time, and add to them from time to time depending on their purpose.

But how do you set all this up? I know there are services that do just this one thing, but I don’t use those. I prefer to get more bang for my buck, so I use a shopping cart that not only takes orders for my products, but also helps me build and manage all my lists.

I need a cart that is user friendly. I’m far from being a techie and I have no IT department I can call whenever I get stuck with a technical task. So I picked a cart that is easy to use.

When I need to add a message to an autoresponder, I just log in, click a couple of tabs until I come to the autoresponder screen and fill in the blanks. Then I hit Submit, and it’s done. Same thing when I want to add a new product. I always used to be puzzled about how to create a link to an order form, but with my trusty shopping cart there’s no more mystery — it’s easy.

There are free or cheap shopping cart systems out there, but if you are serious about your Internet business you can’t afford to go with them. They will give you hassles and get you into trouble with your customers. Instead, get a shopping cart that takes care of everything from customers to prospects to ezine lists to product sales and delivery and even affiliates.

It’s one of the most important tools in your business, and you owe it to yourself to do your research and get this one right.…