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                    In a Nutshell
   Information and Tips for your Image Consulting Business

 2/04/03                                          Issue #10
 Linda Gerloff, Editor, linda@blueflute.com
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     By subscription only! Welcome to your next issue of
                   "In a NutShell".
 You are receiving this newsletter because you have
 subscribed to either the monthly Automated Inventory
 Updates or this newsletter.
 Unsubscribe instructions are at the end of this newsletter.
 
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   IN THIS ISSUE
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    =>  Inventory Updates for February
    =>  Blue Flute News 
    =>  ‘In a NutShell’ archives 
    =>  Feature Article
         This ‘Woman’s Month’ – Paperwork won’t get you down.
    =>  Fun Trivia

    =>  In my business, how do I ...
         Decide which products to order?      

    =>  Guest Column    
         Spring and Valentine Gift Baskets
          by Helen Williams-Baker   
    =>  NutShell Tip – 
         ‘2-Fers’, Lip Color Packs 
    =>  Recognition Corner 
    =>  Subscribe/Unsubscribe information
 
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 Inventory Updates for February
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Your inventory updates for February are ready. If you have
 subscribed to this service, you can get your updates here:
 http://www.blueflute.com/btyupdt1.htm

 Hint: The inventory updates are usually posted online
 about 24 hours before the newsletter is published. Bookmark
 the above link and then, if you are anxious for your
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 The title of the page will tell which updates are
 available.

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 Blue Flute News

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 February Special – NutShell is available for $20 off when
 purchased within 10 days of downloading the free trial. As
 always, there is a 30 day guarantee, so there is no risk!

 Details are available here:
 http://www.blueflute.com/btynut.htm

 Don’t forget that when you refer NutShell to a friend,
 you win, too. Not only will your consultant will have more
 time for selling and recruiting, but you will receive free
 inventory updates, as well!

 Thank you! – Thank you to everyone who helped promote
 NutShell during the Success Super Special. The Super
 Special was a Super Success!

 The Fastest Freshman! – Sara Gerloff, my 15 year old
 daughter joined the high school swim team this year. In
 January, she and three of her teammates worked together to
 break the school record in the 400 Yard Freestyle Relay!
 Sara says it is due to her lucky pencil, but I think her
 success was due to hard work and dedication. She then went
 on to the District Championships where she proved herself
 to be the Fastest Freshman in the District in the 100 Yard
 Freestyle event! At the District meet, her performance with
 her teammates advanced her to the Regional meet where she
 turned in personal best times in the Finals. Sara has been
 rising at 4:30 AM the entire school year so that she can
 be at swim workout by 5:50 AM. She even went to practice
 over Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks. Sara is an Awesome
 Kid and I am so proud of her!
 
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 ‘In a NutShell’ archives
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 Did you miss a prior ‘In a NutShell’ newsletter, or would
 you like to review one of the articles? You can view it
 here: http://www.blueflute.com/Newsletters.htm

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 Feature Article –
   This ‘Woman’s Month’ – Paperwork won’t get you down.
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 February is the ‘romantic month’, which makes it a woman’s
 month and that is good for your business! Husbands and
 boyfriends are anxious to spend money on their wives and
 girlfriends.

 Although some men have a delicious romantic streak, many
 men are pretty much stumped when it comes to giving a
 thoughtful gift to their woman. They have the desire, they
 just don’t speak the ‘language’. This is where you come in -
 you can provide all the answers. If you know the names of
 your clients’ significant other, contact him and offer
 to provide either a gift basket or gift certificate in a
 price range that will work for him. Check out
 Helen Williams-Baker’s gift basket ideas in the
 Guest Column below.

 If you don’t know how to contact your clients’ significant
 other, just call the client and, with an air of excitement
 and mystery, ask how he can be reached. Record this
 information for future use. When you contact him, have
 several suggestions prepared in advance. Ask the price
 range and interests of the gift giver and then offer him a
 choice of two or three gift baskets and/or a gift
 certificate.

 You can also gain new clients the same way, by offering the
 gentlemen at work, the health club, church, the local fire
 station, etc. an instant and effortless way to end their
 Valentine gift search. Be sure to include your business
 card and coupon for a Spa Escape or Image Party in each
 gift basket and gift certificate.

 Once you have made these sales, you will need to do the
 appropriate paperwork. In your NutShell software, for both
 gift baskets and gift certificates, you will need to add a
 new product to your inventory list. Add a new item called
 ‘Gift Certificate’. Give it a 5 digit item number starting
 with ‘9’ and a retail price of zero dollars. Do the same
 for a second item and call it ‘Gift Basket’. If you feel
 adventurous, you can add several gift baskets to your
 inventory, such as Helen’s ‘Harvest Hands Gift Basket’ or
 ‘Sheer Indulgence Gift Basket’. However, a single, generic
 ‘Gift Basket’ item will work just as well.

 Invoice each sale using these new items. Once you
 have placed the Gift Basket or Gift Certificate on the
 client invoice, change the Retail price to the appropriate
 amount. If you have sold a $25 gift certificate, change the
 retail price to $25. For Gift Baskets, go ahead and add the
 individual products to the invoice as well. This will allow
 your client to know which products she has received. It will
 also remove the products from your inventory, as well as
 creating client History information for future reference.
 Be sure to change the retail price for these items to zero,

 since you are charging for the gift basket as a whole.

 When a client redeems a gift certificate, enter an invoice
 for the products she is purchasing just as you normally
 would. Then enter the gift certificate amount as a negative
 adjustment. Or, if you prefer, you can add the Gift
 Certificate item to the invoice and change the retail price
 to the gift certificate amount, but make it negative,
 like this: -25.00.

 Have fun with this romantic, woman’s month, knowing that
 following up with the paperwork will be no problem!

 ~~~~~~
 You can get more information about using the NutShell
 software here: http://www.blueflute.com/btynut.htm
 

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 Fun Trivia
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 The skin is only about as deep as the tip of a ball-point
 pen. First-degree burns affect only the very top layers of
 the skin; second-degree burns, midway through the skin's
 thickness. Third-degree burns penetrate and damage the
 entire thickness of the skin.

 http://www.absolutetrivia.com

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 In my business, how do I…
  Decide which products to order?
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 Managing your inventory can be one of the hardest and most
 intimidating aspects of running your own business. It really
 is a balancing act between having too much inventory (where
 your hard earned dollars waste away on your inventory shelf)
 and having too little inventory. Products don’t sell as well
 when the customer has to wait for them.

 The more experienced you are in your business, the better
 you will know what you need to have on hand. But, whether
 you are a new businesswoman or very experienced, you can
 make good decisions when placing your product order.

 There are several things to consider. Of course, it is a
 good idea to stock up when product is on sale. Discount
 incentives may also influence the size and timing of your
 orders. You will need to order any product necessary to fill
 orders that have already been placed by your clients. And,
 you can also be guided by prior activity in your business.

 If you are a new consultant, you won’t have prior activity
 to guide you in determining which products to carry. At
 this point,  your funds are limited anyway, so you will be
 stocking just basic products, such as skin care. Once your
 business has matured and you have some sales activity under
 your belt, you will be able to use this information to help
 you make sound buying decisions.

 It will be helpful to look at your sales activity from two
 points of view. For the more standard products, such as
 skin care items, look at how much you have sold in the last
 6 or so months. For seasonal products, look at how many you
 sold during the last season.

 So, to pull this all together, exactly how will you do this?
 In NutShell, you will do it with ‘Reorder Points’ and a
 History report. You can see Reorder Points on the Inventory
 screen. It is the column titled ‘Reord’. The Reorder Point
 tells NutShell how much product you want to keep on hand.
 Use your History report to tell you which items are big
 enough sellers to warrant setting the Reorder Point.

 Once you have set the Reorder Point on your top selling
 items, NutShell will be able to quickly tell you which
 products you need to order at any given time.

   1. Go to the History screen and click the Print button.

   2. Select the ‘Top 25 Items’ report and click the Summary
      radio button. Enter From and To dates according to the
      time period appropriate. For example, you might want
      to run your report for the prior 6 months. Click OK
      to print the report.
   3. With your report in hand, go to the Inventory screen and
      click the ‘To Item Detail Mode’ button at the top of the
      screen.

   4. The report you just printed will show you your top
      selling item. Enter the item number of this item in the
      ‘Go to Item’ box on the top of the screen.
   5. On the right side of the screen, you will see a
      breakdown of your sales of this item by month. If you
      order once per month, you will want to be sure to have
      a month’s worth of product every time you order.
   6. Once you have decided how much is ‘a month’s worth of
      product’, key this figure in the Reorder Point field
      on the same inventory screen.
   7. Do this with as many of the top selling items as you
      feel is appropriate.
   8. When you are ready to place your inventory order,
      click the ‘Buy’ button to bring up the Open Purchase
      Order screen. Click the ‘+’ button to start a new
      order. Then click the ‘Load Items’ button. This button
      is in about the middle of the screen toward the right.
      It looks like a hand holding a pencil. NutShell will
      go through your entire inventory list, comparing your
      Reorder Points with the actual inventory you have on
      hand. It will also take into consideration any orders
      that are outstanding for your clients.
   9. Based on this information, a suggested order will be
      created for you.
      Once the order is created, you can modify it in any
      way you wish, taking into consideration such factors
      as sale prices, discount incentives and your budget.

 This process will guide you in making decisions about your
 inventory. It will keep you from overlooking products and
 will also save you a ton of time. Every 6 months or so, you
 may want to tweak your reorder points. Run a new History
 report and see where changes have taken place. With just a
 little effort, you CAN stay in control of your inventory!
    
         *-----------Quote of the Month-------------*
           
         'Tension is who you think you should be,
          relaxation is who you are.'
               --  Ancient Chinese Proverb

         *------------------------------------------*

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 Guest column – Spring and Valentine Gift Baskets
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 by Helen Williams-Baker

 Gift ideas and packaging --- determine prices of your gift

 packages based on the price of product and your materials.

 Don't forget to add your business card and invitation for

 free skin analysis, color analysis or Spa Escape. Baskets

 can be surrounded with shrink-wrap, tulle, clear or

 decorated cellophane with a bow added. Use the packing

 materials that come in your product orders in the bottom

 of baskets and containers to raise products.

 Candlelight Kisses – Use any of our candles with matching
 body wash and scent.  Place in pretty container with shred
 and chocolate kisses.

 Kitchen Queen – A basket or ceramic crock filled with wooden
 spoon set, Oven Mitt, Recipe Cards, other kitchen or cooking
 items you can think of and one of our hand cremes.

 

 Harvest Hands - For the Gardener –In a Terra Cotta Pot, add
 a gardening spade & Regeneration Extreme Repair Hand crème
 or Hand and Nail Therapy Crème.

 

 A Shower for your Garden – In a Terra Cotta Pot, place
 gardening gloves.  Put Sheer Rain Shower Gel in one Glove
 and Sheer Rain Body Lotion in the other. Fill in with
 green shred.

 

 LollEyePops Bouquet – Use 2 Sensuous Shadow Singles, a big
 lollypop or several Tootsie Pops.  Tape popsickle sticks
 to the back of the shadow singles.  Wedge a piece of
 Styrofoam in the bottom of a small flower pot and insert
 Shadow LollEyePops and Candy Lollipops.  Put Shred around
 bottom to hide the Styrofoam.

 

 Singing in the Rain – Sheer Rain Shower Gel or Bath Bar,
 Body Lotion and Green Sponge packaged in glamour set bag
 or basket.

 

 Sheer Indulgence – Put Sheer Rain Shower Gel, Body Polisher,
 Body Lotion, Skin Scent, Sponge in Skin Care Set Bag or
 Basket.

 

 Bathing Spa Beauty – Spa Minerals, Body Wash, Body Lotion,
 Nourishing Eye Pads, Green or White Sponge or Wash Cloth
 rolled up and tied with pretty green ribbon in bag or
 basket.

 
 Sugar Time --- Sugar Wash, Sugar Lotion and Sugar Scrub
 

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 To share your ideas and comments, contact me here:
 mailto:Guest@BlueFlute.com

       *---------------A Good Laugh--------------*
        "There is nothing like the joy of
         motherhood, especially when all the kids
         are in bed."

 

           -- unknown, but definitely a Mother!
      *-----------------------------------------*

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 NutShell Tip – ‘2 Fers’; Lip Color Packs
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 ‘2 Fers’ - On the January order form, there are several
 opportunities to save money when purchasing in quantities
 of 2 or more. The new lip colors are $9 each, but when you
 order 2 or more, you will get them for $8 each. The same is
 true of the Chocolate Flavored Lip Glosses (Yum!). You can

 get any combination of 3 for $33 ($11 each).

 When you order these products, put them on your PO as you
 normally would. They will display with the regular price.
 If you order enough to qualify for the discount, change
 the retail price accordingly.

 ‘Lip Color Packs’ – If you went to your Success meeting in
 January, you had the opportunity to order the special lip
 color packs. These same packs are now available through
 Beautinet, although the item number and price are different.
 Both lip color packs are included in the February inventory
 updates. If you purchased either of these packs, enter them
 this way:
  1. Place the lip pack itself on your order. If your got the
     Success lip pack, the item number is 10580, the price
     is $80 and the discount is 50%. The Beautinet pack is
     item number 10984 and the price is $90. Include your
     normal discount.
  2.Add the mini’s to the order. They are item numbers:
    10394
    10396
    10397
    10399
    10400
  3.Add the postcard to the order:
    Item number: 10595  Change the retail price to $1.75
  4.When you receive the lip pack, receive and close the
    PO as normal. When you close the PO, NutShell will offer
    you the chance to convert the pack(s) to the individual
    items. Tell it do so. This will allow you to sell the
    lip colors individually. Note: The Beautinet lip pack
    also contains an Extreme Repair Hand Therapy crème. This
    product will be included when you convert the pack to

    the individual items.

 Backup – If you do your NutShell backup with floppy disks,
 please be aware that the backup should take at least 2
 floppies. If you get a message during the backup that says
 ‘Please insert a blank disk’, it means to remove the disk
 already in the drive and insert another disk. If you don’t
 remove the first disk, you will NOT get a good backup. This
 is very important! Don’t risk losing your data due to this
 ‘little’ detail!

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   Game – Ice Breaker Game
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Ask each party guest to pick a balloon out of a small bowl.
 Explain to them that the first person to blow up their
 balloon, tie it, sit on it and pop it will win a gift.
 This is a great ice breaker! It gets everyone laughing and
 having a good time.

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   Recognition Corner
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 Congratulations to the following NutShell users who have 
 worked hard and achieved success in advancing their careers!

  ~ $15,000 Director ~
  Rita Kay Isaacs

  ~ $10,000 Director ~
  Delores Rosno
  Karla Shuck

  ~ $5,000 Director ~
  Cheryl Ashworth
  Geri Bare
  Tawnya Feldman
  Wendi Hebert
  Jeana Jacob
  Tonna James
  Laura Pantzlaff
  Sara Pruisner

 ~ Executive Director ~
  Delores Rosno

 ~ Senior Director ~
  Cheryl Ashworth
  Wendi Hebert
  Tonna James
  Tawnya Feldman
  Jeana Jacob
  Laura Pantzlaff
 
 ~ Mustang Director ~
  Darla Brock
  Carrie Byrd
  Saralyn Ostwinkle

 ~ Director ~
  Carolyn Barlowe
  Connie Brown
  Geri Cozine
  Denise Newsome
  Kelly Wofford

 ~ New DIQ ~
  Valerie Altman
  Davonnia Cox
  Carissa Evans
  Tina Fitts
  Ann Harris
  Cindy Irvin
  Mary Laughlin
  Teresa LeDoux
  Debra McComb
  Sandra Mozey
  Karen Murphy
  Saundra Pendergrass
  Diana Perez
  Jeannie Russo
  Heather Smith
  Susan Stauffer
  Annette Walden
  Linda Williams
 
 ~ DIQ ~
  Gena Flanary
  Brenda Fogerty
  Mary Hamala
  Norma Holland
  Tawana Hornaday
  Nancy Johnson
  Donna Kirkbride
  Kay Korbe
  Amy Messinger
  Karen Mosteller
  Bridget Psaromatis
  Ann Marie Root
  Barbara Sloan
  Debbie Tyndall
  Diane Vivlamore
  Donna Winegard
  Wendy Zukowski
 
 
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   Copyright Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  
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 Copyright 2003 Blue Flute Software Creations, Inc.

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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Linda Gerloff
 Blue Flute Software Creations
 linda@blueflute.com
 P.O. Box 77882 
 Fort Worth, TX 76177
 817-439-1081