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How to Repot a Houseplant

Your houseplants may live their lives indoors, but they know that spring has sprung. The season’s warm weather initiates new growth, which makes it the ideal time to repot your indoor garden. Signs your houseplants require repotting include roots coming out of the bottom of the pot, water rushing through when you water and sluggish, weak growth. If the pot is filled with more roots than soil, it’s definitely time for repotting. To have the best luck repotting your houseplants, keep the following guidelines in mind. Select the right size pot. It might seem like a great idea to plant your houseplant in a much larger pot so you don’t have to repot for a long time, but by doing that you’ll be signing the plant’s death warrant. Excess soil around a plant remains wet and results in perpetually wet roots that succumb to fungal disease and rot. Use a pot that is the same size as the existing container or just one size larger. You do want the plant to have new soil in which to grow, just not too much. The roots should fill about one-half of the pot. Choose a new pot that has drainage holes. Keep in mind that plastic pots are the most water retentive. Terra-cotta pots tend to dry out quickly. If you prefer the look of clay but don’t want the pot to dry out fast, opt for glazed ceramic pots, which do a better job of retaining water than untreated clay. Prevent transplant shock by watering the plant with warm water two to four hours prior to repotting. Remove the plant from its old pot carefully. Attempt to hold the pot upside down with one hand and ease it out of the pot with the other. If the plant gets stuck, try running a knife around the perimeter and try again. If the plant refuses to come out, you may have to cut the pot if it’s plastic or break it if its terra-cotta or ceramic. Prior to doing this, try soaking the entire pot in water for an hour. This may dislodge the plant from the pot. Loosen plant roots and shake off excess soil. Trim especially thick root masses by 10 to 20 percent, which will encourage them to reach into new soil. If you want to plant in the same container, trim the root mass by one inch. Fill the container two-thirds full with moist organic potting soil that drains well. Place the plant in the pot, fanning out the roots. Fill the pot with soil. While doing so, tap the container a couple of times during the process so that the soil settles. Fill the pot with soil to an inch below the pot rim. Tamp down the soil. You should have covered the plant roots but not the stem. Water the plant well and let it drain. Don’t water again until the top inch of soil has dried out. This may take two to three weeks or even longer to occur, as most plants use less water when establishing. You’ll know the plant has established itself when it puts on new growth. Wait to feed the plant until it resumes new growth. At that time give it a half-strength solution of an organic fertilizer. Prepare to watch your houseplant flourish in its new soil.

Talk of The Towne SAS Handcrafted in Son Antonio

When Jim Furry, owner of Roy Step SAS Handcrafted Shoes in Orange, started in shoe sales in the late 1950s, the business was a bit cutthroat. “At the time there were more department stores like the May Company and the Broadway vying for customers, so the atmosphere often became competitive,” says Furry, who has operated shoe stores in Orange for 30 years. Furry started in the shoe sales business in Ohio, coming out to Los Angeles to work at the Broadway and eventually opening his own shoe store in Orange at the now defunct City Shopping Center. At one point he had seven stores in the mall, which was razed in 1996 and replaced with the Outlets at Orange (formerly the Block.) “The last two to three years before they closed the City mall, we had seven stores. Mall management let me operate some of the shoe stores that had been vacated free of rent,” says Furry. “At the time we carried several brands, but the last six months or so at the mall we found that SAS sold the best, so that, coupled with the fact that all of their shoes are made in the U.S., led me to switch to just selling SAS.” Longtime employee Karen King, who started out as a stock and salesperson and is now general manager of their two stores, which are in Orange and Santa Ana, recalls those busy days at the City Shopping Center and the logistical challenges. “At times it was comical, like an episode of I Love Lucy,” says King. “A customer would find a shoe and want the mate, which would be in another store, so I’d run down a back hallway to retrieve the shoe. It could take 15-20 minutes to get back. When I returned, customers would say, ‘I thought you went to lunch.’ Sometimes I’d come clean and explain.” SAS Handcrafted Shoes
Save $15 OFF your next SAS Handcrafted Shoe purchase, through the end of April 2015.
King sprinting from one store to the other highlights the company’s attention to customer service, which they offer by being as accommodating as possible and carrying a wide selection of shoes. “Customer service is what sets a good business apart,” says King, who notes that SAS employees have even gone to homebound people’s residences to fit and provide shoes. “I don’t think many other shoe stores would offer that kind of support,” she says. Another thing not offered by many competitor shoe stores is the depth of inventory carried at SAS. “A lot of stores try to have just the minimal sizes and widths on hand, but that doesn’t work when competing with shoes coming from China,” says Furry. “By having a large inventory of sizes, we have the opportunity to show people what a well-fitting shoe really feels like. Sustaining that kind of inventory is expensive, but it enables us to always have on hand just the right shoes for every customer.” Karen De Soto began buying SAS shoes in 2006 when she started working in retail. “I soon realized that the comfort of my feet was key to a successful day on the job,” she says. “My mother loves her SAS shoes, so I headed there.” In 2012, De Soto began working at SAS as a sales associate. “I enjoy working for the company, because customers leave satisfied with the product and the personal service,” she says. Attention to customer service has paid off for SAS, which continues to grow. In June 2014, they moved from their former 3,700-square-foot location next to Walmart to a nearby 7,000-square-foot store at 820 North Tustin St., 714-283-4950. They also have a store at 3313 S. Bristol St., Santa Ana, 714-444-0777. Published in the Mar/Apr 2015 edition of the Old Towne Orange Plaza Review Written by Julie Bawden-Davis, Photograph by Will Hare

Grow Tasty Lemon Verbena

Of all lemon-scented and flavored herbs, lemon verbena (Aloysia triphylla) is by far the winner when it comes to fresh lemon taste and smell. Brush the narrow, pointy leaves of this shrub, and you’ll release the tempting odor of lemon.

A South American native, lemon verbena grows outdoors in most climates during the summer months. In mild climates it will go dormant during the winter. In climates that freeze, it’s best to grow the plant in a container and bring it indoors for the winter months. Lemon verbena makes a tasty herbal tea. It’s a popular ingredient in a number of commercially prepared teas, including Vervein tea. To use the leaves for herbal tea, simple rinse them well and place the leaves in hot water, allowing them to steep for five minutes. Remove the leaves and add sweetener to taste. Also use lemon verbena to flavor fruit desserts and ice cream, and you can add it to poultry dishes, marinades, and vinegar. It also makes a fragrant potpourri and is often used medicinally for stomach problems. To successfully grow your own lemon verbena, keep the following tips in mind. Provide high light. Lemon verbena requires bright, filtered light in order to thrive. Outdoors, place in a full sun or brightly lit filtered light location. Indoors, grow the plant one to two feet from a sunny window or under full-spectrum lighting.
Give lemon verbena room to grow. If you grow lemon verbena in the ground, keep in mind that it will reach 3- to 6-feet tall and 3-feet wide. To plant in a container, go to the next pot size up from the nursery container. Use high-quality potting soil that drains well. Provide excellent drainage. Lemon verbena doesn’t do well in compacted, heavy soil that prevents good drainage. If drainage is a problem, amend the soil with 30-50 percent compost. Water lemon verbena when the top 2 to 3 inches of soil has dried. Lemon verbena likes the soil a little on the dry side. Fertilize. Lemon verbena is a heavy feeder. Give the plant a dosage of an all-purpose organic food monthly, from spring into early fall. Prune. Lemon verbena becomes leggy and rangy when allowed to roam free. Pinching back some new leaves causes the plant to become bushier. Also prune off any small white flowers if they appear, which will keep the plant producing leaves. Once the plant goes dormant in the fall, do a light pruning to shape. Dry leaves by placing them on a screen or hanging a bunch upside down in a cool, dark area. When the leaves are completely dried, they can be put in a sealed container that doesn’t let in light. When you want to use the leaves, crushing them releases the heavenly lemon scent and flavor. Julie Bawden-Davis is a garden writer and master gardener, who since 1985 has written for publications such as Organic Gardening, Wildflower, Better Homes and Gardens and The Los Angeles Times. She is the author of seven books, including Reader’s Digest Flower Gardening, Fairy Gardening, The Strawberry Story, and Indoor Gardening the Organic Way, and is the founder of HealthyHouseplants.com.  

Dye Your Easter Eggs Naturally

If you dye your Easter eggs using natural botanical dyes, be prepared to become a bit breathless when you pull the resulting eggs from the dye mix. Using natural materials to make dyes creates spellbinding colors much richer and more complex than any food coloring-based hue.

In her book A Garden to Dye For, Chris McLaughlin shows how to use common foods and plants from your garden to create natural dyes for eggs and fabrics. The author got her start with natural plant dyes two decades ago when she began pounding flowers to extract their colors. McLaughlin’s book is chock full of photos of naturally dyed items and features more than 40 garden plants that can be used to make a rainbow of colors for your eggs and more. She dyes with hot and cold dye methods. The latter is her favorite, because the process results in intense colors. Here McLaughlin shares her cold dye method for your Easter eggs. Pick plants from the garden. Good choices include rudbeckia, calendula, coreopsis, St. John’s wort, marigold, and chamomile. Make certain that the plant materials you gather from the garden are not toxic. Dyes for eggs to be eaten should always be made only from edible plants.
Use kitchen scraps. Try beets, blackberries, blueberries, onion skins, red cabbage, and turmeric. Simmer the dye materials separately in pots of water for 20-25 minutes. Remove the materials from the water. Pour each dye color into a glass jar or bowl and add 1/8 cup of vinegar. Let the liquid cool. Add hardboiled eggs to each dye color. Leave the eggs in the solutions for at least an hour and up to 10 hours. (If you plan to eat the eggs and soak them for more than one hour, keep them soaking in the dye mix in the refrigerator). Note how you made your favorite dye colors. To ensure that you can recreate your masterpiece hues, record what materials you used, how much, and how long you kept the eggs in the dye. Julie Bawden-Davis is a garden writer and master gardener, who since 1985 has written for publications such as Organic Gardening, Wildflower, Better Homes and Gardens and The Los Angeles Times. She is the author of seven books, including Reader’s Digest Flower Gardening, Fairy Gardening, The Strawberry Story, and Indoor Gardening the Organic Way, and is the founder of HealthyHouseplants.com.  

Create Nonstop Color in Your Garden

To create a garden that resonates, take a cue from interior designers. Planning an eye-catching landscape that attracts attention throughout the year hinges on color choice. In her new book, The Nonstop Color Garden, “GardenMama” Nellie Neal shares her secrets for choosing just the right hues for your garden and designing in such a way that your landscape features color throughout the year. “I am always inspired by gardens that reveal their beauty high and low across the seasons—gardens you can enjoy whether it’s 104 degrees in July in Georgia or a frigid January day in Minnesota,” she says. “When I think about how to achieve that particular bliss, it’s the use of color that sets such gardens apart.” Color sets a mood and works to unify gardens, says Neal, whose book walks you through the steps to designing with color in order to create an awe-inspiring landscape. “Use plants and hardscape and you can create boldly contrasting forms, emphasize particular design elements, highlight a destination in the garden or shield a view,” she says. Though flowering plants certainly bring a kaleidoscope of color to the garden, they’re only a part of the color design process. “I think of annual flowers as jewelry,” says Neal. “They’re the brooches and earrings that complete every look. Essential, but only effective if the larger color palette works. Every gardener has a favorite color that never fails to please. For me green is that color with its nearly endless shades, hues and intensities. The high contrast of forest green and rich red iron tones makes my personal statement and creates the perfect setting for a riot of annual flowers.” To create a nonstop color garden of your own, start by picking a color palette and sticking with it, suggests Neal. “Begin with the color you most want to see,” she says. “Pick two shades of that color and then add two or three other major colors you want to combine with them. For me, the color is green, the shades are lime and teal, and the two other colors are lilac and coral. Design with your chosen color palette when selecting trees, shrubs, seasonal color, accessories, and paint for hardscape.” To ensure that you have color throughout the year, Neal suggests taking photos every season and looking for areas that require color; then fill in those spots. She also advises ignoring color trends, which come and go. “The color(s) you use in your garden directly reflect your personal taste and style, so embrace them.” Chock full of photos and illustrations of gardens designed with color in mind, NonStop Color Garden guides you in developing your own color style. The book also features an encyclopedia of colorful plants, including trees, shrubs, groundcovers, and flowering perennials. Click the gallery to see some beautiful photos from the book. Julie Bawden-Davis is a garden writer and master gardener, who since 1985 has written for publications such as Organic Gardening, Wildflower, Better Homes and Gardens and The Los Angeles Times. She is the author of seven books, including Reader’s Digest Flower Gardening, Fairy Gardening, The Strawberry Story, and Indoor Gardening the Organic Way, and is the founder of HealthyHouseplants.com.  

Grow Your Own Pineapple!

After a long winter, are you dreaming of a tropical vacation with all of the perks—including snacking on tasty fruits like sweet, juicy pineapple? If so, grow a little slice of the tropics at home by rooting your own pineapple. After a couple of years of growth, the plant will even produce edible fruit.

A member of the bromeliad family, pineapples are surprisingly easy to grow indoors during the winter months. Once the weather warms and stays above 60 degrees Fahrenheit, you can move the plant outdoors. In addition to fruiting, pineapple makes an attractive potted plant. To successfully root and grow a pineapple at home, keep the following guidelines in mind. Purchase a ripe pineapple. Choose a fruit with golden-brown skin and green leaves that are firm and not brown or yellow. You want the fruit to be just ripening, not overly ripe. If the leaves are loose and easy to pull off, the fruit is too ripe. Twist off the leaves as a unit, taking with them a small portion of stalk. If you are unable to do this, cut the leaves off the top of the fruit. In either case, you want to trim off excess fruit flesh hanging onto the stock, as it could cause the plant to rot when you root it. Air dry it for two to three days, which will allow the stalk to heal over and prevent rotting when you plant. Place the stalk end in a solution of water and a pinch of rooting hormone. Leave the fruit in the solution for three to six weeks until roots form. Add more water when the level gets low.
Plant the rooted pineapple in a well-draining potting soil, such as cactus mix. Use an 8- to 10-inch clay pot with a drainage hole. Cover the roots with soil, leaving the foliage exposed. Place the container in a bright window or in a protected location outdoors that receives morning sun and afternoon shade. Expect slow growth initially. The plant will take a couple of months to get established. You’ll know that it is growing when you see new leaf growth. Pineapple will grow 6 to 8 inches the first year, eventually reaching about 2 feet tall. After two years, expect fruit, which will pop up in the center of the crown and take six to eight months to mature. Before the fruit ripens, baby pineapple plants will spring up near the mother plant and will be ready to take over when the plant is done fruiting. When the fruit ripens, cut it from the plant. Remove the plant to make room for the new plantlets. Water when the top inch of soil has dried. The plant should remain moist but not soggy. Feed twice a year with an organic vegetable or fruit fertilizer. Always fertilize when you see fruit forming. Julie Bawden-Davis is a garden writer and master gardener, who since 1985 has written for publications such as Organic Gardening, Wildflower, Better Homes and Gardens and The Los Angeles Times. She is the author of seven books, including Reader’s Digest Flower Gardening, Fairy Gardening, The Strawberry Story, and Indoor Gardening the Organic Way, and is the founder of HealthyHouseplants.com.  

Dragonfly Shops & Gardens: Making Customer Service Personal

A former recruiter trained in the art of networking, this small-business owner harnesses the power of personal. Find out how she built her business on relationships. FEBRUARY 02, 2015 When Beth Davidson becomes friends with her customers, she knows she’s succeeded at her No. 1 goal: making customer service top priority. “If I’m on a first name basis with my customers, I’ve humanized my business,” says the owner of The Dragonfly Shops & Gardens  in Orange, California. “In order to be successful, you have to be personal.” Davidson’s brick-and-mortar lifestyle shop carries a wide variety of home and garden goods, including housewares, jewelry, clothing, and plants and garden art; offers classes; and provides a venue for birthday parties, weekend retreats and weddings. Whatever the small-business owner cooks up at the bustling shop focuses on people connecting with people.

From Recruiter to Shop Owner

Davidson is no stranger to networking. A former executive recruiter for 20 years, she decided to leave the recruiting business in March 2007 to open up Dragonfly Shops & Gardens in order to “feed a need to bead.” After beading for 30 years, Davidson wanted a place to showcase and sell her jewelry, so she opened the Dragonfly.   The shop is located in a 1924 former house that consists of 1,500 square feet, including a yard where she carries garden products. In July 2013, after weathering the recession and continuing to grow, she doubled her space by setting up the Dragonfly Studio in another historic house next door. While the first building holds the merchandise, the second serves as an indoor and outdoor art studio and classroom space. “The studio has the same welcoming vibe as the shop—with lots of character,” says Davidson. “The space features incredible artists and instructors who are known throughout the community.”   The studio harkens back to Davidson’s original intent with the shop. “When I first opened the business, my primary emphasis was holding beading classes, so I reserved one room as a classroom,” she says. “In the retail world, they might have called that move ‘Beth’s Folly,’ because it would be considered sacrilegious to use retail space for a classroom.” The tactic increased customer engagement and business, though. “Those who came to bead were introduced to the shop and vice versa,” Davidson says. “Best of all, many customers have taken my beading class for several years and have become great friends.”

Hang Out at the Cash Register

Davidson also bucks tradition when it comes to advice regarding working more efficiently. “I’ve gone to business building seminars where they advise small-business owners to work smarter and not tend the cash register, but that’s where all of your customers wind up,” Davidson says. “I’m the face and voice of the Dragonfly, and I need to be present and accounted for,” she adds. “Recently, I went into the shop on a Saturday planning to get a lot done, but I spent 95 percent of the day chatting with customers. Though I had a long to-do list, I realized that engaging with customers and encouraging the personalized culture we’ve created at the Dragonfly was what I needed to do that day.”

Make it Personal Online

When it comes to her virtual presence, Davidson keeps it just as personal. “I’m so tied into the Dragonfly that I don’t ever post on my personal Facebook page,” she says. “If anyone wants to see what’s going on with me, they’ll find it on my fan page.   Just recently someone came in to remind me that I hadn’t sent out an email for a few weeks. Her comment showed me that customers are looking for a sense of belonging and community, even online, and those business owners who provide it will reap the rewards of increased business.”

It Takes a Village to Build a Small Business

Davidson will be the first tell you that she couldn’t have grown her business alone. Those she enlists to help, such as her two employees and 15 instructors, have done a great deal to spread the Dragonfly vision. “The studio is instructor inspired,” she says. “I knew I wanted to expand and that I couldn’t possibly fill up the studio space on my own, so I reached out to a group of fabulous instructors who also bring in students. All of this connecting has resulted in the Dragonfly becoming a hub with an exponential reach.” Once a month, the Dragonfly also hosts the Marketplace, where 20 to 25 local artisans sell their products. Davidson started the event six years ago as a way to give the many artisans coming into the shop a venue. “People would come in with great products, but I didn’t have any space available, so we started holding the Marketplace, and it’s a big hit. We don’t make money on the event itself, but it brings people in and keeps us current and relevant,” she says. “Don’t be afraid to share your resources—doing so will pay you back ten-fold.”

Be Real

Davidson’s most important advice regarding effective customer service is probably the simplest. “Customers aren’t looking for perfect,” she says. “It’s okay to let them see you make a mistake—that shows you’re human. Do your absolute best, but don’t let paralysis from analysis stop you. I had a customer tell me the other day that my shop is the antithesis of the mall. That made me feel great and showed me that the Dragonfly is as personalized as you can get.” Read more articles on customer engagement. Photos: iStockphoto; Courtesy of Dragonfly Shop & Garden (2)  

Changing your body language to help you score sales

Your nonverbal actions can speak much louder than your words. Tweak the way you present yourself to clients, and your business may start to soar.
Writer/Author/Publisher/Speaker, Garden Guides Press
DECEMBER 01, 2014 When he opened his own business, Jordan Sayler discovered that his mother wasn’t trying to annoy him when she told him to stand up straight as a kid. She knew the secret: People tend to read body language rather than listen to what’s being said. “I learned quickly I was not only merchandising my store; I was selling myself,” says the owner of the men’s apparel and footwear store Winn Perry & Co. “I used to put my hands in my pockets or hold them down in front of me so I wouldn’t be viewed as pushy or overbearing, but I found that people often didn’t take me seriously. So I started striking a confident pose by putting my hands directly at my sides or on my hips.” Several years ago, Cecilia Lynch also discovered just how important body language can be when she met with a senior sales executive at a large international financial services company. “I didn’t think much about my body language when engaging with her. As a result, the meeting didn’t go as well as I would have liked,” says Lynch, principal and founder of the consulting company Focused Momentum. “She still hired me, but gave clear instructions that I was not to be put in front of their clients, which was a wakeup call for me.”Today Lynch makes good use of her body language. “I conduct strategy sessions of up to 60 people at a time. I often literally need to hold the energy of the room and move it along in a productive manner, which I do through body language,” she says. When it comes to inspiring and influencing others, you can say all the right words, but if your nonverbal postures send a different message, that is what others will take away from your interaction, explains Sharon Sayler, an executive coach specializing in verbal and nonverbal communication (and Jordan’s mother). She owns Competitive Edge Communications and is author of What Your Body Says (and how to master the message): Inspire, Influence, Build Trust, and Create Lasting Business Relationships. “Nonverbal communication happens whether we want it to or not, and it’s all too easy to send the wrong message,” Sayler says. The good news is that with a little direction, any small-business owner can appear comfortable, in control and successful.

Breathe Naturally

One of the first nonverbal actions you’re judged on by others is your breathing, Sayler notes. “How you breathe unconsciously alerts the other person’s as well as your own fight or flight response,” she says. “If you are breathing naturally and comfortably, the other person assumes he or she is safe. Low, steady breathing always calms the mind and body and is the most powerful nonverbal [action] to give the impression that you’re confident and in control.”

Display Effective Eye Contact

Direct eye contact can be a signal of confidence, yet it is one of the most overrated and misunderstood of the nonverbal behaviors. “Much advice suggests that if you don’t make constant direct eye contact, you’re untrustworthy. I’ve even heard a recommendation to have ‘sticky eyes,’ which is nonsense,” Sayler says. “Eye contact works best when both parties feel it’s ‘just right,’ so take your cue from the other person regarding how much eye contact to use. Too much or too little eye contact is not only disrespectful, it can be downright creepy. Breaking eye contact happens naturally during conversations, and it makes it easier to process what you’re hearing.”

Be Strategic With Your Chin

Although eyes get a lot of attention when it comes to nonverbal cues, it’s the chin you should be paying more attention to. “What you do with your chin tells others a lot about what’s going on inside you,” Sayler says. “For example, if your chin is off to the side, your head is tipped or tilted. That is a submissive move that can make it seem like you’re hoping to be liked or you’re confused.” Your chin up in the air makes you appear snooty, and a tucked in chin communicates that you are shy and don’t wish to talk. To exude confidence, stand up straight and keep your chin parallel to the floor.

Lean in to Show Interest

Displaying interest in what a client has to say increases the level of commitment in the business relationship. The best way to show you care is to slightly lean toward the person or the object of interest. “The more you lean, the more interest you show, but be careful not to overdo it,” Sayler says. “The lean is slight; it should not be a lunge. You always want to respect comfort zones and personal space.”

Exude Expertise With Your Arms and Stance

Showing that you’re an expert on your subject is important to selling your products and services. To show you know what you’re talking about, Sayler suggests standing with your forearms waist-high in front of your body and your wrists at the same height as the elbows so the forearms are parallel to the ground. Your hands can be gently clasped, but don’t move your fingers. To exude even more confidence, touch your thumb-tips and fingertips together, so when you look down at your hands it looks like they’ve formed a triangle with your fingers pointed away from you. Variations on this include standing with your arms hanging at your sides or leaving one hand hanging at your side and the other parallel to the ground grasping a notebook or similar item.

Smile

A smile communicates that you are confident and content with yourself and your business, and approachable, notes Tsutomu Carton, owner of Sielian’s Vintage Apparel. “Smiling is just as important in person as on the phone,” Carton says. “I always make sure that the person I’m talking to can ‘feel’ my smile.”Use these tips to strike a confident pose, and you’ll soon find yourself giving a high-five to increased business. Read more articles on productivity. Photo: Getty Images

Wow Your Customers With Killer Customer Service

Small businesses have a distinct advantage over larger ones when it comes to customer service. These 10 smart strategies will help you attract and keep your customers loyal.

Writer/Author/Publisher/Speaker, Garden Guides Press

NOVEMBER 18, 2014

Successful small-business owners know that their “secret weapon” for winning the race against larger competitors is stellar customer service. The up-close-and-personal approach just can’t be replicated by most big businesses.

“In an increasingly disconnected world, the small-business owner has the competitive advantage of delivering one-on-one connections,” says small-business consultant Olga Mizrahi, author of Sell Local, Think Global: 50 Innovative Ways to Make a Chunk of Change and Grow Your Business.

“By having meaningful interactions with customers, small businesses engender the kind of loyalty that’s not price-dependent. There’s a magic to the Main Street retailer who knows your daughter’s name, the local pizza joint that remembers your gluten-free preference and the independent bookseller who recommends the perfect beach read.”

As a small-business owner, you generally can’t compete with big advertising budgets or numerous employees and locations, but you can “out service” larger companies, says Scott Stratten, author of UnSelling: The New Customer Experience  and president of UnMarketing.  “As a small business, you can easily make customers ecstatic by turning on a dime and making requested changes much more quickly than large businesses can ever do.”

If you’re trying to harness the power of customer service, put these 10 tips to work for you:

1. Look to online reviews.

“It’s no longer ‘The customer is always right,’ ” Mizrahi says. “While it may be hard to digest, the new adage is ‘The critic is always right.’ Online reviews are the number-one way small businesses get noticed. There’s a real power in responding to your online reviews, both positive and negative. Treat each review as an external communication tool and internal suggestion box, rife with ideas about how to improve.”

2. Hire with attitude in mind.

You want talented employees with an aptitude for the tasks you give them, but it’s equally important they have a positive, welcoming, can-I-help-you attitude. Anything less is insufficient and even dangerous to your business.

3. Offer customers multiple ways to get in touch.

“Don’t miss opportunities to connect with customers where, when and how they want,” Mizrahi says. “Let people choose to hear from you through ‘new offerings’ emails, special sales text alerts, Instagrams of new items, curated content on Facebook and helpful article links on Twitter.”

4. Lose your inferiority complex.

“Just because you [run] a small business doesn’t give you an excuse to give subpar customer service,” Stratten says. “Even if it’s a business out of your home, you have to act like a business.” For instance, telling a client you can’t meet a deadline because of a personal problem is terrible customer service.

5. Stay pleasant.

“Always have the attitude that everyone matters and that it’s a pleasure to work with any customer who walks into your business, calls or checks in online,” says Sherry Agee, owner of Fort Knox Flowers and Crafted Gifts. “It’s easy to dismiss people because you may not like their attitude, but recognizing everyone and offering patience and a relaxed communication could be the key to a customer’s acceptance of your suggestions. Make sure to leave a lasting impression that sways people to want to do business with you.”

6. Make it easy and simple to do business with you.

If you own a retail business, as soon as you see a customer pick up an item or look for a price, give a little bit of information about the product and then step back, Agee suggests. “Be ready to engage with the customer and follow up when the person is ready, but don’t be pushy. If the customer is holding several items, offer to take some to the counter. That causes the customer to relax and engage in conversation and that builds trust.”

7. Recreate in-store attention online.

On your website, recreate the face-to-face “Can I help you?” moment that happens when a customer walks through the door, Mizrahi advises. “Engage website visitors as soon as they log on via proactive live chat.”

Agee agrees. “It’s important to reach out directly to online customers to show them that even if you’re not meeting face to face,” she says, “you still care and recognize them just as much as people who walk into your store.”

8. Limit your offerings.

As a small business, you’re not equipped to be all things to all people, and because of that, you’re likely to do a poor job if you try, Mizrahi notes. “Limit what you offer to choice offerings curated by your unique lens of expertise,” she says. “It’s overwhelming out there, especially online. By narrowing down the options, you can create a convenience model where customers ‘get’ your taste and trust your picks.”

9. Be truly active on social media.

“Don’t join a social media site and only check it once a month,” Stratten advises. “Many customers use social media as a customer service communication line. And avoid automating social media as a customer service tool. That’s like sending a mannequin to a networking event. You’re ‘there,’ but you’re just not there.”

10. Learn from every customer service opportunity.

Realize that every customer service issue is a learning experience. “Interactions with customers are only truly a problem if a customer doesn’t alert you to a problem but just leaves without telling you,” Stratten says. When people see that you truly care about their satisfaction and are willing to make changes to fulfill their expectations, you’re likely to inspire loyal customers who wouldn’t think of going anywhere else.

Read more articles on customer service. 

Photo: Getty Images

What really defines an entrepreneur?

Published: November 12, 2014 Ask many small-business owners why they risk job security and what may be their life savings to start a business, and the answer isn’t always money. After all, there are easier, more predictable roads to building a nest egg that include a steady paycheck and a matching 401(k) plan. By their very nature, entrepreneurs have a different mindset than lifetime employees—a mindset that causes them to jump in headfirst. While each entrepreneur’s story is unique, a common thread is the desire to steer their own course and drive change themselves.
“I’m driven to change the things I can’t accept. Entrepreneurs take risks, because the alternative is unacceptable.” — Melanie St. James, founder of Empowerment WORKS
St. James founded Empowerment WORKS, a global sustainability think tank that organizes biennial Global Summits to connect resource-poor but culturally rich communities around the world.

Early Interest in Entrepreneurship

Many entrepreneurs start young:
  • Melanie St. James sold her father’s invention—an electrically heated ice-cream scooper—door-to-door in high school. Her passion for global change began after studying abroad in China and pursuing international development studies.
  • Marcy Hogan credits her entrepreneurial spirit to her mother. Today, she wears many hats—musician, music teacher, fitness pro, and co-owner of Send Out Cards with her husband.

Desire to Control Their Destiny

Entrepreneurs value freedom and accountability:
  • Hogan: “Having your own business gives you the ability to create the life you want… When your business flourishes, you have a real sense of accomplishment.”
  • Matt Richter-Sand: Left a Fortune 500 job because he could “see the next 20 years” of his life and wanted more excitement and innovation.
Richter-Sand started building websites in high school and now teaches entrepreneurship at Loyola Marymount University. He also authored The Agile Startup based on research into successful entrepreneurs.

Willingness to Venture Into the Unknown

Risk and uncertainty are part of the process. Entrepreneurs must:
  • Turn uncertainty into certainty by validating ideas and acquiring customers.
  • Test assumptions and prove hypotheses to reduce risk.
Richter-Sand: “Entrepreneurs must be willing to venture into the unknown, to make leaps of faith and move forward without full information.”

Ability to Face Reality

Great entrepreneurs accept harsh truths:
  • They recognize when their original idea isn’t working and pivot based on market feedback.
  • They don’t let pride interfere with progress.
Example: PayPal’s original idea was transferring money via Palm Pilots—after negative feedback, they pivoted to web-based transfers, which led to massive success.

Sticking to Their Vision

Entrepreneurs face setbacks but stay committed to their goals. For instance, during the 2012 Summit, St. James lost the venue days before the event:
“I was strongly advised to cancel it, but I kept moving forward and ended up finding the perfect venue at the last minute.”
Despite challenges, successful entrepreneurs are resilient and stay true to their mission—driven by passion, purpose, and an unwavering belief in their vision.

5 signs your company is thriving

There’s no exact science to creating a successful business, but there are common traits among those that make it really big. Is your company on the right track?
Writer/Author/Publisher/Speaker, Garden Guides Press
OCTOBER 03, 2014 Sales and a positive cash flow are obviously good signs for your business, but don’t take out the champagne just yet. Indications that your small business is built to last are a bit more complicated than a healthy balance sheet, says Donna Novitsky, CEO of employee rewards company Yiftee and a professor of marketing and entrepreneurship at Stanford University. “There are a lot of factors that go into building a successful company besides growing the top line,” she says. True, every small-business owner has his or her own barometers of success, but thriving enterprises have a few common denominators.

1. Positive Workforce Climate

Thriving companies have employees who enjoy going to work each day. And those employees feel as if they are making an impact with their contributions to the company, says Novitsky. “If you want to know if your employees are satisfied, ask questions such as ‘Is the development team innovating in creative ways to differentiate our products?’, ‘Does the marketing team love finding the sweet spot in messaging to connect with prospective customers?’ and ‘Is the customer service team building great relationships with customers so that they become true advocates?’” The bottom line is that your team must believe in the mission and goals of your company, says Novitsky. “An employee who gets discouraged and loses faith has to go.” A healthy company has optimal team play, agrees Frances Moreno, managing partner of Vaco Los Angeles. (Her company was recently named the “#1 Best Place to Work in Los Angeles” small employer category, for the fourth time.) “Five signs of great team play include commitment, trust, resolving conflicts quickly, results and accountability. This goes for everyone in the business.”

2. Clearly Defined Market

Early on, it’s not about sales and profitability at all, says Novitsky. “The first stage of success is about proving a product-market fit. From the very beginning, you must define a market need and a solution that has clear benefits to customers and is a big enough opportunity to be worth your dedication for several years,” she says. “Then you have to build the solution and cultivate relationships with your initial customers.” This is a process successful companies repeat as needed in order to grow.

3. Adherence to Values and Objectives

Thriving companies have a transparent set of objectives and values to which they adhere at all times. A clear set of company goals allows everyone to understand the purpose of the company and their roles within the company, which results in a healthy business. “Successful companies have a purpose and a future plan and make sure the company is unified in moving towards a common goal,” Moreno says. “This results in an overall healthy corporate culture.”

4. Ability to Scale

The ability to scale allows your company the bandwidth to comfortably and effectively handle an increasing amount of work. This includes hiring capable employees to ensure that you keep up with demand. If you create a product for sale, this means building it at a cost that the market will bear and getting customers interested and invested enough to buy the product and offer repeat business—all of which helps ensure that you make a profit.

5. Expert Status

Those small-business owners who cement their status as leaders in their fields help ensure that their companies thrive, says social media expert and LinkedIn specialist Karen Yankovich. “The owner of a thriving company finds the time to give back,” she says. “When you’re generous with your products, services and expertise and are able to leverage that to establish your company as an expert in the industry, your expert status leads to greater profits and higher margins and that allows the entire cycle to continue to thrive upwards.” If you have achieved success and your company is thriving, then by all means bring out the champagne. “There are plenty of challenges in running a small business and success requires many leaps of faith,” Novitsky says. “Acknowledge the wins, large and small. Remind yourself that you’re going places where no one has been and doing things that have not been done. When it works, celebrate!”  

Meet the bloggers

Meet the Content Creators at Bed Bath & Beyond

Get to know the creative minds behind Bed Bath & Beyond’s articles—each with a unique personality, passion, and perspective on home and lifestyle.

Amy Laskin – Director of Content

  • Has lived in her home for 13 years and is still decorating.
  • Her kitchen is “almost done”—she loves to cook and bake (but not clean).

Jen Dennis – Content Development Lead

  • Loves writing about home and travel.
  • Calls herself the ultimate test case for “idiot-proof” recipes—if she can make it, anyone can!

Megan Mostyn-Brown – Writer

  • Obsessed with mid-century modern furniture, wallpaper, and organization.
  • Dreams of owning a claw foot tub and more than one pan.

Sam “The Cooking Guy” Zien – Contributor

  • TV host, cookbook author, and Today Show regular.
  • Proud of his “big in taste, small in effort” cooking style.

Bonnie Vengrow – Writer

  • Loves stationery, postmodern art, and claw-footed furniture.
  • Balancing neatness with NYC apartment life alongside her husband, son, and two pets.

Julie Hartigan – Chef & Writer

  • Engineer-turned-chef who writes about cooking and health.
  • Lives in a condo with two little girls, two guinea pigs, and one very patient husband.
  • Follow her on Twitter: @cookingwjulie

Nicola Ruiz – Writer

  • Writes about fashion, style, and decor.
  • Grew up in England and California; now based in NYC.
  • Organizing expert, mom to a 4-year-old, and dog-mom to Chihuahua Lola.

Kate Kelly – Writer

  • Passionate about bedspreads and dinnerware.
  • Currently searching for the perfect rug after her boys ruined the last one.

Lisa Milbrand – Writer

  • Juggles life with one husband, two daughters, and four pets.
  • Loves to throw parties when things are under control at home.

Bonnie McCarthy – Writer

  • Enjoys hunting vintage treasures and collecting California pottery.
  • Loves baking—especially when it rains.

Julie Bawden-Davis – Writer

  • Covers home improvement and lifestyle topics.
  • Admits to buying almost every kitchen gadget she writes about!

Terry Grieco-Kenny – Recipe Developer, Food Writer & Stylist

  • Developed and styled thousands of recipes as a magazine food editor.
  • Contributed to over 15 cookbooks and 10 magazines.
  • Now that her son is away at college, she channels her energy into cooking.

7 excellent ways to attract new customers

Building a healthy client list can seem like an overwhelming task. Try these 7 steps to attract new customers.

As a business owner, you’re no doubt keenly aware that your client base is the lifeblood of your company. A steady stream of new customers allows you to grow your business and fulfill your company vision. OPEN Forum community member Farzana Irani realizes the importance of a strong client base for all small businesses, including virtual ones. That’s why the Web consultant with iAdControl.com/Fuzzworks UK recently asked: What’s your best approach in creating a client base for your online business? It turns out that a seven-step approach works best for attracting new clients.

1. Identify Your Ideal Client

It’s easier to look for customers if you know the type of consumer you’re seeking. Without a clear image of your ideal customer, it’s difficult to know where to start. Tip: “Have a crystal clear picture in your head of exactly who you’re targeting,” says Nicole Beckett, president of Premier Content Source. “Think about what makes those types of people happy, sad, scared, relieved, and how you can make their lives a little easier.”
  • Avoid overly broad statements like “every man or woman.”
  • Focus on realistic, specific audience segments.

2. Discover Where Your Customer Lives

With your ideal customer in mind, locate where they spend time—online and offline. Suggestions:
  • Social media groups and forums related to your industry
  • Your competitors’ pages or complementary businesses’ communities
  • Industry events, conferences, and networking meetups
Craft messaging tailored to these platforms and locations.

3. Know Your Business Inside and Out

Deep knowledge of your product or service builds credibility. The more fluent you are, the more clients will trust and seek your expertise.

4. Position Yourself as the Answer

Give people a compelling reason to engage with you. Help solve their problems and they’ll keep coming back. Tip: Jason Reis, owner of Flehx Corp, recommends:
  • Creating helpful content (webinars, blog posts, guest posts)
  • Networking both online and in person
  • Building a structured sales funnel to convert fans into customers

5. Try Direct Response Marketing

Encourage specific actions from potential customers, such as subscribing to your list or downloading a resource. Advice from Jeff Motter:
  • Use targeted ads offering something valuable for free
  • Focus on solving pain points quickly and affordably
  • Craft compelling, benefit-driven messages

6. Build Partnerships

Partner with complementary businesses to expand your reach. For example, an SEO firm might collaborate with a web design company. Nicole Beckett’s tip: “Focus on building human relationships. Strong relationships increase word-of-mouth and repeat customers.”

7. Follow Up

Don’t let leads slip through the cracks. Consistent follow-up is essential for growth. Josh Sprague, CEO of Orange Mud, says: “Remember to set follow-up tasks and execute your plan. Many leads are lost simply due to forgetfulness.”
What do you do to attract new customers? Share your advice with the community. Read more articles on marketing. Photo: iStockphoto

Here’s how small businesses can provide stellar customer support

Many startup owners are capable at launching a business, but ask them about customer service, and they’re at a loss. Here are some tips for customer support solutions that work.
Writer/Author/Publisher/Speaker, Garden Guides Press
 SEPTEMBER 05, 2014
As a small-business owner, you likely went into business to provide customers with a stellar product or service. Somewhere along the line you realized you also had to provide customer support, too—but didn’t know where to start. This topic was broached recently when OPEN Forum community member T.S. Praveen Kumar, CEO and founder of Animonks Animation Pvt. Ltd., asked: “How do you guys handle customer support for your startups/companies? You may get a lot of email support tickets, calls from clients and on-site live chat support—how are you handling it? Even if you want to hire a support person, how much can you pay per month to handle your support emails, calls and on-site live chat? I`m facing the same problem with my product, so help me please.” Community member responses to this common challenge varied depending on the size and type of the business.

Opt for Email

Some community members report that they’ve found the most expedient way to deal with customer support is to solely use email and not provide phone support. “Speaking from an e-commerce perspective, we offer no phone support,” says Sean Dawes, co-founder of Rocket Dove. “We decided to ditch phone calls to increase efficiency and accuracy in our responses to customers. We have a blog post explaining that decision to customers and reference it when asked why we can’t get on the phone. We have yet to have a complaint. Emails are answered very quickly, and we use olark live chat, which helps us document every single customer issue, which we can reference when customers follow up.” Josh Sprague CEO of Orange Mud, agrees. “Ditch phone for email early on until it’s truly necessary,” he says. “You might be surprised how few calls you get, as most prefer to chat or email.”

When Phone Calls Matter

Other small-business owners, such as Ben Baldwin, co-founder and CEO of ClearFit, believe that customer service via phone support is key to the success of hia company. “At ClearFit, we believe that support (we call it customer success) is integral to everything that we do,” he says. Rather than delegate the task of customer service to one employee, Baldwin reports that all employees take turns answering customer questions and responding to requests. If your office is too small, or you simply don’t have the resources to allocate to customer service, you might need to hire someone to answer calls. A benefit to this solution is that you can train the employee to deal with concerns just as you would. Prior to hiring anyone to do customer service for you, Jason Reis, owner and lead programmer for Flehx Corp, suggests that you look at your pricing. “You want to ensure that it’s at a level that enables you to hire a virtual assistant or other person who can help with support chats,” he says. If your business isn’t bringing in sufficient income to sustain a full- or part-time employee to answer the phone, you might need to try a less expensive solution, such as a call center, Sprague suggests. “Do your best to make sure that you find a call center that knows your industry, and get some referrals,” he says. “I’ve had some colleagues with bad experiences in the industry with call centers.” Talk to business owners who have successfully used call centers, and test out a center personally prior to signing on, to make sure that its service is up to par and a good fit for your company.

Try Instructional Videos

Reis offers a time-saving suggestion regarding providing customer service: “Customer support can consume a lot of time, and when you are a startup, you may not have all the people in place to be able to handle the volume. I would suggest if you are generating a lot of support requests that you look at some of the types of requests and make a few support videos to answer some of the more generic questions people have.”

Aim for Excellence

If your company is heavy on customer support, you will get requests for assistance, whether they come via phone, live chat or email. As a small-business owner focused on customer service, it’s your job to come up with a system for dealing with the requests that works best for your type of business and customer service style. And as your business grows, be open to changing tactics when necessary. Read more articles on customer service. Photo: iStockphoto

6 Ways To Boost Your Business Relationship IQ

It’s not just business savvy that makes for a great business owner. It’s the way you relate to your customers that really drives success.
Writer/Author/Publisher/Speaker, Garden Guides Press
SEPTEMBER 05, 2013 Like many small-business owners, Ashish Rangnekar, CEO and cofounder of BenchPrep, started his company on a shoestring.“I didn’t have a sales force or a million-dollar budget in the beginning,” says Rangnekar, whose company provides personalized, interactive educational courses on portable devices. “What I possessed was the ability to tell my story to potential customers and build those relationships.”
A small-business owner’s relational IQ—the ability to get along well with others, manage conflict and problem-solve—can be more important than his or her actual IQ, according to Van Moody, author of the The People Factor and professional speaker. “Lasting success in the workplace depends on your ability to relate effectively with people,” Moody says. “Research shows that 60 to 80 percent of all difficulties in organizations stem from strained relationships between employees, not from deficits in skill or motivation. Small-business success often has little to do with acumen or product quality, but everything to do with the ability to successfully navigate relationships.” Raise your relational IQ and increase business by keeping the following six tips in mind.

Make Working With You Easy

“Your customers and partners should never feel like maintaining a relationship with you is painful for them,” says Michael Weissman, founder and CEO of SYNQY, a company that specializes in growing new small-businesses and turning around brands with Internet marketing techniques. “People immediately turn away from friction,” Weissman says. “Do everything you can to lower the emotional, logistical and financial costs of working with you. If you don’t, your relationship might not be strong enough to withstand challenges from competitors. The truth is if a customer has two companies that both provide excellent service but one company is easier to work with, that company will get the job every single time.”

Increase Your Capacity for Empathy

The ability to understand where others are coming from goes a long way toward creating good business relationships. “When I put out verbal or written communication, I consider what I have to say from a recipient’s point of view and ask myself if I’m speaking to his or her needs,” says Phrantceena Halres, chairman and CEO of Total Protection Services, a certified security services company that protects infrastructure assets for businesses. “I’ll inquire about the person’s situation, including what he or she has already tried that hasn’t been effective and why I’m being contacted,” Halres says. “Taking an interest in the person sends a positive message and gives me important information as to what to do and what to avoid.”

Have A Trustworthy Online Presence

Now that an increasing number of relationships are established digitally before you meet in person, it’s critical that you establish trust online instantaneously, Weissman says. “Ask yourself if your online presence is building relationships or is it just transactional?” he says. “It’s important for businesses to also be relational digitally.”

Make It Reciprocal

Don’t be a “taker,” says Moody. “It’s important to recognize when a relationship could use more of a giving spirit. When we think about what we can do for others instead of what we can do for ourselves, we get to the very heart of healthy, successful interactions. In a strong relationship, both people willingly give far more than they take.” The strongest relationships are mutual and synergistic, Rangnekar agrees. “People are much more interested in what you have to say when they realize that you truly understand what they need and want, and that you care.”

Have Patience

It took Rangnekar six months of relationship building before he secured his first educational publisher. “Don’t expect to be best friends overnight,” he says. “Relationships take time. We worked for several months before securing that first publisher. Because we so patiently cultivated that relationship, not only did we land that company’s business, they referred us to more publishers.”

Maintain The Relationship

When it comes to business relationships, a lot of emphasis is put on starting relationships, but not a lot focuses on building those relationships for the long term, Rangnekar says. “I can’t emphasize enough the importance of maintaining your business relationships so they stay healthy and profitable for everyone.” Keep these relationship-building tips in mind, and you’ll soon find yourself with increased business and happy customers. Read more articles on customer service. A freelancer since 1985, Julie Bawden-Davis has written for many publications, including Entrepreneur, Better Homes & Gardens and Family Circle. Photo: iStockphoto

Guide to Open-Ended Toys

When it comes to purchasing toys for kids, consider the quality and kind of play children will experience. Creative toys that offer open-ended and endless possibilities are often the best choice.

What Are Open-Ended Toys?

Open-ended toys allow children to direct the play as they choose. Such toys don’t feature a set way in which they should be used. For instance, they generally don’t feature a cause and effect, such as toys that talk when you press a button. Open-ended toys allow for interpretation and experimentation.

Benefits of Open-Ended Toys

Creative toys that allow children to experiment and try their own ideas out for activities foster positive behaviors such as exploration and ingenuity. Open-ended toys encourage imaginative play, which teaches children to think for themselves and to become resourceful. The more thinking a toy requires, the better the toy is for the child. Open-ended toys tend to also cause a child to develop various skills, including fine-motor and thinking skills and language development.

Open-Ended Toy Suggestions

Generally, simpler toys offer open-ended play opportunities. Toys that have stood the test of time are often open-ended toys. These include:
  • Building blocks. The classic building block offers hours of open-ended play opportunities. Blocks that come in different shapes and sizes will keep kids occupied and developing many skills, including visual-spatial skills and problem solving. Get children wooden, plastic or even foam blocks.
  • Sandbox. The sandbox offers children the space to create and let their imaginations soar. A wide variety of sandbox options exist, including ones that provide shelter from the sun. Sandbox ideas for little tykes include encouraging them to make a castle or a giant super highway with cars and trucks.
  • Arts and crafts. Give a little one an art set, and the sky is the limit as to what can be created. With paper, paints and glitter, a child can make masterpieces that are totally unique each and every time. Ideal art supplies include finger paints, nontoxic sculpting clay and washable markers.

3 ways to become the go-to expert in your field

Cementing your status as an expert can help you grow your business opportunities. These 3 tips will show you what you need to do to get there.
Writer/Author/Publisher/Speaker, Garden Guides Press
AUGUST 20, 2014 One of the fastest ways to increase business and attract attention is to become a go-to authority in your field. When potential clients seek the help or products you provide and your name pops up, you’re bound to reap the benefits of the exposure. “Expert positioning aligns you with the best-of-the-best in your industry,” says business and brand specialist Debbie Allen, author of The Highly Paid Expert: Turn Your Passion, Skills, and Talents Into a Lucrative Career by Becoming the Go-To Authority in Your Industry. “An expert is recognized as an authority who knows in-depth knowledge about a specific subject. Such individuals solve problems, and when they offer invaluable solutions to make pain go away, people pay top dollar for their advice, wisdom and expertise.” When you establish yourself or your business as a leading authority in your industry, clients reflexively seek your assistance, which drives repeat business and recommendations, says Kristi Marsh, founder of Choose Wiserand author of Little Changes. Thanks to cementing her status as a leader in environmental health and its effects on personal health and the home, Marsh is now the featured educational video blogger for Seventh Generation, which manufactures eco-friendly health and home products. It’s surprisingly easy to become a go-to expert today. “There’s never been a better time to launch yourself as an authority,” Allen says. “The Internet, social media, video marketing and the print-on-demand industry have made it entirely doable.”

Welcome to the New Marketing Model

If you want to become an authority in your field, it’s important to embrace a new marketing model. “Expert marketing that positions a business owner or entrepreneur as the go-to authority focuses on offering valuable, free information in the form of videos, articles and media, rather than the push of advertising and selling one-on-one,” Allen says. The bottom line? You must give before you can receive. “Becoming an expert means taking on a level of responsibility to support others with your knowledge,” says Allen, who notes that this doesn’t mean offering people a cookie cutter get-rich-quick scheme. “True experts are those who offer personalized, proven solutions and give people lasting results,” she explains. “Authorities offer valuable assistance, not only from their heads but from their hearts. They share their wisdom freely, and in the process they get paid well in return.” To excel at becoming a highly paid expert, it’s important to lay the groundwork, which all stems from education-based marketing. Try these three tactics for becoming a household name in your industry.

1. Establish Yourself As an Author

Publishing is an excellent way to claim authority in your field, says Linda Scott, owner of eFrog Press, a one-stop shop for entrepreneurs who want to self-publish. “Blog what you know,” Scott suggests. “Writing original, regular posts on subjects in your area of expertise showcases what you know and gives you an opportunity to find your writer’s voice. Comments to your posts help you understand where you need to clarify your message and, even more importantly, what works.” Create categories for your blogs and keep adding detailed posts, and you’ll soon have enough chapters to put together a book. “When you can say you have literally ‘written the book’ on a subject in your field, you immediately gain expert status,” Scott says. “Forevermore, ‘author’ will be added to your introductions at conferences and speaking engagements. Reviews on Amazon and Barnes & Noble will further increase your credibility and exposure, and posting your book cover on your website is a subtle reminder to all who visit that you know what you’re talking about.”

2. Become a Communicator

Speaking is another opportunity to establish yourself as an expert—so accept every chance you’re given to present. Also, host your own live events, both online and off-line. It’s ideal if clients and customers actually hear you speak, but it’s just as nearly beneficial if people know you regularly speak on your chosen topic. In addition to public speaking, Marsh advises, “share educational tidbits, tips or lessons through video blogs or vlogs. The combination of your storytelling or speaking style, along with value-added tips, can solidify your image as an expert. It used to be that this opportunity only came through being interviewed on television, but sharing through video messaging is now affordable, easy and under your control. The result is educational, informative tips that are shareable by consumers.” When you present, always take your book with you, Scott adds. “Bookmark a short, interesting passage to read aloud. If your book is a work-in-progress, or even if it’s still in the conceptual stage, remind audiences of your expert status by saying ‘In my upcoming book on … ’ “

3. Rebrand and Refocus When Necessary

It’s possible that the current setup of your business may not lend itself to you becoming an expert, which means you’ll need to shake things up a bit by rebranding or refocusing your business. For example, if you’ve spent 20 years in the carpet cleaning business and want to launch yourself as an authority, you could reposition yourself as a carpet cleaning expert who teaches other carpet cleaners how to run a successful business, Allen explains. “Essentially,” she says, “you take off one hat—running a carpet cleaning business day to day—and put on another hat as a thought leader and expert.” Read more articles on branding. Photo: iStockphoto

When’s the Best Time to Water Your Lawn and For How Long?

A well-hydrated lawn looks healthy and lush. Knowing when is the best time to water your lawn and for how long takes keeping a few pointers in mind.

Testing for water readiness

Performing daily irrigation on turf grass is often not necessary, especially during cooler weather. The secret to how to grow grass that is healthy is to test for water readiness prior to watering. Only watering when the turf is dry and actually requires it creates a stronger root system and longer-lived, healthier grass. Several methods work well for checking to see if your lawn requires watering. They are:
  • Test the grass by walking on it. If the turf springs back quickly, it doesn’t require irrigation. If your footprint remains for several minutes, it’s time to water.
  • Examine the color of the turf. Grass that has a blue-gray tinge requires water.
  • Insert a finger, trowel or moisture meter into the soil, and check the top 6 inches. If it is dry, it’s time to water.

Know the best time to water lawn

Water during periods of the day when evaporation is less likely. This means irrigating in the early morning hours or at night. Respond to the changing seasons by resetting your sprinklers accordingly when the length of day changes.

Set up multiple watering cycles

Avoid waste by preventing water runoff. If you experience excess water flooding the street, shorten the watering cycle and create more of them. For instance, set up to water three times at one-hour intervals, which allows time for the water to sink in before watering again. Your goal is achieving deep soil penetration, which will lead to stronger, healthier grass.

Check your irrigation system

Watering systems require regular inspection to ensure that they are working properly. Few things will kill your grass faster than broken sprinkler heads during the hot days of summer. Check to see that the sprinklers offer head-to-head coverage and completely saturate the lawn. Also consider using low-flow sprinkler heads, which help prevent runoff. And if you don’t have a programmable sprinkler system, consider installing one to make your irrigation chores easier.

When Is the Best Time to Prune?

One of the keys to a healthy, attractive garden is regular pruning. Trimming your plants keeps them shapely and initiates new growth and blooming. Consider the following factors when determining when to prune.

Time of year

Certain plants require pruning at specific times of the year. For instance, hydrangeas bloom on wood that grew the previous year. That means if you want flowers, it’s important to only prune the plant immediately after flowering. If you prune at any other time of year, you risk removing buds. If you live in a cold climate, heat-loving summer bloomers like hibiscus should be pruned no later than mid- to late summer. Pruning initiates growth, so if you prune hibiscus too late, it will put on new foliage that could be damaged by frost. This damaged growth can result in no blooms come spring.

Periods of blooming

Generally, good times to prune are following periods of flowering and rapid growth. If the plant blooms more than once a year, pruning will often initiate it to re-bloom. Pruning right after flowering is also safest for those plants that only bud up once a year, because doing so helps guarantee that you don’t accidentally prune off latent buds.

Harvest

Giving many vegetable plants a minor pruning following harvest cleans things up and often initiates regrowth and blooming. Slightly prune back vining veggie plants like tomatoes, beans and cucumbers, and within a couple of weeks, you will often enjoy another flush of blooms. Only prune veggie plants back by 10 percent to 15 percent at a time. And avoid doing so toward the end of the season, as the plant may not have enough time to re-grow before frost sets in.

Dormancy

Most fruit trees and berry plants require pruning while dormant. Without this pruning, they will often experience a poor or even nonexistent fruit crop. Pruning fruit trees also helps direct growth. Dormant pruning applies to grapes; stone fruits such as peaches and plums; and berries, like raspberries, blackberries and boysenberries.

Following rapid growth

It’s often an ideal time to trim back after a period of rampant growth. Doing so keeps quick growers, like certain invasive vines, under control.

Bountiful Container Vegetable Gardens

If you want a vegetable garden but lack ground space, try container gardening. Growing in containers lets you enjoy plenty of homegrown veggies. For a prolific potted produce harvest, keep the following growing tips in mind.

Ideal veggies for container growing

You can grow just about any type of produce in containers. Good choices include garden beans, peas, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, eggplant, strawberries, lettuces, Swiss chard, spinach and herbs, such as rosemary, thyme, marjoram, oregano, lavender, basil, parsley and chives. Root vegetables also do well, including carrots, beets, potatoes, radishes and parsnips. When choosing your vegetables for container growing, pick varieties with smaller fruits. For instance, opt for cherry and small tomatoes, pickling cucumbers and dwarf carrots and beets.

Choose the ideal container

Just about any container will work well, as long as it has adequate room for soil and drainage holes. Choose from wooden planters, plastic pots, glazed ceramic and terra-cotta. If you live in a dry, hot climate that receives little rainfall, opt for plastic, glazed ceramic or wooden containers, rather than terra-cotta, as that material dries out quickly. For large plants like tomatoes and potatoes, use at least a 10-gallon container. Anything smaller will result in the plant declining before its time from lack of adequate root room. Plant smaller veggie plants, such as leafy greens, strawberries and root veggies, in a 3- to 5-gallon container. Use a high-quality potting soil to plant—never use soil from the garden, as it is too heavy for containers and won’t result in healthy crops.

Indoor container garden

Growing vegetables indoors is possible, provided you have sufficient light. Place plants in an eastern or southern window, or use full-spectrum lighting. Keep your plants as close to the light source as possible so that they receive adequate light for growth and veggie production.

Container-grown veggie maintenance

  • Water well. Container-grown veggies require much more water than their in-ground counterparts. When the temperatures are high, some pots require daily watering. Soak the pot well, letting water rush from the bottom of the container.
 
  • Fertilize regularly. Potted veggies are heavy feeders. Add a slow-release fertilizer when planting, and feed plants every two weeks with an organic fertilizer designed for vegetables.
 
  • Harvest often. Keep your veggie plants producing by harvesting them frequently. Pick produce when it is still young and tender and before it becomes unwieldy, at which point it could cause the pot to become top-heavy and fall over.

Drought-Tolerant Landscaping

Growing drought-tolerant annuals and other low-water plants offers a wide variety of benefits. Such plants allow you to save water, which can be especially helpful in areas hit by drought. Many plants that possess drought resistance, like certain shrubs, also tend to be low maintenance.

What is drought tolerance?

Drought tolerance indicates that a plant is able to withstand periods of drought and can survive on low amounts of water overall. It does not mean that the plant can survive on no water. It’s important to remember that because of their access to limited amounts of soil, drought-tolerant plants in containers require more water than their in-ground counterparts.

Common drought-tolerant annuals

A wide variety of drought-resistant annuals exist. Some easy-to-grow favorites include ageratum, blanket flower (Gaillardia), cockscomb (Celosia cristata), cosmos, dusty miller (Senecio cineraria), flowering tobacco (Nicotiana alata), marigold, moss rose (portulaca grandiflora), salvia, verbena and zinnia.

Drought-resistance shrubs and vines

Growing foundation plants that are tolerant of dry conditions gives you the opportunity to enjoy a low-maintenance landscape. Drought-resistant shrubs to grow include panicle hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata), flowering quince (Chaenomeles speciosa), glossy abelia, maple-leaf viburnum (Viburnum acerifolium) and American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana). Vines that stand up to little to no watering include bougainvillea, bower vine, morning glory and passion vine.

Growing tips for drought-tolerant plants

Locate drought-tolerant plants in a sunny location in well-draining soil. If necessary, improve drainage by adding compost, which will also help the soil retain moisture. Mulch drought-resistant plants by covering the area surrounding the plant with a 2-inch layer of shredded bark. Water your drought-tolerant annuals and shrubs regularly for the first few weeks after planting. They don’t actually become drought-tolerant and able to go without water for extended periods of time until they’ve established themselves, so this early watering is important to their survival. Once they’ve put on 25 percent new growth, slowly ease off on watering until you are only irrigating weekly for annuals and monthly for vines and shrubs, when there is no rainfall. Water deeply when you irrigate, which creates a deep root system that is better able to withstand dry periods.

How you can become a thought leader

Small-business owners provide quick and easy tips for finding websites where you can share your expert insights.
Writer/Author/Publisher/Speaker, Garden Guides Press
AUGUST 14, 2014
Making yourself known as a thought leader who offers unique, forward-thinking ideas can be great for business, provided you have sufficient outlets for expressing those ideas. Obvious choices are quality websites and blogs that welcome your insight, but OPEN Forum community member Dan Stelter knows that first you have to find these sites. With that in mind, the freelance copywriter and SEO/inbound marketing consultant recently asked the community: “So how do you find quality websites to contribute your content to in order to build and grow your business? Tricky, but getting easier with the sites Google is putting at the top of the SERPs these days.” Several OPEN Forum community members offered their ideas for finding the appropriate sites for content contribution.

Determine Your Target Audience

Identify who your target audience is, and you’re bound to discover where they hang out online, says OPEN Forum community member Elizabeth Tan, a digital marketing consultant with the company Affluential. “By identifying your target market, you would be able to find forums, blogs and social media where you can contribute to and build your thought leadership.” Knowing, for instance, that your target audience is antique car enthusiasts or individuals into holistic health gives you clear indicators as to what sorts of blogs, forums, websites and social media to search for content contribution opportunities.

Examine Your Own Thought Leadership Interests

Emerald Bixby, founder of Clarity Health Centers, recommends comparing your target audience to your own content source interests. “I suggest starting by examining where you hang out online and writing down a few notes about what you value in blogs and other content sources that feed your interests,” Bixby says. “Try to focus less on topics and more on accessibility—think about how you search for things, and what sort of media you like to experience. (For example, how did you find this site?) Then compare and contrast this to the Web-searching habits of your target market,” she says. “I think you might find this helps you creatively and realistically target good places to establish your name as a contributor.”

Try Keyword Searches

An especially effective way to find sites where people are talking about what you wish to comment on is to Google your own keywords or the more generic versions of them. The top results are apt to offer excellent outlets for guest blogging. Another surefire way to easily locate conversations regarding your thought topic is to take those same keywords and sign up for Google Alerts, says OPEN Forum community member Jason Kanigan, owner and founder of Sales On Fire, Inc. “Go to Google Alerts and sign up for emails about articles on your keywords,” he says. “It’s as simple as that. I have four key phrases that Google Alerts sends me emails on every day, and that is more than enough to find content to write about. Another source is to go to Twitter search. The term ‘inbound marketing blog,’ for instance, got me many useful results.”

Remember Your Inbound Marketing

While offering your expertise on other websites and blogs is an effective marketing technique to establish yourself as a thought leader, Ken Marmer, vice president of CLERITI, suggests that you don’t forget about showcasing your thought leadership ideas on your own website. “The best way to build your own thought leadership is through inbound marketing,” he says. “By creating and providing valuable content for your target persona, promoting your remarkable content, building customer relationships and overall pulling the customer towards you, you will create thought leadership,” he says. “At the same time, you will have brand awareness, improve SEO and establish credibility.” Being seen as a thought leader doesn’t happen overnight. Follow these tips to get started building your foundation and broadcasting your expertise. Read more articles on marketing. Photo: Getty Images

Enjoy Tasty Edible Flowers

The next time you see a rose in the garden, rather than stopping to smell it, try taking a bite. Roses are one of many tasty edible flowers worth trying. If eating flowers seems odd to you, consider this: We consume the seeds, foliage, fruits, and even roots of plants, so why not the flowers? And if you really want to get technical, when you eat fruit, you are essentially eating flowers, because all fruit starts with a flower. Not all blooms are edible, but many are. They make delightful additions to salads and stir-fries, and they can even be candied and used to top baked goods. The following tips will help you enjoy edible blooms: Experiment. Like all foods, edible flowers vary greatly in taste, so be adventurous and try a wide variety of them. Some, like roses, are mild, while nasturtiums have a spicy, radish-like taste. Certain flowers are sweet, like honeysuckle and pansy, and others are markedly floral, like lavender. Additional tasty edible flowers to try include fennel blooms, zucchini blossoms (which are excellent stuffed with meat or cheese), hibiscus, calendula, borage, viola, Johnny Jump-up, anise hyssop, dianthus, dandelion, lilac, and pineapple sage. Use caution. Ensure beyond a shadow of a doubt that a flower is edible before eating it. Some flowers, such as foxglove and sweet peas, are highly toxic, so correctly identifying the blooms is crucial. Also avoid any flowers that have been sprayed with pesticides or chemical fertilizers, as you will end up ingesting them with the flowers. Let your imagination soar when using edible flowers. Besides adding them to salads and stir-fries, edible flowers can be put in casseroles, omelets, and quiches. It’s also fun to use them to make flavored vinegars and butters. Flavor sugar with lilac and lavender. Add the flowers to your sugar bowl, and your tea and coffee will have fragrant floral undertones. Some flowers are also particularly tasty when candied, such as pansy and viola. Harvest edible flowers just prior to using them, as most soon wilt. While clipping the blooms, avoid exposing them to the sun, as this will cause them to quickly deteriorate. Right before eating or using edible flowers, wash them under a gentle stream of cool water at the kitchen sink. Shake the excess water off and place them on paper towels to drain. If harvested ahead of time, store the flowers with their stems in water in the refrigerator. Julie Bawden-Davis is a garden writer and master gardener, who since 1985 has written for publications such as Organic Gardening, Wildflower, Better Homes and Gardens and The Los Angeles Times. She is the author of seven books, including Reader’s Digest Flower Gardening, Fairy Gardening, The Strawberry Story Series, and Indoor Gardening the Organic Way, and is the founder of HealthyHouseplants.com.

Grill and Pickle Summer Veggies

One of the highlights of the summer season is grilling and pickling summer veggies. A wide variety of methods exist for preparing and preserving your summer harvest. Try these preservation and grill methods to add some great flavor to your summer meals!

Grilled vegetables made easy

Barbecue recipes for veggies call for oiling your produce prior to grilling. Either spray with a light coating of cooking oil or toss in a bowl with a little bit of oil. Avoid adding too much, as dripping oil causes excess flames which can burn your veggies. After coating the veggies in oil, sprinkle with your favorite seasonings. Make the grilling process easier by either skewering your produce or placing them in a grill basket. You can cut your veggies large enough so that they won’t slip through the basket or barbecue grate, or place your produce in aluminum foil packets and grill in this manner. Spray the interior of your packets with cooking oil and fill with dense veggies, like sweet potatoes, regular potatoes and parsnips. For crispy veggies, cut thin slices; for meatier produce, make big, chunky cuts.

Produce that grills well

Veggies and fruits that do well when grilled and taste terrific include squash, pineapple, cherry tomatoes, onion, green beans, sweet peppers, asparagus, eggplant, corn, okra and potatoes.

Pickling summer veggies

Another way to preserve your summer produce is to pickle it. Pickling allows you to extend the enjoyment of your produce for a few extra weeks. Good produce for pickling includes cucumbers, beets, carrots, artichokes, green beans, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, ginger, okra, peppers, tomatoes and peaches. To pickle your produce, prepare by washing and drying well. Then chop or dice, depending on the veggies and the desired shape you want. Beets and carrots often work well in rounds, whereas cucumbers are best cut into spears. Place your veggies into mason jars, filling each one three-quarters of the way full. Next, add herbs and spices, such as dill for cucumbers. Then make your brine, which is a mixture of vinegar, water and sugar:
  • To make 6 cups of salty brine, boil for two minutes in a large saucepan: 3 cups distilled white or cider vinegar, 3 cups of water, 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons sea salt and 2 tablespoons sugar.
  • To make 6 cups of sweet brine, boil for two minutes in a large saucepan: 3 cups distilled white or cider vinegar, 3 cups of water, 1 1/2 cups of sugar and 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sea salt.
Add your brine to the veggies, filling your jar up to a half inch from the brim and covering all of the veggies. Lid the jar and refrigerate for a minimum of 24 hours before serving. Veggies pickled in this manner can be kept for up to a month in the refrigerator.

Creating a Hummingbird Garden

Attract hummingbirds to your garden and enjoy watching the energetic birds flit from one flower to another. Get close, and you can even hear the unmistakable whir of their wings. Creating a hummingbird garden requires incorporating a variety of elements, including flowers that hummingbirds feed on, a source of water and nesting sites.

What plants do hummingbirds like?

Hummingbirds have a high metabolism and eat twice their body weight in nectar and insects daily. This means that if you know what plants hummingbirds like, you’ll be able to provide a menu that attracts them. The hummingbird’s favorite flowers are red and tubular, although they also sip from other brightly colored flowers. Good choices include trumpet vine, cardinal flower, various salvias, bee balm, honeysuckle, fuchsia, penstemon, columbine, impatiens, cleome, hibiscus, hollyhock, buddleia, lupine, petunia, flowering tobacco, coral bells, larkspur and foxglove.

Space out hummingbird plants

When planting, leave room between flowers that hummingbirds feed on. The tiny birds hover while feeding and require sufficient room to do so.

Hang hummingbird feeders

Considering the fact that hummingbirds must feed almost continuously, it also helps to hang hummingbird feeders in your garden. Keep the feeders filled with a clean solution of one part sugar to four parts water.

Add water

Hummingbirds gravitate to running, shallow water sources. A flowing fountain or recirculating birdbath gives the hummingbird a chance to hover and sip from the water, as well as bathe. Keep the water clean and locate the fountain or birdbath out in the open. This allows you to get a good view of the hummingbirds. Birds in general won’t visit water sources near dense vegetation, as it could harbor predators.

Provide shelter and nesting sites

Keep hummingbirds in your garden by giving them a place to obtain shelter and nest. The birds gravitate toward a variety of trees, including bottlebrush, willow, eucalyptus and ash. Trees offer locations for bird’s nests, as well as nesting materials.

Leave dead wood

Hummingbirds prefer to perch on dead limbs rather than living ones. When such wood decomposes, it also attracts a variety of insects, which hummingbirds dine on, particularly when they are nesting.

How to get customers to write awesome reviews for you

If you’re having trouble gathering customer reviews, take advantage of these proven tips shared by other small-business owners.
Writer/Author/Publisher/Speaker, Garden Guides Press
JULY 14, 2014 Thanks to the Internet, word-of-mouth advertising for the small-business owner is powerful and long-lasting. When an infinite number of reviewers can share their opinions online, the potential for exposure and increased business becomes exponential. According to the Harvard Business Review, online peer-to-peer reviews are powerful because they give customers a good sense of what it’s like to use your goods or services. Small-business owners can tout their services, but customers are more likely to believe other customers. OPEN Forum community member Robert Chamul understands the game-changing results of reviews, which is why the owner of Mr. Sewer Rooter recently asked the community:
The best way to get reviews is to ask for them. And the best time to ask is when you finish the job and are with them.
“What’s a great way to get customers to write reviews for you? I just started my plumbing and sewer contracting company and wanted to get feedback from our customers of our service.” Based on their experiences, several OPEN Forum community members chimed in to answer Chamul’s question.

Just Ask

“The best way to get reviews is to ask for them,” says Jeff Motter, CEO and chief marketing officer of East Bay Marketing Group. “And the best time to ask is when you finish the job and are with them.” “While excitement and satisfaction is still in the air about your service, ask for some feedback,” agrees Bret Bonnet, chief marketing officer of Quality Logo Products. “Don’t be afraid to say to clients, ‘Hey, if we helped you, we’d be grateful if you let people know.’ They might take to Yelp themselves.”

Make It Easy

A certain percentage of satisfied customers will take the time and make the effort to review your company on sites like MerchantCircle and Yelp, but an even larger percentage are more likely to do so if you pave the way and make the process as easy and convenient as possible. “Create some sample testimonials that they can use as a model, and give them a form to fill out,” Motter says. If you meet with customers in person, give out business cards that list your URL on various review sites so that it’s easy for them to locate places to leave a review, and include your email so they can send the review directly to you if they prefer, says Bonnet. “A line that reads, ‘Send us your feedback or questions’ works well,” he says. Or send such information out via email right after the job is complete. Include a brief questionnaire or survey. Bonnet also suggests placing a feedback form on your website and posting a status update on your company Facebook page that asks how you’ve been doing. Existing and new fans will see the post and hear about how pleased your customers are.

Offer Incentives

“Don’t be afraid to offer some sort of minor incentive for submission,” suggests Michael Korolishin, an intern with Media Wizardz. Give out incentives that make sense and relate to your business, such as percentage off coupons for future services or products, free gifts and promotional pieces. If you want to build up reviews quickly, try holding a contest. For a specified period of time, enter anyone who gives a review into a drawing for a more expensive and impressive item, such as an iPad or a gift card.

Spotlight the Customer

Most people like to be the center of attention. When you do receive referrals, highlight those customers who took the time to provide them. Ask if you can share their testimonials on your website and social media, and make the mention even more of an event by including a picture of the person with the testimonial. Or go a step further and create a short video of you interviewing the satisfied customer, suggests Jason Reis, owner and lead programmer of Flehx Corp. “After a service call is complete, you (as the owner) can make a video personally thanking the customer for giving you the opportunity to work for him or her,” Reis says. “The video would be 30 seconds or less. Make sure to mention the customer’s name at least twice in the video. Then post the video to YouTube and send the customer a personal email with the link to the video. This is sure to get your customers talking about you in a very positive way.”

Follow a Routine

Not everyone will get around to giving you reviews, even when you ask. But if you incorporate the task of making the request into your regular business routine, you will begin to accumulate an impressive amount of reviews. “Create a process that you and all of your people will follow on each and every job,” Motter says. “This will guarantee that you will have testimonials and referrals. The best part is that if you do this, you will have designed a real business system that will always produce results.” Read more articles on marketing. Photo: iStockphoto

Planting Fall-Blooming Plants

Hang on to summer in the garden as long as possible by growing fall-blooming plants. When you know the right fall plants to grow, you can enjoy a bounty of blooms in the landscape well into autumn.

Late-summer flower selections

A wide variety of plants bud up and decorate the garden in the fall months. Good late-summer flower choices that take center stage include aster, mum, coral vine, angel’s trumpet (brugmansia), helianthus (perennial sunflower), sedum, coreopsis, joe-pye weed, helenium (sneezeweed), mallow, false dragonhead, coneflower (Echinacea), rudbeckia, yarrow, salvia, toad lily, daylily, globe thistle, wine cups and goldenrod. Fall-blooming beauties tend to have flowers in rich autumn jewel-tone hues, such as rust, gold, scarlet and deep purple. These colors give you the opportunity to use the plants for your fall decorating schemes.

When to plant fall-blooming flowers

For an eye-catching late summer and fall bloom, plant late-blooming flowers at the beginning of August. This will give the plants a chance to set down strong roots and bud up by early September. If you want to grow fall-blooming flowers by seed, plant the seeds by early July. Make sure to keep the seeds and seedlings moist in the hot weather.

Planting fall-blooming plants in the garden

Plant fall bloomers in a full-sun location with rich, well-drained soil. Often the locations where your spring- and summer-flowering plants are growing well also work for your fall bloomers. If there are still summer flowers in bloom in the planting bed, put the fall bloomers next to them and then pull up the summer flowers once they stop blooming so that the fall bloomers can completely take over the bed. Fall-blooming flowers also do well when planted in containers. Use a high-quality potting soil.

Late-summer flower maintenance

If there is no fall rainfall, keep the flower bed moist but not soggy. Feed fall-flowering plants once with a fertilizer designed for blooms when you plant and then a second time in September. Deadhead with pruners on a regular basis to keep the plants producing flowers as long as possible.

Water Gardening

Whether it’s gurgling, bubbling, splashing or flowing, water in the garden casts a magical spell over the landscape that draws you outdoors. Understanding what a water garden is helps you to establish one in your own yard.

What is a water garden?

Water gardens can be located in large fountains and containers or ponds. Such water features also often contain a waterfall effect. Though they may contain fish, the main focus of water gardens are the plants. It’s possible to enjoy your own DIY water garden if you follow these tips.

Choose the ideal location

Seek an area in the yard that is bright but cool. Most plants that flower need a minimum of five hours of direct sunlight a day. Avoid a location with full sun all day, though, as such an area will be too hot and sunny to enjoy. Excessive sun also creates algae in your pond.

Decide on desired pond dimensions

If you decide to build your own pond, for the best results it should be at least 18 inches deep and covered with plants by 60 percent. Growing a lot of water plants provides shade on the water’s surface, which prevents the water from forming invasive algae.

Install a filter

The best water gardens have a filtration system that filters out sediment so that your water remains clear. Choose a system that is large enough for the volume of water you’ll be pumping. If necessary, get two filters.

Include a good mix of plants

Water garden plants consist of bog plants, which grow along the edge of the pond and can be submerged in water; oxygenators, which add oxygen to the water and floaters, which, as their name suggests, float on the water.

Add fish

Ideal fish for water gardens include mosquito fish, which eat mosquito, larvae and goldfish. Be careful not to overload the pond with fish, as this can cause a scarcity of food and cause the water to be cloudy.

Keep it clean

Water gardens that become overgrown and filled with plant debris look messy and unkempt. On a daily basis, scoop out leaves that have landed in the pond and cut back the plants every three weeks. Adding barley straw to the pond also helps keep it clean.

Beyond the Lawn: Other Landscaping Ideas

While an expansive green lawn is pleasing to the eye, it can also be monotonous. It is possible to go beyond turf and enjoy something different in your front and backyard garden. Consider incorporating some of these modern landscape ideas into your yard.

Go native

A landscape consisting of plants that are native to your area adds an attractive touch and is easy to care for and maintain. Such landscapes do triple duty, as they are a magnet for butterflies and birds seeking nectar and shelter, and they are extremely drought-tolerant. Consult with your local nursery or garden supply center regarding the best plants to include in your native landscape.

Plant a rose garden

As one of the most popular flowering plants, roses make an excellent alternative to the lawn when you are completing your DIY backyard landscaping ideas. Plant a rose garden in your front yard, and you’ll have everyone stopping to admire them, or plant a rose garden in your backyard where you can sit and admire the flowers. Choose between traditional hybrid tea roses, which grow upright and provide good cutting flowers, and low-growing ground cover types that are easy to grow and don’t require any pruning. Fertilize on a regular basis, and you’ll enjoy plenty of blooms.

Add a structure

Items like gazebos and trellises provide interest to the landscape and give you something on which to grow. Good vining plants for these structures include clematis, grape, wisteria, black-eyed Susan vine, passion vine, morning glory, mandevilla and cross vine.

Create a seating area

Give yourself a good view of the rest of your landscape by adding a seating area. A bench and side table to hold refreshments offers a place to chat with friends and family or read a favorite book.

Accessorize

Adding accessories to the garden, such as statuary, gazing balls, decorative birdhouses and even birdbaths, is an easy way to add interest. Accessories last from season to season and don’t have to be in bloom to look attractive. Just be careful when adding accessories to your landscape that you don’t overdo it. Too many accessories will confuse the eye and can overwhelm the landscape.

Can a small website compete with the big guys?

It may seem like an uphill battle, but by using a few smart strategies, your website can easily compete with those of the bigger brands.
Writer/Author/Publisher/Speaker, Garden Guides Press
JUNE 26, 2014 Compare the website of a giant, well-known brand against your own, and as a small-business owner, you might feel like a minnow in the company of a whale. Considering the size and resources differential, a small-business owner can’t help but wonder if competing is even feasible. OPEN Forum community member David Trounce, co-founder of Mallee Blue Media, asks: “Is it still possible for a small website to compete with larger sites in the same niche? Can you give examples of the kinds of strategies a small site can use to be seen in the SERPS ahead of larger brands or companies? What other strategies do you use as a small website owner to compete online?” Size really doesn’t matter in the world of websites, says Terry M. Isner, managing director of Jaffe, a PR and marketing agency for the legal industry. “If they follow a few best practices, small sites can be just as successful, if not even more successful, than large sites. One primary advantage is the fact that small sites get to the point, and in most cases you can experience the company at-a-glance, whereas on a large site, overly complex navigation and menus that make you drill down further and further to find a nugget of information is a time-consuming turnoff.”

The Key to SEO Strategy

Done right, SEO evens things out between big and small sites, and all sites can find success in online search results. “Every website must have basic SEO elements in place and a solid content marketing strategy to succeed in today’s digital revolution, and this applies to all digital marketing and communications, including blogs and social media,” Isner says. SEO best practices are important no matter what the size of the website. Isner adds, “Large sites can easily rank poorly. More content doesn’t improve rankings if it doesn’t follow a keyword and SEO strategy. If a large site has a bunch of duplicate content, for instance, search bots have a hard time crawling the site and finding all the [relevant] pages among the duplication—so size becomes a negative.” A keyword strategy involves understanding the market and that means understanding keyword competition. “Knowing how difficult it will be to rank certain keywords is important to ranking success. The easiest way to test keyword competition is to push some content out and test it,” Isner says. “Try something simple and quick to get an understanding of how difficult it might be to rank certain keywords and phrases. If you have good success, then carry on. If not, then try a longer-tail variation of the keywords, or do more research and find less used (competitive) keywords.” In terms of “showing up” in search engine results for terms that large brands and companies are also competing for, it is possible for small companies to compete, says OPEN Forum community member Catherine Juon, chief entrepreneur of Beyond Startup.  “For uber-competitive terms, it takes some savvy strategy to figure out what phrases you can most easily gain traction with that will still generate business, while building the infrastructure (and budget) to compete on the most competitive terms.” Juon suggests optimizing for “universal search” results, including images, maps, videos, news articles, books and anything else that is available. Big brands often don’t bother optimizing these, which offers you multiple opportunities to compete for page one positioning. Isner agrees. “Maps, images, videos all tell your story, so use them to broaden your entry points and search options.”

Be Open to New Technology

Small businesses have the advantage of being nimble enough to try out brand new marketing strategies or technologies on their websites, whereas large corporations move much more slowly and, because of that, tend to stick with mainstream technology, says OPEN Forum community member Emil Consuelo, director of e-commerce and digital marketing at Altatac. He suggests taking the time to experiment and see what works best for your company.

Focus on Excellent Customer Service

Smaller companies are able to move quickly, and react faster online, says OPEN Forum community member Elizabeth Tan, digital marketing consultant with Affluential. “This means they tend to be more relational and personal when interacting with their clients. Even in the same industry, and the same niche, every business should have their own unique selling point. So you have to outplay that and communicate that to your clients.” Larger companies may offer better pricing than your company, but you have better customer relationships as a small-business owner, says Consuelo. “Compete by working on the customer’s experience on your website,” he says. “Build good relationships with your customers, and they will visit your site.” The same approach is needed for a website as any other aspect of your business, says OPEN Forum community member Michael Trow, owner of Trow Enterprises.  “In the early stages of business growth, it is difficult to try and be everything to everyone or even something to everyone,” he says. “It typically makes more sense to be focused on the target market and provide a solution to their needs. Depending on your business and model, there are most likely different priorities to focus on for driving traffic to your site.”

Be Consistent and Persistent

Nothing is built in a day, including a website that drives traffic, so it’s important to be willing to patiently wait for results, says OPEN Forum community member Lauren Simon, president of Lauren Simon Consulting: “Make your brand different, consistent and better, and you will see your website stand out.” Read more articles on marketing. Photo: Getty Images