The other day my oldest client somewhat jokingly said I didn’t “love her” anymore; that she hardly spoke to me these days. Of course, relating to clients is very important and I took her comments to heart. So what am I doing that is so important I don’t have time for clients? The answer is simple — I am running a small business.

The “new” great American dream is to own your own business. More entrepreneurs launched new businesses in 2009 than at any other time in the past 14 years, according to a study released in May from the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity report. This could be due to the fact that so many people have been downsized that they feel the only way to earn a living or be secure is to be their own boss.

The problem is that it’s just not that easy! One of my favorite expressions is “you don’t know what you don’t know” and there isn’t one easy source out there that can feed you all the information you need to know in order to stay on top of the laws and intricacies to running a business – you find out when something happens how to handle it.

SO what was I doing last week instead of touching base with my (very important) clients? Well here is a little run down.

On Monday, I had back to back conference calls with my 4 managers so I knew what was going on in their departments that week and update our deadlines. A catch 22 for small business owners: you hire people so you don’t do all the work and then you end up managing people and creating another category of work for yourself. My company has 10 employees — not enough for me truly delegate everything other than working with the clients, but just enough to add a few hours to my workload each week dealing with them. You need to train them, mentor them, talk with them and, of course, manage them. Once you delegate things to them, you have to go over the results with each of them. This is why so many bosses fail to delegate because sometimes it takes the same amount of time to give the task to someone else then to do it yourself. Ongoing tasks can easily be assigned to an employee, but the weird things that pop up daily (and, trust me, they do) have to be handled and usually you are the only person left who can handle it.

Monday afternoon I spent over 3 hours researching the “use tax laws” in Michigan and discussing the inquiry we got from that state with our CPA and internal AP person. We are a service company and we don’t sell products so why would Michigan ask us to pay taxes in a state where we have no office, no sales, no employees? Because we issued some 1099’s to independent contractors to do in-store demonstrations in a few stores in that state. Each state has different tax laws. We can’t afford to go to an attorney on every issue that pops up and, unlike large corporations, have no one person who can deal with these things. So the small business owner ends up handling these issues one by one.

On Tuesday, I was dealing with my warehouse manager’s neck and back problems. We only have one warehouse manager and the fact her doctor put her on light duty meant the warehouse basically shuts down. We had to find a person immediately to go in and do all the heavy lifting plus deal with the insurance issues.

On Wednesday, I was dealing with another legal issue and this one was really fun. When we starting doing a lot of shipping, we began using a ship broker who was referred to us by another company. For the first 3 or 4 years, it was great – no problems and good rates. Then the broker, Doreen Dillon, sent out a change of company name correspondence assuring us that we would still be dealing with her, but she was working for a different company. It seemed to be business as usual, but then things got strange; she was using different shipping companies for each shipment, she was hard to reach, some invoices were coming straight to us saying they were not paid – she always had a plausible excuse for each. Finally, Doreen disappeared (with 2 years worth of payments) and the shipping companies started coming after us for payment.  It was and continues to be a nightmare; every few months another shipping company pops up and we have to settle with them. Basically we have paid TWICE for all the shipping that occurred during those couple of years. I put her name in this blog in case anyone reading this is doing business with her! Trust me, there are a lot of people who would love to find her.

Other things I handled last week included managing all our projects; making sure that nothing falls through the cracks and that we get everything done on time. We are also in the middle of redeveloping our website and working on a new part time PR position so we have one person monitoring all our social media, press releases and contact lists (something I pretty much handle alone at this point). I get hundreds of emails each day from clients and associates and make a point to respond quickly to everyone. I also invoice most of the projects myself because I do most of the quotes.

I feel extremely lucky (and proud) that we have been in business for 20 years and keep growing.  I hope other entrepreneurs find as much success as I have. But I laugh when someone thinks owning your own business is “freedom” and you can take off whenever you want to. My biggest piece of advice – realize it is going to be twice as hard as any job you ever had and then maybe you won’t be as unprepared for the demands that reaching the great American dream will bring. Oh and yes, stay in touch with your clients because you really do work for them.

Cosmetic Promotions Donates Money and Time to Different Charities

Winter Park, FL – Cosmetic Promotions Inc, a national marketing company specializing in the beauty industry, is celebrating 20 years in business. As part of the celebration, they are offering quarterly specials and also giving back to the community by donating money to their clients’ favorite charities. The special for August includes a 5% charity “rebate” to the charity of their choice on any 100 (or more) store event the client books. The offer expires July 6^th. During Breast Cancer Awareness month in October, they donated 5% of all demo revenue to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation, raising almost $4,000. They are encouraging their clients to let them know which charities they would like considered for a donation by asking them to fill out a short survey at http://www.cosproagency.com/survey.

                Cosmetic Promotions CEO and founder Joann Tyson believes strongly in volunteering. She gives at least 5 hours weekly to her charities in addition to the cash donations. “If every person who COULD volunteer did, charities in this country would need less federal aid and arts organizations would be able to survive,” says Ms. Tyson who is on two city boards, volunteers at the Florida Film Festival, and served as president of the Orlando Shakespeare Theater’s Associate Board for 2 years. She also chaired the Winter Park Library’s 2010 annual fundraiser and was the community liaison for Toys for Tots for 5 years. Her employees are also big on volunteering. Agency Director Kristin Bocox has been delivering Meals on Wheels to local Dallas shut-ins for more than 2 years. Sunny Wilmot, Contest Administrator, went to Africa for 2 weeks last August to help develop a well and a housing project in a village near Naivasha, Kenya. Diane Burge, Teen Event Coordinator, served on the Orlando Shakespeare Theater Associate Board as well. Kate Crockett, Regional Manager, donates time to political campaigns and Ted Bondhus, Art Director, donated many graphic design hours to the Winter Park Library and Orlando Shakespeare Theater projects.

                In addition, Cosmetic Promotions frequently donates extra products from events to women’s shelters and local silent auctions to help those charities raise more money. According to Tyson, “We have been so fortunate to be successful in business for 20 years; we feel it is our duty to give back. Plus, it feels so good!”

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For more information on Cosmetic Promotions, contact Joann Tyson at 888-644-9916 or visit our website: www.cosproagency.com.

Winter Park, FL – 100 Walgreen’s stores recently hosted a Maybelline makeover event introducing new eye and lip products to their Florida consumers. A professional makeup artist was on hand at each store to apply Studio Pearls Shadow, Lash Stiletto Mascara and Shine Sensational Lip Gloss in mini eye and lip makeovers to delighted customers. In just 2 days, over 800 makeovers were performed resulting in more than 1000 pieces sold. According to a survey consumers took during the event, over one-third had never tried Maybelline products before, 33% purchased something that day and another 62% said they would make a Maybelline purchase in the future because of this event.

While there, the makeup artist personally trained the store’s Beauty Advisor on the brands so that they may assist future customers. Walgreens stores have an average of 3 beauty advisors per store – the only drug chain with beauty help in all stores.

The event was facilitated by Cosmetic Promotions, Inc – a promotional and marketing company headquartered in Central Florida who handles a slate of marketing programs for the #1 drug chain. As budgets get cut and staff is reduced, Retail stores are utilizing more third party companies to assist in building sales. By hiring outside firms to fill out their lean marketing, chains are finding great results with less time investment.

Cosmetic Promotions prides itself on providing totally turnkey programs for retail chains. For their in-store demo’s they create an “event in a box” kit that is sent to each demonstrator to bring into the store, eliminating the chance of items getting lost before the event. A standard kit includes the products, custom made signs and a beauty basket giveaway that customers can enter to win. “Our makeup artists have a minimum 2 years experience applying cosmetics and we do live telephone trainings before each event” says Joann Tyson, the company’s CEO; “We also train them on selling tips and give them the proper tools so each artist can execute the event. This is why a standard rate of sales at one of our events results in selling about one week’s worth of product in just 4 hours”

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For more information on Cosmetic Promotions, contact Joann Tyson at 888-644-9916 or visit our website: www.cosproageny.com.

Winter Park, FL – The prestigious women’s magazine, Vogue Magazine, sponsored Cover Girl makeovers at 14 Florida market Walgreens stores. The professional makeup artists were demonstrating the new Lash Blast Mascara and promoted the Magazine’s latest sweepstakes – a chance to win an Andrew Marc Salina Handbag – by distributing trend sheets to attendees.

The event offered customers a wonderful Cover Girl gift-with-purchase cosmetic bag, which helped sell over 152 pieces during the event – a 62% closure rate. A survey conducted during the event showed that a whopping 81% of customers surveyed had used Cover Girl before and 99% of them wanted more makeover events at Walgreen’s. Over 59% of the customers were within the target age group (25-50) of the brand and magazine.

Cosmetic Promotions, a promotional and marketing company based in Central Florida executed the event. They handle many programs for magazines at retail stores. Their trained makeup artists have a minimum of 2 years experience applying makeup and execute events all over the United States. The magazines offer the makeovers as a bonus to their clients who purchase more pages in the publications.

“Customers were thrilled with the event, these are good results” says Rachael Cohn, Beauty Promotion Director from Vogue Magazine.

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Cosmetic Promotions, a National marketing and promotion company, completed a 6 month customer response survey on in-store demonstrations. The survey was conducted during several events in various retailers between 4^th Quarter 2008 and 1^st quarter 2009.

Of the almost 3000 people surveyed,

• 60% had never tried any of the products demonstrated before
• 35% intended to purchase immediately based on the demonstration, another 56% intended to purchase later (less than 9% had no purchase intent)
• 96% would like more of the same event at that store

The age group breakdown was as follows:

• 25% – under 25
• 44% – 25-50
• 31% – over 50

The events are usually conducted by a professional makeup artist and features brands such as Cover Girl, Wet n Wild and Neutrogena in mass drug, food or merchandiser stores.  Markwins Company hired Cosmetic Promotions to do over 500 in-store events during this period on their Wet n Wild and Black Radiance brands and to introduce their new Beauty Benefits Brand. At a recent Beauty Benefits event, sales average 3 pieces per hour with a closure rate of 150%. The closure rate is figured by dividing the number of sales by the number of makeovers performed. 82% if the customers had never tried or heard of the brand prior to the event and the company is happy with the results.

At a recent Neutrogena Cosmetic event held in Meijer’s stores, sales were almost 6 pieces per hour with a 277% closure rate. Of the 67% who had never tried Neutrogena, more than 2/3rds made a purchase during the event.

To further encourage customers to stop and participate, these events usually include a drawing for a Beauty Basket. Customers can also opt in to be notified of future events by checking that box on the entry forms, so these events also provide a valuable mailing list for the customer. In addition, the makeup artists take time to train the store associates on the brands so sales continue even after the event is over.

For more information on how you can benefit from such an event, contact Kristin Bocox with the CosPro Agency at 877-326-7776 or kristin@cosmeticpromotions.com.

Cosmetic Promotions continues to grow after 20 years in business

                Orlando, FL – Where historically less than half of all small businesses survive past four years, Cosmetic Promotions, Inc. (CPI) is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and continuing to grow in the face of a struggling U.S. economy. The company began in 1989 by producing a newsletter for Revco Beauty Department and today fills the critical marketing and promotional gap between vendors and retailers in the cosmetic and beauty industry. Vendors concentrate on national marketing campaigns and can’t effectively customize marketing programs for each retail chain. Similarly the retailers lack the resources to create individual marketing programs for every product they sell.

             CPI fills this role for both the retailer and the vendor, helping both parties meet their business objectives. CPI is the only U.S. marketing company dedicated to improving sell-through for the mass beauty industry that provides complete turnkey services, from creative design to in-store training, talent and support. The company prides itself on being a problem solver and the place that retailers and manufacturers both can turn when they lack the staff or resources to pull off programs that they need.

                CPI has its own talent agency which is now expanding its reach to other industries. The CosPro Agency has more than 1,000 makeup artists and models nationwide available for all types of demonstrations for all kinds of manufacturers and venues. CosPro’s demonstrators are not minimum-wage temps like most demo companies use. Following the philosophy that “you get what you pay for,” their demonstrators are trained, attractive, match the demographics of the product, and – importantly – show up as scheduled. The demo industry has a typical 10% or higher no-show rate while CosPro’s is less than 5%. And if a demonstration does not happen on its scheduled weekend, CosPro offers a replacement demonstration at a 25% discount. A recent 400-store fragrance modeling event for JC Penney’s resulted in a 4:1 return on investment for the client, who attributed the outstanding results to the CosPro sales training each promotional artist received prior to the event. CosPro’s three-step training program provides better-informed demonstrators who can help customers make positive buying decisions. To celebrate their 20th  anniversary, the company is offering ONE free demo to the first 50 NEW customers who respond to their upcoming email blast.

For more information on Cosmetic Promotions, contact Joann Tyson by email :joann@cosmeticpromotions.com or by phone: 407-644-9916.

According to a study by the U.S. Small Business Association, only 2/3 of all small business start-ups survive the first two years and less than half make it to four years.  As the founder and CEO of a company that has just enjoyed its 20th anniversary, I would like to share some tips to people out there thinking of starting their own business and hope other small business owners will add some of their thoughts.

1. Never open a business you are not passionate about and are an expert in – one of my recent tenants who bought a mildly successful auto tinting business is a classic example of what not to do. This man had some money to invest and he decided to buy his own business and went to a broker who showed him the types of businesses he could afford to buy and he choose the auto tinting one.  He ignored the fact that he didn’t know a thing about auto tinting and had never owned his own business before. He ran through the investment money and closed his doors within 6 months.

2. Don’t think being your own boss is easier than having a boss – Be prepared to work harder than you ever have before in your life if you want to make it.  For years, I worked 6-7 days a week because I was (and still am) so passionate about what I do. You have to be twice as smart and three times as dedicated as you were when you were an employee because there is no one above you to check your work. Attention to detail is so important, you need to double and triple check everything that leaves your office so that you make the right impression early on.

3. Be careful about overhead (literally)- do you really need office  or retail space to operate your business? The #1 reason my business was so successful from the start was that I didn’t have to invest a dime to start it and I ran it out of my house (still do even though I own an office/warehouse now).  Obviously some businesses need to have a location but not all do and if you can start a business that doesn’t require large overhead you are more likely to succeed. For example, perhaps start selling your goods on line before opening a mortar and brick store.

4. Start small – if you can keep your day job and begin the business part time, you will have a better chance of seeing if this is the life for you and being successful. I started mine working at night and on weekends.

5. Hire when necessary and not before – hiring good people is probably the hardest part of owning/managing a business. I spent a lot of time reading articles and books on how to interview, what questions to ask and what to look for to find a good employee and you know what? That only worked 1/3 of the time! There is no magic formula on getting good people so be careful and hire only when you absolutely need help. Again, if you are starting your own business to have more personal time, think again. And before you hire anyone, create a very detailed job description for that person. Don’t even place an ad before you have this job description in writing ready to share with the people you interview.

6. Hire the person who meets the job description AND will mesh well with your company – OK, I did learn a bit after all that research and 15 years of hiring (yes, only 15 years because the first 5 I did everything myself). The #1 mistake I made (and I know others do as well) is to compare candidates to each other — their education, their past job history, etc — but instead you should be comparing them to the job description. Ask the candidates about EACH job description and what experience they have doing each one or how they would tackle it.  The #2 mistake I made was to hire people that had great resumes but just didn’t “fit in” with our group. The way to make sure they do is to have your other employees interview them as well. Another thing we do is to have all potential employees take a personality test. This helps us determine if we have a good mix of personalities to get the job done. We also find that certain personality types do certain jobs better. If you have never done one of these tests – try www.keirsey.com/aboutkts2.aspx  or www.humanmetrics.com. You want people to be on YOUR team and all work well together. This doesn’t mean all personalities are the same (in fact that is worse) but that they all play well together.

7. Analyze your productivity and always look for ways to improve on it. We were in such a growth mode for two years that my employees joked they didn’t take a shower for days but worked straight through (luckily they all work out of their home offices). Things were being over looked and we knew we needed to hire someone but before we did, we asked each employee to list what they LOVED about their jobs and what they HATED. We then made a job description with the things they hated and we found the perfect person who loved those exact things.

8. Let your employees share in the profits – employees that share in the profits are vested and work harder than those who are just hourly employees.

9. Learn to delegate – this was the hardest thing for me to do but once I did, my life changed! I now am great at delegating and because I have such an exceptional staff and made sure they were properly trained, I know that the things I delegate will get done correctly.

10. Have meetings regularly but not too much – many large companies move so slowly because of all the meetings their employees have to attend. But make sure you are having meetings — live ones if you can at least once every other month. Make sure you have an agenda and you lead the meeting and leave some time for brainstorming on ANY problem you have. You would be surprised how many times one of my employees came up with a suggestion that worked and was way out of their job description. Looking at things with different eyes opens up a whole new pot of “what ifs”.

11. Time IS money (especially when you are paying the salary) – Email instead of phoning, conference call instead of live meetings – you get the drift. Obviously, you need to do what your clients like best but most are as busy as you are so try the email approach and conference call approach and see how much time you can save to spend on solving their problems for them!

12. The customer is not always right– OK, they are always right at a restaurant or a retail shop but when you are in the marketing/consulting business of any type; you are the expert and your job is to make sure the client gets the best at the best price. This sometimes means not agreeing with them. And if they hired you in the first place, they should understand you are there to help them.

13. Know what your competition is up to – Know who their clients are, what their rates are, etc. Never bash the competition but make sure you know what they are doing. There is nothing worse than a business owner who doesn’t know there is someone doing the same thing they do at a better price or in a better way. Don’t let your client be the one to tell you!

14. Get a mentor if possible – before you even start your business, try to find a person who can mentor you. If you can’t find a personal contact, look to your local university and see if they have small business start up classes or check out SCORE – a website that helps entrepreneurs get FREE & CONFIDENTIAL business advice from SCORE – a group of retired business people who are willing to consult – www.score.org/index.html.

To everyone out there thinking about starting their own business,  I hope some of these tips are helpful. For  more information on my company, check out our website at www.cosproagency.com.