Maybe your competitors left out a vital piece of information that they should be focusing on with their product that they are not.  This could be a perfect solution for you to get in and immediately step ahead of the competitors.

When you determine the positive aspect that is different that sets you completely apart from your  competitors, you can use this information in your advertising campaign. 

You never want to look the same as the rest of the companies in your industry.  Don’t be afraid to step outside of the box and go different.  This is how consumers will remember you.

Creation By Design, has created a Trading Card line based upon the stories of the Bible. www.mybiblecards.com

Creation By Designs goal is to help children and pre-teens connect with the stories of the Bible and to assist parents and teachers impart that story in a manner that is both educational and entertaining for them.  Creation By Design brings together the greatest story ever told with breathtaking original artwork and a fresh narrative voice.  Creation By Design uses fantastic 3D computer-generated artwork to grab the attention of children, and to rekindle their interest in the wonderful adventures of the Bible.

length: 15-minutes
 

Not only is she an amazing business woman, but she is also a master artisan craftsman. Her product is made from hormone free goats milk and is doctor recommended for those with skin conditions, eczema(atopic dermatitis), acne and other sensitive skin care. In this interview, Marsha explains what it is like to start a company in the “middle of nowhere” and watch God increase her customers, products, and income.

Laurel Fork Farm www.laurelforkfarm.com “We hand milk our beautiful Nubian Goats twice daily to get the most important ingredient for our goat milk soaps, hormone free milk. We make all kinds of all natural products fresh from the farm.”

length: 30-minutes

1 – Please provide the name of your business, the URL for the website and the “30-second business card” (a short description of your business).

Laurel Fork Farm www.laurelforkfarm.com  We hand milk our beautiful Nubian Goats twice daily to get the most important ingredient for our goat milk soaps, hormone free milk. We make all kinds of all natural products fresh from the farm.

2. What do you consider to be your strong points?
 Our strong points are that we use only the best God given ingredients that we can find.  We try to do things as natural as we can.

3.  What do you consider to be your weaknesses?
Our weaknesses at this point is the fact that we are still small and can only make so much to keep up with demand.  With the Lord’s help we are moving towards upgrading so that we can keep up with demand.

4.  What inspired you to start your own business?
God was my inspiration.  I lost my job due to down sizing and got the burning desire in my heart to follow my dream of independence.  God continues to guide us through this recession and our business continues to grow.

5.  How did you decide what product or service to sell?
We have always lived on a farm and had many animals.  We try to be as self sufficient as possible, my husband is also lactose intolerant so it was an easy fit to get dairy goats.  The rest was a gift from God.

6.  What were your economic goals when you started your business? How long did it take for you to reach those goals?
Our economic goals remain the same.  We want to provide for our family and be used by God for the kingdom.  It is important for us to tithe and use our wealth to help others as God sees fit.  We have no desire to “be rich with money”.  We are already rich, we just work day to day and let the Lord take care of the details.  This concept drives a lot of people crazy, especially those that don’t know God, but this is what works for us and has never failed us.

7.  Other than money, what were you looking to get out of your business?
Freedom.  The freedom to take care of my two children, work on our farm, and take care of my family the way that it should be. 

8.  Did you ever have a feeling of desperation or insecurity when launching your business? How did you overcome those feelings?
I think that everyone sometime second guesses their decisions, just as I have.  This is when I pray and seem to get the peace that passes understanding and things start to fall into place.  I believe that God has given me this business and he will guide me through my problems with it.

9. How do you use your business to share your faith?
You can not go to our web site and not know that we are believers.  We try to let people know that we credit our full success to the Lord.

Matthew 5:44-46

But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,

Destroying your enemies, by making them your friends.

Whatever you give energy too expands. By feeding hate you get more hate. By loving enemies we feed another powerful spirit, and it in turn, feeds us with peace of mind.

The Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes seeks nominations for its 2010 awards. The Barron Prize honors young people between the ages of 8 and 18 who have made a significant positive difference to people and our planet.

Each year, ten national winners each receive $2,500 to support their service work or higher education.

“Each year, the Barron Prize honors twenty-five winners nationwide. Half of the winners have focused on helping their communities and fellow beings; half have focused on protecting the health and sustainability of the environment.

These young people reflect the great diversity of America. They are female and male, urban and rural, and from many backgrounds. Examples are Michaella, who organized a rodeo for disabled kids; Carter, who led the effort to conserve a local river; Ashley, who created a scholarship fund for African girls; Kyle, who organized a reading mentorship program; Joying, who cleaned up South Carolina’s beaches; Ryan, who helped provide clean drinking water to more than 70 African villages; and Barbara, who created a successful oil recycling project in Texas.

The goal of the Barron Prize is to celebrate such heroic young people—and to inspire others to do their part. Like the woman for whom the prize was named—my mother, Gloria Barron—these young people demonstrate the power of one person to make a difference to the world.”

T.A. Barron
Prize Founder

Read more here.

The T&T Project’s mission is to help ALL children who have been affected by tragedy and/or misfortune.

What is your 30-second business card? (Business name & brief description)

The name of our business is The T&T Project. Our website is kstbllc.com. The T&T Project was founded January 16, 2010 by Taylor Bates (15) and TaDarol Bates II (11). Our mission is to help all children (under 19) who have been affected by tragedy and /or misfortune.

What do you consider to be your strong points? 

Our strong points are we are very organized & have always worked with our mom to volunteer.  Our mom has a company that works directly with Non-profits and we have hands on experience volunteer with various non-profit organizations. .

What do you consider to be your weaknesses? 

Our weakness  is that we just started and the need is so great. We have made and donated backpacks to a family who had 7 children. All of their belongings were lost in a fire. We also donated to a teenager whose family needed help with money to bury her. We are still trying to get  our organization off the ground. Our Mom is completing our 501c3 application for us.

What inspired you to start your own business?

 
On the date of January 16, 2010 I was sitting in homeroom and we were watching CNN & the tragedy that struck Haiti. I looked a little closer and noticed little children wandering around. Instead of just sitting around and hoping that somebody else would do something, I called my brother into my room. We discussed what we could do to help the children and  we came up with the organization to help ALL children who have been affected by tragedy and/or misfortune.

Other than money, what were you looking to get out of your business?

 
Out of our organization, we just want to be able to help out all children who have been affected by tragedy and/or misfortune. We hope that by receiving a backpack full of goodies from us, it will brighten their spirits despite what they are going through.

Did you ever have a feeling of desperation or insecurity when launching your business? How did you overcome those feelings? 

We’re just launching our project. The very first day, TaDarol & I did have doubts. We didn’t know if people would be interested in an organization like ours. But, both children and adults have been very generous with their time, products, and monetary donations.

How do you use your business to share your faith?

We use our business to share our faith by simply helping out children who are going through a challenge. We are enjoying  giving back to children. It feels so good to know that we are helping them during their time of need.

OTHER:
The T&T Project will be packing shoe boxes for the children of Haiti this Saturday, January 30, 2010 at 3 p.m. We welcome all children (under 19), to come and help us pack. Each shoe box contains some of the following:
Note cards
Socks
Teen Magazines
Wash cloths
Deoderant
Uno cards
Old Maid cards
Underwear
sanitary and baby wipes
tampons/sanitary pads
soap
toothbrush
toothpaste
bottled water
small stuffed animal

The boxes will be delivered to: The Haitian Alliance, Inc. They will take them to Haiti and distribute them to children.

OFFICERS:
Taylor Bates, President (15)
TaDarol Bates II, Secretary (11)
Kimberly Sellars-Bates, Advisor

Kat Albrecht

is a police detective-turned-pet detective and the founder of Missing Pet Partnership, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to reuniting lost pets with their families. Missing Pet Partnership has formed the first-ever lost pet search-and-rescue team (in Seattle, WA) and hopes to develop similar teams nationwide.

Kat pioneered the cross application of law enforcement investigative techniques and technologies to solve lost pet investigations and is widely known as an authority on training search dogs to track lost pets. Since 1997, she has trained the majority of all operational pet detectives in the USA, Canada, and even Ireland.

Kat and her search dogs have appeared on Animal Planet programs and articles about her work have appeared in People, Reader’s Digest, and Parade. Kat is the author of two books: The Lost Pet Chronicles and Dog Detectives: Train Your Dog to Find Lost Pets. She is currently crafting Bloodhound Love, a romance/mystery novel for teens.

www.KatAlbrecht.com

Read Kat’s Profile on the next page …

Kat Albrecht Enterprises, www.katalbrecht.com. I’m a police detective-turned-pet detective, published author, inspirational speaker, mystery writer, and founder of Missing Pet Partnership (www.missingpetpartnership.org), a national nonprofit organization that trains volunteer pet detectives and search dogs to find lost pets.

What do you consider to be your strong points?

First and foremost, that I seek God first and His will for my life; second, I am a total risk taker and I am not afraid to pioneer and invent; I have made many sacrifices in order to follow my dream (which back in 1998 a friend told me was a “pipe dream”); I am not afraid to fail because I have become quite good at it (I believe we need to teach teens how to fail…because they will and not just how to succeed!); I’ve learned the art of changing directions whenever I’ve run into a wall or closed door – my family and friends say they’re amazed that I’ve stuck with my dream for over 13 years and that I’ve refused to give up; I am tenacious and I refuse to give up; I believe in the principle of tithing.

 What do you consider to be your weaknesses?

My biggest weakness is that I am a “math phobic” and I have a fear of hiring a staff and of being an employer; however, I am currently working with a business coach who is helping me to work through those issues.

 What inspired you to start your own business?

In 1981 (when I was 21) I heard a biologist talk about how he had a passion for sharks and he couldn’t believe that he was “paid for his passion.” At that time I was a 9-1-1 dispatcher who HATED my job. I knew my passion was law enforcement and animals, but it took an additional 10 years until I stumbled across the idea that I could combine my PASSION for dogs and my PASSION for law enforcement by becoming a Police Bloodhound Handler. I stumbled on this idea after reading a book about police bloodhounds and when I was done with the book, I told myself, “I’m going to go through the police academy, get a bloodhound and train it to track people, become a Police Bloodhound Handler, and be PAID FOR MY PASSION.” The fact that I actually believed that I could do those things, not to mention that I was actually successful in DOING those things is such a testimony that I hope will encourage teens. I became a police officer in 1991 and transition from police work into pet detective work (and owning my own business) happened in 1996. My police bloodhound A.J. escaped and was lost in the woods. I used another search dog to track his scent and find my missing police dog and that gave me the idea, “I know how to train dogs to find lost PEOPLE…WHY aren’t we training dogs to find lost PETS?” That idea sparked a paradigm shift and has taken me on an incredible journey over the past 13 years! I’ve been called the pioneer of the pet detective industry because I incorporated not just the use of search dogs to track and detect lost pets, but also the application of other law enforcement-based techniques and technologies like search probability theory, deductive reasoning, behavioral profiling, evidence collection, and other scientific-based applications towards finding lost pets.

How did you decide what product or service to sell?

In 1998, I was under consideration for a reality pet detective series for Animal Planet when a friend of mine introduced me to a movie producer who said that he wanted to pitch my story as a feature film for Columbia Pictures. He said the first step would be to partner me with a ghost writer to write my autobiography. Although that collaboration fell through, I decided to just write the book myself so I attended writer’s conferences, spent five years working on my book and struggling to become published. It was only after I read Psalm 127:1 that I realized I needed to stop striving and I asked God to get my book published. Three months later, a literary agent CALLED ME (which trust me, isn’t supposed to happen) and asked me to send him my manuscript. Long story short, “The Lost Pet Chronicles” was published in 2004 and although it did not sell well, it received fantastic reviews and is the foundation for the books that I am working on today.

What were your economic goals when you started your business? How long did it take for you to reach those goals?

To pay my bills and tithe every month, something which I’ve been able to do that since 2001.

Other than money, what were you looking to get out of your business?

To bring glory and honor to God.

Did you ever have a feeling of desperation or insecurity when launching your business? How did you overcome those feelings?

I am the poster child for business failure! My first business was Pet Pursuit. It was my side business and I dissolved it within a year. I then started the National Center for Missing Pets, a nonprofit organization that failed within a year. My next attempt was a second business that was called Pet Hunters and I dissolved it within six months due to a lack of revenue. I took a job (working to rescue animals in disasters) and moved to Los Angeles, but lost that job after 6 months due to budget cuts. My third business was Pet Hunters International which was the first-ever pet detective academy which I ran for two years but then donated it as a training program for Missing Pet Partnership, the nonprofit organization that I currently manage. My current business Kat Albrecht Enterprises is the business (sole proprietorship) that I run for my speaking, writing, and consultation services. Don’t fear failure! Learn from your mistakes and move on, knowing that God uses difficulties to humble us, teach us, and refine us.

How do you use your business to share your faith?

Through my writing and conference speaking, I encourage Christian teens to surrender their wills (and stubborn hearts) and commit to serving God. I tell them that if they think, “God could never use me” that they need to think again. In business and in life, God uses hardships and difficulties to break down our pride and to humble us to the point where we say, “God I can’t do this – I need you!” I want to encourage teens to strive to live a life on the edge, following God’s will even it means you’ll slap a “PET DETECTIVE” sign on your car door and have people laugh at you. Lane Frost, a champion bull rider (featured in the movie Eight Seconds) once said, “Don’t be afraid to go after what you want to do, and be what you want to be; but don’t be afraid to be willing to pay the cost.” Lane was ultimately killed by a bull, doing what he loved to do. He was the inspiration for my putting on a bullet proof vest and going out to serve the public, making life and death decisions, all the while knowing that this was God’s will and that even if I was killed in the line of doing, I was willing to pay that cost.

It all starts with a plan. A savings plan

Begin with determining what is a NEED and a WANT.

Make a list of the things you would LIKE to have. Then ask yourself, will these things really satisfy me? Or, am I searching for something deeper? Are they obtainable?

Next, make a list of the things that you NEED. Break down the list into categories based on urgency, such as Immediate, Short-Term, Long-Term.

Immediate = with the next 6 months.
Short-Term = the next 12 months.
Long-Term = 18 months or longer.

Is everything on the NEED list a real need or should something be moved to the WANT list?
Have you considered everything that might come up in the future that would have an impact on your finances?

Okay, with this simple exercise you now have a basic savings plan. You know what you need and when you need it. Post this plan in places where you will see it, like the fridge or your bathroom mirror. Review it before and take it with you when you go shopping.