Thursday, September 25, 2008

Q. How did you get started? Can I do this?

Q: Some of the most common questions I get are "How did you think of this?" and "How did you get started?"

A: I started many years ago when I was reading a parenting magazine that spotlighted a mom who worked from home. She rented storks. After thinking about it I realized that it would be the perfect home business for me! I had a baby boy and I was (am) obsessed with anything baby/kid related. I went down to my basement and drew a stork onto plywood and hand-painted it. It wasn't the best looking thing, but I was proud of it. I had been a professional graphic designer for almost 10 years, so I made my own brochures, post cards, business cards and website. I was hoping to get a few rentals a month and make a few bucks. Thankfully, I started getting a lot of rentals.


Q. Do I need to purchase a business opportunity or can I just make my own signs?

A. Yes, you can do it on your own, but please take a moment to read a little bit about what it's like to start from scratch. Most times once people realize what it's really like, they realize the value in starting with a business opp. and why we have so many happy customers.

Over time I started to get a lot of people asking me how they could start a stork rental business. That's when we decided to start selling business opportunities to help others quickly and easily jump into the fun part of the business (while avoiding the nitty gritty of starting from the ground up). The next request from our local customers as well as business partners was for other lawn greetings (birthday's, weddings, graduations & more). That's when I realized that I needed to rethink my business.

I decided that my pathetic one-piece 7 foot plywood & paint stork just wasn't going to cut it in this type of business. It took me over 3 years of trial and error (and more error and more error) to make the best signs out there. I've spent thousands of dollars on every kind of materials imaginable, trying to the find the best ones (the ones that would outlast any other). I've used plywood and mdo wood and pvc and latex paint and oil based paints and paints that cost $80/gallon. I've hand-drawn and painted signs, I've used pieces of colored vinyl, I've had images printed on vinyl from many different companies all claiming to have the same quality products (they didn't). I've tested clear vinyl coatings, vinyl spray coats and rolled clear coats...and I've left my signs au natural. I tried several structural designs to find what would hold up in all weather conditions. I've had one and two piece storks; and storks that had more pieces than I can count. I've played with various staking devices to find the one that is the sturdiest and easiest to install. I've had freehand-cut signs (with a variety of different tools - some worked, some didn't) and I've had machine-cut signs. Over all those years, I learned what works and what doesn't. I feel that we now have the best quality signs on the market. Now that we've perfected our materials, it was time to interview professional illustrators from around the world to find the one artist that could bring my sign visions to life. I found her! (fyi, this industry watches the web like a hawk looking for sign images that infringe on the copyright of others...just because something is on the internet does NOT make it 'free' and/or usable and altering someone elses images can also be considered infringement. Be careful!) Our illustrator is the amazing artist behind all of our signs! I later used my design background to design and build all of our personalized candy bar labels and our candy bar business CD as well as the marketing materials for our customers and our 30 page 'How to Start A Stork Rental' ebook.

....all from my home while raising my 3 little boys! Sweet Greetings is not a gigantic corporation with a huge staff. I am a mom who has devoted her career to this industry and helping others celebrate special moments. I love getting to know my business partners and helping them succeed. I don't do it all alone though! I have my wonderful husband and my family helping produce and ship our signs.

So, yes, you can start on your own, but by deciding to purchase a business opportunity rather than starting from nothing, you save precious time (and money) by avoiding the road I took. Most people want to do the fun part and not the logistical part that we've already done for you.

If you would like to know a few other things about me, please feel free to check out these online interviews:

"The WAHM Behind Sweet Greetings"
WAHM.Business-Opportunities.biz

When I'm not working, my favorite thing to do is
spend priceless (fun!) time with my family


Tuesday, September 23, 2008

How To Start A Stork Rental - Ebook on Amazon.com!


Our Ebook "How to Start A Stork Rental" is now on amazon.com! As of now it is only available in Kindle version on amazon, but we're still very excited. If you are looking for our regular email version, you can easily purchase it from our website with a Paypal account: Order Ebook or simply call us to pay by credit card (717) 932-7821. The next step we're in the midst of taking is having a printed book version available at major online retailers - and hopefully bookstores as well!

Monday, September 22, 2008

Vinyl Cutters

Q: Many people use a vinyl cutter to apply the lettering to their keepsakes. Is this necessary? What exactly is it and how does it work?

A: A vinyl cutter is a small device that you attach to your computer. With this cutter you are able to simply type in the text that you would like on your keepsake (you can choose your font, your size etc..). Next you click 'print', but instead of it printing out on paper, it actually has a little blade in it that cuts your letters out of self-adhesive vinyl. It's very cool! You then apply all your vinyl at once which means all your letters are spaced perfectly, lined up perfectly, straight and look professional. The vinyl comes in 10 yard and 50 yard rolls in hundreds of colors.


Do you need a vinyl cutter? NO.
Is it a helpful tool? YES.
When most people are first starting out they don't have the budget for a vinyl cutter (they start around $600). It's often an item that people work up toward as their business grows and profits. Once you have one you wonder how you lived without it, but if you've never had one, a $3 paint pen is perfect for personalizing your keepsakes!

Sample of vinyl lettering. This photo also shows a sample of our sibling stars, which are perfect for adding to a stork rental!

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Welcome to our newest sign customers!

It's always so exciting helping new people start their lawn greeting business. I would like to welcome our newest sign customers. If they live in your area, please tell your friends, family and co-workers all about the wonderful items they offer!

Kristen from Action Attraction
Tallahassee, Fl
www.ActionAttractionPartyRental.com

Offering:
Storks
Fairy Princess
Baby Shower
Pea Pod
Butterfly
Tractor
Cake
Baseball
Tea Party
Personalized Candy Bars
Inflatables and more!

----------------------------------------------------------------

Karen W.
Lauderdale, MS

Offering:
Fairy Princess
Just Married
Baby Shower
Pea Pod
Tractor
Cake
Large Numbers

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Debra from Blooming Affairs
Canyon Country, CA
www.BloomingAffairs.net

Offering:
Fairy Princess
Fireman
Baby Shower
Personalized Candy Bars
Flowers & more!



Friday, September 12, 2008

SEPTEMBER SPECIAL!

Each month I am going to be offering a different Blog-Only Special! Some of the discounts you may see featured: Percentage off your entire order, Buy one get one, DIY vinyl specials, free items, discounts on new items, marketing material offers and more! Please check back often to find great blog-only bargains for starting your new business or adding to your existing business.

SEPTEMBER SPECIAL
$100 OFF!
4 Stork Business Package

Choose any 4 storks you like!
Pink and Blue are the most popular, but it's also great to have neutral colors as well.

Click to view details about our 4 Stork Business Package

Expires September 30, 2008

1

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Welcome to Sweet Greetings!

Welcome! My name is Carrie Bryson. I am a work at home mom raising 3 little boys, a wife to a wonderful husband, and the founder and owner of Sweet Greetings, Inc. www.sweet-greetings.com

I've started this blog to tell the world all about lawn greetings and how to run a lawn greeting business. A few days a week I will be updating the blog with fun stories, valuable business tips, great marketing ideas and more! Often times when people call me to inquire about our lawn greetings, I have a habit of rambling on and on. The reason I do so is because I love what I do!

Sweet Greetings is an all-occasion lawn greetings rental business. We rent personalized lawn stork birth announcements and other yard cards for birthday's, weddings, graduations, baby showers and more! We deliver locally in Central PA as well as sell business opportunities all across the US (and beyond!). We currently have over 60 business partners who have purchased our business opportunities so that they can help announce special occasions in their area. View map

One of the many things we offer are storks. Renting 7 foot personalized lawn storks and helping new parents announce the birth of their new baby is awesome! There are very few businesses in the world where all your customers are happy. They are experiencing one of the most wonderful moments of their lives... and you get to be part of it! If our customer is looking for something other than a stork, we also offer a pea pod and a Noah's ark birth announcement. A year later those babies turn 1 and the same proud parents call us to deliver a beautiful, whimsical yard card for their little ones first birthday. What little girl wouldn't love a colorful fairy princess with her name on it! And since I have 3 little boys, I know that tractors and trains are right up their alley. Then next thing you know, our customers friends and family are calling for birthday signs for adults and weddings and all kinds of wonderful, special moments.

Looking for a unique gift? Rent a personalized lawn sign or personalized candy bars & Hershey kisses (yes, we have those too)! I doubt there are too many women out there who can remember every single time they've received flowers... yet they will forever remember a lawn greeting and will talk about it for years to come! Yard Cards are a wonderful alternative or compliment to ordering flowers. And it's not just women and children who love lawn greetings, men like to feel special too. We've included such signs as our "Holy Mackerel" to proudly announce the grand moments in your special guys life (birthday, job promotion, retirement...) Our graduation sign is perfect for graduates of any age: preschool graduation, high school, college, trade school, nursing school, college and grad school.

When our customers purchase a business opportunity from us, we don't just sell them signs and say "See ya later!" I personally guide them through the process by answering questions via email and phone (and sometimes I get lucky enough to meet them in person!) I get so excited when my customers contact me and tell me about their first rental or a record-breaking month.

Please check back often! My goal is to fill this blog up with awesome info about the biz and share with everyone the joy that comes with owning a lawn greeting rental business.

Thanks for stopping by!
:) Carrie