Contents:
1. What's Hot at DCW

• DCW Of The Month

• Craft Project - Cinnamon Ornaments

• Contest Sponsors Needed

2. Business & Entertainment

• Holiday Special

• From the Forums

• Let's Talk Business

• Parenting Q&A

• Craft Corner

• Contests

Congratulations to MIA CRONAN, our Dot Com Woman of the month for September. When the need to become a WAHM first arose, Mia was concerned about losing her identity. Little did she know that she would, very soon, become a mentor for Moms all over the world with http://www.mainstreetmom.com

Read her success story: http://www.dotcomwomen.com/dcw.shtml

CINNAMON ORNAMENTS
Make these simple, yet beautiful Cinnamon Ornaments with cinnamon and applesauce. Make these ornaments in desired shapes and use them for the upcoming holiday season.

http://www.dotcomwomen.com/crafts

CONTEST SPONSORS NEEDED
Dot Com Women's biggest ever event - The DCW Christmas Party - is scheduled for this Christmas. A number of contests are lined up to be a part of this event.

http://www.dotcomwomen.com/christmas_contest_sponsor.shtml

HOLIDAY SPECIAL

We need your suggestions for our Christmas Special Feature!

FROM THE FORUMS

Catch on these topics at the Forums:

• Books & Mags
  (Forum: Let's Barter)
  Barter your books and Magazines with Lata. She is looking for Crafts and Home-Decor mags and any other suggestions that you may have.
   

• Craftaholics Anonymous  - by karenskrafts
  (Forum: Crafts)
  A 12 Step Fun Program for Crafting Addicts. I bet you will see yourself in every sentence of it!
   

• Artichoke Dip - by LadiesBlend
  (Forum: Food & Recipes)
  If counting calories, don't look! A Yummy recipe with lots of cheese.
   

• Low rates this week only! - by Nola
  (Forum: Specials)
  Special advertising package for Classic Creations Direct Newsletter. Don't miss this!

Join the Discussion! Register FR^EE at http://www.dotcomwomen.com/forums

LET'S TALK BUSINESS

Million Dollar Marketing on a Shoestring Budget
By Charlie Cook

You want to market your business but you don??™t want to spend a lot of money. You may be just starting out and have precious little capital or you may have a successful business but want to spend as little as possible for the greatest results. Or, you may just be cheap. How can you create a marketing strategy that results in a steady stream of new clients on a shoestring budget?

The key is having the KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, SYSTEMS and TOOLS to create and implement your marketing plan.

KNOWLEDGE While service professionals and small business owners are experts in their business, they often don??™t have the marketing knowledge they need to grow their businesses. If you aren??™t attracting dozens of new prospects each week and converting at least one of them to client status, you need to learn what to do to market your business.

Depending on your budget, you can:
1. Visit your local library and read a dozen books on marketing.
2. Spend one or two hundred dollars on a couple of marketing
manuals from the marketing masters on the web.
3. Hire a marketing coach or consultant to help you learn what to do and how to do it.
4. Pay a marketing expert to do your marketing for you.

SKILLS
Once you have a marketing plan you??™ll need to develop some marketing skills, no matter what your role is in your organization. The three most important skills are:

1. Asking the Right Questions
Open-ended questions are the best way to direct prospects to engage prospects, direct their thinking and learn what they want. Do you know:
- What your prospects care about?
- The problems your prospects want to solve?
- What information your prospects want?

Use questions to get the answers. Put together 5-10 questions
to ask your prospects.

2. Listening
Listen carefully to understand, provide a synthesis of their responses and use a problem-solving approach to provide the link between symptoms and causes.

3. Writing Compelling Copy
The copy in your marketing materials and the copy you use for your ???elevator speech??? will make the difference between attracting or boring prospects. Demonstrate to prospects, that you understand their concerns and their business context, and that you are the expert they need. Start by regularly giving them an idea they can use.

SYSTEMS
Establish systems to support your marketing plan. Setting up the systems to market your business costs little and make an unmanageable task a clerical function you or your assistant can do. You??™ll need to set a schedule for marketing activities, define responsibilities and use your computer to automate tasks.

The most important systems to develop and implement are a way to collect leads and stay in touch with prospects and clients. You??™ll need a centralized database and a schedule for staying in touch with prospects and clients in order to do this.

Automate functions where possible so you can focus your time on delivering products and services. There is simple and easy to use software that can help you manage contacts, add prospects to your database and send out broadcast emails to the people who are interested in getting your ideas. Once you??™ve put these marketing systems in place, you can focus on handling the growing number of inquires you will receive.

TOOLS
The tools you need to market your business will vary depending on your target market and the products and services you offer. The basics include:

1. Marketing materials, the finished copy you use on everything from your business card, to your brochures, or online.

2. Questions, the questions you use when people call about your services, or when you meet with clients, or to find out what
information they want so you can write the perfect proposal.

3. Communication tools, such as a phone, email and web site.

Take a look at your marketing and determine if you have the Knowledge, Skills, Systems and Tools to attract a steady stream of new clients. Identify the gaps and fill them. You may need to invest a few dollars to make many, but with frugal marketing strategies you can limit marketing expenditures and maximize profits.

2003 ?© In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.
============================================

The author, Marketing Coach, Charlie Cook, helps independent
professionals and small business owners who are struggling
to attract more clients. He can be contacted at
ccook@charliecook.net  or visit www.charliecook.net  to get
a copy of the free marketing guide, '7 Steps to Get More
Clients and Grow Your Business'.

PARENTING Q&A

Question:
I got divorced 6 months back and I am dating a college friend. My 5 year old son hates my new partner and my partner is also not showing any special interest in making things easier between them. Please advise - what should I do?

DCW Parenting Expert, Kelly McCausey answers: Greg (my ex-husband) and I divorced when our son Sean was only two years old, so he has no memory of me being with his Dad. Dating did not become in issue in our little broken family... Read the answer at http://www.dotcomwomen.com/parenting/positive_parenting.shtml

Question:
My 9 year old daughter likes to eat only junk food. I cant get her to eat healthy food. She is too skinny and has no stamina at all. Any help will be appreciated.

DCW Parenting Expert, Kelly McCausey answers: Picky eaters! I did child day care for eight years and I have had my share of picky eaters! The rule of thumb for me what to offer a balanced meal to every child, every single day...Read the answer at http://www.dotcomwomen.com/parenting/positive_parenting.shtml

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>> Got a Parenting Question? Our expert Kelly McCausey will take care of it. Send in your questions at http://www.dotcomwomen.com/parenting/parenting_question.shtml

CRAFT CORNER

This month, our Regular Column-Writer, Karen Armacost (Frugal Crafting) brings you cost-effective ways for Scrapbooking.

Getting Started On Your Frugal Scrapbook

Photos:

• Go through your photos your old photo albums, shoe boxes, or from your digital pictures stored on your PC.
• Separate your photos into smaller categories such as year, special events, individual children, holidays, vacations, birthdays, etc.
• Pick your best photos. If you like, choose a theme. Choose 4 to 8 of the best shots.
• Choosing a focal point. From the 4-8 best photos, pick your absolute favorite as a focal photo.
• Arrange the photos on a page. Don't make everything symmetrical. It's okay to tilt the photos and overlap a little. This adds interest to the page

READ MORE - Layout, Embellish, Fix it to the Page & Journalize at  http://www.dotcomwomen.com/karencol.shtml

'The Dot Com Woman' Ezine is published by Lata Budhrani, Editor & Contributing Author.

You can send your feedback to feedback@dotcomwomen.com. Send in your short (yes! I mean that!) articles, tips etc. at lata@dotcomwomen.com

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