MARKETING MAGAZINE#2

This is the only e-zine devoted to marketing and sales professionals working in rehabilitation businesses. We hope to bring you informative articles & resources that will help you in your daily efforts.

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I was recently reading an article by Joanne Cleaver in Home Office Computing magazine regarding managing inventory for small home based businesses when a light bulb went off in my head. Many of our members are already doing fulfillment and many more are looking into it. It seems to me to be a match made in heaven: small entrepreneurs with products selling on the web and rehab shops with warehousing, packaging and shipping expertise. Anyway, the article gave an example of a company that did internet consulting work in the form of writing workbooks, "how-to" manuals, audio & videotapes. They were having a problem collating, copying, packaging, boxing & storing the items in ready-to-sell condition. In addition, they were having to spend a lot of time processing internet orders and payments, generating shipping labels & packing slips, etc.

Well the solution to their problem surfaced 2,000 miles from their offices in the form of a fulfillment company. They now have an arrangement with a copying service near the fulfillment company, have their other products drop shipped and even have their orders routed to the fulfillment house. This fulfillment company charges a percentage of each order and keeps the inventory, assembles the various materials to each orders' specification does the warehousing and the shipping. The entrepreneur gets a daily manifest or shipping report for its records. To the customers, it appears that the entrepreneurial company is handling everything. The fulfillment company also lets them know when supplies are running low so that they can be re-ordered in a timely manner. One company owner says that the service he is using is saving him two or three hours of paper work per day leaving him more time to market, sell & produce his product.

Most of our shops could handle this type of fulfillment easily. We have the space, the packaging expertise and equipment and inventory control software or systems (Quicken, QuickBooks &/or Excel can do the job). The entrepreneur saves time & hassle (which is money) and the rehab shop supplies the labor the space & the expertise. Everyone wins.

Besides the nuts & bolts of this type of fulfillment operation, ¹ the advertising and promotion could be internet based at a very low cost (as compared with print based advertising). These type of companies are just starting to pop up on the internet and it appears to be a niche that rehab shops could grab. A few companies already doing this are www.commercekey.com , www.ifulfill.com , and www.sameday.com . You can check these out for some ideas.

I think this could be a great opportunity for shops that are flexible and can move relatively quickly.

1 Some of these companies offer a very wide array of services in addition to fulfillment such as handling returns, processing credit cards, insurance, customer services, advertising and the actual building the customers' web store & hosting, and more.

The following is from the U.S. Department of Labor web site. It's just a reminder of what the law says about commensurate wages, piece rates, etc.

A commensurate wage rate is a special minimum wage paid to a worker with a disability which is based on the worker's individual productivity, no matter how limited, in proportion to the wage and productivity of experienced nondisabled workers performing essentially the same type, quality, and quantity of work in the geographic area from which the labor force of the community is drawn. An example of a commensurate wage rate would be as follows:

Properly established piece rates yield commensurate wage rates. A piece rate fixes a price on each completed unit of work. This rate is derived by dividing the prevailing wage rate by the average hourly production of individuals not disabled for the work to be performed. For example, if three nondisabled persons worked a total of ten "fifty-minute" hours and produced 2800 units in total, the average production would be 280 units per hour (2800 units divided by 10 hours). Assuming the test involved unskilled work, and the prevailing unskilled labor rate in the vicinity is $5.15 per hour, the piece rate would be $0.018393 per unit ($5.15 divided by 280 units). A disabled worker producing 185 pieces in an hour would earn $3.40 for that hour (185 pieces x $0.018393 = $3.40).

Where are the requirements for commensurate wage rates found in the federal regulations?

The requirements for setting commensurate wage rates are found in sections 525.9 and 525.12 of Regulations, 29 CFR Part 525; and the procedures for determining prevailing wage rates are found in section 525.10.

What conditions are considered "disabilities" for purposes of obtaining a certificate? What conditions are excluded?

Individuals are considered workers with a disability when their earnings or productive capability is impaired by a physical or mental incapacity for the work to be performed, including aged or injured workers. Disabilities which may affect earning or productive capacity include blindness, mental illness, mental retardation, cerebral palsy, alcoholism, and drug addiction. They also may include disabilities due to physical injuries to the head, spine, skeletal system, amputations or other losses of muscle, bone, etc. which may cause an individual to be incapable of meeting full productivity.

The following are not considered disabilities: vocational, social, cultural or educational disabilities; chronic unemployment; receipt of welfare benefits; nonattendance at school; juvenile delinquency; and correctional parole or probation. (However, these conditions taken together with some other mental, physical or psychological condition may be considered as a disability.)

What if my state's minimum wage law is greater than the federal minimum wage?

You should be aware that certain states or localities have wage and hour laws that establish a statutory minimum wage higher than the FLSA standard or establish other standards stricter than those set by the FLSA. Your certificate issued under section 14(c) of the FLSA does not relieve you from your obligation to comply with applicable state or local laws which establish other requirements regarding the employment of workers with disabilities. On the other hand, you are not relieved from compliance with the FLSA by state or local laws that establish different standards from the FLSA.

It's popular this time of year to hear a lot of wise advice about future goals and winning the races of life, especially in commencement speeches around the country. Successful businessman and international speaker Harvey Mackay is no stranger to offering sound advice, as evidenced by his string of best-selling inspirational business books. According to Mackay, winning the race doesn't necessarily mean being the first to finish. In fact, many people who are now considered successful were once viewed as failures. Mackay says they won by not competing with any one person, but by beating the little voice inside us that constantly says, "Stop." In his latest book, "Pushing the Envelope: All the Way to the Top," Mackay notes that Sylvester Stallone was failing as an actor, until he decided to write his own movie script. Stallone also insisted on playing the lead, and "Rocky" became a huge commercial hit. Coca-Cola sold only 400 sodas in its first year of business. Apple Computer was rejected by Hewlett-Packard and Atari. Mackay says the key to their success was determination. Successful people are often not any more talented than unsuccessful people. The difference is successful people do the jobs unsuccessful people don't want to do, and they stick to it until they're finished. In today's culture of instant gratification, the attributes of patience and determination can be lacking. Another thing you shouldn't quit is learning. Mackay says his parents always encouraged him to learn as much as he could, and not necessarily in a classroom setting. Taking the initiative to learn something new carries with it the possibility of failure. But you don't have to be the best at everything you learn. Going into a new experience knowing that you're a beginner lessens the pressure. You can enjoy what you're learning, do something a little better than you did it before, make new contacts, and take pleasure in working hard and discovering something different. Woody Allen said that 80 percent of life was showing up. But as long as you're going to show up, why not make the best of it? Mackay says that while running the race, instead of forgetting everything in pursuit of being first, concentrate on the multitude of other benefits, including: - having fun - making the attempt - having the support of friends and family - testing your limits - breaking through to new levels of performance - sharing the experience - encouraging others Many ideas start out small, perhaps even ridiculed, but patience, trust and determination sees them through to big success. Mackay, who made his fortune selling envelopes, offers this reminder to sum up his beliefs: "Be like a postage stamp. Stick to it until you get there." "Pushing the Envelope: All the Way to the Top," has just been released in paperback and can be found at major book retailers and online booksellers. Courtesy of Article Resource Association, www.aracopy.com , e-mail: info@aracopy.com ### EDITOR'S NOTE: For more information, contact David Hahn at Planned Television Arts, (212) 593-5847.

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I'll never forget an important time management lesson I learned in a seminar many years ago . . . especially how the instructor illustrated the point. "Okay, time for a quiz," he said, as he pulled out a one-gallon wide-mouthed mason jar and set it on the desk in front of him. Then he produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time, into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, "Is the jar full?" Everyone in the seminar said, "Yes." Then he said, "Really?" He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. Then he dumped some gravel in and shook the jar. This caused pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the spaces between the big rocks. Then he asked the group again, "Is the jar full?" By this time the class was onto him. "Probably not," we answered. "Good!" he replied as he reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in and it went into all the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked the question, "Is this jar full?" "No!" the class shouted. Once again he said, "Good!" Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he looked up at the class and asked, "What is the point of this illustration?" One eager beaver raised his hand and said, "The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you really try hard, you can always fit some things into it." "No," the instructor replied. "The point is if you don't put the big rocks in first, you'll never get them in at all." So, today, tonight, or in the morning when you are reflecting on this story, ask yourself: What are the 'big rocks' in my life or business? Then, be sure to put those in your jar first. And by the way, you get the same size jar as everyone else. No exceptions. What changes from person to person is the size of each rock. I've got a couple boulders in my jar: family first, always. Things like friends, my company, my speaking/writing "hobby," maintaining my network, my volunteer commitments, my health, and my religion all take up a lot of space. The gravel is all the stuff that takes up more than a few minutes but doesn't necessarily happen every day, like a committee assignment, a vacation, learning new software ... you get the idea. And now, the sand. You can decide whether to be that 98-pound weakling who gets sand kicked at him, or the creator of a spectacular sand castle. The sand is the yes/no stuff that absolutely has to fit around everything else after it's in the jar. A little piece of sand in your eye is a big pain, and those are the ones that get the no-thank-you right off the bat. A little sand on an icy street is one of life's little pleasures when you live in snow country as I do. You choose the sand. It's your jar. In other words, it's your time. Change the rocks, gravel and sand into hours, minutes and seconds. Then decide what your priorities are and how much time you'll spend on them. If you don't, someone else will decide for you and you'll end up with a jar full of heavy, jagged, nasty shards that nobody could touch without getting stabbed by another rock. Do you really want to spend your time working on other people's priorities? As Benjamin Franklin said, "If we take care of the minutes, the years will take care of themselves." Good time management is taking care of the things that matter most to us first and keeping that jar of rocks in sight all the time. My friend Lou Holtz has a great formula: W.I.N. -- What's Important Now? Use some of your precious time to figure out what's important in your life and you will win. Mackay's Moral: Hey, even Superman had to work around the Kryptonite. So can you.

Harvey Mackay is author of four New York Times bestsellers, including his most recent in 1999, "Pushing the Envelope." His first two books - "Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive" and "Beware the Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt" -- have been translated into 35 languages and distributed in 80 countries. Courtesy of Article Resource Association, www.aracopy.com, e-mail: info@aracopy.com

### EDITOR'S NOTE: For more information about Harvey Mackay, or to learn about syndication opportunities, contact Greg Bailey at (612) 331-9311. Harvey Mackay is a nationally syndicated columnist, whose weekly articles appear in 52 newspapers around the country, including the Detroit Free Press, Denver Post, Orange County Register, Minneapolis Star Tribune and Arizona Republic. He also is one of America's most popular and entertaining business speakers, speaking -- on average -- once a week to Fortune 500-size companies and associations. Toastmasters International named him one of the top five speakers in the world. In addition, Harvey is chairman and CEO of Mackay Envelope Corporation, an $85 million company he founded at age 26. Image 2: Harvey Mackay is author of four New York Times bestsellers, including his most recent in 1999, "Pushing the Envelope." Image 2: Harvey Mackay is a nationally syndicated columnist, whose weekly articles appear in 52 newspapers around the country.

1. www.worldlingo.com - This site will translate your site or any other site into any of 8 different languages- absolutely free.

3. www.google.com - Try this search engine next time your searching for something on the web.

5. http://www.powerofno.com/ This is an interesting approach to selling. They offer consulting that is designed to lower your selling costs and more.

This e-zine is published once a month. I hope to have a mix of original content and outside content. If you would like to write an article for this e-zine please or have any comments or suggestions, contact or email Steve Susman at susman@21centurymarketing.com. If you would like to opt out of receiving this e-zine please reply to this email with "unsubscribe" in the subject box.