All posts tagged home-based business

Get the Most Out of Your Networking

Get the Most Out of Your Networking

Networking is a valuable tool for small business owners. Its benefits can have far-reaching effects on your business such as new clients, opportunities for growth, and professional development. Your time is precious, so you’ll want to make the most out of any networking you do by being prepared and having set goals in mind. Follow the suggestions below to get started.

  • Get background information on people you’ll be meeting and events you’ll be attending. Perhaps you’ve registered for an industry convention; plan ahead by creating a schedule of seminars you’d like to attend and/or vendors you’d like to meet. If one of those events is a Q&A session with a panel of experts, for example, research those members of the panel so you can ask them specific questions and take advantage of their individual experiences. If there’s a Twitter hashtag set up for the event, take a look at the profiles of the people using that hashtag leading up to the event. Make note of any people you’d like to connect with in person, and begin interacting online ahead of time, so you’re familiar with each other at the event, and look forward to meeting each other in person.
  • Use scripting that is natural and enhances bonding. Informal networking situations call for you to think on your feet more often than not. This can be done more easily when you have a foundation for the message you want to send to others. Create a script ahead of time, allowing for many variations to fit different situations, and practice saying the words in a natural, conversational tone. Consider role-playing with a colleague while recording the exchange to get an idea of how you sound to others. Make sure your script includes something positive and memorable, like a poignant story about why you started your business or how you’ve really connected with your community through your business. You should definitely have an idea of what you’ll say, but speak from the heart and your sincerity will shine through.
  • Listen to others in order to find ways to make introductions and help others with their needs. Listening is a large part of successful networking. Most people love to talk about themselves, so use that opportunity to learn who they are, what they want/need, and how you can help. Ask personalized questions. For example, in an informal gathering, a fellow workshop attendee mentions that he wants to find a souvenir for his young daughter while visiting the area. Ask him how old his daughter is and share some of your favorite local shops where he might find what he’s looking for. Now that you’ve broken the ice, continue with a conversation and you may have just acquired a new contact. Always have your ears open for networking opportunities.
  • Follow up and keep in touch regularly. Acquiring new contacts is half the battle, but keeping them is the other half. Implement time in your schedule dedicated to following up with your contacts. Depending on the situation, a brief email might suffice, but other relationships may benefit from a handwritten note or phone call. Keep a log of whom you contacted and when, and make a note in your calendar of when to follow up with them again. A system of regular correspondence will ensure that you never lose touch with your contacts.

You can have successful networking experiences with some research, planning, and commitment. Maximizing the time you spend networking will help you grow your business and reach your professional goals.

Do you have something else to add to our list? Please comment below with your ideas!

How To Manage Your Time on Social Media

How To Manage Your Time on Social Media

As a business owner, social media marketing is an important element of your business. It’s a way to generate conversations that may attract more people to your business, and it’s an easy way to let people know what’s going on with your business in a social setting. Yet there are many activities you need to do to run a successful business, and social media is only one of them. How do you put in the time that is required to maintain an effective social media presence, while still running your business? Here are some tips:

  • Start From the Results You Want: Instead of just jumping online, spend a few minutes thinking about what you want social media to do for your business. For example, if you are hoping to introduce new customers to your business, you’ll want to spend time planning posts that encourage existing customers to tell their friends about your business. As a result, you might decide to run a contest that rewards people for sharing. If you would like to encourage existing customers to purchase again, then you might focus on offering Facebook-only specials on your Facebook Page, and creating lots of conversation with people who already know what you have to offer. Knowing what you want can help you decide what to do online.
  • Plan Ahead: Nothing is a bigger time waster than sitting at your computer wondering what you’ll post that day. Create an editorial calendar for your online business presence, writing out your main posts at least a month in advance. By writing them all at once, you’ll get the creative juices flowing so that the posts come easier, and you will also be able to get a sense of the overall flow of your content. Are you too salesy? Not enough? Looking at an entire month’s worth of posts will not only help you be more efficient, but will also make your content better. (Also spend some time looking back at previous months’ posts. Did a particular type of post generate results? Then create more posts like it!)
  • Go Mobile: Don’t limit your time on social media to the minutes you can steal away to sit down at a computer. Use your mobile device to check in on your sites regularly, and jump in on conversations often. Instead of one block of time, you might spend a few minutes several times a day. Your customers will feel like you’re more responsive this way.
  • Avoid Spreading Yourself too Thin: Ask your customers where they spend their time online, and then set up one or two social media presences on the sites they use the most. One of these places is probably Facebook, but should you also be on Pinterest, Instagram or Twitter? By understanding how your customers want to connect with you, and where, you’ll use your time most efficiently instead of doing more than you need to.
  • Stay Focused: It can be very easy to get distracted on social media sites and waste time. Keep a list of the activities you want to accomplish that will help you reach your goals online, and when you’re using social media for your business, stick to the list. This will help you avoid distractions that take you away from your primary purpose.

By being strategic about your use of social media, you can use these highly effective tools in a way that helps you build your business and reach your customers.

How do you manage your time on social media? We would love to read your thoughts in the comments below!

Developing Business Support Groups and Masterminds to Help You Succeed

Developing Business Support Groups and Masterminds to Help You Succeed

In your quest to meet and even surpass your professional goals, you will no doubt need and want some help along the way. A business support or mastermind group can serve as a valuable tool to help you generate innovative ideas and deal with the challenges you may face as a small business owner.

When forming such a group, it is important to find the right kind of people to maximize the effectiveness of the group as a whole. Look for like-minded people whose ambitions and goals are similar to yours.

Find people who:

  • Share your level of passion and goals. People in business support groups don’t have to all be in the same industry or come from the same field of experience. However, they should all have a strong passion for their business and an equally strong commitment to achieving their goals. This ensures that each person will contribute value to the group rather than holding it back by being the weak link. Create a list of questions to ask a potential group member that he or she can answer to give you a good idea of what drives this person to success. Ask about what the person hopes to get out of the group, what the person can contribute, and where the person sees him/herself in five years. If you can relate to most of the answers, then this person could be the right fit for your group.
  • Can get together in person. Conference calls and Skype sessions are very useful and efficient when in-person meetings are not possible or practical, but don’t overlook the benefits of meeting as a group in person. Non-verbal communication is just as powerful as words, and it’s imperative that the people in the group have a certain level of trust among each other. Meeting in person also allows you to more easily share materials in a tactile way. Holding something in your hand is always more effective than seeing it on a screen. If at all possible, form a group who can commit to regular meetings in person, or at the very least commit to in-person retreats annually or semi-annually.
  • Will motivate each other. Business support groups are not just about exchanging ideas and feedback. Be each other’s cheerleaders. If someone in the group is experiencing a difficult time such as an unforeseen financial setback, be encouraging, attentive, and empathetic. Point out to the person what his or her strengths are, especially because during times of personal failure, we seem to forget those. You can also be objective, and point out steps the group member can take to move forward, that he or she may not see because the failure has clouded his or her view. Motivate each other in good times and bad and develop a rapport that allows group members to count on each other as allies. A good morale will increase the effectiveness of what a support group can offer.
  • Complement your strengths and weaknesses. Find people who support your strengths and fill voids of your weaknesses. For instance, if you are an idea person, but have trouble mapping out a plan of action, look for someone who is detail-oriented and can help you execute your ideas. Or if you are a creative mind when it comes to advertising but don’t have a head for numbers, look for a person who can help you maximize the limits of your budget. A group whose members have a variety of strengths and weaknesses will be able to offer the most support and assistance to each person involved.

Although forming and participating in a business support group or mastermind can be time-consuming, it is an important investment of time. Such a group can help you meet your goals, grow your business, and achieve success.

What else should you look for in a business support group? Share your ideas below!

How to Overcome Failures

How to Overcome Failures

Those that succeed often deal with their share of failure along the way. It is a good idea to actually expect and prepare for setbacks so that you can quickly overcome them and move on toward your ultimate goals. If you use failures and mistakes to your advantage, you can more easily bounce back and from them, and even find success that much faster.

Here are some tips for overcoming setbacks, and using them as stepping stones towards success.

  • Take responsibility for your failure. Your initial reaction might be to play the blame game. “This person didn’t give me a fair chance,” “The economic climate is holding me back,” or “My staff didn’t work hard enough,” are all common ways to avoid taking responsibility for your mistakes. Take some time for self-reflection, figure out where you went wrong, and identify what you need to do differently next time. The empowerment you create by holding yourself accountable for failures will strengthen your resolve and allow you to move ahead.
  • Surround yourself with the right people. Look around at those in your inner circle; if you’re the most hard-working and successful person, then you’re probably in the wrong circle. It is crucial to position yourself with likeminded people who will motivate you through their hard work and ambition. Avoid the temptation to commiserate with others about your failure because it will only slow you down and hinder your efforts to move past your mistake.
  • Take action now. No matter what it is, don’t stop until it is done. Procrastination will wear down your motivation and determination to overcome your failure. For example, if your goal was to partner up with another local business for an upcoming event, and the owner declined your proposal, your first instinct might be to pack it in for the day and deal with it another time. Do yourself a favor and take immediate action instead. Rework your proposal for a few other local businesses and make appointments to meet with them as soon as possible. By taking immediate action, you can rest easy with the knowledge that you’ve already moved beyond your failure and are working towards your goals.
  • Live up to what’s expected. People may have a lot of expectations of you, and this can create a fair amount of pressure to live up to that expectation. No one can predict the future, but you can live up to expectations by adhering to a few business basics: Treat others fairly, conduct business ethically, build meaningful relationships, and use your success to pay it forward by giving back to the community. No matter how many rough patches your business may experience, you can be proud that you will have already lived up to your potential by conducting yourself appropriately.
  • Volunteer to create opportunities. After any failure, you learn something about yourself or the business. Why not use your newfound knowledge to help others who may be dealing with the same kinds of obstacles? Volunteer within your community to help others avoid the same kind of mistake. Teaching a workshop at the local library, or hosting an event for young people interested in entrepreneurship are ways that you can pass on your experiences to others.

Overcoming failure requires a certain mindset. You need to be able to analyze your mistakes, move on quickly, and plow ahead using what you’ve learned. How do you overcome failure? Please share your ideas in the comments section!

How To Be Better in Business

How To Be Better in Business

The conscious choice to improve the way you do business is necessary to grow your business and move it forward. It is always a good idea to focus on one small area at a time so as not to spread yourself too thin. Consider the following suggestions for improving the way you do business.

  • Always look for new and better ways to do things. Sometimes we just get stuck in our old habits without thinking of better ways to do things that might be more efficient. For instance, even though you have been paying your bills online for years, you still find yourself with paper statements and an overflowing filing cabinet that needs to be cleaned out at the end of every calendar year. An easy solution would be to sign up for e-bills through your bank’s online bill paying system and/or paperless statements through your vendors themselves. Create an online filing system that works for you, and back everything up on an external hard drive or via cloud storage such as Norton or Carbonite. New and better ways of doing simple things are becoming available all the time, so take advantage of accessible resources.
  • Think of “no” as “not yet.” Perhaps one of the hardest things about owning a business is hearing the word, “no.” It may be from a potential customer, a recruit, or an existing client. Instead of taking “no” as the final word, think of it as, “I’m not ready for this yet,” or “I need more information about why I need this.” Adjusting your mindset when wearing your salesperson hat will prevent you from giving up too easily or shrugging off the follow-up questions you should be asking. Even if you only acquire one additional sale out of 5 or 10 by adopting this approach, it will be worth it to your confidence and to your bottom line.
  • Build lasting relationships to grow your business. Relationships with everyone you work with from colleagues to clients are the heartbeat of your business. Build new ones, nurture existing ones, and always demonstrate sincerity. Make an effort to learn something personal about your customers, especially something to which you can also relate like hobbies and family life. Find out from your staff what you can do to enrich their experience working for you or help them with something they’d like to improve. When others know you truly care, lasting relationships can be built.
  • Continue taking calculated risks. When considering taking a risk, make sure you are fully informed about the pros and cons and have a backup plan ready for the worst case scenario. Don’t fear risks so much that you never take them, as that can cause your business to remain static. Use your existing knowledge and skill set, research necessary information, and weigh the advantages and disadvantages of your decision.
  • Develop a reputation for excellence. It is better to do one thing extremely well than to do several things at a mediocre level. Focus on one aspect of your business, and strive to be the best at that one thing. For example, your bakery offers everything from freshly baked breads to custom made cakes. Your real strength, however, is that crumb cake that everyone raves about. Promote that particular product and consider creating new ways to use it, such as in bite-sized packages for gift baskets or kids’ parties. Your customers will always be able to count on your excellent crumb cake and because of your consistently high quality, they’ll branch out to your other offerings as well.

Don’t be overwhelmed by all the things you want to improve about your business. Just a few simple changes here and there can make a significant difference. What else should be added to our list? Please share your ideas below!

Effective Ways to Learn Something New

Effective Ways to Learn Something New

Don’t be fooled by the old saying, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” If you want to learn something new, you CAN do it. Perhaps your industry has adopted new technology, created a groundbreaking product, or maybe you just want to improve yourself personally. By taking your learning seriously and committing your time and effort to the task, you can accomplish your goal. Use the following suggestions to help you along the way.

  • Write down what you want to learn. Don’t underestimate the power of this one simple step. Writing down a goal mentally prepares you for all that its completion may require. Additionally, you can sort out what details are involved in tackling this endeavor. When writing down what you want to learn, include an objective, map out a plan of action, and give yourself benchmarks and deadlines. It’s also a good idea to write a few sentences about why you want to do this…what are the benefits you’ll enjoy as a result? Any time you get frustrated or encounter an obstacle, reread those sentences to regain your motivation.
  • Commit to a lot of studying and practicing. When Theodore Roosevelt said, “Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty,” he really was on to something. Think of anyone who has achieved greatness in any area of sports, entertainment, business, etc. When you take on something new, there will be a great deal of research, studying, and practicing. It is crucial that you incorporate time for this into your day in order to make progress towards your goal.
  • Embrace your mistakes and adjust them to improve. Although making mistakes is frustrating, instead of letting them get you down, embrace them as learning experiences. Use those mistakes to modify your approach and improve. Almost nothing is done right on the first try. Mistakes are part of the process, and using them to your advantage will bring you closer to your objective.
  • Visualize yourself doing it. Mental preparation is a significant part of any kind of performance-based task. The next time you are out for your morning jog, sitting in a doctor’s waiting room, or lying in bed at night waiting to fall asleep, use your mind’s eye to picture yourself doing or using whatever you are setting out to learn. Doing this regularly helps boost your motivation and confidence.
  • Personalize it and make it a part of who you are. In order to truly incorporate something new into your life, it has to become a habit. Think about how you can personalize your new knowledge so that it gets worked into who you already are. For example, if you want to learn about photography and need to practice how/when to use different shutter speeds, incorporate that task into your existing routine. Do you regularly take your children to the park, attend sporting events, or just relax with your family at home on a Sunday? Use those opportunities, things you normally do, to practice using your camera correctly and experiment with different lighting situations. If you personalize your task, you are much more likely to stick with it and see it through to completion.

Taking on something new to learn is a brave and exciting journey. Prepare yourself mentally and commit to hard work.

What strategies have you used to learn new thing? Please share your ideas below!

Ways to Change a Failing Business

Ways to Change a Failing Business

When you started your business, you were planning to be successful. However, it takes more than a good attitude to maintain a successful small business. If you find yourself facing adversity and your business is beginning to take a downturn, here are some things you can do to turn your business around, and help it thrive.

  • Truly care and cater to customers’ wants and needs. Most people who choose to patronize small businesses are deliberately doing so because of the level of customer service they experience. Make sure you are delivering on this expectation. Demonstrate to your customers that you sincerely care about meeting their needs and satisfying their wants. For example, a local spa owner has been slowly but surely losing clients to the nearby franchise that constantly runs promotions for new and existing customers. Although she can’t compete with their rates, she can offer each customer a more individualized experience. When a customer makes an appointment for a service, such as an upper body massage, she asks specific questions about their preferences (what type of music to play if any, if they’d like the masseuse to converse with them, any desired fragrances, etc.) and tailors the experience to that person. Customers will recognize and appreciate your extra effort and attention and spread the good word about your business.
  • Listen to your existing customer base about ways to improve. There are various ways you can reach out to your customers and ask for their feedback. Face-to-face conversations, email surveys, and incentivized reviews can all give you a good idea of what their impressions are of your business. Really listen to the feedback and make any necessary changes. If your customers are consistently telling you that they find it difficult to make the time to call you when they need something, perhaps you should consider adding online ordering or a Facebook Page for your business, or create an auto-ship program. It’s not always pleasant to hear what you may be doing wrong, but it is a valuable tool that can help you maintain your existing customer base, and build a new one.
  • Personalize and improve your relationships with customers. The small business model is all about building relationships. Your customers are the backbone of the business, so make an effort to get to know a little bit about them. When a woman comes in with her baby, ask her how old he is, mention that your son is around the same age, and share a funny story about your child. Encourage her to do the same, and make sure you introduce yourself. The next time she stops in, you can greet her by name and ask about her family. Don’t hesitate to make notes on your customers as well to help you remember details they might share; the act of recording such particulars can improve your memory. The bottom line is that you should always make your customers feel welcome, special, appreciated and known.
  • Try something new. Perhaps your competitors have begun to offer a new service and have therefore lured away some of your customers. Breathe some new life into your business by trying something new. For example, the owner of a camera shop might offer monthly workshops on various topics such as getting started in photography and how to choose the right camera for your needs. He gets to share his love of photography and the equipment with others while bringing in new traffic each month.  Tapping into your passions is a great way to start when searching for something new to implement into your business.

You can save a failing business by committing to make a few changes. What else should be added to our list? Share your ideas below!

How to Empower Yourself

How to Empower Yourself

There is so much in life that we can’t control, and you may sometimes feel powerless when things don’t go as planned. However, by learning to empower yourself, you can begin to have a more positive outlook on life and enable yourself to succeed. The following suggestions can help you feel more in control, and allow you to better enjoy both your professional and personal life.

  • Remember that your past failures don’t predict the future. Think of that big test you failed back in high school; did it prevent you from graduating? Did that time you knocked over the cone while parallel parking stop you from becoming a good driver? Past failures are nothing more than learning experiences. Instead of dwelling on them, figure out what you can actually learn from them. That test you failed probably taught you how to study more effectively for future tests, just as that parking incident helped you realize that you need to adjust your mirrors differently. Learn from your mistakes and move on. Empower yourself by taking control of your past to succeed in the future.
  • Lower the threshold for good things and raise it for bad things. Don’t make mountains out of molehills, but changing your perspective can show you what’s really important in life. This morning, for example, you woke up healthy and able to take on your day.  Realize what a great thing that is, and don’t take it for granted. On the other hand, remember that spilling your coffee on the way to work isn’t the worst thing that can happen; your house catching fire is more along the lines of something really bad happening that can change your life. Empower yourself by taking a moment to be grateful for all the positive things you have, big and small.
  • Eat healthier and exercise. A nutritionist wrote on her blog, “Note to self: when I eat badly, I feel badly.” This couldn’t be more true. Of course we all indulge once in awhile, but implement a healthy eating regimen if you don’t have one already.  Additionally, make sure you are getting at least 30 minutes of exercise 3 times a week. Do something you enjoy, like power walking, taking a kickboxing class to relieve stress, or play some Wii Fit in the privacy of your own home. The better you treat your body, the better you will feel.  Empower yourself by being as physically healthy as possible.
  • Make a list of everything good in your day. This is especially important when you’re feeling like everything is going wrong. For example, did your children wake up smiling and happy to see you? Great! Add it to the list. Did a customer express her satisfaction with your service today? Put it on that list. Empower yourself by recognizing and appreciating the positive.
  • Look for and expect something great each day. Every day will have something good in it, so be on the lookout for it. If you expect greatness in your life, you’ll find that it comes more easily because you will be open to recognizing it as it happens. Being a business owner is something most people don’t have the courage to undertake, so at the end of each day, if nothing else, take a minute to pat yourself on the back. You completed another day, achieving your dream and doing what you love. Empower yourself by developing an upbeat attitude and an optimistic point of view.

By making some adjustments to your mindset, you will feel more empowered to take on your world and reach your goals. How do you empower yourself on a daily basis? Please share your ideas below!

Tips for Making More Money in Your Business

Tips for Making More Money in Your Business

So you’ve established a successful business model, built up a loyal clientele, and have begun enjoying the fruits of your labor. Now it’s time to increase your profit.

It may seem difficult or sometimes impossible to increase your income stream as a small business owner or direct seller. However, making more money doesn’t always require spending more money. The following tips can help you make more money for your business.

  • Have a detailed plan, but be ready to adapt. Anything in your business that you want to change should be carefully planned, including dates, deadlines, numbers, etc. Be aware, however, that you can’t always anticipate every circumstance, so be ready and willing to adapt if necessary. For example, a business owner decides she wants to add more clients to her business in order to make more money. She plans for increased costs in advertising as well as increased demands on her time. Soon she realizes that adding more clients takes too much time away from her family, so she changes her plan to one that allows her to increase her fees for her existing clients by adding more valuable services instead. By being adaptable, she was able to achieve her goal and avoid burning out.
  • Be a creative problem solver. In what area is your business lacking that is preventing you from making more money? Think outside the box to solve problems creatively when answering this question. 
  • Persevere. Remember that old ketchup commercial that stated, “Good things come to those who wait”? This old idea has a great deal of truth in business. The road to success may have rough spots and roadblocks, and you may not see the results of your hard work right away. If you really want something, though, it’s worth staying the course. Perseverance is an admirable and valuable quality to cultivate in yourself.
  • Have mentors. No one succeeds without some level of help. Seek out mentors who have succeeded in their own businesses. Pick their brains for ideas you may not have thought of. Most people are happy to share their success stories with others and pay it forward. Mentors can be people you already know, other business owners you meet through networking, or even authors of published materials that are inspiring to you. Never stop learning from those who have already done what you’ve set out to achieve.
  • Stay lean with your budget. Be very careful and deliberate about how you spend money. As the owner of your business, you should be aware of every aspect of your cash flow. Without sacrificing service or value, find ways to decrease spending where possible. Buying used equipment instead of new, focusing on one marketing method at a time, and increasing use of free resources like social media are examples of how you can tighten your budget.
  • Believe in yourself. If you don’t think you can do it, then you won’t. Remember that more success requires more hard work, so make sure you’re up to the challenge. How badly do you want to achieve this? If it’s in your heart to succeed, you will always find the motivation to continue. Confide in people you trust to help boost your self-esteem and look at your previous accomplishments when facing self-doubt.

Your quest to increase your bottom line may be difficult and take many unexpected turns, but with a bit of preparation and self-confidence, you can achieve your business goals. What else do you think should be added to our list? Please share your ideas below!

DSEF & CBBB: Does Your Business Plan Have ADD?

DSEF & CBBB: Does Your Business Plan Have ADD?

By Lance Trebesch

In a recent podcast, Daniel Ek, the CEO of Spotify, was asked if he feels that he is a visionary or a genius. He demurred, replying, “Absolutely not. For me it’s all about execution.”

I completely agree with this twenty-seven year old millionaire.Execution is everything. It doesn’t matter how many great ideas an individual, team, or company comes up with. Until you implement one, you haven’t made any progress. Execution is what builds lasting success, and splitting your business’s energy among too many outcomes can hinder your ability to execute good ideas and achieve your goals.

Planning: Fragmentation versus Integration

Many organizations go through an elaborate planning processes. While their goals may be strategic, their process is lengthy and involved. If your method is overly time consuming, it takes away from more important work. More problematic, reliance on the idea generation phase of planning frequently results in a fragmented outcome. Whether you measure the results of your planning process in goals, objectives, or KPIs, if you’re trying to achieve too many outcomes, your business starts to suffer from Attention Deficit Disorder.

It’s tough to achieve your desired execution when your attention is split in a million directions.

Your Top Three Goals

One of the keys to execution is focus. You may want to achieve a hundred different things, but most of us find it impossible to focus if we’re intent on more than four all-important goals. In fact, four may be too many. I would suggest erring on the side of success: choose your top three goals and be uncompromising in your pursuit of excellence in these areas. A relentless focus makes a positive outcome all the more likely.

At TicketPrinting.com, we’ve found success by choosing three goals on which to focus:

  • Customer satisfaction
  • Revenue
  • Products (improving existing base or adding new ones)

It may not seem like a lot on paper, but executing these three goals is our focus, and we devote one hundred percent of our efforts into their integration. It’s become our formula for success, and it’s become the hallmark of our company. Every year we add or improve hundreds of products. Every day we work to improve customer satisfaction. And every moment, we seek to increase our revenue. For us, a focus on executing these three goals is the key to prosperity.

What are your 3 goals?

DSEF and the Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB) foster honest and responsive relationships between businesses and consumers—instilling consumer confidence and advancing a trustworthy marketplace for all.

About the Better Business Bureaus
As the leader in advancing marketplace trust, Better Business Bureau is an unbiased non-profit organization that sets and upholds high standards for fair and honest business behavior. Every year, more than 87 million consumers rely on BBB Business Reviews® and BBB Wise Giving Reports® to help them find trustworthy businesses and charities across North America. Visit www.bbb.org/us for more information.