With the calendar’s annual lineup of holidays approaching, it's not unusual for a business owner to wonder: “should I send holiday cards this year?” While making the decision, it's natural to ponder the benefits of spending the time and money on such an activity.

Does it really make that much of a difference?

The short answer is yes. Businesses, both large and small, still send greeting cards to their customers for many reasons, but mainly because they've found that customers still appreciate the gesture. One of the newer trends is sending Thanksgiving cards, which means your greetings will arrive before the glut of Christmas and New Years cards sent by other businesses saturate customer’s mailboxes.

Have you given any thought to how your business will be celebrating Halloween this year? Will you limit it to throwing a few black paper cutouts of bats in the store window, or go all out by having a sale on everything orange? Why not try a fun-filled event, sure to have your customers clamoring to attend and, just as importantly in this digital age, posting comments and photos on social media!

Everyone loves to make something, as evidenced by the success of Paint Nite or Plant Nite, where people go to a venue, such as a restaurant, socialize with their friends and go home at the end of the night with their own newly created painting or terrarium. Your business can take advantage of these trends by holding your own Halloween craft night!

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JoomFuse has changed the rules of membership management. . . forever.

Joomla! + Infusionsoft = JoomFuse! JoomFuse integrates your Joomla! website with your Infusionsoft to content access and membership status, hands-free for you!

Manage infinite levels of paid (or free) membership using JoomFuse to integrate the automation of Infusionsoft with the power of Joomla. You control who gets access to what content... and when. JoomFuse manages access and action triggers for you, driven by Infusionsoft tags. No more duct-taping third-party software programs to try to get what you need to manage your membership (subscription) programs. Now you can sleep at night knowing it's taken care of for you.

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 Whether you are a dentist, salesperson or office worker, there has never been an easier way to send a genuine thank you, reminder or follow-up card. Greeting cards can be powerful business tools to help make sure your business clients and customers know just how important they are!

Here's an added bonus: To totally integrate your SendOutCards into marketing campaigns through your Infusionsoft or other CRM, check out Fix Your Funnel too! It's the glue between your SendOutCards and Infusionsoft.

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As of the October update of Infusionsoft, there will be a new default email builder for both broadcasts and campaigns. This new builder has been available for a while now but in a beta version. We’ve been using it since it became available, and it certainly has grown more and more capable over the months. But…

Wouldn't it be AWESOME if 2017 were your best year EVER? Now is the time to start planning for that success!

You need to have an action plan in place so starting the new year will be easy as pie. Decide which areas you should focus on. Will you develop a new product, work on improving your sales conversion system or find some new ways to get more people in the door? Once you have a goal in mind, decide what your criteria of success will be (how many customers came in the store, how many units of the new product sold, etc.) Finally, detail what action steps you'll need to accomplish these goals and then decide who will be in charge of them.

You’d be surprised about how many people you influence throughout your life, even just your adult life. Just think about it:

• Your spouse
• Your siblings
• Your parents
• Your friends
• Your kids
• Your co-workers
• Your employees

I will never forget seeing what hate can destroy… I will never forget seeing what love can heal…”

        ~ Steve Maraboli, motivational speaker and author

We promised to never forget the events of September 11, 2001, but how much do you remember? The young children of 2001 are entering college this fall—and many have no idea what 9/11 signifies.

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FuseDesk helps you and your team WOW your customers with great service. Happy Customers stay with you longer, spend more, and spread the good word about your business.

FuseDesk was built for Your Business, Your Support Team, and Your Customers. With FuseDesk, it’s easy to get the key insights into how well your team is doing, delightful for the support team to use, and fast for customers to get care.

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Wait… STOP! Before you put fingers to keyboard to write an email, design a webpage, send a postcard, or pick up your phone to make a sales call, you should know a few critical things.

You should know why you’re doing what you’re doing, and where it fits in your overall marketing plan.

Building a successful business is a challenge. The key to realizing your dream of a prosperous company is focusing your energy on well-defined goals that not only help you and your team understand the direction your business is heading, but help you get there in style.

“Goals? We're going to talk about goals again? I don't have time to make goals—I just need to make money!”

“Investment in travel is an investment in yourself.”   ~ Matthew Karsten

What does your calendar look like for the next few months? If it’s like that of many small business people, it’s pretty hectic, with more projects and deadlines than there are hours in the day. Maybe it’s time for a vacation.

I don’t have time for a vacation, you say. Well, maybe you do.

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Autumn marks the time when the foliage becomes a virtual kaleidoscope of beautiful colors—reds and oranges, yellows and golds. Even browns, pinks, purples and blues are known to appear. It’s a beautiful time of year in many parts of the world, but it’s also fleeting. If you're thinking of making a fall color pilgrimage this year, it pays to take a little time to discover when the leaves will be at their peak colors.

You may or may not have seen the 2000 movie Pay It Forward, which chronicles a boy's plan to do good deeds for three people. Rather than paying him back for his actions, the recipients are to pass on his kindness to three other people in hopes that there will eventually be a worldwide network of good deed doers. It was a somewhat sappy movie, but the idea did catch on.