How to save your home renovation project?

Sweat Equity: If you are not very handy it is OK! There are still parts of the renovation of your home that you can get done. For example you can remove the furniture or the existing cabinets your self. You can also clean up after the job is done. These are parts that you could ask to negotiate with the professional that is going to get the job done.

Use Online Quoting Services: Getting the best quality of work with the best price can be difficult and it can take a lot of work! However there are services that make this process a lot quicker with no headache. Selectona.com allows you to post your project for FREE on their website. The website then sends a notification to the professionals in your area and if they are interested in getting your project done they get back to you with a quote. You can brows the professional’s webpage in Selectina directory and see the comments by other costumers who have had experience of working with a particular professional. Great service for FREE!

Save On Material: If you are buying a lot of products try to negotiate the price with the provider. You can also find a product in a department store and then search for it online. Sometime with the cost of shipping it still is cheaper to buy the material online that in a department store. Also a lot of stores price match. You can take advantage of that as well.


Floor Models and Sale: Big department stores have a big sale on their floor models once in a while. You just need to ask different stores about the time of their floor model sales. You can save up big box and still get great quality appliances. Stores need to create more room for their new model items and need to get rid of older models and this is a great opportunity to save.


Buy Second Hand: It is true that someone else’s trash could be your treasure. By buying second hand items and mixing them with new items you can give a new look to your house. Nowadays a lot of renovations and designers go for the vintage look, so do not discount the second hand stores and what you could find there. There are great catches you can find; you just need to be patient.

How to Save on Your Wedding?

Longer Engagement: Having more time can help you get better deals. When you are not in rush then you have enough time for research and can find the right person for the right price. You can also look for or wait for big sale events in different stores like end of season sales or Christmas sales.
Pick the right time: it’s all about picking the right time. Getting married on any other day than Saturday helps you save a lot of money.  Saturdays is a popular day for weddings. Having your wedding on a Friday or Sunday can help you save money. Also you can hold of on your wedding until close to the end of the season. That way you can get better deals. Right before the start of the peak season or just right after, is a smart choice.
Hire a Wedding Planner: Hiring the right wedding planner can save you a lot of money. Wedding planners know wholesalers and they have already established relationship with them and can get wholesale prices. Some of the vendors give special rates to event planners.  They also know who are the good players with the right price in the market. One of the best websites where you can find a wedding planner in your area is at Selectina.com. Just post your project on Selectina and different wedding planners come to you with a price quote.

Second Hand Items: There are some items used in a wedding that can be bought second hand and no one even notices if they were not brand new. For example: My friend paid $120 for a special decorative tray that she used under her wedding cake. She later sold that for $60 to another bride to be, lucky bride saved $70 on that tray. There are lots of good deals online for second hand items, keep an eye out for these.

Gardening, Not Just a Hobby but a Moneymaker!

Gardening can act like a nice dress for your house. A nice garden and landscaping can make your house very desirable to potential buyers. Even if you are not planning to sell your property in the near future, planting a tree that can create shade when fully grown can help the look of your garden and adds value to your property. Using low maintenance local plants can be a nice touch to create more green space in your property.

Keep the lawn clean. The lawn is one of the areas that get a lot of attention. You can control the jungle yourself and trim the lawn or for few hundred dollars hire a landscaper!

On the other hand having a garden and growing your own vegetable can help you save on food. This way you can have an organic garden in your own backyard. A study from the Natural Gardening Association of United States shows that a family with a vegetable garden that have spend $70 dollars on can save up to $600 on Grocery per year.

You might need some tools and seeds to start with but the maintenance is easier to keep up with financially. If you need major work done to get the garden started you better hire a gardener to help you instead of buying the equipment.

With the money you will be saving on the vegetable produced from your garden, you can even hire a gardener/landscaper that can help you with keeping the garden beautiful. That way your garden pays for itself!

At Selectina.com you can find a professional gardeners with competitive price in few quick steps!

Six Strategies to Double and Triple sales in your business!

Six Strategies to Double and Triple sales in your business!

Selectina

Talk To Your Existing Clients:  When you have done a project for a client, don’t stop there! Few weeks later call them up to see if they are happy with the work and if they can write you a testimonial and refer you to others! Here’s a powerful fact to chew on:   Most businesses, when running the numbers on where most of their business comes from, realize 76% of their sales comes from existing, not new customers, be it a recurring sales or referral!   If you know this in advance, wouldn’t you think it be a good idea to spend more time and effort with those you brought on board already?   Ask them about their opinion and if they’d like the service, would they be willing to give you the name of 3 groups they’re associated with that could use your services?

How to triple your sales without bringing on another client: There are two other ways to generate revenue with your existing customers! One, add new products or services to your existing company! Or you could joint venture with other companies and promote their marketing and services to your database and get paid for every conversion to a sale!   Second, create a package which has you creating recurring sales is a great way of planning ahead! For example, if you do carpet cleaning, you can package a semi-annual cleaning with a client when he signs up now for 20% discount! He’s going to need to clean his carpet anyway so why not sign up now for regular cleaning and save on the services! Now you have two sales annually and possibly more, when they sign up! This is called increasing the frequency in which your client orders! Utilizing these strategies will help you double and triple your sales and all coming from your existing client base! Now that’s called smart marketing!

Use Online Business Services: With more people turning to the internet to purchase both products and services, there are many new sites that are now surfacing to fill in this market gap!   They help provide much needed services for a very minimal amount or for free. One example of such a site is Selectina.com! Selectina is a platform connecting clients who need services with professionals that are targeted to fulfill those services! Serious costumers who are inquiring about a quote for their project can post their project with their specification on Selectina! Interested professionals can get in contact with these customers for a minimal fee! It is a great way to find targeted new clients! Professionals can also use their free directory services which allow them to create a business page and showcase their work!

Social Media: And along with the boom of purchasers, social media has catapulted as the #1 category of use by people when on the internet!   So creating a website for your business and using social media to get the word out about your services and products is no longer a choice, but expected for both exposure and branding of your business. Linking facebook, twitter, and linkedin pages to your site and vice versa as a tool for driving traffic and getting feedback and comments on your business is a great strategy! Note: Make sure to put your logo and site information on all your social media efforts.

Partnering Up: You can partner up with other businesses; for example if you are real estate agent you can partner up with a real estate attorney and start referring clients to each other. Another effective way is to create a group of local business owners in your area and cross-reference business with them!

Attend Meetings Of Professional Groups: With attending professional meeting groups and chambers of commerce you are introducing your business to active business members! Some people think these are old strategies, but they are still ver effective when it comes to receiving referrals simply because seeing people on regular basis breed familiarity.   And familiarity breeds trust! So Have your business card ready, and always start by asking what they and how you can assist them!  Remember, givers gain when it comes to networking!   And when it comes to promoting your business, have a 30 second elevator pitch that explains who you are, what products you offer, what’s unique about your company, and what the benefits to the client are! Don’t focus on the features, always, and I mean, always focus on the benefits!

We’re happy to share these six powerful strategies with you! If you just follow a few of these gems, you will see your sales jump dramatically and the best part is you’ll save time and money all while enjoying the process of building your business more!   So you’re not overwhelmed with taking the first step, we recommend signing up for selectina.com to get you kick started! And implementing the rest one week/month at a time!   To your success!