Woman in Business Profile- One With The Water

Alissandra Hurdelbrink enjoys her career as a swim lesson teacher and an important part of the Los Angeles based non-profit organization One With The Water. She enjoys teaching children with special needs because she says "they have this special untouched innocence to them.  They live in their own world and they just need to be understand in that realm. Everyone thinks to change their world to make it more like everyone else. When I think we need to dive into their world and see it from their eyes."

Alissandra grew up overly athletic and constantly taking part in a few sports at a time.  She knew that she wanted to work with children but she wasn't sure what exactly she would be doing.

A couple years ago she started going back to school to earn a BS in Kinesology and knew some type of coaching was in her future.

She had never thought about teaching swim lessons until she was approached by fellow swim lesson teacher, Coach Kenneth. Her first student was on the autism spectrum and she fell in love with him. She says "He had such a great heart and he was definitely "One with The Water". It was his safe place, plus he probably had more fun in the pool than anyone else out there. When you teach kids with special needs new movements it builds on so many parts of their daily functioning.  Improves motor skills, coordination and muscle memory.  Like I said it touches base on one aspect out of a thousand."

Alissandra uses the words "incredible and amazing" to describe how she feels when she's teaching kids swimming.  She says, "you are shaping so many aspects of their lives.  It's not just the art of swimming you are touching base on, it's one puzzle piece in a game of a million pieces.  It's pretty incredible to see when a child really starts to understand what they are doing in the water with all the movements. Every child learns at their own pace, but some kids respond at an incredible pace and it's pretty amazing to watch it happen."

As far as anything on the business side of things, Alissandra takes care of most of the scheduling and talking with potential clients.  Together with Coach Kenneth, they go to events and advertise online, newspapers, and more.

She said that keeping the clients coming back is pretty easy for her because the kids have so much fun and really learn so much.  She makes it a point to make learning fun and still make progress with the lesson plan.

For more information about One With The Water, visit www.Onewiththewater.org
www.facebook.com/onewiththewater 

Tips for: Selling Online

Here are some tips on selling your products online:

So, now that you have your products in hand, where do you sell them?
Online is a good option because you can reach a large network of people without even leaving your house. Here are some good places to sell online:'

- ebay.com - sell anything here
- etsy.com - sell handmade products here like handmade jewelry
- craigslist.com - sell locally here or direct them to your online store
- wix.com - make your own website where you can create an online cart- flash based
- http://yardsellr.com/ - sell jewelry or anything on here
- http://www.intuit.com/website-building-software/ - make your own website and online cart- html based.
- www.mynewmarketplace.com - buy and sell anything

More tips:

-Make sure you read all the posting rules to make sure you are posting correctly and you have made a note of how much the shipping cost is in the United States, Canada, and Worldwide.

- Visit www.paypal.com and create an account to accept payments online. You can change your shipping rates right inside paypal.

- Make sure you put the terms of payment and return policy. Some items you may not want to accept returns on but it is always good to keep your customers happy when you can. Most people don't bother with online returns anyway, but they like to know that there is an option.

- Make sure if you are posting in more than one place, that you keep track of your posts and check back if any sales are made. This is usually done through email on most sites, and you can set your paypal account to also notify you when a payment is made.

- Ship out your products a quickly as possible to keep your customers happy. Keep in mind that they love when the item arrives ahead of schedule, but they really dislike when something arrives late.

- Post on facebook, twitter and myspace to let all of your friends know what you have for sale and where it's being sold.

If you have more suggestions on where you can sell items online, post them below.

New for 2011: New kits, more options, pick your own jewelry!

New for 2011:
My Accessory Business will be adding new options to buy a kit to start your own accessory business!
- Kits starting at $49
- Personal business cards
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- throw an "Everything is $10 Accessories" party

More to come soon!
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Get them to buy on impulse! Impulse= double your sales!

Did you know that 64.3% of product sales are made by individual/ person-to-person selling?

Buyers are more likely to buy something when they can hold it in their hand and look at it. But even more likely than being able to see a product in person is being able to take that product with them immediately. People are most likely to buy on impulse. A lot of the direct selling companies out there give you samples to show your buyers, but then they have to write in an order from a catalog. Then you have to deal with sorting out the shipment and delivering all the orders long after the sale is made. My Accessory Business give you all of the products immediately, not just samples. There are no catalogs. You simple lay out all the products on a table or display piece and customers can buy them and take them home immediately! Because there is only one of each piece being sold, there is more of a sense of exclusivity and an intense call to action since they will realize that if they don't buy the piece immediately, it will most likely be gone soon. When buyers order from a catalog, they realize that there is a possibility they could order a piece later if they wanted, so there is less of a sense of urgency.

To buy a My Accessory Business Kit, go to www.MyAccessoryBusiness.com


http://www.dsa.org/research/industry-statistics/#LOCATION