Exciting Week at EmbroidMe of Birmingham

The spring weather has definitely had an impact on us at EmbroidMe of Birmingham.  Spring sports are active, businesses are getting ready for spring, and we're getting more inquiries from softball teams.  This week we delivered on a large project for the Seaholm Girls' Water Polo Team.  We embroidered jackets for each girl, decorated their shorts and screen-printed t-shirts for them and their moms.  Yesterday we finished up on a project for  Healing for the People Ministries.  We embroidered 39 pieces in all for them including a suit jacket for the main preacher, Henry Davis.  Here's the logo sewn out on one of the shirts:

Another big project we've been working on is with the Detroit Chevy Dealer's Association as they get ready for their Opening Day event at Comerica Park.  We're printing 1000 baseballs for them, getting them flashdrives for their VIPs, and embroidering jackets and hats for their coordinators.

If you know of events coming up this year, like family reunions, golf outings, charity fundraisers, etc., let us know and perhaps we can be of assistance in getting polos, t-shirts, and more!

Networking that Works! A TRUE Story!

I'm sure there are many people out there like me who sometimes wonder what good we're doing by "Paying it Forward." We often pass along someone's contact information, or sometimes include a partner or customer of ours in an e-mail blast and wonder if anything ever comes of it. I heard a story recently that PROVES that it worked, and sometimes it's just a matter of whether or not you know about it.

The case in point is an e-mail blast I did a while ago that featured the Vinsetta Grill in Royal Oak, Michigan. The e-mail was sent out on April 15, 2009, and I heard about it's impact on February 16, 2010. (Click here to see the original email.)

On February 16, I went to a speed networking event hosted by the Troy Chamber of Commerce and ran into Stephanie Holland of the Leukemia-Lymphoma Society. She coordinates the "Light the Night" event in Metro Detroit. I've known Stephanie for a couple of years, and she told me about how she never heard of the Vinsetta Grill until my e-mail blast about them. She's since had a few professional lunches there, and later the owners donated a gift certificate that Stephanie was able to use as a silent auction item at one of her events.

I thought it was a great story, and I wanted to share it here so that people will continue to "Pay it Forward" knowing that sometimes it really pays off!

Hair Loss Confidential - A New Reality Series

Have you heard about a new reality series filming throughout the US? It's called Hair Loss Confidential, and they're currently accepting nominations for a "hair loss intervention." There are a variety of surgical and non-surgical techniques to help people deal with the reality of hair loss, and many people can benefit from it. There are many stories where people have had substantial difficulty dealing with hair loss from lashing out at family and friends to simply withdrawing from society.

Hair Loss Confidential is looking to change people's perceptions of hair loss and the treatments that are available. Do you know someone struggling with this problem? Why don't you nominate them for the show at hairlossconfidential.tv? While it's a tricky subject to deal with, this program is simply seeking to help and not exploit people dealing with the reality of hair loss.

The Michigan-based specialists working with the show are at Shear Pointe and Shear Pointe Medical and are right around the corner from EmbroidMe of Birmingham. They've helped thousands of people deal with hair loss whether it's from a genetic predisposition, or the result of chemotherapy. They have a variety of techniques available from simply ensuring that a wig is cut and shaped to compliment a person's physique to various surgical procedures. Please contact them at 888.358.5020 for more information or to schedule a confidential appointment.

Party Planning Plus

Wow! I had a great meeting today with Roz Keith from www.PartyPlanningPlus.com. We exchanged lots of networking ideas, and I agreed to join her website as a vendor. She's really headed in the right direction driving traffic to her website, and I'm glad I'm getting in on the ground floor. I'm going to refer her to a number of people in my BNI group, and a couple other professionals that are event planners.

She's not planning to be an event planner herself, but provide the resources that individuals and party planners can use. She's already connected with many resources from caterers to florists to DJs and more. She has a monthly column in Women's Lifestyle Oakland and she's preparing a Party Planning 101 seminar to get people started. She's primarily focused on family events right now like reunions, bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs but she's already got plans to have sections of her website devoted to corporate events.

I think it's going to be a great opportunity for EmbroidMe of Birmingham, and I look forward to working with her more in the future.

Want a FREE Lunch for your staff? Check out this GREAT offer!

As many of my colleagues know, I'm active in a local chapter of Business Networking International called "The Producers." Over the last year I've gotten to know many other business professionals and small business owners, and two such gentlemen are Christophe and Jon Dean. They have a Chiropractic practice just down the road from my store, and they've really changed my attitude toward Chiropractic in general. Using the Activator Method, they're often able to help people in a few visits rather than requiring weeks or months of follow up. They have come up with a variety of lunch'n'learn programs, and are willing to buy lunch for you and your staff! Please consider the information included below and consider having them come to your office. If you have any questions of me, please feel free to contact me at www.embroidme-birmingham.com.

Dean Chiropractic is boldly heading out in to the community to provide FREE lunch and learns for companies of all sizes or non-corporate groups and organizations. During your businesses lunch hour, one of the doctors will come to your place of employment and give a 30-40 minute talk to your employees about health. They have a wide range of topics to fit your groups' needs. These topics include Stress, Nutrition, Women's Health, Head Aches, and Healthy Living to 100. They will also provide all attendees with a complimentary healthy lunch! At the bottom of this post is a link to the detailed menu of lecture topics.

FAQ

1. What is this going to cost me? Nothing besides an hour of your lunch time

2. Will the Dr sell me anything? No, but we will offer significant discounts on services just for attending. We will bring in certificates for purchase which will lock your first visit in at a discounted rate.

3. Can we have more than one seminar? Absolutely, it just depends on how many employees you have.

4. What's in it for the doctor? Exposure

Not only can these talks benefit your employees/co-workers health, well being, and productivity but you also may be able to lower your disability insurance premiums/workers comp by providing such health classes.

They book the health talks 2 weeks in advance. As soon as you have a date and lecture topic picked out, they will send you a sign up sheet to be posted in a communal area to get an accurate head count for providing food. The deadline for sign up is usually 3 pm the day before the scheduled talk. We usually recommend sending a copy of this email to your HR department to be forwarded out to the rest of your company to alert them to this upcoming event. If you have any other questions, please feel free to call the office at 248-543-3566 or contact Jon Dean via e-mail at deanjona@gmail.com.

Here's the link to the available topics: Talk Menu

The following link includes more information about Dean Chiropractic.

Birmingham Bloomfield Chamber Event

I'm attending the Birmingham-Bloomfield Chamber Event tonight at Peabody's Restaurant from 5.30 to 7.00p. There are usually between 75 and 100 people at these events, so it's a great opportunity to network. The Chamber's website is http://www.bbcc.com/home/ and EmbroidMe's website is www.embroidme-birmingham.com.

After the event, I'm headed to Always Irish at Laurel Park Place Mall. The couple that runs the store lives near our store in Birmingham, and Dean stopped by to see if we could print a full-color family crest onto a t-shirt. I told him about our direct to garment printing process for creating custom t-shirts and he thought it would be a perfect solution. I'm looking forward to meeting his wife Judy tonight.

Girl Scout Troop 1757 Visits EmbroidMe - Birmingham

Check out the cool t-shirts that Girl Scout Troop 1757 made this Thursday! Their troop leader contacted me a few weeks ago, and wondered about doing a field trip here. I told her how each of the girls could make up their own design, and we would be able to print them each their own custom tee! They got to pick the style and color, and we printed them while they watched. They asked lots of questions, and got to work extensively with Kate Keller, our resident graphic artist and graduate of the College for Creative Studies.

I think these young ladies had some fun, learned a little bit, and left with a great take-a-way to remember the trip. We'd love to do more of these field trips in the future. I'm planning to bring my son's kindergarten class here next....... 8 five-year-old boys! Let us know if you'd like to learn more about it, or check out our website at www.embroidme-birmingham.com.