Thanks for stopping by to read about Ideas Woman and the person behind Ideas Woman, me - Gayle Lindsay.

I love being self-employed . . . .

For more than twenty years I have been self-employed operating my own businesses and working as a freelancer. I love the challenge of being able to increase my own income compared to being an employee on a fixed wage; the flexibility of choosing when I work and when I do not rather than working a set roster with a boss standing over me; and I truly appreciate the time I have been able to spend with my children for the past ten years as a home-based worker instead of missing out on the sports days, and the girl talk after school because I had to be at work.

It all started in 1987 . . . .

I was a stay at home mum looking after four children and married to a man who hated his job in the bank. We both had a love of photography and so after training, we started up our first photo lab which also doubled as a professional photographic studio. Good times, then a a recession and before we knew it, we ended up with two different Kodak Express photo labs, one at an international airport [his], the other in a shopping centre [hers].

Rewards for top selling . . . .

Attending many hours of selling and marketing training paid off. Being the top film seller in our state both husband and I were sent to New Orleans U.S.A, all expenses paid for seven days for Mardi Gras. From there a quick hop and step to Jamaica for ten days just to us, leaving the six kids behind with the grandparents and staff to run our shops.

So how did we achieve being top seller? Upselling, cross-selling, 'frequent flasher' rewards, and excellent customer service! Why sell one roll of film when you can sell twenty!

Since 1999 . . . .

After retraining in multimedia and marketing, I set-up my own DOT COM business - well it was the nineties! I have been offering web related services including web design and development, and software production. My services also extend to online marketing, business mentoring, graphic design for web and print and freelance teaching and onsite training. Of course I a professional photographer as well.

Why I am the Ideas Woman . . . .

Ever since my husband and I started our first business in 1987, I realised that there was selling [anyone can do that] and then there was marketing which was our ongoing commitment to the success of our business. Did we wait for the customer to come through the door or did we work at offering incentives for the customers to come to us, rather than our competitor? Of course it was the latter!

What I can do for you . . . .

eBay especially has made it so simple for anyone to become a seller. Anyone can sell, however you have to market yourself before you can sell anything. I will help and educate you in effective and proven selling methods to turn the eBayer into a customer. I will help you to increase your sales so you will work for the same amount of time but for increased profit.

And finally, ME . . . .

Do you care if I am married to best husband in the world and have the most gorgeous children? Of course you do not care and I do not expect you to! Well he would be the best husband in the world if he could cook and dance and then the kids, each have been unbearable at 15 and have no idea how to stack and unstack the dishwasher!

So why is it that so many sellers and website owners tell you that they have the best husband on their ABOUT ME page? Well I cannot work that one out. Your buyers may have just been divorced, have ugly looking children [just kidding] or are just not feeling so great. These people do not want to hear about your 'perfect' family and perfect life. Tell them about your business, your location, what you do and how you will do it. Tell why you decided to start selling online but leave the 'darling husband' stuff to the forums and chat rooms. If I just offended you, it was not meant to; it was meant to help you understand how to better promote yourself to your potential customers.

 

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