Finances and Marketing Ideas

Last night I emailed Dr. McDougall to let him know what I'm up to. I need to know which DVDs I need to buy and also more about the curriculum and what he'll charge. I've also had other ideas about how to market which I want to outline here for my future reference. The other thing is I have to figure out the finances of it all. I also emailed my acting friend Shenna who has an MBA. She keeps her receipts when we eat and talk acting because she knows how to do the deductions properly. Anyway, I offered to buy her dinner if she'd let me pick her brain about how I set up the business side of this.

Here are the financial issues juggling round my head right now:

First, though, I must preface by saying that I'm a Dave Ramsey girl. I no longer have any shame or embarrassment in sharing that. I listen to his podcasts regularly and I've come to believe in his philosophy, which is: no debt and no credit. If I don't have the cash, I don't buy it. Since reading his book, The Total Money Makeover and listening to his free podcasts, I have paid off my credit cards and gotten on a budget. I still owe my parents $1700 for my car, but I want to pay them $2000 because it's taken me a long time to pay them back. But the point I'm making is that I don't want to use credit cards ever again, because credit cards now mean to me: I don't have the cash to buy it. I don't want to get all fancy and flexible with my spending, banking on my next paycheck before it's there. I've just accepted that if I don't have the cash for it, I can't afford it, so I won't get it.

Of course, just as I'd like to get started on teaching Dr. McDougall, a number of things have come up:

1. I can pay off my car with my next paycheck and be totally debt free :)

2. I want to go to Disneyland for a week with my out-of-state family in September. I feel strongly about this because my nephews are young and I hardly get to see them. I want to share in their childhood and hang out with my fam. Cost for this: ~ $500-600.

3. I was hit by a car last January and my neck is still bugging me. I saw a specialist who recommended swimming and a chiropractor. I don't belong to a gym (being a Ramsey girl) and chiropractors aren't covered with my insurance. I'm thinking of joining the YMCA and swimming 3 times a week to help my neck out. The specialist explained about the benefit of swimming because it keeps an even distribution of weight and strengthens the neck, back, and shoulder muscles while keeping my alignment. Even if I can't afford a chiropractor yet, I want to fit in swimming. I'm hoping the YMCA expense and later on the chiropractor will be covered by whatever happens with the settlement I should get. YMCA, if I remember correctly, the last time I joined (then quit to save $): $135 initial, $60 each month.

4. I also have an about $1000 hospital bill that I never paid. But as it seems that this settlement thing is going to take a while, I'd also like to pay that off and get it off my chest, just so I don't have to see the regular bill for it that keeps coming. I should be reimbursed for that also. Eventually.

5. I have to purchase the DVDs from Dr. McDougall. I think that will run about $200-$300.

6. I may also have to invest in a laptop for the class. I will have to check that out, because I'm not sure if Shelton Studios can provide that also, and let me get a Skype account on there. How much are decent laptops? I happen to like Macs, sadly. Macs are pricey. Oh well. Beggars can't be choosers. Also, I have my own clunky heavy laptop of a thing that might work if it takes a DSL connection. I will have to figure this out.

By the way, I got the final word from the library about trying to do this program there. In a word: No. Their rooms are strictly only free to non-profits and library-related organizations, besides all the other unwelcoming rules about not having an on-going program. It looks like Shelton Studios it will be. That's fine. I'm happy with Shelton Studios. I like it.

Now, on to Marketing Ideas:

My other marketing ideas I actually got from the man who corresponded with me after I put my ad on Craigslist looking for a room. He suggested Myspace and sites like that. I think that's an excellent idea.

1. Craigslist ads

2. Fliers at Rainbow Grocery, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, wellness clinics, yoga places, gyms, hospitals (hopefully), or outside of hospitals stores on the telephone poles near them. Also near large size clothing stores (hope no one takes offense at that, but this program also helps you lose weight).

3. Business cards and word-of-mouth. That would be my word-of-mouth, especially at first. I'm chatty about this.

4. Set up a Myspace, facebook, and the like for this.

5. Set up a website.

6. I also thought that once I get the program going I can see if one of those big corporations which pays for their employee's gym memberships (to give the employees incentive to stay healthy and thus lower the company's health care costs) -- I'm wondering if I could set something up with them where I'd run the program to teach their employees this way of eating which reverses and prevents heart disease. I could also make recommendations for their company's cafeteria.

As you can see, there's a lot I want to do but I have to figure out a lot also. I think I'll poke into Excel and try to budget this out so I can make it happen. I'm also thinking of finding some odd jobs or a temporary part-time job to get some more money quickly. One thing I know, credit cards are not an option.