GROW News
December 16, 2009
Important Notice:
Carla Voss is no longer working for the GROW Nebraska Program.
I am sad to report that Carla Voss, GROW Nebraska’s longtime inventory coordinator and great helper to many of GROW Nebraska services has decided to pursue other endeavors. Carla went beyond the call of duty with market access services such as the as the Nebraska State Fair General Store and the Holiday stores and will be greatly missed.
With this change, GROW Nebraska will be implementing some new procedures for market access inclusion and store inventory policies that will be more mainstreamed and efficient. More information on the new procedures will be sent soon.
If you have any questions regarding inventory, please address all e-mails to
info@grownebraska.org or call Janell toll free at 888-476-9632 or by cell at 308-962-6767.
Thank you for understanding and we all wish Carla the best of luck and much success in her future endeavors.
– Janell Anderson Ehrke, CEO GROW Nebraska
Message from Carla
Dear GROW members, friends and co-workers,
After much consideration and deliberation on my part, I have decided to leave GROW. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with the organization, and made many friends in the process. I will miss you all. Good luck to everyone with your businesses as you head toward a new year. I appreciate all that GROW has done for me, and will pray for the continued success of the program.
Thank you all,
Carla Voss
Holiday Season is Upon Us
GROW Nebraska online sales are up over 25% from last year. Just this past week, we sold over $2,000 worth of items - that's just over $250 per day. If you do not have your products on the GROW Nebraska eCommerce site, please fill out the online form to be included
here. To see if your products are online, visit
this link and look for your company name.
If you recently sent in items, we will get them up in the next week, so they may not be available online yet. If you have any questions about the GROW Nebraska eCommerce site, please contact us at
info@grownebraska.org.
Who Sold Online This Week?
GROW Nebraska is now highlighting what sold online for the week. If your item sells the most for the week, it will be the featured picture for this section of the weekly update!
This WEEK over $2,000 worth of products were sold! Notice that several items sold multiple times. How can you improve your picture and description to help you sell more products?
If you don't see your products on your list, consider updating your photography or your description to help entice more buyers. For your convenience, we have linked each product to their listing on the eCommerce or eBay sites so you can see what that member has done to help sell their product.
We encourage you to look at the photography and descriptions for each of these items to see how you can make improvements to your listing. Remember, you know more about your business and product than we do, so we really need your help to make your listing the best it can be! To easily find your products on the eCommerce store please
click here.
If you would like to make edits to your listing, please e-mail us at
info@grownebraska.org.
December 9 - December 16
Lincoln Holiday Store will close January 8, 2010
Thank you to all the members who participated in the 2009 Lincoln Holiday Store. The sales have been very good and we are going to try something new this year and keep the store open until January 8, 2010.
Product and display pick up will take place January 9 through 12th. Pick up times will be announced in the near future.
We would like to offer 10% off all items in the store from Dec 15 - Jan 8. Please
click here to let us know if you are willing or not willing to allow 10% off your items from December 26, 2009 to January 8, 2010. If you have any question, please contact
info@grownebraska.org or call 888-476-9632.
Do You Want to Sample?
Now is a great time to get out and sample your product! How do you go about it?
- Contact the store manager. In Kearney beth@grownebraska.org, Grand Island cheryl@grownebraska.org and in Lincoln Ima Gene at imason@windstream.net.
- Check out the Calendar of Events to see who is sampling!
It is that easy! If you have any other questions contact
info@grownebraska.org. We hope you all get a chance to get out and sample your product or get to the store to taste and see the great things available!
Free Industry Research
The best way to get your business ready to grow in the coming year is to know what kind of shape your business and your market is in; get detailed, timely industry and market information provided to you free of charge.
If you need high quality industry research and market data, Nebraska Business Development Center in the College of Business and Technology will provide it to you at no cost. Our typical report provided to business clients would cost almost $1,000 if bought separately from our providers. This is the same information we provide to all other NBDC centers across the state including UNO, UNL, Chadron State College and Wayne State College, as well as chambers of commerce and economic developers across Nebraska.
These licensed resources can provide you with timely financial data by sales or organizational structure within an industry sector, detailed GIS demographic and economic data for a geographical region, company market penetration by industry and geographical area, and detailed national industry reports with trends and projections. Compare your business performance to the industry. Get a better look at the market and coming trends. See how demographic and economic characteristics are forecast to change. We provide you with your reports electronically, and confidentially. All you need to do is contact us.
Nebraska Business Development Center
College of Business & Technology
ingersollo@unk.edu
ph: 308.865.8429
Marketing Opportunity at Cattlemen's Classic
The Nebraska Cattlemen’s Classic has inquired about GROW Nebraska having a store at their event. The Cattlemen’s Classic is willing to provide fencing similar to the state fair so the store would a similar look. The dates of the Cattlemen’s Classic in Kearney, NE are February 16-21, 2010. The event is held at the Buffalo County Fairgrounds. GROW Nebraska needs to know if our membership is interested in participating in this type of event. Please
click here to let us know if you would be interested in this opportunity.
Renewals Complete
All renewals have now been sent for 2010 membership. The deadline to be in the 2010-2011 GROW Book is to
renew and pay by February 1, 2010. Our designer will be taking a leave of absence in March, so
NO exceptions will be made to this deadline to ensure that the GROW Book is printed in a timely manner. Remember, if you joined after September 2009 you do not need to renew. If you have any questions or concerns, or did not receive a renewal, please contact us at 888.476.9632 or e-mail us at
info@grownebraska.org.
Quick GROW Loan
GROW Members ... did you know that your business can receive up to $5,000 at 5.25% to assist with marketing, capital improvements and supplies? If you are interested in finding out more information about the Direct or Quick GROW Loan program, please e-mail
info@grownebraska.org or call 888-476-9632.
Member News
Congrats to Connie Mahaney of From Nebraska Gift Shop for being interviewed by 10/11 News in Grand Island/Lincoln. You can view the video
here.
New Members
Green Bags - Linda Harouff - Alma, Nebraska
Recycled blue jean purses and Christmas stockings.
Blackwood Hunting & Recreation - Beverly Unger - Hayes Center, Nebraska
Blackwood Hunting & Recreation consists of five Farm/Ranch families that have combined property to include a land base of 35,000 acres and leased private property to provide prime natural hunting. Learn more at
blackwoodhunting.com.
Marketing Workshops
Twitter Tense? Facebook Frets? Utterli Uneasy? Social Media Stressing You Out? We Can Help!
GROW Nebraska has teamed up with the University of Nebraska Extension Specialists to help you reduce your anxiety in keeping up with the social media marketing craze.
Social media marketing is essential to increasing brand awareness and expanding your online business presence. However, if you don’t understand how it works, thinking about posting tweets, updating your Facebook page and incorporating your blog into the media mix seems overwhelming.
Not only will we teach you how to save time by being more efficient when using social media, but we are bringing the "Get Social Sessions" to you. Spots are filling quickly! Price is $10/person. If you have questions, call us at 888.GROW.NEB or e-mail us at
info@grownebraska.org. If you are interested in attending one of these workshops, please sign up
HERE.
- January 26 - North Platte - 3-6 at West Central Research and Extension Center
- January 27 - Chadron – 3-6 at Chadron State College Student Center
- January 28 - Scottsbluff - 9-12 at UNL Panhandle Research and Extension Center
- January 28 - Sidney- 4-7 at Western Nebraska Community College - Room 112 (NOTE: Date and Time have changed)
