Women's Bodies Are Where We Start Real Change

Women's Bodies seem to be getting a major hit from media coverage these days. The latest I've heard is there are blogs that promote how it is cool to be anorexic. The promotion an obsession with top Hollywood star's diminishing bodies as a form of worship or adulation for fans who wish to emulate those bodies. Some of the statements from participants say if they are going to die, they prefer to die skinny. Another frightening connection between the affect of the media and advertising on anorexia is that in Fij, where women and girls have been naturally bigger for millenia, there was no anorexia until they introduced advertising!

Hmmm ...

There's not a lot of press out there that supports how women WANT to live. Is it my imagination or even since Oprah left the daily television screen There has been an outcry for women to find ways to enjoy women who just love being women, no matter what their size? Oprah's departure has brought me to think that many of us now need to step up and claim the pride in ourselves that she inserted on; while in the same breath expressing her exasperation and pain with being a woman in her body and unable to conquer binge eating habits or those emotional ups and downs.

For me, Oprah was the queen of championing that the ups and downs of being a woman are perfectly powerful, perfectly normal and part of everyday life.

The concept of "perfect" was skillfully destroyed by Oprah's at one and the same time larger than life success and vulnerability.

Women do NOT need to be perfect to be powerful.

But women DO need to accept the power of the imperfection of their body.

Women's Bodies are CONSTANTLY changing through our lives.

Daily - we face the ordinal of having to see new variations in our bodies, thoughts, feelings, and we have pressures to maintain a certain grooming level to keep up appearances. Physically, our body changes depending on our cycle, our mood, the argument we had last night, the worry we have for our kids, the joy of having a new flirtation or a great conversation with a friend. Women's bodies are somehow the most fluctuating thing on the planet! Just smelling a flower can make a woman change!

My question is: WHY ARE WOMEN'S BODIES CONSTRUCTED TO CHANGE SO MUCH?

Sure - biologically we have to adapt to crazy wild painful things like giving birth! And hormonal driven changes like lactating, ovulating and bleeding ... or not bleeding.

Fine - those are some biological reasons why women's bodies fluctuate so much.

But sure - there is something we are underestimating in the POWER of women to change with the demands of nature AND time and so many different influences in their life.

Women's bodies are the place where we SURRENDER to change. When you get - really get - that change is a part of you, change is a DAILY part of your life - that CHANGE can happen in a moment - then you get the power that comes from women's bodies.

WE are not in control of our bodies, our bodies by their very design are designed to change. AND your body is designed to teach the power of change, growth, different experiences, different emotions, strength AND vulnerability, thin and fat, happy and sad, angry and peaceful.

WOW - we need MORE women to come out and just breathe - let their belly hang out and say - it's OK to be a woman and not be perfect.

The media will forever tell women their body should look this way or that way - that's the nature of the advertising beast. Advertising feeds on our weaknesses.

So how do WOMEN - turn their weakness into a strength?

The modern woman spends so much time worrying about wrinkles and getting rid of belly fat that we've forgotten the whole point of being a woman. "Aging" starts from the moment you are an embryo. Think about this: AT ANY MOMENT YOU ARE AGING.

Women's Bodies can embrace that CHANGE, IMPERFECTION and BEING REAL are just as POWERFUL as anything the media, advertising or anyone else is going to tell you.

Face it - you were born with a body to experience change. So ... ENJOY IT! And notice - how do you respond to change in your body?

Ask yourself: Can you accept that even if you are not perfect - you are fine just the way you are?

And more pointedly ask your BODY: HOW can you ENJOY YOUR BODY, even if it is not perfect? What can you do for your body to be it's friend? What does your body truly wish to do?

Just try asking this to yourself and see what answer comes to mind. YOUR BODY is waiting for you to listen to it and treat it as your friend.

There's a lot of people out there trying to make your body your enemy --- do not let them .

Reasons to Choose Custom Boxes for Your Business

The most important factor that determinates the success of any business is your relationship with your customers. So, the more effort you put into satisficing your customers, the better your growth prospects will be. While the first thing that must have popped in your mind on reading the above lines is, beyond any doubt, the 'product,' there is another - often overlooked- factor, ie the way you deliver your products. Here are four reasons why you should consider packaging and delivering your products in custom boxes:

1. Solution to budgeting problems

As a matter of fact, your way of delivery not only affects your business-customer relationship but can also improve or deter your budget, since your profit and revenue graph; the reason being the freedom and ability to choose the appropriate, or to be more precise, the exact size of the box for each product. Think for yourself- suppose you sell five different kinds of products varying sizes and fragility, and ship them all in the same sized box, would not that cause you to put in more money into providing extra protective sheaths for the smaller, fragile ones to keep it in place and reduce the risk of any damage? However, if you use a custom box of appropriate size, you would use just the right amount of protective layering, like bubble wraps, thereby saving money in the process.

2. Customer magnets

Putting a little bit of thought into the packaging, itself, shows that you care, and it is a well-known fact in the business realm that what your customers feel matters. Think of it from the perspective of the receiver. Would not a good, unique packaging thrill you? Would not it heighten the excitation of getting your chosen product? Moreover, it creates a positive experience for your customers, especially for e-commerce businesses where physical interaction with customers is close to nil, which in turn increases the chance of being recommended. So, custom boxes can be used as an effective marketing technique to score more potential customers.

3. Unique Brand Identity

There are many businesses that are primarily known for their unique packaging boxes. For instance, Amazon or Origami Craft Box or John & Kira's. These boxes infuse a sense of passion and appeal to the customers by making the process of unboxing a little bit more rewarding. Secondly, it makes your business name and logo more identifiable. In fact, the more appealing your custom box's design is, more are the opportunities that your customers will keep it with them. Most people find it hard to toss out boxes that are too beautiful for trash. So, in a way, custom boxes help reflect and polish your brand identity.

Furthermore, if your custom boxes are also durable besides being eye-catchy, you can rest assured that your customers will keep them, and then you get the lifelong worth of continued advertising without any additional investment.

So, what's the wait for? Call in a meeting with your design and marketing team, and build your custom boxes to give your brand a new life.

Postcard Marketing - A Few Simple Tips You Should Know!

Direct mail Postcard Marketing is nothing new. This method of marketing has been used by direct marketers for decades. Effective postcards need to be simple yet eye-catching. A postcard can also double as a gift certificate or a coupon. You can also use both sides of the card to promote your campaign. Your postcards should also have multiple ways to contact you. Your address, 800 number, web site, etc. If you offer multiple ways for someone to contact you, the more likely it will be that they will contact you.

If you have the time and money to invest, Postcard marketing can be very lucrative. From the cost of designing and printing postcards, to the cost of postage for delivering the postcards. These costs can vary greatly. The costs will range from $ 1500 to more than $ 3000 for 5000 postcards. How much you pay for shipping, designing and printing, can all vary depending on current shipping rates, and the deals that can be found for design and printing. The higher the quantity of postcards, the lower the cost per card. This, however, leads to a higher overall upfront cost.

With postcard marketing you can easily track the success / failure rate. If you send out 5000 postcards, a 5% response rate might be expected. That means you would have 250 responses. Of 250 responses you might again expect 5% to buy your product or service. That's 12.5 products or services sold for every 5000 postcards sent out. That equates to about 1/4 percent overall. These percentages are just an example and will vary significantly. The types of products and service being sold, and whether or not there's a market for that particular product or service at the time, are two factors that will play a major role in determining the overall success of any direct mail Postcard Marketing campaign.

In conclusion, direct mail postcards are more likely to be read than emails. For that reason, direct mail postcard marketing has proved to be very successful for a wide range of companies selling a wide range of products. However, it is not for every business or every product. I would not recommend this method of marketing to someone just starting out. In my opinion there are many other methods of marketing that are far more cost effective, and have far better results than direct mail postcard marketing. That being said, should you still choose this method of marketing, please make sure you do your homework. The more targeted your mailing list, the better the results will be.

Nokia Mobile Phones - Setting a Benchmark

Nokia - the world leader in mobile manufacturing, sells one in every three phones in the market. It produces mobiles for every market and protocol. This includes GSM, CDMA as well as WCDMA. What makes Nokia mobile phones phenomenal, is a simple fact. Nokia believes and understands the industry's dynamics, that is, the design, brand, usability and price, are the prime considerations for customers. This means that Nokia mobile phones are not only visually appealing but also score high due their ergonomics.

The portfolio offered by Nokia mobile Phones is quite varied. Where on one hand we have Xpress music phones and camera phones, on the other, we have the multimedia phones and sensational L'Amour series. For flip phones one can choose from a host of options like – Nokia N92, Nokia 7390, Nokia 6290, Nokia 6086 and Nokia 6085. Options for slider phones include – E65, N95, 8800 Sirocco Edition, 5300 Xpress music and many more. While choices for wide screen display under Nokia Mobile phones include – N93i, N95, N73, Nokia 7373 etc.

Each Nokia Mobile Phone is marketed with a definite USP kept in mind, however they offer more in terms of application and appeal. For example, Nokia N95 was marketed as a multimedia powerhouse, with a great Mp3 player, a camera and 3G capability, but the wide screen look of the gadget also became its Unique selling proposition. In the first quarter of 2006 Nokia sold over 15 million MP3 capable mobile phones, and it plans to further raise the number to outpace sales of iPods from Apple.

Despite an outpouring success of Nokia Mobile Phones, the manufacturers have not become complacent. The manufacturers see a lot of potential left specially in the area of low-cost handsets and more sophisticated devices. In the world where around 500 million people have never made a phone call, Nokia through Nokia mobile phones envisages to empower at least another 2 billion to get them introduced to the world of mobile telecommunications, and reaffirm what they always believe - 'connecting people'.

Nokia Mobile Phones [http://www.virginmobileshop.uk.com/nokia-mobile-phones.asp]