Companies Giving it all Away. Are They Crazy?...Or Crazy Like A Fox?

Friday's episode of the Tyra Banks show revealed some fascinating freebies as well as unconventional ways to make money in today's troubled economy. I watch her show often and it is often entertaining but she really outdid herself this time!

Among the guests featured were people who sold everything from plasma, to a kidney, to one woman who made about $1300 selling her hair!

In addition there were some people who frequented particular websites giving away various products for free; individuals who had won food, big screen TVs, and even lavish all expenses (or most expenses) paid trips, health, and beauty products, and there it was reported that some unusual networks of people allow strangers to trade houses with them while on vacation or stay a night or two with them at their house when they needed lodging when they couldn't afford a stay in a hotel.

One little known fact is that General Mills gives away not only coupons but free full-sized products they manufacture just for asking or signing up on their website.

Many companies are willing to literally give things away in order to gain new and devoted customers long-term. I've seen this among sellers on Etsy, but it doesn't seem to be quite as prevelent in commercial circles (or at least it's not widely publicized). Well, after Tyra's show I guess their cover is blown, LOL.

These companies probably factor into their marketing plan the number of people who just take one of something and never come back, but they figure losing a few items is worth what they'll gain in those who try their products and love them so much they decide to make something of theirs a regular household staple.

I know that I have stumbled upon much loved items this way myself. I have found a number of new favorites by sampling the local faire at Sam's Club via those little tables set up by people hired to hand out samples, and similarly at the Dekalb Farmer's Market in Atlanta. Just a few weeks ago I discovered a delicious new Onion Bread this way (and believe me, I plan on buying more when June comes around and I go back for more groceries!)

These types of arrangements in the long-term (although requiring a short-term sacrifice) do pay off. They are win/win situations.

Some might assume if it looks too good to be true then it probably is, but that can't be taken as a given or you're likely to miss out on some really wonderful opportunities!

Now, ironically, more than ever, retailers everywhere are willing to try new and riskier marketing ideas. The old standby's aren't always enough to increase one's market-share in an arena where everyone is starving to make a go of it and total resources are fewer.

Even computer manufacturers who haven't sacrificed much from year to year are now lowering prices, taking advantage of each holiday to run special deep discount promotions, and placing their trust in the market to scratch their back later like never before. Just a few months ago I didn't see anything decent for sale under around $900 in laptops, but now many are down around $500-$650, and store credit cards are extending all kinds of "same as cash deals" to entice customers to buy.

I turned on the TV today and noticed that the housing market is starting to do all kinds of creative marketing as well; reducing the required down-payments people are required to place, gated communities sponsoring new and luxurious amenities, and many developers are even lowering their total prices on newly-built homes.

Hotels are dropping their rates as well in hopes that people won't cut back on vacations this year, and websites like Expedia.com are becoming even more widely used by the traveling public.

I have not seen alot of deep discounts yet from wholesale jewelry suppliers, (but I suspect it's just a matter of time).

These were the websites recommended on the Tyra Banks show (and some suggested by posters on her forum who had personally tried them and found them to be legitimate and helpful. I've organized them and divided them into categories:

Free Stuff (or Get Paid)

Food and Clothing
www.mysteryshop.org (pays people to shop or assess product display in stores)
www.craigslist.org (Free Clothing)
www.shespeaks.com (Free health and Beauty Products)
www.freebirthdaytreats.com (Free stuff on your birthday)
www.pssst.generalmills.com (Free food; will send you full sized products)

Medication
www.pparx.org (Free Medications)

Travel or Place To Stay
www.kayak.com
www.homeexchange.com
www.caretaker.org
www.courier.org
www.couchsurfing.com

Financial Aid For School
www.finaid.org

Sweepstakes
www.sweetiessweeps.com

Various Free Stuff
www.freecycle.org
www.freebies4mom.com
www.freeflys.com
www.shop4freebies.com
www.ilovefreebies.com
www.freestufffriend.com
www.sweetfreestuff.com
www.buzzagent.com

Sell Your Hair
http://thehairtrader.com

After I took a look at the hairtrader site I decided this would be a fantastic way to raise some of the money I need to pay off Carmella's vet bill! Unlike giving plasma or selling a kidney, cutting your hair really has no risk involved and the great thing about it is that it grows back. I discovered that cutting the hair after you find a buyer brings the highest price.

Some buyers seem to want to cut the hair themselves. There seems to be two or three reasons for this that I can identify;

1) The fresher it is the better it works in creating a wig or hair extension

2) Some buyers may want this because if they cut it themselves they can be sure what they see in pictures is what they will get

3) There seem to be some buyers who want to cut the hair themselves because they have some sort of hair fetish (those are the ones you want to avoid). Some of them seem to want to shave the person's head too.

I don't think I would be comfortable with that, and besides you never know when dealing face to face with strangers whether you're going to meet up with somebody harmless or an axe murderer. With the recent serial murder case which took place on Craig's List you can never be too careful. I think I will opt for the shipping option with hair cut at a salon or by myself just to be safe. There are some buyers who have above-board reasons for buying the hair and are still willing to pay high prices.

Right now I have about a foot of harvestable hair but the ones who usually command the highest prices have longer hair than that. I was amazed to see that there were some women who had grown their hair to two feet or more!

I don't think I want to wait that long to sell mine, but maybe a few months more growth will get it into the range at which I can reasonably expect more than $1,000.

The fact that I have a large percentage of both Native American (Iroquois) and Hawaiian in me will also be to my advantage. There is a woman with one of the Iroquoian Nation tribes in her lineage who sold hers within days, and a guy (I think the buyer) left a question for her asking where he could get more Native American type hair, so I know that it is sought-after.

Doing this could have all kinds of side-benefits as well; possibly increase the customer-base to my Etsy stores, raise awareness even more to the Distemper cure cause, and who knows, it might also end up helping Carmella in ways I don't even imagine right now!

Sales (though most of them small) have started to become more frequent in both my finished jewelry and supply Etsy stores since I've been listing more items in my supply store lately. Things are looking up. I hope this will continue to increase.

This Southwestern Cross necklace and earring set is my latest.

The set has been wire-wrapped with fine silver wire, Southwestern Sterling silver beads, red coral, tiny hematite beads, and has a nice weighty sterling chain. It's available now on Etsy.

Keep the donations coming for Carmella. She needs all the help she can get. We won't be out of the woods financially until this bill has been reduced quite a bit more.

I think finally her expenses are slowing down. Her mange is alot better than even at my last writing. You can see that the sides of her face around her whiskers have healed very well and most of the fur has grown back there.

However she still has the look of buckshot on her flank (one side more than the other).
I sure hope the hair follicles are not destroyed in that area and that this too will heal and the fur will grow back.

She has been full of energy over the weekend and even chewed some wood in the kitchen. I have not been able to locate where it came from, but I came home from running some errands to find splinters scattered all over the floor and Carmella with a guilty look on her face. Now that she is free of much of the previous immune system stuff I have been taking her for walks in the neighborhood. Sometimes it is me who hasn't felt up to it.

Now I can attend to some of my own health problems and gradually make headway on some of the consults that have been on the back burner. I have an appointment with an ENT for mid June to look into the status of my bone loss and assess whether or not there is still any active infection before going ahead with bone regeneration. Then there is the Dermatologist appointment.

Meanwhile the marketing for both shops continues, and the making of new pieces of jewelry, as does my work with the Canine Distemper cause.

http://Giftbearer.etsy.com

What May Spring Bring?

I am getting ready to start covering some more violet leaves with fine silver slip for a local custom order. Across the street from my house these leaves grow abundantly, so I can take my pick of size and width. That is a start, but I will need more than one order to keep things going. I made these hoops and more are in the works. I've seen others' hoops sell repeatedly on Etsy, so these should also do well.

Try These Angles Fine Silver Hoops - $35.00


Blackened Chili Pepper Fine Silver Hoop Earrings - $28.00


Hand-forged Fine Silver Latch Hoop Earrings - $50.00


Fine Silver Bamboo Leaf Hoops - $25.00


Fine Silver U-shaped Hoop Earrings - $22.00


Dime-Sized Fine Silver Hoops - $20.00

Last week I ordered some more supplies for soldering. I've had a butane torch for several months but until now have not been able to get all the supplies I needed to go with them. Then the company called to say that the copper sheet and hard 75% silver solder is out of stock. I guess everybody was mobbing those two items when I ordered and then as my order was being processed they sold the last ones. Now I will have to get those two things from Rio Grande, but have little money left.

Recently I found out that Carmella's yearly insurance limit had run out and so I won't be reimbursed and further for any of her mange treatment claims. They only paid a small portion of that before her limit was reached, and now it will be July 11th before any illness can be reimbursed. If her mange re-occurs they won't cover it then because it will no longer be considered a "First Time Illness". I hope she won't get any more illnesses but I am worried about the mange coming back, as Dr. Norwood told me at the last appointment that it may be awhile before it is gone for good, and that can get expensive especially if it can never be reimbursed again. Even putting lemon on the side of her face (the area that is slowest to heal) in addition to the supplements and new flea drops which smell like heavy duty bug spray for a full day still has not returned that one area of her body to normal.

Now that she is not getting dips I am going to try putting on some other things as spot treatments and see if any of them work.

Soon I'm going to start approaching Science Diet about dog food endorsements using pictures from before her Mange and current ones showing the left side of her face where all the hair has grown back. Here she is on March 1st; the only day it snowed this year.

She was a little bit tentative about sticking her feet into the snow. She wrinkled her nose when flakes landed on it.

I took a picture of the purple/pink sunset and got a beautiful view of the snowflakes as they came down around my chimney.

I need to raise as much money as possible now that Carmella's insurance will not be paying any of this back to me. I'd really like to be able to have all her medical expenses paid off within the next few months.

My own insurance troubles are ongoing. Medicare Part D has continued to refuse to pay for one of my necessary medications. If I literally cannot get them to do that I don't know what I'm going to do because living without it is not an option and there is no equivalent substitute.

On Saturday, March 8, 2009, I received a denial letter in the mail dated March 2, 2009 stating the same reasons as my doctor's nurse had told me that the doctor had received last week. It said specifically;

"A prescription drug is a part D drug only if it is used for a medically accepted indication, meaning that it is prescribed for a use that is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or approved for inclusion in one of the following three compendia:

1. American Hospital Service Drug Information;

2. United States Pharmacopeia-Drug Information (or its successor publications); or

3. Thomson Micromedex DrugDex"

The letter goes on to say;"Furthermore, beginning January 1, 2009, Part D will also accept anti-cancer chemotherapeutic drug uses that are approved for inclusion in the following additional compendia:

1. National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Drugs and Biologics Compendium;

2. Clinical Pharmacology, or

3. Peer Reviewed Medical Literature.

Because the drug requested is not prescribed for a use approved by the FDA or in one of these references, the requested drug is not considered a Part D drug and is not covered by the plan.

BENICAR IS DENIED FOR NON-FDA APPROVED DIAGNOSIS. THE USE OF BENICAR IS NOT MEDICALLY ACCEPTED FOR THE TREATMENT OF THE FOLLOWING DIAGNOSIS IN THE COMPENDIA LISTED ABOVE: SARCOIDOSIS. REVIEWED BY: AXN, PHARM.D

You should check with your doctor for another drug that is included on your formulary and has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for this use."

The only one I know of that is officially FDA approved (because of the woeful lack of money devoted to research in this disease) is Prednisone which not only does nothing to cure it, but causes avascular necrosis among other serious adverse reactions and can severely compromise the immune system. The biologics and anti-cancer drugs are even worse! Some of the clinical trials on those actually had to be called off due to deaths and other serious events.

I've been on Benicar for several years with no adverse reactions whatsoever! I wonder how on earth the government allows a pharmacist to over-rule my doctor on something like this!

I don't have several hundred dollars to pay for this medication out of pocket, as I'm on Social Security Disability, and most prescription assistance programs require that you be totally uninsured before they will cover the cost. They don't pick up the slack when insurance companies choose not to cover a drug and leave the patient at risk of relapse; even death.

I could buy it cheaper from a manufacturer in India but even so, with sales not moving I don't know that I will have the money for that either.

It's possible that I may have to take this to court, but in the meantime I wrote President Obama, and sent another letter to the editor of a news blog which exposes inhumanity within the Medicare system. Apparently there have been cases that are in litigation now on this same issue.

Take a look at these interesting articles written by David Glendinning. They may help you or someone you know;

Medicare drug not covered? You can help patient appeal
For patients who need to veer from their drug plan's formulary, the assistance of their physicians will be essential.
By David Glendinning, AMNews staff. March 20, 2006

http://www.fiercetelecom.com/story/parsing-verizon-warranty-services/2008-10-24

Suit opposes Medicare denials of off-label, non-compendia drugs
The administration is interpreting Medicare law in a way that prevents coverage of lifesaving medications for people with rare diseases, a patient advocacy group says.
By David Glendinning, AMNews staff. Jan. 21, 2008

http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/01/21/gvsb0121.htm

Physicians complain Medicare Part D decisions threaten patient care
The AMA urges physicians who are encountering problems with Medicare drug plans to report them to CMS and the Association.
By David Glendinning, AMNews staff. June 5, 2006.

http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2006/06/05/gvl10605.htm

With the new economic stimulus package allowing American citizens to keep more of their earnings each pay period I hope that some of it will be put towards buying more wonderful handcrafted items.

Those of you or with family member(s) going on interviews should consider buying your outfit and accessories from a small designer/maker instead of going to your local Walmart, mall, or department store this year.

After all, there is no better way to stimulate the economy than buying handmade! Remember that with love and action, all things are possible!

http://Giftbearer.etsy.com/

90 Day Challenge Status Update, Health, and Thoughts on The Economy

The medical mystery continues and I may be starting with a new doctor fairly soon if everything works out and this referral I got from another autoimmune patient takes my form of insurance. It looks hopeful but I won't know anything until at least Monday. I still am not able to spend much time online without feeling worse so will have to post the rest of these intermittantly (whenever I have a short window of time that I feel better) until all 90 are completed.

We still need 16 more participants to join before we reach our goal, so if you have not signed up please go to the link on the right and post your blog link on the Etsy forum thread. A number of people taking part have already reported that this challenge has improved their business, and it can do that for you too. The key is to make this collaboration as big and as highly visible as possible! I would love to see everybody benefit from this project and to have it be a working model of how to stimulate the economy through collaborative effort. A federal tax refund is all well and good, but a true economic stimulus requires more than a one-time payment of $300.00, it requires that citizens like you and me frequent the businesses whose livelihood depends on our cash. This is what really makes the world function.

If you are an online shopper reading this, please take a look at the shops in this challenge and choose some of these artists to buy your handcrafted gifts from, and make sure to let them know you heard about them through the 90 Day Challege.

Valentine's Day is going to be here sooner than we realize, so why not treat someone to something really unique instead of shopping at a commercial jewelry store for the one you love. If you are single and unattached there is no rule that says you can't buy something for a friend, your mother, your daughter, or somebody at work who would be touched that you thought about them enough to give them something special.

If you are a seller who also buys on occasion, believe it or not, spending money will come back to you in one form or another. I have experienced that first-hand. I bought some artisan lampwork beads and within just two days I sold something! It wasn't a big sale, but after about 4 months of no jewelry sales at all what were the chances of that? And this has happened to me more than once. I look at cashflow as a pipeline. If the pipeline gets stopped up nothing can move (either out or in). Like they say, "An object in motion tends to stay in motion, and an object at rest tends to stay at rest".

When money circulates around a community (be it within the 90 Day Challenge, within Etsy as a whole, or the larger surrounding marketplace), its ripple-effect sooner or later reaches everyone. Since the world is not infinite and it has parameters, the money you spend is not "lost" into a void, but it changes hands many times and in a subtle way returns. Even though that effect is so far removed that you can no longer trace its path (and often where your results come from), there are a number of core principles at work which benefit not only others but yourself.

When you buy, you are in a state of receptiveness, and the outflow of that amount of money you just spent allows you to make room to receive something in its place. It also sends a message to people that you appreciate what other artists have to offer. Like setting a candelit table in a restaurant, it sets the stage for a mood of receptiveness and generosity. Engendering that feeling leads to action in those in your general vicinity. Until you analyze it one may be unaware of doing this in many areas of one's life unconsciously and not even be aware of how or why it achieves positive results.

One part of successful selling is about the product itself, and the other variable (less controllable or measurable) is the buyer's mental association he or she has to you. Call it chemistry, ambiance, or whatever; there are lots of subtleties beneath the surface that determine the difference between looking/bookmarking, and deciding to press that Buy Now button. I am still trying to get that down to a science. Perhaps the buyer likes the blue you use in your banner because it reminds her of a favorite dress her grandmother made for her as a child, or a shape in a pair of earrings that reminds her of earrings her older sister wore and she coveted all through high school. Maybe something in the description of an item makes the customer feel this particular piece is relevant to his/her life in a profound way, or that a piece the buyer bookmarked a month ago is the perfect color for a particular new outfit and it appeals even more now that they have a "reason" to buy it.

By the same token, if an artist continues to list his/her wares for sale and pays to do so, continuing to list beyond a certain time-frame if customers are not buying is no longer cost-effective. However, if those items begin to be bought up, room is freed up (both physically and emotionally) for that artist to create more and with a refreshed perspective. This freeing-up cycle of resources and creativity must continue in order to maintain a strong economy where all will benefit.

Even with all of the unconscious positive motivating factors, people tend to react and respond in some respects to that which goes on around them. If they see alot of other people buying then it is just human nature for them to follow suit. By the same token if they see people putting the breaks on their spending they are likely to do the same.

With all the publicity on television about debt, news of lay-offs, and open-ending federal budget depletion due to the war in Iraq, it is easy to get stuck in a mind-set that dictates we can't spend any extra money, to go way to the extreme, clamping down our collective sphincters and resolving to tighten our belts in anticipation of a long, hard famine, but doing that will only perpetuate the problems that plague our nation, prolong the duration of the slowdown, and force us to live in a constant state of self-denial, and in so doing we deny others.

We need to take this economy into our own hands to the extent possible and make the conscious decision not to become victims of the status quo. That is not to say that one should spend thousands of dollars every week and run up credit card bills that would take a lifetime to pay off, but if each of us buys on a consistent basis and we think of each person we buy from as a living being with a mortgage or rent, utility bills, food and transportation expenses, etc, and be conscious that this person relies on these sales of their art product just as you might rely on your weekly or bi-weekly paycheck from your employer to fulfill your financial responsabilities and to feel viable as a citizen, we begin to understand how our buying decisions help maintain the necessary balance and flow of society.

As artists we step out on faith each time we buy from our suppliers in hopes that what we choose to work with will appeal to the public once we perform our magic on it transforming raw materials into a useful or recognizable art object. Without our business these suppliers would dry up and disappear. Like us, they are mothers and fathers, wives and husbands, people with lives who have to hope that the demand for their products today will still be there tomorrow. Any blockage in the pipeline will adversely effect people both upstream and downstream from us.

You could say that money is the fiber that flushes out the colon of the US economy! Fiscal constipation can be every bit as problematic as physical constipation if it is allowed to continue. Do what you can to support artists by keeping the cashflow going!