Photos for Marketing Materials

Now that this Christmas season is complete and our minds are planning for 2010, many of us are contemplating how we will represent our business brands well in the coming year. If you own or run a small business, or any size business for that matter, you no doubt have a need for high quality printed marketing materials and online graphics.

Since many of us are not professional photographers or artists, we need resources for finding great photographs and graphic clips! Let me give you our secret spots where we find really neat items at free or really inexpensive prices:

http://www.sxc.hu/
http://www.dreamstime.com/

DreamsTime offers the best selection, with really high quality images. If we buy a stock photo, it's never more than about $3.75. Check them out using the button above. You can view all their photo options before purchasing. Some images are even free!

Here is an important tip: When you purchase a stock photo, you need to know how you will be using it first. If you will use it on a printed item, such as a brochure, postcard, flier, poster, etc., always purchase the 300 dpi version of it. If you will only be using it on the web, you can get away with the 72 dpi version if you'd like. You can get the 72 dpi versions starting at only $1.25 each!

Finding just the right photo or graphic for what you are trying to convey is vital. It can make all the difference in the message you are sending to potential customers.

We hope this is helpful! Blessings to you.

www.KBWomen.com

Christmas Greeting Video

Wishing each of you a blessed Christmas. May the God of hope fill you with abundant joy, peace and love in 2010 and always.

Or, click here to watch via this link in a larger size

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Are You a Leader?

Hello Friends,

2010 holds exciting things for the Koinonia Business Women's organization. You may have heard about a few things already, but I want to let you in on one segment of our plans.

Starting in February, local chapters of Koinonia Business Women (officially called "KBWomen Chapters") will start in several cities around the country. Tammy and I have run an Olympia group meeting for the past 16 months! It's time to offer this same networking and learning opportunity to other women of faith in other areas.

Would you like to be a Chapter Leader and start a KBWomen Chapter in your city?

We are looking for spiritually mature women with business ownership experience to lead chapters. Chapters have a monthly meeting on the 3rd Tuesday of each month for 90 minutes. In these meetings, Christian business women can come together for:

• Networking
• Building Relationships
• Getting Leads
• Support
• Encouragement
• Business Skill Discussions
• Idea Sharing
• And to get more information about KBWomen

If this sounds interesting to you, and you believe other women in your area would enjoy attending with other like-minded women of faith, please consider becoming a Chapter Leader. Leaders will have special benefits, and free membership in our organization. Leaders also have a special application process to be sure that this is a "best fit" for everyone.

To get full details about leadership, benefits and chapter meetings, please visit this link.

We look forward to meeting you!

Posted by Krista Dunk

www.KBWomen.com

This "Letter from Jesus about Christmas" came to me in an email from a friend, but I have no idea who originally wrote it. Whoever it was, I believe they understand the heart of Jesus well, and have a very appropriate perspective to share with us. Let me pre-empt this with one thought. Continue to fight for what is right, but remember to focus on the heart of God which is love.

Letter from Jesus about Christmas --
It has come to my attention that many of you are upset that folks are taking My name out of the season. How I personally feel about this celebration can probably be most easily understood by those of you who have been blessed with children of your own. What you call that day, is not top priority for me. If you want to celebrate My birth, just GET ALONG AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

Now, having said that, let Me go on. If it bothers you that the town in which you live doesn't allow a scene depicting My birth, then just get rid of a couple of Santas and snowmen and put in a small Nativity scene on your own front lawn. If all My followers did that there wouldn't be any need for such a scene on the town square because there would be many of them all around town.

Stop worrying about the fact that people are calling the tree a holiday tree, instead of a Christmas tree. It was I who made all trees. You can remember Me anytime you see any tree. Decorate a grape vine if you wish: I actually spoke of that one in a teaching, explaining who I am in relation to you and what each of our tasks were. If you have forgotten that one, look up John 15: 1 - 8.

If you want to give Me a present in remembrance of My birth, here is my wish list. Choose something from it:

1. Instead of writing protest letters objecting to the way My birthday is being celebrated, write letters of love and hope to soldiers away from home. They are terribly afraid and lonely this time of year. I know, they tell Me all the time.

2. Visit someone in a nursing home. You don't have to know them personally. They just need to know that someone cares about them.

3. Instead of writing the President complaining about economic or health care plan issues this year, why don't you write and tell him that you'll be praying for him and his family this year. Then follow up... It will be nice hearing from you again.

4. Instead of giving your children or grandchildren a lot of gifts you can't afford and they don't need, spend time with them. Tell them the story of My birth, and why I came to live with you down here. Hold them in your arms and remind them that I love them.

5. Pick someone that has hurt you in the past and forgive him or her.

6. Did you know that someone in your town will attempt to take their own life this season because they feel so alone and hopeless? Since you don't know who that person is, try giving everyone you meet a warm smile; it could make all the difference.

7. Instead of nit picking about what the retailer in your town calls the holiday, be patient with the people who work there. Give them a warm smile and a kind word. Even if they aren't allowed to wish you a "Merry Christmas" that doesn't keep you from wishing them one. Then stop shopping there on Sunday. If the store didn't make so much money on that day they'd close and let their employees spend the day at home with their families

8. If you really want to make a difference, support a missionary-- especially one who takes My love and Good News to those who have never heard My name.

9. Here's a good one. There are individuals and whole families in your town who not only will have no "Christmas" tree, but neither will they have any presents to give or receive. If you don't know them, buy some food and a few gifts and give them to the Salvation Army or some other charity which believes in Me and they will make the delivery for you.

10. Finally, if you want to make a statement about your belief in and loyalty to Me, then behave like a Christian. Don't do things in secret that you wouldn't do in My presence. Let people know by your actions that you are one of Mine.

Don't forget; I am God and can take care of Myself. Just love Me and do what I have told you to do. I'll take care of all the rest. Check out the list above and get to work; time is short. I'll help you, but the ball is now in your court. And do have a most blessed Christmas with all those whom you love and remember:

I LOVE YOU,
JESUS

May we be unified and obey His command to love one another this season. Blessings to you all!
www.KBWomen.com

Thankfulness Looks Good on You

During the Thanksgiving week, we compiled thankfulness quotes from some of our friends and connections. Here is what they had to say about what they are thankful for:

"I'm thankful for how carefully God leads me to be around great people." - Jevon Bolden, Developmental Editor at Strang Communications

"I am so very thankful for my business, Pride 'n' Polish, and my faithful housekeeping clientele (IRC's Trisha Ferguson and some others), in addition to the new Remax office job I just got with Kathy Cross whom I met at the Koinonia networking meeting! Two sisters in the Church body are sustaining me with pay for my time, treasures, and talents. I am so thankful for God's blessing!" - Deborah Lautt

"I'm thankful for a job! Whooo-Hoo! And for supernatural peace during a storm. God is with you and walks with you in your darkest times." - Latanya Davis

"I am thankful for a great church family." - Gina Whitehouse, "Author of Let Jesus Be Your Talkshow Host

"I am thankful for the support team that I have in place: My mentors, my encourager and my staff." - Kim Beasley, Owner of Your Passionate Business http://yourpassionatebusiness.com/

"I am thankful for the great staff I have, and for God's blessing on my family." -Trisha Ferguson, Owner of http://www.ircprintanddesign.com/

"For my loving and growing family, for the creative outlet I have and people I meet through Koinonia Business Women, for God's provision, for relationships, mentors and my church family, and for what 2010 holds." -Krista Dunk (me), http://www.kbwomen.com/

"Feeling thankful for opportunities, and for relationships that will take me strong into the New Year. Thank you to all my friends that support and encourage me to go bigger in life!" -Tammy Redmon, http://www.kbwomen.com/ & http://www.redmonandassociates.com/


Put on Thankfulness. Thankfulness looks good on everyone!

Bumper Bowling Business?

Have you ever thought about how your spiritual journey and your business planning are similar to bowling? Yes, it's true. Well, at least in my mind it is true :-). Let me show you why I believe that.
With bowling, there is a starting place, momentum, hazards, help along the way, and an end (goal) in sight. The ball is the action you take. The pins are the goal. The lane is the path/methods you use to get there. The gutters can derail your progress, OR you can set up the bumpers (unless pride won't allow you to use them).

Take a moment and visualize a bowling alley lane in your mind.

- The shiny wood planked floor, the gutters on each side and the white pins at the far end, standing in precise formation.
- You see where you need the ball to go.
- The small arrows along the path all point in the direction of the targets.
- Ah yes, and who can forget the bowling shoes smell.
- Hear the sound of the heavy ball hitting the wood.
- The dreaded sound of a gutter ball!! Nnnoooooooo......!

We can take a lesson from 5-year-olds. Put up the gutter bumpers and feel good about doing some bumper bowling. They don't care at all if their ball zig-zags all the way down the lane, as long as it reaches the pins.

Sometimes, it is more important that we're moving in the right direction, rather than waiting and doing nothing until we know our plan will run perfectly straight. Did you catch that? Feel OK with being on a path to purpose and bumping down all the way if you have to. When you hit the side, it will cause you to do some re-adjustment, but you are still moving forward.

What kind of "bumpers" can we have in our spiritual growth walk and business life? Here are just a few ideas of some guiding structure we can set up in our lives:

• Consistent Prayer
• Mentors
• Accountability partners
• Establishing disciplined habits
• Setting up systems
• Girding and motivating ourselves
• Setting goals and planning
• Being dedicated to growth and learning
• Getting clarity of vision and purpose
• Surrounding ourselves with positive, like-minded people

At Koinonia Business Women, we've done some bumper bowling ourselves in our organization's forward movement. For example, we plan to launch KBWomen chapters in various cities in early 2010. Plans for how to make chapters happen effectively have morphed several times! Our hearts are in the right place and we're thankful for those who can extend grace during the planning and re-adjusting process! More information on our 2010 plans is coming very shortly.

Here's to all of us and our bumper bowling business and spiritual progress...CHEERS! Or should we say...STRIKE!

Posted by Krista Dunk
www.KBWomen.com