Staying Connected with the Things You Love...

Even though this post is about our business, know that it applies to all the businesses and pages you love.  Its my hope that it will shared and seen by many.  If you are a fan, a small business owner, non profit or support group, please feel free to share this- its my sincerest hope that it will help us all reconnect with our fans, customers and peers.

-Seneca M. Hart

owner and CEO, Hero On My Arm

The political season is upon us, and so we're hearing a lot about the state of the economy lately- and the role of small businesses.  Small businesses are the life blood of the US economy- they fuel economic growth and provide jobs for over HALF of all Americans.  We're important, darn it! 

 

Small business owners have passion, determination, and heart to go along with innovative, creative and quality products- what we don't usually have are advertising budgets, PR departments and grand marketing campaigns.  We connect with our customers often one on one, and rely on word of mouth and and referrals from current customers to to help others find us.  Or at least, we used to.  Then, this really cool website came along called Facebook.  You've heard of it, right?

Facebook revolutionized the way small businesses connected with customers and found new ones.  It was glorious!  People could tell us what they wanted, happy customers could share testimonials, we could run specials and promotions, talk with our fans, spread the word about our company and its mission.  And from a dollars and sense perspective, it was even more wonderful, because it was all FREE.  But as they say, all good things must end :(  And so this happened:

Facebook's IPO bombed and the pressure was on to increase ad revenue for the company.  So before, for example, if we wanted let everyone know that everything was 20% off for Military Spouse Appreciation Day, we simply created a post:

And everyone that had liked our page:

Yup, in our case, all 7734 people and pages would see our post show up in their news feed.  And now, well:

Yeah, not so much.  If you do the math, that's less than 8 % of all our fans!!!!  Of coarse, we can always buy our way back into our customer's news feeds:

Riiiiight.  So you see, that's why you've been seeing a lot of facebook posts like this lately (we'll hopefully you've been seeing them!):

So the question is, did you actually do it?  We all lead busy lives, so chances are, probably not.  It's okay though.  The most important and easiest thing you can do is to simply INTERACT with the pages you like most, like ours, by liking posts and leaving comments:

So really, its just that simple.  Head on over to our Facebook page, and look around, like the pictures you think are really swell, and leave us a comment or two, even if its just a :) We love :)'s

Another really easy to stay connected is to join our mailing list.  Its not spamm-y, we swear. We send out one or two emails a month, with all the important goings on at Hero On My Arm, and some extra special deals and sales just for our mailing list members.  You can sign up directly from our Facebook page:

Here's another super easy way to stay connected- head over to our blog, www.heroonmyarm.blogspot.com  (oh, hey, wait you're already here!  So look back up at the top on the left- there's a box to enter your email address and receive updates anytime we post something new on the blog, which is once or twice a week.  Right under that is a place to subscribe to our RSS Feed, if that's your "thang" instead:

And lastly, creating interest lists on Facebook (that thing everyone is posting about lately) is a good way to manage all the pages that you like, so if you'd like to do that as well, here's how- in pictures.  It really does take only a minute to do. Over on the left side of the screen, click INTERESTS:

Then click +Add Interests

Then +Create List

Then check the boxes of the pages you'd like to add to your new list:

Then name your list and select your privacy settings and click Done.

Did you make it all the way to the end of this?  Congratulations if you did.  Feel free to take 25% off your order of $100 or more, now through October 31st- just use coupon code SPOOKY.

(See we're cool, we like to have sales and give stuff away, you want to like us....we love you guys!)

Now Hiring- Holiday 2012 Interns and Sales Reps

We have openings for SIX holiday intern positions at Hero On My Arm!  We're looking for friendly, enthusiastic, creative people with positive personalities who love Hero On My Arm and are passionate about the company.  Read on for all the details....

*Design Studio Manager/Intern*

(We are looking for TWO people to fill this position)

Duration Starting immediately to December 19th

Job Description Intern/Managers will be running the day to day operations of Hero On My Arm- operating commercial embroidery equipment, fulfilling orders, interacting with customers, and managing inventory.  No sewing skills required, this is not a seamstress position.

Location Hero On My Arm Design Studio- Blanchard, Oklahoma

Hours 10-20 hrs/week, Monday thru Friday during the hours of 9 am to 3 pm (flexible)

Compensation This is an unpaid internship (can be for school credit) with the possibility of a paid position for 2013.  Interns will gain invaluable experience on how to start or operate a small business, as well as commercial embroidery skills.

*Holiday Gift Guides Intern*

Duration Starting immediately to December 17th

Job Description Intern will be working side by side with us to create and promote our Holiday 2012 Gift Guide, seeking out and contacting other businesses for inclusion in the gift guide as well.

Location ANY- telecommute/work from home

Hours Flexible

Compensation Negotiable percentage of sales

*Crowd-funding Project Intern*
(Preference will be given to current Hero On My Arm Sales Reps) 

Duration Starting immediately to January 31st

Job Description Intern will be working side by side with us to craft, launch and promote a crowd-funding project, including creative writing, video editing and project promotion.

Location ANY- telecommute/work from home

Hours Flexible

Compensation Negotiable percentage of funds raised

*Holiday PR Intern*
(Preference will be given to current Hero On My Arm Sales Reps)

Duration Starting immediately to December 19th

Job Description Intern will be working side by side with us to create promotional ads, flyers and social media content for the Holiday 2012 season.  Also pitching to blogs and traditional media outlets (print and television).

Location ANY- telecommute/work from home

Hours Flexible

Compensation Negotiable percentage of sales

*Creative Design Seamstress/Intern*

Duration Starting immediately to December 17th

Job Description We are looking for a creative seamstress to create purses and accessories.  Must be able to spend some time in the studio sourcing supplies and designs, but will do actual sewing at home.  Must have own sewing machine.

Location Hero On My Arm Design Studio- Blanchard, Oklahoma

Hours 10-40 hrs/week, Monday thru Friday during the hours of 9 am to 3 pm and the ability to also work from home (flexible)

Compensation Negotiable percentage of pieces sold

Interested in any of these positions?  Contact us ASAP- seneca@heroonmyarm.com

We're also always hiring for our direct sales team, both Marketing/PR Specialists and Sales Specialists.  To get started, simply purchase a starter kit here: http://heroonmyarm.com/item_306/MarketingPR-Specialist-Starter-Kit.htm or here: http://heroonmyarm.com/item_307/Sales-Specialist-Starter-Kit.htm   Sales reps earn a 20% commission on all sales, and there are no sales quotas or additional costs.  Have questions about being a sales rep?  Just ask!  contactus@heroonmyarm.com

All the stuff we Facebook-ed about this year

As promised, here's a run down of some of the new things at Hero On My Arm!

1. Sales Rep Kits are again available for purchase here: http://heroonmyarm.com/category_45/Sales-Representative-Starter-Kits.htm  If you have any questions, just ask!

2. We have added some (mostly dress) uniforms, in addition to the styles we normally keep in stock.  Purchasing these helps fund our Fallen Hero Bag program:

http://heroonmyarm.com/category_44/Additional-Uniforms.htm

3. New purse style, which can be made with a shirt or pants, the SARAH, http://heroonmyarm.com/item_298/SARAH-Bag.htm

4. New purse style, which can be made with a shirt or pants, the CAROLINE, http://heroonmyarm.com/item_299/CAROLINE-Messenger-Bag.htm

5. New toddler backpack style, the EMILY, http://heroonmyarm.com/item_297/EMILY-Toddler-Backpack.htm

6. New embroidery designs, http://heroonmyarm.com/item_300/Embroidery-Designs.htm

7. New applique designs, http://heroonmyarm.com/item_301/Applique-Designs.htm

8. New Ribbon flower, http://heroonmyarm.com/item_296/Ribbon-Flower.htm

9. New bow and embellishment keychains, http://heroonmyarm.com/item_244/Bow-Wristlet-Keychain.htm and http://heroonmyarm.com/item_293/Flower-Embellished-Wristlet-Key-Chain.htm

10. Ruffle bracelets, http://heroonmyarm.com/item_289/Ruffle-Name-Tape-Bracelet.htm

11. And lastly, you may have noticed the website got a bit of a face lift- that's actually still a work in progress, and there's lots of new improvements coming this month!

Phew, okay, that should bring everyone up to date!

Back to the Blog!

So, we pretty much stopped posting here because:
#1 There were many more people connecting with us on Facebook, and
#2 Our template here was loading VERY slowly for some reason.

Well, you know how it goes, things change!
#1 Facebook went public with its IPO, and in an effort to better monetize itself, instituted new algorithms that basically make us business pages have to pay to "promote" our posts- and they still don't reach ALL our fans, and
#2 We got a new blog template to match our new website template!

So WE'RE BACK!!!!

We're still posting over on Facebook, but its easy for posts to get "lost" over there, so we realized we really needed to be archiving everything over here as well.  So tonight, we'll be posting all the news and announcements that occurred over the past few months- Enjoy!

Spring Announcements

Wow, is it really March already???

We have quite a lot going on at the Hero On My Arm studios! Even though we moved at the end of last year, it took us longer than we expected to get moved and back up to 100%. We're excited to say we're now all happily settled in to our new design studios:

We also have some new ways to get in touch with us- a new email address:

customerservice@heroonmyarm.com

And a new phone number:
202-681-HERO (4376)

And most exciting, turn around times are averaging:

key chains and name tapes and patches- 1 to 7 days
jewelry and sewn accessories (wallets, make up bags)- 7 to 21 days
custom purses- 14 to 28 days

We have a restocked section of pre made purses, all 25-50% off:

http://heroonmyarm.com/category_43/Premade-Bags.htm

We also have some new purse styles:


and accessories:


And an ordering special for Mother's day:

http://heroonmyarm.com/pages/MothersDay.htm

Place orders by April 1st for delivery by Mother's Day :)