How a new equine business is born from noticing a hoof problem

In July of 2006 Bryan Tilghman contacted me about purchasing a horse logo design for a horse hoof product he was working on marketing. The product idea seemed sound to me and I was impressed with the fact that he seemed to have done his homework by researching the available product options and markets.

Too many people contact me wanting to start some kind of horse business, but they haven’t done ANY research at all. I have even turned down logo clients telling them to rethink their marketing plan (like make one in the first place) and then get back with me.

The birth of a business idea

Read the rest of this entry »

Too many people over breeding horses. Are you one of them?

Most horse people do not intensionally breed for the horse meat market. BUT everyone in the horse breeding business or hobby needs to realize that any of the horses they sell or give away can end up going to slaughter one day. If not in America, where they are trying to put a stop horse slaughter, then across the border in Mexico. We all have to awake up to the fact that there is an oversupply of horses for the quality-home-horse-riding market. This oversupply ends up in the human food meat market.

I am not against horse breeding, but if you care about the horses you breed then breeding has to be done responsibly — the best horses to the best horses in limited amounts that the riding market can handle. And you should include Read the rest of this entry »

Yes, I said smelling roses not selling roses is good for your horse business.

—
Horse Business eZine - Equine Business Marketing Tips for the Busy Business Owner

Delivering ideas, inspiration, and practical marketing information specifically for Equine Related Businesses.

July 2007; Issue #7 Joni Solis, Editor
—
Wow, I just discovered that taking the time to smell the roses (literally) can lead to increasing you brain’s power! That doing pleasurable things often enough can stimulate your creativity and actually raise your IQ. Being smart and creative rockets your chances at becoming a more successful business owner.

You have heard or read that stress can cause you to become ill, but did you know that stimulating positive emotions can help you heal and improve your brain’s ability to function more effectively?

OK, so what have you done in the past hour that made you smile or laugh? When was the last time you really stopped and smelled a scented flower? That long ago?

Business life is so fast paced — too much to do and too little time to do it in. I admit it, I try to squeeze the most I can info my work day and that doesn’t always give me a pleasurable day. I toss the emails sent to me with the silly jokes and humorous photos. Too often I sit at my computer for hours on end without taking a break. That is, until my eyes blur and my head pounds with a headache that even aspirins don’t always vanquish. And I love my business, or at least most of it, bookkeeping being one area of stress.

Now I am finding out that I am actually Read the rest of this entry »

Many horse poems seem to have a special soul touching feeling about them.

I just found this lovely poem about a man kissing his horse and connecting to his horse’s wonderful spirit. It is good to take the time to find and read a poem from time to time in our too busy lives. It gives us the sweet touch of connecting to a creative person and feeling part of what they felt on a subject that they felt passionate enough to write a poem about it.

Sometimes being business owners we feel that we don’t have the time to read for just enjoyment, that our reading has to be on business subjects only. But studies have shown Read the rest of this entry »

Be open to change

—
Horse Business eZine - Equine Business Marketing Tips for the Busy Business Owner

Delivering ideas, inspiration, and practical marketing information specifically for Equine Related Businesses.

June 2007; Issue #6 Joni Solis, Editor
—
Sorry for this huge delay in getting my monthly newsletter out to you! My computer which is only three years old (does that equal 85 in human years?) caused me major headaches with serious errors and freezing nearly daily. So I purchased a new Dell computer with Window’s Vista.

Then the fun really began! I had to figure out how to get everything from my old computer to my new one and then I find out that many of my programs need to be updated to work on vista and some will not work at all. Even some of my hardware (printer and scanner) needs to be replaced.

Change, it is not a four letter word but it sure can cause us so much fear, pain, time, and money. I put off buying a new computer because I knew it meant all of this. But change is life and there is no use trying to stop it. I have to make adjustments and learn to go with the flow of change and that in the long run I will see that change was needed and is good.

Are you open to change?

Maybe it is time to rethink your Read the rest of this entry »

Equine learning opportunity with Equine Reproduction Specialist Justin Hayna, DMV of BlueMoundsEquine.com

EquineTeleseminar.net has another call scheduled in their ongoing Horse Health series! Check your schedule and clear the evening of May 2nd for a fascinating live phone interview scheduled with Justin Hayna, DMV, of Blue Mounds Equine Center.

The Art and Science of Equine Reproduction

Patricia of EquineTeleseminar.net and Justin will be discussing both horse breeding basics and cutting-edge technology available for mare and stallion owners in the ever-growing field of Equine Reproduction. If you’ve ever considered breeding your horse, or think you might someday, you owe it to yourself to listen in on this call. Read the rest of this entry »

Now you can have full color flyers printed from your Microsoft Word DOC files.

My sister’s boss asked her to make and order two different flyers for an upcoming business event. She had ordered color copies from a fast copy place before, but she thought she might be able to find a better price on the Internet because she wanted to order about 250 copies of each flyer design.

She did a quick search on google and found Read the rest of this entry »

The importance of balancing strategies in equestrian business pursuits.

—
Horse Business eZine - Equine Business Marketing Tips for the Busy Business Owner

The high trotting email newsletter that delivers ideas, insights, inspiration, and practical marketing information specifically for Equine Related Businesses.

April 2007; Issue #4 Joni Solis, Editor
—
Hi, This is Joni Solis with your April’s newsletter about why balance is critical!

One of the marks of a great rider is their incredible sense of balance. Some come by this naturally, but most spend years of practice perfecting their ability to balance in the saddle. When the horse zigs they zig, and when the horse zags they zag and remain centered.

This same balancing ability that is so necessary to horseback riding is also incredibly vital to Read the rest of this entry »

Boo-boos, Stumbles, Falls, and Crashes! We all have business mistakes.

Maybe you just found out that you just hired the wrong person for the job. Or you made a stupid mistake and lost a good customer. You didn’t proof read your flyer well enough and printed 1000 with the wrong phone number! Your computer crashes and you haven’t made a backup in a month! You spent a fortune for Read the rest of this entry »

I found a great checklist for beginner bloggers

Horse Business eZine - Equine Business Marketing Tips for the Busy Business Owner

March 2007; Issue #3 - Joni Solis, Editor, info@alove4horses.com

Maybe you took my advice and started a blog, but are still not sure about how people will find your blog. Well I just found a web page just for you…

Blogging Starter Checklist by rajesh301 http://www.squidoo.com/blogstarter/

There you will find a great list of things to do so that people can find your new weblog easier. You will also discover Read the rest of this entry »