My wholesale website: www.tinybundles.com had been created by Avant Studios in 2005.  It had not been updated for quite some time.  By 2007, I had created a few new collections and had added many new colors and styles to our tie-dye collection. 

After accessing how much work would be involved in incorporating all of our new colors plus adding new collections, it was suggested by one of my web masters that I might want to consider learning how to create my own web gallery.  If I did this, he would be able to link it to my web site.  This would give us a quick fix and I could continue to add new items along the way so that my web site would always be current.  This made a lot of sense to me.  But would I have the time to learn how to do this?  

Spencer Smith, one of my web site gurus at Avant Studios, said that I would have to set up a .mac account and purchase some software from Apple.  The cost was pretty minimal.After setting up my .mac account and purchasing some software, I decided to take a free class at the Apple store to learn how to use the tools in iPhoto to create good photos for the web gallery.  

So I walk into the Apple Store.  I must admit, it can be quite an intimidating experience if you haven’t been in this store before.  Definitely, not your traditional store, at least not for me.  You walk into this store where there appears to be a million people milling around looking at and trying out all of these state-of-the-art techno gadgets.  And you see all of these blue-shirted people with their head gear on ready to help you. These would be their sales associates.  And they are all very friendly and willing to help you.  But trying to figure out how to navigate the store is quite different.  I wasn’t too sure if that counter located against the back wall of the store was where you pay for things or ask for service or bring in a computer?  Well, I have been there a number of times since then and I am now comfortable with the lay out and I don’t have that “Oh, my gosh, I feel so old like I don’t-know-what-I-am-doing feeling.”   

When you take a free class, you sit with a number of other customers with one trainer.  People ask questions and answers are given.  But one hours worth of time split up between 4 to 5 people can leave little time for each person to get all their answers to all of their questions.  During this one-hour lesson, one of the customers had asked me if I had heard about Apple’s one-on-one personal classes.  She said it was their best kept secret and that I should try to sign up for this service.Well, I did not hesitate.  I signed up right then and there.  

Do you know that for a mere $99.00 a year you can get 52 hours of personal one-on-one training.  That breaks down to about $1.90 a session.  To date, I have utilized at least 15 of those hours.  I schedule weekly one-on-one classes. I have had the good fortune of having one of the same two trainers I have worked with since I started taking classes.

I invite you to take a look at the web gallery that I learned to create with the help of my personal trainers.  My web gallery is located on www.tinybundles.com.  Once you happen upon my home page, click on the red text that reads, “Our 2008 collection gallery is on line.  You can view it by clicking here.”  Once you arrive on our web gallery, at the top of the page you will see the names of our six collections.  Click on any one of those collection names to view the collection.  I am proud to say that not only did I take the photos, I also learned how to cut out the background of the photo with a tool I learned how to use in iPages.  

Last week we placed a counter on each page so that I can track how much traffic is visiting our galleries.How excited I am not to be at the mercy of anyone else to keep my site current.  

Cain and Anna, have also taught me how to create my own postcard.  I use the postcards to send to my wholesale customers.  They showcase our new items.  Right now I am learning how to create a six-panel front and back wholesale price sheet.  Currently, because I have six different collections, I have six separate wholesale price sheets.  Not a very effective way to impart information and a waste of a lot of trees.  

Further down the road, I will learn how to send out an e-mail blast.The control and freedom these personal one-on-one classes have given me is priceless. 

Every business owner needs to know about this service and the effective software available.  You can learn to be the ruler of your own domain. I should say not only every business owner but every body should know about this service. You can take in any Apple product and they will teach you how to use it.  Whether it is your iPod Nano or iPhone or whatever wonderful product they offer, they are there to help you.

Did I mention that since the time I have started taking these classes we have purchased a 20-inch screen 2.4GHz iMac computer.  After I learn all that I need to learn from a business standpoint, I will learn how to customize my new computer and figure out how to use all of the features of my iPod Nano to its fullest.  And I will forever sing Apple’s praises.

Cain told me that the store where he works opened about 5 1/2 years ago and that when they opened their doors they had about 50 employees. They now have 150 employees in the same store.  I was told that Apple makes more money per square inch then some of the big department stores.  With service like theirs, I can see why.  So people, have your Apple a day.  It’s a good thing, a very good thing.