Business Card Stuff

There is no shortage of advice on business cards on the internet, but I thought you might enjoy a refresher.

1. Don’t pass out cards during a meal. Leave your cards at home during social (as opposed to business networking) functions.

2. Always have business cards that are clean, neat and accurate. If you have more than one business, have more than one card and have them filed separately so you can easily find the one you need. Old, dog-eared business cards with information crossed out or corrected by hand do not portray a professional impression.

3. Always handle cards you receive with the respect. That’s their career your holding. Most people, when they are handed a business card simply slip it into their pocket or folder without looking at it. When handed a business card, take the time to read it. Say the name of the person out loud to check that you have the correct pronunciation. If you are uncertain of the pronunciation ask them to pronounce it for you.

4. Study foreign usage, conventions, and customs. For example in Japan business cards are exchanged with great ceremony. In India always use the right hand to give and receive business cards.

5. Consider printing a two-sided card. On one side, print your contact information in English, and on the other, print it in the primary language of the other country. A photo is also a good idea since gender-specific first names are often not recognized in other countries. If you do not need a second language think of adding lines to write on or a calendar.

6. Be creative when handing out your card. Offering your card with both hands, for example, creates an enormous psychological impact. Introduce yourself with your card. Use the back of your card to write notes. Sign your name (or a brief message) on the front of the card. Present your business card face up and turned so that the person you are giving it to can read it.

7. Be selective in distributing business cards, don’t hand them out as if you were dealing out a pack of cards. Give them to people who express an interest in yours or who offer you theirs. If someone offers you their card don’t turn it down. If you don’t want it you can always dispose of it later. If you ask for someone’s card and they don’t want to provide one to you, if you sincerely have a reason for wanting one explain your purpose or let the matter drop.

I design and print a lot of business cards and think that your business card is one of the most important marketing tools you have available to you. Handing out a business card that makes you feel proud is the first step to a prosperous relationship.

It took me a long time to settle on the design of my card as I was concerned everyone would judge my creativity by my own card.

Here is the front and back of my business card. I don;t think I have ever handed it out with someone commenting on whether the glass is half full or half empty. By the way I don’t work with the latter.:

If you are interested in designing and/or printing business cards give Mike Blaney a call at 800-568-8338. My specialty is silk finish business cards printed in Korea that make people love the feel of. They are waterproof and rip resistant and always make people stop and comment on the feel. Best of all they probably cost less than what you are paying now.
If you enjoyed this article and don’t want to miss the next one click here to get my marketing posts by email as soon as they are published. You will be prompted for an email address and you are set to go.

Low Tech Business Card Holder

A subscriber to this blog mentioned a cool, new, low-tech idea for displaying your business cards that I think is worth a mention. The company is called CardCues and they have come up with a great new idea that makes you think “Why didn’t I think of this?”.

Quite simply CardCues make your business cards stand out! It is perfect for bulletin boards, trade shows, open houses, direct marketing events and more!

Each holder can display 40 business cards and either pins to a bulletin board or stands up-right on a desk.

You can order a retail pack which includes two sets of five eye-catching pre-printed designs. (10 holders total)

CardCues fold together in seconds and display easily on bulletin boards or any flat surface. Each holder displays over 40 cards. The cost is only $6.99 + $3.95 shipping.

If you are interested, but in a hurry give me a call at 800-568-8338 and I can get the ball rolling for you.
If you enjoyed this article and don’t want to miss the next one click here to get my marketing posts by email as soon as they are published. You will be prompted for an email address and you are set to go.

Digital Photo Print Sizes

I am sure millions of people received a new digital camera this past week and are busy snapping photos of everything that moves. I actually had to buy my own, but am thoroughly enjoying having a higher-end digital camera. As I prepare a lot of print ads and marketing material I was curious what size I could print with my new 7.2 megapixel camera. I did a little research in the internet and thought you might find this interesting.

Here is a handy chart for your own reference showing the number of megapixels and the size you can print.

Number of Megapixels	Acceptable Print Size (Inches)
2.0	4 x 6
3.0	5 x 7
4.0	8 x 10
5.0	9 x 12
6.0	11 x 14
8.0	12 x 16
10.0	16 x 20
12.0	18 x 24

Here’s how to read the megapixel print size table: if you have an 8 megapixel camera, any print that you make that is 12″ x 16″ or smaller will look fantastic.

If you have a 4 megapixel camera, you can make high-quality prints at 8″ x 10″ or smaller. Now, there is nothing stopping you from printing your 4 megapixel photos at 20″ x 30″. You could even print your photos billboard size if you wanted to. As you increase the print size more and more above the acceptable print size, the image deteriorates further and further.

A 4 megapixel photo printed at 4″ x 6″ will be perfectly clear. It will also be clear at 8″ x “10. But a 4 megapixel photo printed at 12″ x 18″ will show a loss of image quality. The same image printed at 40″ x 60″ will show considerable loss of image quality.

Digital Image Storage Table

A digital image’s file size is mostly determined by the digital image’s resolution and the digital image format. Other factors that can influence the file size, depending on the chosen digital image format, is the number of colour channels per pixel, compression level, the digital camera’s settings and the complexity of the scene being photographed. The last three factors are applying only when using the JPEG format. The most important rule to remember is that higher image resolution, more megapixel, leads to larger file size.

Determining an image’s file size in advance for the TIFF and RAW format is relatively easy. But doing that for a JPEG image is impossible. It is also impossible to have the some file size for all images since each image is unique when shooting in JPEG mode. Therefore in the table below we assume that all JPEG images have the same file size.

Image	File Size	Image
Resolution	MB	Format
Megapixel
	5.5	TIFF
2	2.7	RAW
	1.1	JPEG
	9.0	TIFF
3	4.5	RAW
	1.8	JPEG
	11.4	TIFF
4	5.7	RAW
	2.3	JPEG
	14.3	TIFF
5	7.2	RAW
	2.9	JPEG
	17.2	TIFF
6	8.6	RAW
	3.4	JPEG
	20	TIFF
7	10	RAW
	4	JPEG
	22.9	TIFF
8	11.4	RAW
	4.6	JPEG
	25.7	TIFF
9	12.9	RAW
	5.1	JPEG
	28.6	TIFF
10	14.3	RAW
	5.7	JPEG

Book Review – Copywriting 101 by Allison Nazarian

Through this blog I have met many different marketing professionals and have learned a lot from many of them, but Allison Nazarian stands out in the field of copywriting.

Allison’s Get It In Writing website and Copywriting Blog are two great resources I have tapped into recently, but her new book Copywriting 101 has turned out to be an indispensable tool already. I received an advance copy and have had time to read it and my first reaction was WOW! I had a pre-conception (mistaken and naive) that copywriters focused mainly on advertising copy, but as I read through the book I realized how pervasive copywriting is in every aspect of marketing. I write marketing pieces every day for my clients, but had not really thought about the process..until I read Copywriting 101.

The other insight was that copywriting, unlike other more creative aspects of marketing can be learned and almost any business person can benefit from investing the time to read this book.

The book is full of useful information on a wide range of copywriting topics and covers everything from Ads to Websites including:

• Brochures, sales sheets and other print marketing
• Blog entries
• FAQs
• Newsletters and e-newsletters
• E-mail blasts
• Ads, headlines and themes
• Catalogs
• Billboards
• TV and radio commercials and programs
• Postcards
• Direct-mail letters
• Mission Statements
• Taglines and slogans
• Articles
• Newsletters
• Websites and web pages

Allison goes through the complete process of writing and provides simple exercises to reinforce what you have learned. There are also great case studies and real-life examples of her work. Following is an example of a Case study for the section on:

Offers and promises…

“I like to make a distinction between what you are offering and what you are promising, even though on the surface they may seem like one and the same. The difference between the two is very significant.”

Case study: A plumber

He may be offering his knowledge and expertise in all things plumbing. He knows all here is to know about pipes, toilets, sinks and drains. He has been in the business for 25 years. He offers competitive prices. He has hundreds of happy customers who can attest to his great skills.

What is he promising? Specifically, it may be emergency turnaround time. It may be a guarantee that he only needs to come to your home or place of business once to get the job done. He may be able to unclog a drain that has been chronically clogged. What he is promising is convenience, peace of mind, avoiding that total panic when you have some sort of plumbing explosion.

I can see using many parts of the book when working with clients to help them organize what they need to make my job easier. Highlights of the book for me were the sections on:

• What’s copywriting & why does your business’ success depend on it
• Making key determinations and decisions before you write even a single word
• Structure, mechanics & grammar and a lot more on this topic
• Recipe for a well-written marketing piece
• Writing for the web vs writing for print

The appendix is also a valuable resource of information such as:

• Before You Even Get Started Questionnaire
• Action Verbs
• Fillers, Non-Words, Phrases & Words To Think Twice About Using In Marketing
• Building Blocks for a Brochure

As a Marketing Guy I like the book as it is written from a holistic marketing perspective rather than a more specific advertising perspective so it is full of common sense that you can apply throughout your business. You can order your copy for only $ 39.00 by clicking here. Or contact Allison Nazarian directly:

Allison Nazarian
Get It In Writing, Inc.
Copywriting & Marketing Services, Consulting & Instruction for DIY (Do-It-Yourself)
P: 561.989.8555
E: ANazarian@GetItInWriting.biz
W: www.GetItInWriting.biz
B: www.GetItInWriting.biz/blog
MySpace: www.MySpace.com/get_it_in_writing_inc

The Anatomy of a Logo

This following is a brief introduction to logo design. Please do not try this at home!

To create an effective logo mix the following ingredients in a bowl:

• 2 parts artistic ability
• 1 part witchcraft
• 3 parts psychology of people
• 1 part blind luck

What is a logo?

Your logo is a graphic representation of your brand, but it is no way your brand. It allows people (customers) to find you, remember you and differentiate you from other businesses.

How do you design a logo?

Start in black and white – to keep things simple start the design in black and white. Nothing messes up a good logo design than adding color before you have the shape, design and readability. If it doesn’t work in black and white they it probably won’t work in color.

Determine the shape - Shape is what people recognize first. By shape I include logos which are just the company name. Defining the proper font is the same as defining the shape. Simple, unique designs are the most effective.

Color – Color needs to be simple, easy to discern and memorize. Colors and color combinations used in logos should be unique so that the logo doesn’t blend into the multitude of other logos. The psychology of color is too broad to cover here, but following is a quick lesson:

Black: seriousness, distinctiveness, boldness, power, sophistication, tradition

Blue: authority, dignity, security, faithfulness, heritage, corporate stability, trust

Brown/gold: history, utility, earthiness, richness, tradition, conservative

Gray/silver: somberness, authority, practicality, corporate mentality, trust

Green: tranquility, health, freshness, stability, appetite

Orange: fun, cheeriness, warm exuberance, appetite, speed

Pink: femininity, innocence, softness, health, youth

Purple: sophistication, spirituality, wealth, royalty, youth, mystery

Red: aggressiveness, passion, strength, vitality, fear, speed, appetite

White/silver: purity, truthfulness, faith, contemporary, refined, wealth

Yellow: youth, positive feelings, sunshine, cowardice, refinement, caution, appetite

Keep in mind that the color on paper and a website can look dramatically different so test everything. You will need the color specifications as PMS colors or CMYK (four-color process) for printing and RGB (Web/video).

Size Matters - Does the logo work as well on a sign outside as it does on a business card? Not all designs are scalable.

When I designed the logo for my email stationery company called inboxFX Communications Inc logo I went through a similar process.

This is the logo we ended up using:

And these were the choices we worked with. Click on the image below and you can see how we had the black and white version to choose from on the left:

Designing a logo is the hardest thing I do as the client does not know what they want, but they definitely know what they don’t want. A logo questionnaire is a good starting point for our clients.

A Rule of Thumb is Dangerous in the Wrong Hands

I get involved in a lot of design work and it is one of the most enjoyable aspects of marketing, but it can also be one of the most frustrating. I came across these “rules of thumb” for design and they have helped me working with clients on many occasions. I truly can’t remember what the source was so if it is you then please let me know so I can give the proper credit.

(Thanks to my brother-in-law Jim for the witty quotation in the title)

Design Rules of Thumb

Good not Perfect – Web products, and content that is correctable and improvable on the fly, we need to decide when good enough is good enough because it can always be changed.

It’s not the number of steps that cause delays in development – it’s the space between the steps.
Have you ever been frustrated with how long it takes to accomplish projects? It’s not the number of steps in your project plan that determines how long the project takes, it’s when you take a breather between every step that causes delays. Good project management minimizes the space between the steps and stays focused on achieving the milestones and ultimate goal.

Freeze and Go!
Changes should be collected and released on a simple schedule (quarterly, semi-annually, etc.)

Prefer action over study
If you or your team is studying something to death – remember that death was not the original goal!

Brainstorm, Mock-Up, Build, Alpha, Rebuild, Beta, Pilot, Test, Launch, Evaluate, Re-Do.
There’s the process. It’s pretty simple, and many make the mistake of trying to skip a step. Each step can be quite small and contained. You don’t need to bet the organization’s future on a single initiative.

Remember the rule of six (6) in usability testing
You get very diminishing returns after asking the same question of like people. Sometimes we think that we can reduce the risk from the implementation of our innovative product features and functions by testing it with hundreds of users.

Remember the 15% rule
Humans have extreme difficulty in actually seeing a comparative difference of less than 15%. I once read that research shows that when we see the light from 100 candles, we don’t see a difference in brightness until 115 candles are lit. Interesting – I understand that the same thing is true of sound volume, color variation, and other matters of human perception.

Use the 70/30 rule
“I agree with 70% of the plan and can live with the other 30%.” That’s the key to consensus decision-making. Lord knows the time wasted trying to achieve 100% agreement to all points and ideas. If you can lead your team to agree to this principle, you have made a major step forward in breaking the logjam of unmade decisions in “almost” complete projects.

Remember the old 80/20 rule standby
No matter how few or how many users you have, 80% of your usage / revenue / statistics, etc. will come from 20% of your users. If you remove 80% of your users who aren’t delivering good user numbers, you’ll still be getting 80% of your use from 20% of your users. Remember that 80% of users, who are not using your product or service a lot, are your non-users and also your future or emerging new users, users who are still getting comfortable with the product, users from other demographics where you’ll discover new products and services to create, and users who are just at a different point in the adoption curve.

Remember the 90/10 rule
It’s true enough that 90% of your costs in both time and money are in implementation, not development. Never underestimate the amount of time and effort that will be required after you have given birth to your baby product or service. Just like human babies they require a lot of effort, expense, care and feeding, training, and support to bring them up to their full potential. And like kids, be patient, they’re marvelous when they’re all grown up!

Remember FABS
Understand the differences between features, functions, and benefits. It’s easy to design hundreds of features and functions into a product or service. It is hard to know which ones are the most important to each user. The true skill is in knowing what the benefit of each is. If it doesn’t meet someone’s true need, then seriously question whether it’s worth doing. It should also meet the need of your priority target user. Then you must market and sell the benefits to your users – not the features and functions.

Ask the three magic questions:

1. What keeps you awake at night?
2. If you could solve only one problem at work, what would it be?
3. If you could change one thing and one thing only, what would it be?

I have discovered that these questions are truly magic. They start conversations with users rather than delivering simple answers. They’re open-ended instead of closed-ended, yes or no answer questions. Just set the context and ask away.

Respect diversity
There’s an enormous amount of diversity out there, and it is not just traditional diversity around income, gender, sexual orientation, race, culture, ethnicity, or language. Of particular interest to information professionals is diversity of information literacy skills, learning styles, and multiple intelligences.

Sacrifice
Every organization has thousands of ideas that are worthy of consideration. No organization can do them all. That’s the tough part. When you have 100 good ideas to choose from, the critical skill isn’t choosing five, but sacrificing 95. Learn the skill of temporary sacrifice. You can store your good ideas in an idea parking lot and bring them forward into the strategic planning process as projects are completed. If you don’t focus and choose to limit your energy to achieving success on those that will deliver the most value to your enterprise and users, then you are choosing mediocrity.

Know any more rules of thumb you can share?

It’s Time To Get Credit For Bringing Donuts

How many times have you taken donuts into an office only to have the receptionist take them to the coffee room and the only person who knows you brought them is the receptionist?

Have you ever taken donuts to a meeting, had half of them left over only to have the box taken away to be eaten by people who don’t know you brought them?

You can try taping your business card to the box, but that looks a bit tacky and they may take the top of the box off and your business card can’t be seen.

Or you can order donut boxes that guarantee everyone will know who brought them. How?

Simply go to Thanks a Dozen and start taking credit where credit is due. A while back I wrote about a great promotional tool from Thanks a Dozen and as a marketing guy I sent away for my free samples never thinking I would not only receive them, but that I would be so impressed.

Are Donuts a Big Deal?

Here in Canada one of the leading chains is Tim Horton’s. To put donut consumption in Canada into perspective Tim Hortons has ten times the franchise penetration in Canada per thousand people than that of Dunkin’ Donuts’ in the US. There are a reported 10 billion donuts consumed in the United States each year and Canada is one-tenth the size, so Canadians eat 1 billion donuts, but with 10 times the penetration of franchises I wonder if we eat 10 billion? But we are off the topic.

Taking Donuts to a Client

Why do people take donuts to clients? Here are a few good reasons:

1. Buy more time on calls…
2. Stay remembered by those you contact…
3. Become friends with the gatekeeper…
4. Warm up cold calls…
5. Develop name recognition for your service or business…
6. Easily target your market niche group with a product everyone enjoys…
7. Just say “Thanks!”…

Imagine I am taking donuts to a Real Estate office to do a presentation on Email Stationery for inboxFX. I can take donuts from Kripsy Kreme, Dunkin Donuts or Tim Horton’s in boxes like these and advertise these giant companies and give them all the credit:

Or I can take the donuts out of the box (following sanitary procedures) and deliver them in a branded inboxFX Email Stationery donut box like this. Who’s your donut giver now?:

Here are a couple of other preliminary samples of branded donut boxes from clients:

And you are not limited to donut boxes. We also offer the following boxes:

Bagel Boxes
11 5/8″ x 4 5/8″ x 8 5/8″ plus roof
There is a business card slot on one side of roof
Foodsafe box holds up to a dozen bagels and 2 tubs of cream cheese

Cookie Boxes
6 3/8″ x 3 3/8″ x 3 7/8″ plus roof
Business card slot on one side of roof
Foodsafe box holds donut holes, cookies, popcorn & other treats

Candy Boxes
4 3/8″ x 1 7/8″ x 2 1/2″ plus roof
Does not contain a business card slot
Foodsafe box holds candy, gum or other treats

Pizza Boxes
14″ x 14″ x 2″ (standard large size)
Does not have a slot for your business card
Foodsafe box is perfect for piping hot ready to serve pizza!
Convenient and cost effective way to promote your brand

Tissue Box Sleeves
4 3/8″ x 4 1/2″ x 5 1/2″
Slips snugly over a standard box of tissue (tissues not included)
Offers long-term exposure to your brand right on your client’s desk

Can I Customize the boxes?

Yes. We will do that for you. Here are a few samples.

Custom boxes require a minimum order of 250 units (or more) and there is a one-time set-up fee of $ 149.00 for all but the candy box which is $ 49.00. Artwork is extra. The printing prices are as follows:

Donut Box – 10″ x 4-3/8″ x 5-7/8″ plus roof – Qty 250 $ 3.29 – Qty 500 $ 2.99
Bagel – 11-5/8″ x 4 5/8″ x 8-5/8″ plus roof – Qty 2000 $ 3.62
Cookie – 6-3/8″ x 3-3/8″ x 3-7/8″ plus roof – Qty 250 $ 1.99 – Qty 500 $ 1.89
Candy – 4-3/8″ x 1-7/8″ x 2-1/2″ plus roof – Qty 300 $ 1.19 – Qty 1000 $ 0.80
Pizza – 14″ x 14″ x 2″ – Qty 250 $ 3.79 – Qty 500 $ 3.39
Tissue – 4-3/8″ x 4-1/2″ x 5-1/2″ – Qty 250 $ 3.29 – Qty 500 $ 2.99

Do you have stock boxes?

Yes. Go to my storefront by clicking here and check out all of the designs.

Here are some samples. We will print your logo and contact information in the white ovals on the side plus there is a slot for your business card in the roof:

Thanks for the Referral
A great product for those in any business who depend upon the referrals of others. Available in a yellow version as well.

“We Appreciate Your Business”
Comes with either a red or blue stripe and is customized with your logo/slogan. The box stresses how much their business is appreciated by you!

Little White House
A great product for Mortgage Companies, Title Companies, Banks, Realtors and Home Restoration businesses.

Have a Great Day
Displaying a cloud Background with a Daisy and “Have A Great Day!” on the roof. These boxes can be used by most every business to market their products or services.

Home – Auto – Life – Insurance
If you’re in the insurance field…what a great way to thank present customers and gain new ones. Illustrated with a home (red), a car (blue) and a man (orange) with the words “Home – Auto – Life” on the handle. Of course, when personalized with your logo/slogan this really makes the ultimate promotional gift.

Yummy Box
Displaying rich earth tones with various “yummy” words…the Yummy Words Box provides more than a dozen or say ways to say “Thanks!”

Realtor Postcard Marketing Ideas

It’s no secret that I believe the only postcard worth sending out must accomplish 4 things:

1. It grab the reader’s attention
2. It gets them talking
3. It makes them laugh
4. It gets saved on the refrigerator for weeks

To do this you have to find the right picture for the right headline and that is not always easy.

Here are few samples of postcards that I have created in the past. All of the postcards are in their concept stage only and are not the actual finished product I would provide a client. Many thanks to Inmagine, a stock photography company for the images. (My apologies to any other postcard designer that has used the same headline, but there are only so many good ones out there.)

Call me if you are interested in developing a series like these. Go to About Me for contact info.

Click on the thumbnail for a larger version.

Okay I admit that they aren’t all funny, but do you think they get read?

Newsletters as a Marketing Tool

I have published a few newsletters for clients and while the layout is a snap, making them effective is no easy task. I think that is why so many Realtors turn to services that have monthly templates and a spot for them to add their branding.

As a method of staying in touch with clients and prospects newsletters can be effective, but if it isn’t topical, timely and terrific (I need another “t” to go with the first two) I think they can work against you.

I have gleaned a few ideas in my travels and thought they might be useful for aspiring newsletter writers:

Editorials
Subscribers welcome columns written by an in-house or industry expert.

Case studies
Readers love real-life how-to’s that they can apply to their own business. Case studies provide valuable specifics: How much did it cost? What problems did they encounter? What was the ROI?

Photographs
Lots of them. Choose photos that are worth a thousand words. If you are using “people” photos, a close-up of a speaker works better than a wide-angle shot of a roomful of attendees.

Product reviews
Readers will appreciate your informed opinion and unbiased reviews of everything from software to computer equipment to business trends.

Interview with an expert
Spend a few minutes talking to an expert and publish valuable information and insights you learned.

Advice column
Write a “Dear Abby” column, with an expert who solves a subscriber’s problem. Use actual questions from subscribers.

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
Answer the key questions you deal with on a daily or weekly basis.

How-to’s
Give easy-to-follow instructions for completing a task, such as writing effective emails.

Calendar of events
List local events.

Testimonials
Share testimonials from customers. Not only will you build business, you’ll help subscribers understand all the ways they might work with you.

This list is not exhaustive, but it will give you a place to start. Remember if you are sending a stock newsletter out and it does not resonate with your clients it will not be as effective in building good will.

Visual Aid Ideas

Do you find yourself looking for the perfect picture to represent an idea? I don’t remember where I found this list, but here are a few metaphors to consider:

army helmet or flak jacket – protect, fight, dig in for a struggle, ‘call to arms’, a rallying call for a special effort

baseball bat or big stick – x theory management, autocratic management, bullying, harassment

beachball – rest, relax, take a break, take your holidays, and ensure your staff do too

clock/watch – time, and time management, scheduling, planning

egg-timer – get on with things, the sands of time…

rock - search (leave no stone un-turned)

spectacles - vision, inspection, scrutiny, apply your intelligence

textbook - research, facts, evidence, know your facts, product knowledge, understand the detail

binoculars or telescope – field research, competitor intelligence and information, forward planning, looking ahead, probing for answers, vision

brick – strength, robustness, durability, reliability

bucket of rocks, pebbles and sand – time-management ideas and the ‘big rocks in first’ story

builder’s hard hat – building (compiling information, assembling facts, evidence, etc), also obviously safety, being properly prepared and equipped for the job.

camera – respect people’s privacy, avoid work encroaching/impinging on personal lives

cardigan, pipe and slippers – ageism, respect the knowledge/experience/feelings of older workers, avoid stereo-typing people and making assumptions about age and character

carrot – incentive, motivate, reward, motivational styles and methods

chef’s hat – preparation (of anything), mixing, blending (teams, etc), selecting ingredients (identifying and choosing quality components, people, suppliers, methods, etc)

conductors baton - orchestrate, co-ordinate, manage, timing, time-management, turn up the volume or tempo, and anything else related to managing resources and timescales

juggling balls – creativity, juggling tasks and priorities (keeping all the balls in the air), using different parts of the brain, relaxation and stress-prevention, fun, practice makes perfect, dexterity

loaf of bread and pack of butter or margarine – stick to the basics, ensure you do the ‘bread and butter’ business/activity

If you are having a tough time thinking of the right image contact me for a complete list.