Phoenix (June 11, 2013) – The World Federation of Direct Selling Associations (WFDSA) today released the results of its annual Global Statistical Survey.

“We saw growth in sales and sales force in all regions of the world,” said Alessandro Carlucci, WFDSA chairman and CEO of Brazilian direct selling company Natura Cosméticos. “Importantly, we are also seeing strong growth in emerging markets around the world, demonstrating the solid economic and entrepreneurial opportunity direct selling offers to people from all walks of life.”

Global direct sales increased 5.4 percent from $158.3 billion in 2011 to $166.9 billion in 2012, according to Carlucci.

Detailed statistical reports will be published on the website next week.

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We loved this article by Karen Leland author of Ultimate Guide to Pinterest for Business and below is an excerpt.

According to Karen, you can use Pinterest as a roadmap that will help you drive website traffic, boost your brand and build your business. She outlines her 9 strategies that will help you increase the number of people following your boards on Pinterest, For the full text click here: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/226810?hootPostID=c107781dcc1b18fb395458dba60b6828#and then come back to us to tell us what you think.

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The UK DSA 2013 Annual Conference “We are the Future” took place in Leicestershire, United Kingdom on May 9, 2013. The conference focused on the future of the direct selling industry and how to attract more of the younger generation into our industry to become the next entrepreneurs. The program included a GenY panel of young entrepreneur award finalists and a CEO panel of company leadership finalists. Several prestigious industry and young entrepreneur awards were given out during the conference and gala dinner.

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Seldia, the European Direct Selling Association, will hold its 3rd Round Table on the Future of Direct Selling in Brussels, Belgium on October 2, 2013. For program details, please refer to the following link: http://seldia.eu/annual-round-table-program

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We loved this article by Geoffrey James at Inc.Com and below is an excerpt.

Every business library should include at least one of these influential business books.

1. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

While he gets a bit preachy sometimes, Steven Covey’s road map for living doesn’t just help you develop better habits, it convinces you that acquiring them will make you a better person.

Best quote: “Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.”

2. How to Win Friends & Influence People

Prior to Dale Carnegie’s classic, mixing business relationships with personal relationships was considered a bit underhanded, like nepotism. After Carnegie, the business relationships and personal relationships were seen as not just as compatible, but absolutely inseparable.

Best quote: “The unvarnished truth is that almost all the people you meet feel themselves superior to you in some way, and a sure way to their hearts is to let them realize in some subtle way that you recognize their importance, and recognize it.

For the full text click here: http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/top-10-motivational-books-of-all-time.html  and then come back to us to tell us what you think.

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We loved this article by Ryan Galloway and below is an excerpt.

According to Forbes, here are some innovative tips to improve your e-commerce business

1. Share the Voice of the Customer

Simple product information is no longer enough. Size, shape, color, width — those are expected. However, offering your customers the chance to review purchased items is an easy add-on to a bare-bones e-tail site.

Companies can take it a step further by having a representative from your company respond and react to reviews, right on the product page itself. Thanking a customer for a glowing review or offering to resolve a negative one are great ways to build credibility and put a human face on a small brand.

2. Include Honest and Helpful Details

This one is a corollary to the previous item, but so few e-tailers do it well that it warrants its own mention. If your sizes come in S, M, and L, you’re guaranteed to leave customers wondering, “What if I’m smaller than an S?”

Help them with the decision making process by providing details like, ”This product may fit awkwardly if you’re over six feet tall,” or “This item works best in dry environments.” Your customers will be grateful that you’ve anticipated their questions, and you’ll have removed a significant barrier between your customers and a purchase.

For the full text click here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/fedex/2013/05/21/5-innovative-ways-to-improve-your-e-commerce-business/ and then come back to us to tell us what you think.

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We loved this article by Ross Kimbarovsky and Mike Samson below is an excerpt.

According to Entrepreneur Magazine, here are six ways to spiff up your business card so that it collects sales, rather than dust:

1. Give your card a purpose. And we’re not just talking communication. Cards that multi-task will be seen far more frequently than your average business card. Turn it into a bookmark, an event ticket, a note card, scratch card or sticker. Make it a conversation piece and your business will automatically become a part of the conversation.

2. Track it. Include a QR code or SKU on your business card, and whenever you hand it out, give the recipient an incentive like discounts or coupons for checking out your site. This way, you’ll be able to track the rate at which your card compels people to action. If the current design and incentive doesn’t work, you can always try another.
Related: How to Design a Business Card That Gets Noticed

For the full text click here: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/226721# and then come back to us to tell us what you think.

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We loved this article by Amy Buckner Chowdhry and below is an excerpt.

According to User Experience Matters, you can use three strategies to get to know your customer. Building a great digital product requires getting into your customers’ heads. You have to go beyond asking, “Can they use it?” to get at the heart of the problems your product will solve. Here are three tricks to get help you get started.

Determine whether your product–or the surroundings–are the problem.

A client at my digital consultancy AnswerLab makes software for banks to automate their loan process. The client signed on a major bank around the time it was implementing a new version of its product. Soon customers large and small were complaining. The client needed to understand which issues were environmental–the process they were trying to automate, bandwidth issues, etc.–and which ones stemmed from the new software.
By casually observing how users interacted with the product, researchers uncovered a few external factors driving their experience. Shockingly, we found the loans were being processed three times–first, as a loan officer encountered issues and then gave up; second, as an officer resorted to the pre-software method, paper; and third, as a closer cleaned up the incorrect data. We soon found the culprit: Loan officers had a compensation system that encouraged them to enter as many loans as possible in the system, regardless of accuracy. We realized a product isn’t the only thing that can impact a users’ experience. How–and where–that product is being used impact it as well.

Watch how customers interact with your product.

To help PayPal test ideas for a mobile wallet, we conducted innovation games with consumers, asking them to share the contents of their wallets and describe their ideal shopping assistant. We then transformed a traditional research lab into a mock retail store, where participants completed a series of shopping scenarios and tested the various concepts PayPal had in mind. In each scenario, some rule or element of the game was altered to tweak the overall experience, such as allowing players to pay ahead using their mobile device or search for store coupons and deals on their phone.

For the full text click here: http://www.inc.com/author/amy-buckner-chowdhry and then come back to us to tell us what you think.

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Seldia published a Special Edition Brochure on the Women Entrepreneurs Exhibition that took place in February at the European Parliament in Brussels.The online version can be found online at:

http://female-entrepreneurship2013.eu/Seldia%20Special%20Issue%20April%202013.pdf

As one of the follow up projects after the Exhibition, Seldia is taking the lead in the creation of a new Brussels based Women Entrepreneurship Platform. The Platform is being joined by organizations that already partnered with Seldia during the exhibition and will continue to grow over time. Its aim is to function as an information exchange platform for European organizations promoting Women Entrepreneurs, with a special focus on cooperation with the European Parliament.

Source: Seldia – the European Direct Selling Association newsletter

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