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"This little gem of a book offers sage advice..." 
Fred Brock
The New York Times

Too Young to Retire, the perfect retirement gift for those who aren't calling it quits, is available where
books are sold.

 Beth Allen: Web "Newbie"
Launches Create My Gift® Site

Beth Allen, 64, founded an advertising agency in 1982 with a partner, building up a clientele of Fortune 500 companies over the years, and annual billings of over $1.5 million. The agency specialized in sales support materials, including brochures, direct mail, video presentations, video training programs, and incentive promotions. After a difficult divorce, Ms. Allen struggled along for a few years with her business, then decided to close the agency. But she was far from ready for "retirement in some warm resort," she says. In fact, the entrepreneur in her was anything but licked.    

Then, with the encouragement of her new husband, she hit upon the idea for a brand new business. As a young mother, she had created personalized line drawings as gifts for new babies, for friends’ birthdays, anniversaries and other events and occasions, adding details that reflected the hobbies and interests of the recipient, wherever possible. Now, urged to "do something" with her drawings, she began to see the possibilities of marketing them as made-to-order gifts on-line, "even though I didn’t have a clue about what going on-line meant. 

"My focus wasn't just mastering the Internet," Ms. Allen says, "I was determined to get a new 'change of life' business going on-line that I could manage on my own, at home. One that would bring me pleasure and, of course, eventually become profitable."

An admitted computer novice, she knew she would have to go well beyond occasional word processing into the complex world of computer graphics. Her research led her to Adobe Photoshop which appeared to "provided the best tools" for drawing, manipulating and constructing the many different images she figured she would need in order to create her made-to-order gifts.

Too Much Information

Beth Allen threw herself into a crash course in the software. "All the Photoshop courses I investigated covered too much information for me. I would have been completely overwhelmed and confused and probably would not have retained a thing. So, I took the manual and started working on my own. This was not easy since I need an interpreter to put computer manual talk into language I could understand." Eventually, she found something that worked: Adobe Photoshop Classroom in a Book, a tutorial/lesson based manual and CD.

Once she began to feel comfortable with the software, Ms. Allen started designing a website that would enable customers to easily create their own gift pictures, using basic supplied elements. After much brainstorming with her systems analyst -- "but not a techie"-- husband, it became clear that the most cost effective way to accomplish her goal would be to build a database of all the image combinations, some 800 different images in all. The objective was that "no matter what your age or artistic abilities, you can easily develop a personalized, customized picture on-line," she says. After selecting desired elements, customers see the image on their own computers before placing the order.

In late1999, she had produced a layout for the website, a draft of the text, and a plan of how she wanted the website to function. She went shopping for a website developer. After running into a few walls, "I decided to look at companies only in my geographic area so that I could visit and see the facilities and meet the staffs. I did not want a 'virtual’ web developer. We also decided that we wanted the developer be responsible for the hosting so that if problems arose, the developer and host wouldn't blame each other."

Interviewing prospective developers and getting estimates was another lengthy process, but she was learning the ropes. "Each contact added to my knowledge of the requirements and processes for developing the website," she says. Eventually, she settled on Blaze inter.Net in Upper Saddle River, NJ, not far from Hackensack where she lives and works. "It was obvious that this group was bringing a great deal to the table and had put alot of time and effort into figuring out how to implement my ideas."

Despite a few "gliches and little problems" and some missed deadlines, the "almost computer illiterate" Beth Allen has turned "an old hobby into a cyberspace art form." In January, after two years of development, she launched her "one-of-a-kind" site, www.createmygift.com, on the same day that she and her husband became grandparents for the first time.

Mother and web "baby" are apparently doing fine. As of mid-April, the site was getting between 60 and 70 visitors each week, resulting in inquiries and some orders. www.createmygift.com received a Golden Web award from the International Association of Web Masters and Designers in recognition of its design, originality, content and level of excellence.

Create My Gift has established a relationship with Tomorrows Children's Fund, a nonprofit  for children with cancer and serious blood disorders, led by radio personality, Don Imus.  "If you place a CreateMyGift order and enter the code TCF, you will get a small discount and a percentage of the sale will be donated to Tomorrows Children's Fund," said Beth Allen. "We are eager to form other fundraising partnerships, so if you are associated with a non-profit organization and would like to discuss this further, just give me a call at 201-488-4547 or e-mail us at createmygift@aol.com."

'Create My Gift' and 'createmygift.com' are registered names of Beth Allen.

Getting Started

Tips from Beth Allen:

Do

• Find supportive people who can share the inevitable frustrations in launching a new web-based business.
• Have someone to call on for advice.  
• Make sure you enjoy the work.
• Clearly define your vision.
• Visit the websites of your competitors and sites within the industry of interest.
• Establish a budget, have realistic expectations of the website you can afford.
• Learn as much as you can so that you understand what's involved.
• Check out web design companies  fully and carefully. Get references and talk to them about how the designers were to work with and if deadlines were met.
• Develop a detailed outline/request for proposal with which designers can base their bids to make sure that all the bidders are working with the same specs.
• Contract for your site at a fixed fee.  Hourly rates can add up quickly.
• Require milestones and ongoing communication from your designers.
• Set up marketing/linking plans with appropriate partners.

Don't

• Assume it's a fast/easy/painless process.
• Insist on a real-time credit card processing system.  A manual set up is fine until you get swamped with orders.     (And don't expect to get swamped with orders like that UPS commercial.)
  

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