Reem Rahim at work.

On starting a business:
“I started a business because I am an immigrant, and I was told to do something stable,” says Rahim, who was born in Iraq and moved to the United States in 1971. “One of the reasons was I wanted to do something my parents would be proud of, but I also had ideas.” Rahim, who had become an engineer, says she was miserable in her career and had always taken art classes. “My father said to choose one thing” to focus on for a business. Oddly enough, when Rahim told her brother, Ahmed, that she decided to open a tea business, he said he had come up with the same idea based around “numi,” a lime tea they drank in Iraq. Running a green business was very important to the siblings, as seen in their fair-trade tea, biodegradable tea bags, recycled packaging and carbon-offset program.

On creativity in the workplace:
“My artistic sensibility really created the brand,” says Rahim. “And people love our packaging.” Each box of Numi tea has a different picture, which Rahim often paints them based on her brother’s photography. The look, tone and feel of all the packaging was created by Rahim. Being artists influences how the brother and sister do business. “Artists are ultimately visionaries,” she says, “so we see outside the box – we see things different.” Though Rahim had taken art classes all her life, she didn’t have graphic design experience when she co-founded Numi. At that time she collaborated with a designer to put together the company’s materials, and since then Rahim has taken design classes herself. Now Numi employs a vice president of marketing, who manages a handful of staff, as well as two in-house designers.

On the future of Numi:
“We want to grow – the sky’s the limit!” says Rahim, as Numi crosses the 10-year mark of being in business. “We’ve learned so much about human resources, budgets, etc. And we’ve been branching out by developing our nonprofit.” Personally, Rahim says she’d like to scale back on the day-to-day responsibilities to avoid burnout and to focus on her art as well as the nonprofit arm of Numi and the social and environmental causes it supports. “We didn’t set out to make money,” Rahim says. “And I don’t think we’ll ever stop trying to make the world a better place. With a soothing cup of tea, you feel like a whole person.”

©2010 PsPrint Blog. All Rights Reserved.

1. Create an unforgettable logo. The Olympic Rings are among the most recognized symbols in the world. They’re simple and bold yet also don’t resemble other logos. (OK, maybe the Audi logo is similar.) A logo is how potential clients recognize your company, and it’s vital you come up with one that best represents your products or services. It’s a design task you don’t want to skimp on.

2. Find your niche. Watching the Olympics the other night, my friend asked if Olympians compete in different sports. “Do hockey players pull a ‘Cutting Edge’ and also dabble in figure skating?” he asked. We didn’t do too much research but decided that no, Olympic athletes tend to stick to what they’re good at. That’s a tip you can take to the bank: Develop a niche and market the heck out of it. That’s not to say you shouldn’t offer more than one service – rather, if you’re a graphic designer, do graphic design and be really good at it. Don’t spread yourself thin by also offering eBay services, psychotherapy and automotive repair.

3. Represent yourself as best you can. Bronze medalist Scotty Lago was sent packing from the Olympics earlier this week for behavior deemed inappropriate. The Olympics have a reputation for consisting of freshly scrubbed and bright-eyed athletes, while bad-boy behavior is frowned upon. Don’t forget that just like Olympic athletes represent their countries, you represent your company. When you’re out on the town, you don’t necessarily stop working. Keep yourself in check.

4. Aim for gold. Every Olympic Games there is story after story of athletes who are back to prove themselves after “settling” for silver or less in their previous outings. Bode Miller, after wowing ski fans for years, finally snagged his first Olympic gold medal a few days ago. As a business owner, you can always find ways to learn, grow and better your company. Network, advertise and create a great product. Don’t let yourself get out of shape.

5. Go green. I was happily surprised to hear that the medals being distributed this year in Vancouver are made of recycled computer motherboards, and the Olympic Village was built to the LEED Gold standard. Maybe your company doesn’t have the funds to completely green your building, but there are plenty of actions you can take and choices you can make, such as rethinking your lighting and making eco-friendly printing and paper choices.

©2010 PsPrint Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Apple’s iPad is a bit of an in-between device – as PsPrint Facebook fan Alan calls it a “scaled-up iPhone.” Nowhere on Apple’s website can I find it called a “computer” – rather, it’s dubbed a “device.” The iPad is capable of computing tasks and has a 1GHz Apple A4 custom-designed processor, so it’s geared for Internet, video, photos and even gaming. That power makes the iPad somewhat ideal for graphic design as well, but it lacks a couple of things. One of those was made evident during the presentation: The iPad does not have Flash, as identified by the icon for the missing plug-in.

Another item that designers such as Paper Leaf Design have been chattering about on Twitter is the lack of a stylus. The multitouch-screen iPad does have an optional keyboard, but a stylus would probably make it that much more attractive to designers.

On the plus side for small businesses is the iWork application with Keynote, which provides presentation capabilities. And the fact that the iPad is portable and has 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity makes it an option for mobile companies and their employees. The price tag came as a surprise: it starts at $499 for the 16 GB, Wi-Fi version and tops off at $829 for the 64 GB, Wi-Fi plus 3G version. Speculation prior to Wednesday’s announcement had the tablet’s price hovering around $1,000.

Is the iPad something you’ll snatch up the day it goes on sale? Or do you not believe the hype?

©2010 PsPrint Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Don’t think that just because you use a surge protector that you’re in the clear. A surge protector is usually not enough to protect your files from all different types of power spikes, surges, brownouts and blackouts!

The No. 1 tip is to use an uninterruptible power supply, aka a UPS, which “isolates the computer from an outage,” according to Madison Gas and Electric. “When the UPS senses a change in voltage or a power outage, it switches to battery backup. The batteries provide time to save information and shut down.”

eHow goes a step further and advises you to get a UPS with an automated voltage regulation (AVR) built in, which protects against power spikes and shortages. Be careful with how much you plug into the UPS – you don’t want to overload it.

On a regular basis, don’t fail to back up your files and other important information. This is a catastrophe that is wholly preventable, and too often people don’t think about it until it’s too late.

Do you have any other suggestions for what to do when the lights go out?

©2010 PsPrint Blog. All Rights Reserved.

In this economy, it can be more cost effective to skip day care and the 9-to-5 grind in favor of staying home with your child. And what is more rewarding: the pride you take in a job well done on a work project, or being there to see your son’s or daughter’s first step? On the flipside, I do recall when a devoted mother and dear friend of mine confessed that she was eager to return to work, “just to talk like a grown-up again.”

A home business can be a good fit for a stay-at-home parent: You – hopefully – will earn an income while not paying for day care and keeping flexible hours. A home-based business is less risky, too, since it requires less overhead than a storefront or office. However, as with any type of new company, careful planning is required.

1. Consider the type of business. What are your skills? What would you be good at and enjoy doing? Perhaps most important, what kind of business would fit in with your parenting responsibilities? AllBusiness.com lists child care, crafting and accounting among the top 10 home-based companies for stay-at-home moms and dads.

2. Read up on legal issues. Look into insurance, licenses and tax issues. Make sure you understand that you will be your own boss, so you are responsible for every single issue affiliated with your business.

3. Take advantage of free resources. You don’t always have to shell out hundreds of dollars to lawyers and consultants. The Internet is a bounty of free information. Business.gov is a great place to start, with information such as how to create a business plan, how to learn about zoning laws for home-based companies and how to understand Social Security. PsPrint, too, has tons of free resources, such as marketing plans for all sorts of industries, including day care and graphic design.

©2010 PsPrint Blog. All Rights Reserved.

The U.S. Small Business Administration is a good place to start for resources and information. It recommends you take the following measures for your company:

Meet with an insurance agent. Discuss business-interruption insurance – which replaces income lost when a business suffers downtime becomes of a covered peril – in addition to natural disaster insurance. Also be sure you know exactly which natural events are covered under your insurance.

Consider whether you can temporarily relocate your business. This is where portability comes in. If you haven’t graduated to a smartphone such as an iPhone or a BlackBerry, now is the time. You need to be able to continue your business if you can’t make it to your office.

Ensure your employees know what to do in case of an emergency. One place I’ve worked created business cards we could carry with us at all times with phone numbers to call in the event of an emergency. One phone number provided an outgoing message detailing whether employees were expected to make it to the office or not. It also included the phone numbers for the Red Cross and FEMA.

Create a backup plan in case your suppliers can’t get to you. Do you have alternate suppliers? Is it possible to keep a larger inventory?

Appoint a safety coordinator. This is the employee who conducts training for emergencies such as fire drills and evacuation plans. This is also the person who ensures safety equipment such as fire alarms and eye-wash stations are up to date and working properly. In addition, the safety coordinator can create and maintain posters to be mounted around the office that show where emergency exits are located as well as evacuation routes.

Be sure important business information is backed up off-site. It’s always good practice to back up your work. However, that’s not only for productivity reasons. In the event of a disaster, all your files could be lost – burned up, water damaged or buried under rubble. Make it a practice to back up vital company information off-site. These days there are plenty of easy, inexpensive backup options for smaller organizations.

A disaster is a disaster – there’s no denying that. However, if you take some time to prepare your business now, it can save you money, your company and possibly even lives in the future.

©2010 PsPrint Blog. All Rights Reserved.