Ivy Hartman: Welcome to Arid Phoenix Arizona. I'm Ivy Hartman here at the 2008 NAWBO, National Women Business Conference. I'm with Stacy Burleson who is a Beyond Zebra which I love the name Stacy talk about what Beyond Zebra mean?
Stacy Burleson: Beyond Zebra is more products in the aspect it handle basically A to Z and beyond. We do commotional products.
Ivy Hartman: I can almost here the commercial now if you were in a television commercial or radio naming a marketing promotional product that started with each letter of the alphabet. You have any in mind? Well we've got P for pencil already right there.
Stacy Burleson: Yes exactly.
Ivy Hartman: So talk about how you're different than other promotional marketing firms out there Beyond Zebra.
Stacy Burleson: What we do is we help entertainment companies and fortune 500 companies turn trash and trinkets into green goals. You don’t normally think of promotional product as something where you can actually go green but it’s a great way to go green for any type of business.
We really gear our clients and help them make thoughtful choices on what areas they can do into. We have the sustainable products, organic products, recycled products. For example you can take something as simple as a pencil and it can be made out of recycled jeans and they can put their logo on this.
We can take something as simple as a t-shirt, everybody wants a t-shirt with a logo on it and we can make that a post consumer recycled sodas bottle and yogurt containers, so simple items to promote your business.
Ivy Hartman: So you don’t have to give up the trinkets and the treasure when you're promoting your business because people are going “that’s so not eco-friendly and so on PC anymore”. You can contact Beyond Zebra and you can get some consultation on what you choose. Also that’s hard decision to make what's right for my business, what do I want to give away and that’s always tricky too.
Stacy Burleson: Yes exactly.
Ivy Hartman: Price points, I'm thinking maybe some small business viewers out there might be thinking “I bet that cost a whole lot of money” but what's the pay off there and are you finding a big price difference.
Stacy Burleson: Well at least for the time being. As things progress and years go on prices are always coming down. But for right now you are looking at a higher price point for post consumer recycled especially. But that’s kind of where we come in. We can give you different levels that will fit our client’s specific budget.
Ivy Hartman: Perfect. Now I know that you're weaving certified so how has that helped your business and some of the partnerships that you’ve gained.
Stacy Burleson: We’re actually really excited about our weaving certification. We've been certified about three to four years. I'm actually the California chair for the WEBAC west board of directors and it’s an incredible opportunity. We have relationships with Chevron, with the Waltz Disney Company and many of those relationships are due to our certification. So it’s been wonderful and not only that but I get to meet fascinating women and learn about their businesses.
Ivy Hartman: Speaking of fascinating women let’s talk about your business partner Terri.
Stacy Burleson: My business partner Terri she is absolutely fabulous. She’s actually a leader when it comes to post consumer recycled and all different kinds of all eco-friendly merchandise. She has been working diligently. She’s one of the eco-freak, some people call them tree huggers whatever you want to call them. She’s the one in the office she has outlawed water bottles. We have all sorts of employee initiatives for green but really she’s been in the eco-movement back in 1991 before we were even Beyond Zebra.
Ivy Hartman: Oh yeah it was the late 80s and the fact they were telling us no more aerosol cans, remember that. That’s the big deal so now we’re really making that push and I think our generation is definitely ready especially business owners that’s the best way we can impact on the environment. If we want more information about Beyond Zebra where can we go?
Stacy Burleson: Go our website its beyondzebra.net.
Ivy Hartman: Wonderful. Thanks for being here Stacy Burleson of beyondzebra.net. Keep it right here as we continue our exclusive coverage of NAWBO 2008 in Phoenix Arizona.
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