2010 – Page 7 – Business Plus Baby

November 3, 2010July 4, 2011

Why selling your time by the hour is a bad idea (and what to do about it)

If you’re selling your time by the hour, you may find you’re working really hard but not earning as much as you want. Why? Well, if you’re working part time around children you may only have twenty hours a week to work. Once you’ve lost up to half of that time doing your admin and marketing you may only have ten hours left. You need to be charging a lot per hour to make much money from ten hours a week.

And even if you do charge a high hourly rate there will always be a limit to how much you can earn because there are only 24 hours in a day.

A big advantages of this type of business are that you can get paid faster than other businesses – you don’t need to manufacture anything – and you don’t need to buy or store stock, so it’s a great way to get a business off the ground. But to grow your business (and your bank balance) you’ll need to think of other ways of increasing your income.

How about setting up another income stream that doesn’t involve selling time? If you’re a complementary therapist, you could sign up with a direct selling company and sell health, beauty or environmental products, for example. It won’t cost you much to get started, you don’t need to buy much stock and the direct selling company will provide you with things like brochures, order forms and posters.

Can’t find what you want in direct selling? There are lots of creative mums out there, look around for one who makes a product that your clients would love.

Or how about selling an e-book or on your website? You don’t even need to write it yourself, you could become an affiliate for someone else’s product. Being affiliate means that you tell clients, or even friends and family, about a product and you get commission for every sale you make. Look at products you already use and like, then take a look at the seller or manufacturer’s website for how to ‘become an affilliate’ (it’s sometimes called a ‘reseller’ or ‘rep’ instead).

If you’d like to know about more ways you could boost your income as a mumpreneur, take a look at my e-course Earn What You Deserve as a Mumpreneur.

Photo credit: Katerha

November 2, 2010November 1, 2010

Starting Your Mumpreneur Business: What You Need To Know

Do you have a great business idea, but are unsure how to turn it into reality? Or is your business up and running, but not doing as well as you might like?

Well, Antonia Chitty, Erica Douglas and I have put together…

The Essential ‘Start Your Mumpreneur Business’ Pack

This pack is packed with friendly advice and guidance on starting a successful business at a low cost. It will give you the information you need to take your from business beginner to successful entrepreneur.

It’ll show you how to:

Earn money in your spare time.
Assess business ideas and find the one that is right for you.
Turn your hobby into a profitable business.
Create a website that makes you money
Set up a successful direct sales or party plan business.
Take a business from idea to reality.
See your current business grow and succeed.

Get exclusive access to this pack full of articles and guidance written by Antonia Chitty, Erica Douglas and I with contributions from business experts including Emma Wimhurst, Mel McGee, Roberta Jerram and Alison Rothwell. Read tips and ideas for helping YOU to – get a great business idea – test your idea – start your business – make the most of innovative strategies to help you create a successful family friendly enterprise.

Sounds just like what you need? Buy your pack NOW or read on to find out more

You can be sure that this pack will help whether you are wondering about starting a business or have a definite business idea. Get your copy NOW. It includes:

Start a Family Friendly Business by Antonia Chitty and Helen Lindop
The Mumpreneur Guide’s Start Your Own Business Book by Antonia Chitty
The Mum Blogger eBook by Erica Douglas

Work through your pack to discover:

4 types of business that work well when you are a parent
129 great flexible business ideas and how to make them succeed when you have a family.
11 tips to help you succeed as a mumpreneur
7 indispensible resources to get your business off to a great start.
19 ways to make money online

Plus you’ll learn:

7 simple ways to find customers.
The 19 ‘must haves’ for any website.
9 great ways to raise your business profile online.
7 essentials to help you get to grips with business finance basics.
5 key elements of getting a great work life balance.
10 ways to grow your business and take it to the next level.

And you’ll receive:

12 practical exercises to help you take action in YOUR business
A 25 day plan to help you create a successful blog AND make money
42 inspiring case studies of mums and dads with great businesses

The Essential ‘Start Your Mumpreneur Business’ Pack would normally cost £52 but TODAY you can buy it for just £33.

Take the first step to start your business: Buy your pack NOW or read on to find out what other leading businesswomen think

These women have found the contents of ‘The Essential ‘Start Your Mumpreneur Business’ Pack invaluable:

A great resource for any mum looking for flexible working inspiration and ideas.

Jane Hopkins of MumsClub

“I’m a huge advocate of mums who set up in business and who combine work and motherhood on their terms…and this book is a great starting point for anybody who’s excited by this prospect. It’s packed to the gunnels with good ideas and inspiration for harnessing the hidden mumpreneur inside!” Wendy Shand of Tots to Travel

“An invaluable guide for Mums who have the seed of an idea. Practical advice in easy to read snippets with loads of real examples. This will help Mums take their idea forward but with realistic expectations, a business mentor on your bedside table!”

Sam Willoughby of Whats on 4 Little Ones

“Erica’s ebook is an excellent resource for anyone interested in starting a blog or for those wishing to understand the mechanics of blogging a little better. It is well written, comprehensive and full of valuable advice. I’d highly recommend it.”

Rosie

“The “must-have” read for anyone considering setting up a business whilst combining the responsibility of raising a family. Don’t do anything until you have read this book……it could change your life….”

Emma Wimhurst, Business Mentor and author of BOOM!

Get your copy here for just £33 at NO RISK. Full money-back guarantee if you find this package is not for you.

November 1, 2010November 1, 2010

Mumpreneur Monday Challenge: Get Out There!

Welcome to week two of the Mumpreneur Monday challenge!

How did you get on with last week’s challenge? If you missed it, the Monday challenge was to Promote Your Blog.

The internet is a wonderful thing but nothing beats meeting real, live people in the flesh. Too much time on your own in front of a PC can drive you a little bit crazy, so this week your challenge is to…

Get out there!

Here’s how you could do it:

Go to a new networking group

Pick one that suits your style – structured, informal, for mums, for women… take your pick. Stuck for ideas? Ask people you know where they network and what it’s like. Also, ask if you can join them as a guest.

Want to take the little ones but there are no mums networking groups in your area? You could start one of your own! Take a look at Mums The Boss and Mums Business Club.

Have an informal meet-up (or a Tweetup*)

If you don’t want to start a networking group, you could just ask around if anyone knows any mums in business in your area, then arrange a time to meet up in the local park with the kids.

(*Tweetup = A gathering of people who use Twitter.)

See someone you know you should meet

Have you been bouncing emails around with someone when you know you should go and see them in person? It’s not always easy to getting around to meeting people face-to-face. This week, set the date and go and see that person.

Look for business events in your area

Sometimes you just need a breath of fresh air into your business. Look around for local business events and workshops where you can meet new people and get some new ideas. See Woman’s Work, you local Enterprise Agency or Universities, Business Link, or your local Chamber of Commerce.

Turn to Jelly

Have you heard of Jelly? It’s where groups of home-workers gather together and work in the same space for a few hours (but without networking). There are Jellies popping up all over the world and quite a few are in the UK.

If you’re a Twitter user, the hashtag #Jelly will keep you up to date with all things Jelly.

Go for a coffee, girls’ night out or whatever you fancy.

Between family and business it’s easy to forget that you’ve not been out just for fun for a while. So go out, enjoy yourself and recharge those batteries.

Drop me a comment and let me know how you get on!

October 28, 2010March 24, 2015

What’s on your business card?

I run an online business, so I don’t use business cards that much. But now the little Lindops are getting older I’m finding a few more networking events are coming my way. My current set of business cards have my old green-and-orange logo on them, so it’s time for a new set. Maybe even a nice printed lanyard, too!

I was cheerfully putting my new logo on my business card template at VistaPrint when I realised that I had no idea what my job title is!

I own a blog, so I’m a blogger. But I publish articles, so I’m a publisher. Hang on though, I’ve written a book – and I’m soon to be a regular contributor to a family magazine – so that makes me a writer. And I’m about to launch an e-course based on my e-book Earn What You Deserve as a Mumpreneur. That means I’m still a trainer, too.

Job titles for self employed people are not as straightforward as they first appear. So what should you put on your business card? Here are some options:

Be the boss

If you’re a one-woman business (and most of us are), you could give yourself any job title you want including ‘Director’. While that would be technically true, I think most people will quickly sniff out the fact that you’re director of a company of one. There’s nothing wrong with the fake it ’til you make it approach. Up to a point, anyway. You can make your website look every bit as professional as a large company, even if you’re just one person. But pretending to be a ‘we’ when you’re actually an ‘I’ is generally going a step to far.

I’ve seen ‘proprietor’ too. To me, that felt a little old-fashioned, but I guess it depends on your business.

Describe the job

You could keep it simple and call yourself a ‘web designer’, ‘tutor’ or ‘accountant’. For some professions, that could be absolutely fine and expected. In fact, for some it could be against their professional code of conduct to do anything else.

But if you’ve created yourself a job, why not create yourself a job title too? The aim of your business card is to get you business, so if creative works for you then why not try it?

Say nothing (and do something different)

Do you need a job title at all? Most of us have a business name/strap line, logo and URL that describes what we do.

Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income (a great blog if you’re into making money online, by the way) wanted to get a set of business cards printed for a big blogging conference. He wanted to stand out, so chose an unusual card size and picked an eye-catching graphic design. On the front he put his photo, name, Twitter ID and his blog’s URL, on the back he put a link to a welcome video and podcast he’d put together for the conference. You can see photos of the cards in his post How to be a business card ninja.

Of course, this approach wouldn’t work for everyone or every business. But that’s exactly the point – now that you can print business cards cheaply in small batches, it really is possible to print a set that will only be useful for a week. A business card is a part of your marketing literature so why not make it both stand out from the others and tailor it to your audience. The only reason traditional business cards look the way they do is because you had to get thousands printed at a time. The design had to last as you’d be stuck with them for a few years.

The photo at the top shows the design I finally chose. Is it the best one? I don’t know, but I only ordered the minimum number (250) so it won’t be a big deal if I’ve got it wrong.

*Update 21 August 2013*

The original photo of my business card in this post disappeared when I updated the WordPress framework here at Business Plus Baby. Since I’ve had at least three different business cards since I wrote this post, here is a photo of my most recent one…

Thanks for prompting me in the comments, Natalie!

What’s on your business card? Leave me a comment and let me know!

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