Helen – Page 3 – Business Plus Baby

December 21, 2022December 20, 2022

5 Ways to Make Your Small Business Stronger

Most business owners have a hard time taking their eyes off the bottom line. While keeping your business profitable is extremely important, you shouldn’t ignore more qualitative aspects of building a strong business. Many small businesses fail to have staying power because they put all of their energy into growing profits and very little into quality branding, marketing, and management. So, in today’s guide, we are going to look at 5 ways to make your small business stronger!

Improve Your Personal Finances

As a small business owner, you probably rely on revenue from your small business to pay your own bills. This is not unusual, as most businesses are designed to make a profit for the owner and any investors. However, if you rely very heavily on your business to support your personal finances, you could end up siphoning too many resources from your business to pay for personal expenses. So, the first step to making your business stronger is to make your own finances stronger. You can do this in a variety of ways, but cutting costs and budgeting are two of the best ways. For example, if you’re planning to move into a new home, you can save time and money by contacting the experts at Black Tie Moving.

Connect With Your Customers

Customers don’t like businesses that feel like distant, unapproachable institutions. Instead, they want to feel like they’re interacting with real human beings who understand and care about their needs. Make an effort to connect and communicate with your customers. Even if it is just an occasional email, it is good to keep in touch with your customers and form a connection that will improve the public perception of your business.

Network With Professionals In Your Industry

Even businesses that have been around for 50 years could always use advice from others. You should never try to take on everything by yourself, especially when it comes to running a small business. So, don’t see professionals in your industry as competitors or adversaries. Instead, reach out to network and potentially even collaborate with your business peers.

Be Active (& Creative) On Social Media

These days, social media can be a business’s best friend or worst enemy. Fortunately, it is relatively easy to use social media platforms to promote your business without angering potential clientele. However, you do need to think of ways to be creative and interesting. Otherwise, people will be less inclined to follow, subscribe, share, or like your content.

Reduce Wasteful Business Spending

Finally, you have to remember that a business should be able to make money. If your business is in the red, it could be a short-term hiccup or a long-term problem. Either way, you can find ways to reduce cash flow problems by reducing unnecessary business spending. For example, if you use accounting software to manage your business finances, consider shopping around for cheaper solutions that can offer similar results. This way, you’ll have more cash available to invest in other areas of your business.

Looking for even more great articles like this one? If so, be sure to check out some of our other posts on Business Plus Baby today!

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December 20, 2022

4 Life Hacks for Busy Moms

Whether you are a stay-at-home mom juggling 3 different schedules or work for Black Tie Moving, we know that it’s hard navigating parenting and busy schedules. There are a few things to keep in mind to make it a little less stressful.

Here are 4 life hacks for busy moms. Let’s dive in!

Plan Your Meals Ahead

You have multiple mouths to feed, but you barely have time to make breakfast for yourself. Busy moms know the stress of figuring out meals for their families, but it doesn’t have to be so challenging!

Planning your meals ahead of time can take a lot of pressure off your plate. If you find that you don’t have time to cook up well-balanced meals for the family, there are multiple meal services available online. This could be as simple as popping dinner in the microwave or spending a few minutes preparing a healthy dish with all the ingredients provided for you.

Set Aside Some Self-Care Time

You may feel as if you have no time for yourself, but it’s imperative you make the time. After all, by neglecting yourself you could end up feeling the negative effects of burnout. This will spiral before you know it, and you’ll find yourself constantly stressed and overwhelmed.

Setting aside some self-care time doesn’t have to be hours a day. We know with busy schedules – this could be near impossible. Instead, stick to a realistic plan. You could allow yourself 20 minutes each morning to drink your coffee and read one of your favorite books. This alone could help to prevent burnout! It’s a wonderful act of self-care.

Create and Maintain Boundaries

Work/life balance is tricky. This is why it’s paramount that you create some personal boundaries for yourself. You don’t want to be glued to your work phone at all hours of the day. This isn’t healthy for you or your family.

Boundaries are a necessary and important part of life – with work, relationships, and for your personal health. If you find that you’re more of a people-pleaser, this may be a bit challenging. Yet, you will grow more accustomed to it over time. Work to create some healthy boundaries in your life, and you’re sure to reap the positive benefits over time.

Don’t Skimp Out on Quality Time

Part of being a busy mom, is that you are trying to juggle being a parent and a great employee and/or spouse. Oftentimes, it’s easy to overlook the parent part of this equation. You’re working and running around getting things done for your children. Yet, it’s important this doesn’t create more harm than good.

Try and keep your children at the forefront of your mind, and this includes being there for them physically and emotionally. A good idea is to have a family dinner at least a few nights a week. And this doesn’t mean in front of the TV. Try and have a family dinner where you all are engaged in conversation, with minimal distractions. You should have your focus be primarily on your family during the quality time you spend with them.

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December 5, 2022

The Best Practices for Reposting on Social Media

There are many reasons why someone would want to post to social media. Individuals post to social media to keep up with family and friends, businesses post to bring in more business, and scammers post to gain access to personal data. If you own a small business or have something creative to sell, like crafts or art, posting to social media is a must. Beyond Facebook and Instagram is the latest entry into the social media arena is Tiktok. How to repost on Tiktok is simple, but there are a few best practices you will want to follow.

Why Use Reposted Content

There are several reasons why you will want to use reposted content on your social media page. The first reason is that you can’t possibly create enough content daily to draw new users to your site. You could hire someone to create or find new and useful information, but that could become expensive.

Another reason to use reposted information is to ensure you obtain the highest quality graphics and content. This helps to draw in more customers, those who would be willing to pay for your products.

Visual Content

According to a recent Twitter survey, Tweets that contain a graphic, picture, or a short video will get retweeted more than 35 percent over those Tweets without any photos. Choosing the best content for your brand is important and can help move your products into the right hands. You want your customers to purchase your items, but you also want them to spread the word about your brand. You are not only building a business based on something that a consumer can use or enjoy; you want them to tell all their family and friends to also purchase your brand.

Altering Content

If you are going to change original content, you either need to get permission from the original creator or change the content completely to make it your own. Never take credit for content you did you create yourself. Stolen content could lead to legal problems with hefty fines.

Permission and Credit

It is important to get permission from the original poster of the content to use their creation. However, some photos and graphics are simply “out there” as public domain and can be used by anyone without credit. To be safe, it is suggested that one always gives credit to the original place where you found the content. You can add a line at the end of your post, giving thanks to “@so-and-so” for this content. You could also comment on how much the content was found or liked within your post. Whichever you decide to use, always err on the side of caution, and thank the website or person you took the post from.

Creating content or gathering it from other sources will help to promote your products or services. Taking time to curate the best content for your website may take some of your valuable time, but it is worth it to keep your brand at the forefront of trends, which ultimately leads to sales.

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August 25, 2022

3 Tips for Saving Money on Travel

For many people, the biggest thing standing between them and the vacation of their dreams is money – this is especially true for families. Planning a trip for yourself and your children can be overwhelming, and it makes sense that many parents assume doing so is simply out of their budget. There is no denying that traveling can be expensive, especially if you are worrying about the cost of traveling with children. The good news, however, is that there are ways to greatly minimize the cost of travel without having to make sacrifices that will affect your trip in a negative way.

If you’re planning a trip this year, here are a few simple tips for saving money on family travel.

1. Give Yourself Plenty of Time to Plan

Thoroughly planning a trip takes time, and so does saving money. While you might feel eager and want to take a trip shortly after beginning to plan it, scheduling your trip as far in the future as possible will give you time to save up money, and time to hunt for deals on everything from flights, to experiences, to lodging. Some destinations, such as major theme parks, offer layaway payment plans, giving you time to pay for your trip in small increments over an extended period of time and lessening the financial burden of the trip. Giving yourself more time to plan than you think you will need is the key to avoiding a vacation taking a major toll on your budget.

2. Weigh the Pros and Cons of Driving vs. Flying

One of the most expensive parts of any trip, regardless of your destination, is transportation. At first glance, airfare can be expensive – but the truth is, so can fuel if you are traveling a long distance. Flying might save a bit of money in the long run, and can cut travel time in half so you can get to your destination and begin enjoying your vacation sooner – but traveling to an airport and on a plane with young children can be difficult, especially for first time flyers or young kids with a fear of flying. While money is an important factor to consider when determining how you will travel to your next vacation destination, it is also important to consider your family and what would make the most sense for you and your trip. Whether you’re traveling in your family vehicle that has been newly restored by Precision Car Restoration or taking a flight, be sure to consider how each would benefit your family and the costs associated with both.

3. Consider Lodging Options

Finding a place to stay can also be one of the most expensive aspects of traveling, especially if you are traveling in a big group that would need to rent more than one room just to have enough space for everyone. For families or big groups, renting a condo or entire house might be a better option. This would allow for everyone in your group to stay in one place and would allow your entire party to split the total cost, making it much cheaper for each person individually.

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August 25, 2022

3 Tips for Work From Home Parents

Working from home is one of the best things any parent can do to improve the balance between their life at home and their life at work. Working remotely gives parents the flexibility to prioritize their children and work on their own terms, generally allowing for parents who would normally spend all day away at the office to spend more time with their children. While this is a blessing for many, there’s no denying that working from home poses its own challenges, especially when young children are in the house all day and the parent who is working remotely must balance hands-on parenting with a typical workday schedule. If you are a parent trying to adjust to working from home while your children are around, here are a few simple yet effective tips for finding balance.

1. Create a Separate Workspace

While this might seem like the most obvious piece of advice, it is one of the most important. For many, the key to success when working remotely and maintaining a balance between work and personal life is designating a workspace in your home as the only area where professional work is done. Whether you have a state-of-the-art home office designed by keyinteriors.us or just allocate a separate corner of your living room to be your makeshift office while doing work from home, keeping your work physically separate from the rest of your home will help you keep your responsibilities as an employee and a parent separate.

2. Stick to a Routine

One of the best ways to simplify your daily routine and remain productive throughout the day is by creating and sticking to a daily routine for yourself and your child. Try to wake your child up around the same time each day if they don’t already, and create a routine of spending time with them getting dressed, eating breakfast, etc. Try to do work for the same amount of time each morning before eating lunch with your child at the same time, then work uninterrupted while they take a nap around the same time each afternoon. Firmly sticking to a routine will help you get less overwhelmed balancing your work and home responsibilities, and will ensure that your child and your workload are both getting adequate amounts of attention.

3. Hire Help

If you have never utilized the services of a babysitter, nanny, or another at-home service provider to care for your child or various household responsibilities, now might be a good time to look into doing so. Hiring help to care for your child throughout the day can help you get work done without interruption, and can help to ensure that you don’t get burnt out from carrying too many responsibilities at once.

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