Featured – Page 28 – Business Plus Baby

October 7, 2011October 14, 2011

Small business outsourcing: How do you do it?

Today I’m attempting to answer a question from Julia Odgers of KidsTravel2. Julia asks: “It would be useful to know the first best things to look at outsourcing when you are in a growth stage as a young business. I know it will depend on your own skillset but I find it hard to balance growth with the expense of facilitating that growth.”

It’s really important to give some thought to outsourcing if you’re running a small business.

Even more so if you’re running a business part-time, as many of us are.

It’s tempting to save money and do everything yourself, but this will seriously limit your progress. In fact you might not ever get your business started! There are so many skills you need – copywriting, marketing, PR, bookkeeping, web design, graphic design, customer service to name a few – that it could take you years to learn them all to even a basic level.

Even then, someone who does that type of work all day, every day, could do your piece of work in a fraction of the time it would take you to struggle through it yourself. Once you add in the hours of your own time, outsourcing could be far cheaper, too. Continue reading “Small business outsourcing: How do you do it?”

October 3, 2011September 29, 2011

I started a business with a baby: Amanda Ashworth of Excelsior Recruitment Partnership

Tell us a little about your business

Excelsior Recruitment Partnership is a specialist recruitment consultancy specialising in HR, PR, Sales and Marketing. We recruit in London and East Anglia we were established in July 2011. There are currently 3 of us working for Excelsior and we plan to expand this over the next year.

What was your job before starting your business?

I was working as a business development manager for a recruitment agency in Cambridge.

How did you go from your old career to your new business? Continue reading “I started a business with a baby: Amanda Ashworth of Excelsior Recruitment Partnership”

September 27, 2011September 30, 2011

Gro Clock: Stop your toddler waking up too early

Is your toddler waking up too early? If so, the Gro-Clock Sleep Trainer could give you the precious extra sleep you’re craving!

It can be really tough on you as a parent when your toddler wakes up at 5 o’clock every morning. (Or even earlier!) Early starts make you tired, irritable and it can be hard to concentrate on work during the long day ahead. Even just an extra half-hour of sleep in the morning can make a difference if you’re a shattered parent.

The problem is that toddlers are too young to read clocks, so they can’t tell that it’s too early to get up. Enter the Gro Clock…

The Gro Clock has a glowing screen that displays stars or a sun to show the difference between sleep and wake-up time. The small stars go out one-by-one during the night to show time passing by. The changing images encourage children to stay in bed longer as they learn to stay in bed until they see the sun. If you’re lucky enough for your toddler to still be asleep when the sun appears, they won’t be woken because the clock is silent.

The screen brightness is adjustable, meaning it works like a nightlight during the hours when your child is asleep. The Gro Clock also has an optional digital clock and audible alarm, so you can use it as a normal clock as your child grows up. You can also choose to show the digital clock together with the sun or stars, which can help children to learn how to tell time once they are ready. So for older children, they can now start to learn digital time, as well as look for the arrival of the sun.

If you’ve ever felt guilty telling your child to go back to bed because it’s too early, the Gro Clock can help you there, too. Asking your child to “watch for the sun” is far more positive and some kids actually get quite excited about it! Before too long, it all becomes part of the child’s routine and s/he should sleep through until the sun arrives.

And if you think it might be a tad unrealistic to expect your early-riser to sleep all the way through until 7am, don’t worry. You can take it steadily and make the sun come up ten minutes later every day.

The Gro-Clock comes with a story book about a very tired pig which helps to reinforce how important a good night’s sleep really is. It’s mains powered (adapter included) and suitable from age 2 years upwards. Price £24.00 on Amazon.co.uk.

Click here for more about the Gro Clock

Contains affiliate links

September 26, 2011September 26, 2011

Following a different path

Some people are lucky enough when they are school to know what they want to do with their lives. The majority don’t, or think they do but circumstances change. People change. You don’t have to pick one path and stay on it, in fact I think taking a wander down different avenues every now and then can be good for you, and here is why…

I was going to be a nurse. Or a doctor, either would do. I had seen the Young Doctors on TV and knew instantly that was my calling. I am now a freelance writer. Slightly off the medical track but that doesn’t matter, I’m where I need to be and where I want to be. Will I always be here? I think so, I hope, but who knows where life will lead me. Continue reading “Following a different path”

September 20, 2011September 13, 2011

Will you be ready to take your clients’ money this Christmas?

You could make more money in the next few months that at any other time of the year.

And that doesn’t just apply to businesses selling gifts, either.

Christmas is the party season so we want to look good (health, fashion, beauty products), we want to entertain family and friends (food, party supplies, TVs and audio) and we want our houses to look great too (furniture, soft furnishings, DIY). Then at the end of it all we’re so exhausted we want to give ourselves little treats like a weekend away or a new iPod!

Many businesses need extra admin support during this busy time of year and that means more clients for virtual assistants, for example. So even if you’re not selling direct to the public, there are still opportunities for you to support those businesses that are.

True, people may be spending less since the credit crunch, but the run up to Christmas is still the best time in the year for maximising your profits.

Are YOU ready to take advantage of all that spending?

Here are five ways you can get yourself and your business in tip-top shape for the Christmas season:

Your marketing plan

Update your marketing plan to make sure you’re squeezing the absolute best from your time and budget. If you don’t already have a marketing plan, now is the time to get yourself one. It doesn’t have to be a long or complicated document, just some notes about what you’re going to be doing to promote your business on the run up to Christmas and how and when you’re going to do it.

Make sure all your efforts are working together in a strategy. Look at which marketing methods are working well for you and do more of them. Is it time you dropped a marketing method that isn’t very effective?

Are you charging enough?

How do you feel about your pricing? Do you feel confident when you name your price or do you drop your prices too easily? Are you charging less than you deserve for what you do? Take a look at what might be behind this. Does your confidence need a boost? Do you need to work on your selling skills? Are you in a very competitive area and need to find a way to stand out from the crowd?

Are you in control of your money?

Unless you know how much your costs add up to (and yes, that includes paying yourself for the time you work on or in your business) you can’t know how much you need to charge to break even. If you’re not breaking even – or don’t have a plan for how you’re going to get beyond break-even – your business is just an expensive hobby.

Having your financial facts at your fingertips makes it much easier to price your product or service, too.

Get better at following up

Are you telling potential customers all about you/your product but not actually asking them to buy? If so, you’re just warming them up for your competitors to come along and make the sale.

Following up could be as simple as making a phone call to see if they need any further information, explaining how you can solve their problem, then making the sale when the time is right. If they aren’t ready to commit right then, make sure you arrange to follow up again. Book a date for another meeting, ask if you can add them to your mailing list or ask if you can call them again next month.

Think bigger

Whatever you have planned, take it to the next level.

Going to a conference? Don’t just network with the delegates, get to know the speakers. Look at your branding: your logo, colour scheme, fonts, photo, business card, tagline, website, customer service, marketing materials and so on. Boosting the image that your business gives out to the world will improve the way people perceive your product/service and you may be able to charge more.

If you act like you’re running a little business just for fun, that’s how people will see you. You can think big even if you’re running a business part-time from home. It’s just a question of attitude!

Your customers are ready to spend their cash. Are you ready for them to spend it with YOU?

If you need help getting your business in shape for Christmas, get yourself a copy of the Earn What You Deserve as a Mumpreneur e-course. You can download it for just £24 if you buy it before 30^th September (usual price £37).

photo credit: Karen Roe