Tips and Tools – Page 156 – Business Plus Baby

November 14, 2011November 10, 2011

Why the world needs you to be an entrepreneur

We often think of entrepreneurs as building big companies to making themselves richer. But last week I found this video that explains why innovators, inventors and entrepreneurs are critical to the wealth of society as a whole…

The statistics are for the USA, but the theory is the same wherever you live in the world.

So if you ever feel selfish for working late on your business or guilty for asking a high (but fair!) price for what you do, remember this video 🙂

(Thanks to David Perdew of myNAMS for posting this video on his blog.)

November 7, 2011April 14, 2013

Do I need a business plan?

Most mums don’t need to get a start-up loan (although that would be nice!) Instead, we tend to choose businesses that need very little start-up capital and fund them either from our savings or just keep feeding our profits back it the business.

We don’t need a heavy-duty business plan to convince an investor to give us money, so do we really need a business plan at all?

Er, yes!

You may find that using a typical business plan template for a small home business is like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. In fact, every time you look at the template you get this irresistible urge to make a coffee, feed the cat or do anything else but fill it in!

Here are two good reasons why you need a business plan:

1) Without a plan, it’s hard to have any direction or focus. In fact, unless you’ve done some business planning, you could find yourself working hard for several years and still have no idea if you’ll ever make a profit.

2) The process of writing it is at least as valuable as having the finished business plan sitting in front of you. So don’t feel you that you can’t write a business plan because you don’t know where you’re going yet. The purpose of your business plan is to give you direction. And it doesn’t matter if you change it every week.

Any planning is better than none at all, so if you’re struggling, grab yourself a sheet of A4 paper and scribble down the answers to these questions. Go on, do it now!

Who are my customers? (be very specific)
What problem will this solve for my customers (and do they really want it solved?)
How will I check that customers want this product/service?
How will my customers find me?
Who are my competitors?
How is my product/service different from my competitors?
How much do I need to charge/sell to a) be able to pay myself a decent salary b) pay all my expenses c) have some profit left over to be able to develop my business?

I found this Remarkably Simple Business Plan from Sonia Simone really helpful, too.

If you found this post helpful, why not join my mailing list? You’ll get weekly tips to help you thrive as a self-employed parent, as well as my a free e-book,”Running a business around a family: 9 Steps to success”.

photo credit: KatjaSchmitt

November 3, 2011April 14, 2013

Be careful who your friends are

The people we hang around with influence us more than we think.

That’s because our perception of what’s normal comes from the people around us. Hang around with struggling self-employed people who have clients-from-hell and are working their butts off just to make minimum wage and you’d conclude that’s just the way that self-employed life is. But if you spend time with self employed people who are doing well and have clients who are generally a pleasure to work with, then your perception would be very different.

I believe it’s very easy for us women in particular to get close to our business friends. We get to know and like them, and soon enough they become true friends. That’s great for overcoming the isolation that the self employed life can bring, but as the people around you have such a huge impact on you, it’s good to pay attention to who is in your circle every now and then.

Women’s desire to help others can be a problem here, too. Helping others is usually a really positive thing, but there comes a time when you’re so busy helping others that you neglect yourself. You can only effectively support people in your own business community (possibly any community?) if you’re exposed to positive influences yourself. Otherwise your community becomes a crowd of knackered and frustrated people who are just propping each other up!

Am I suggesting that you drop friends who are not helping you progress? Absolutely not, that would be really selfish. But you aren’t restricted to just the one community. There’s nothing to stop you building a network among people who are going to challenge you just a bit more than where you are now. By ‘challenge’, I mean that they stretch you a little, expose you to new ideas and create a bigger sense of what your world could be.

It’s so easy to slip into spending an hour in an internet forum or in a Facebook group which is, if you’re really honest, doing very little for your business. Instead, why not spend ten minutes there and another twenty in a group that will really help you and your business grow?

photo credit: ammgramm

October 31, 2011October 30, 2011

Twitter changes at Business Plus Baby

This weekend I did something I’ve been procrastinating over for about eighteen months now. I switched Business Plus Baby’s Twitter account over from @HelenLindop to @Bizplusbaby.

This feels like I’ve dropped back from over 3000 followers to…er…11!

No wonder I’ve been procrastinating, eh?

Actually, I haven’t lost any followers and I’ll still be tweeting at @HelenLindop. It’s just that over time I’ll be tweeting about slightly different things at @HelenLindop than at @Bizplusbaby. You’re very welcome to follow me at either or both IDs.

So why did I do it? Well, I wanted some consistency. This blog is called Business Plus Baby, the Facebook page is called businessplusbaby and my Twitter account was @HelenLindop.

But also because I’m going to be starting some new projects and I want to give people useful and relevant info on Twitter. I’m still thrashing out what my new projects will be, but they’re likely to be about business without the baby! So I need to separate out what I’m tweeting about.

That doesn’t mean I’ll be putting Business Plus Baby on the back-burner, though. I’m currently planning a rebrand/refurb/restructure of Business Plus Baby and I intend it to become bigger and bolder than before. If you’re intrigued, watch this space! (Or better still, join my mailing list 🙂 )

In the meantime, I’d love you to follow me at @Bizplusbaby!

October 18, 2011April 15, 2012

Energy saving for mumpreneurs: 5 must-know tips

Mumpreneurs – the somewhat unflattering term used to describe entrepreneurs who also happen to be mothers – are often forced to compare business electricity prices as they strive to save money on energy bills while earning a living. Provided below are five must-know tips about business energy that can help mumpreneurs control their overheads.

1. Apply for tax relief

Mumpreneurs in the UK who work from home should be aware that tax relief may be available on gas and electricity used for business purposes. If it is possible to calculate how much energy is used by the home office, mumpreneurs can apply to have this figure offset against tax. If this figure proves too difficult to calculate, tax relief of £3.00 per week will be awarded as a flat rate reduction. Unfortunately, tax relief is not available to those who volunteer to work at home under the ‘homeworking arrangement’ unless employers contribute the £3.00 weekly deduction.

2. Install solar panels

Solar photovoltaic panels offer a number of incentives to home owners, particularly those who work from home and have applied for tax relief on gas and electricity.

Solar panels are typically fixed to the roof of a property, where they capture and convert sunlight into electricity. This most green of energy sources can be used to provide power throughout the home. Any surplus energy can be exported to the National Grid for a fixed price under the feed-in tariff system (FITs). FITs guarantees a fixed level of payment for green energy for up to 25 years, which is more or less the lifespan of a typical solar PV installation.

In addition to using less electricity from a conventional energy supplier, a mumpreneur whose property is fitted with solar panels should also benefit from tax relief on energy costs while earning additional income through FITs.

3. Insulate cavity walls and lofts

This tip should be followed by all home owners in addition to mumpreneurs looking to save money on business-related expenses.

Poorly insulated cavity walls and lofts waste substantial heat, causing central heating systems to work overtime to maintain an acceptable temperature throughout the home. While mumpreneurs put in the hours to build a business, they cannot afford to waste money through unnecessary heat loss.

Insulating cavity walls and lofts can resolve this problem to a significant degree, trapping heat inside the home to ensure that boilers use less energy in maintaining temperatures.

4. Compare the energy market

The energy market is both competitive and confusing. However, it is by no means impossible to find a good deal. Mumpreneurs can utilise services such as uswitchforbusiness, which searches the market for the most affordable and suitable tariffs based upon the energy bills submitted by its users. Switching to a new energy supplier can save hundreds of pounds over the year.

5. Upgrade technology

Old technology is invariably slow, insecure, unreliable and energy inefficient. Mumpreneurs can save significant amounts of energy by investing in new technology. Old desktop computers, for example, are notorious energy wasters, comprising power-hungry motherboards, hard drives and processors. In contrast, the latest technology is usually more environmentally friendly. Furthermore, it can assist in creating a more efficient working environment and should prove to be more secure and reliable. Desktop computers should be set to sleep or hibernate after any extended period of inactivity (15 minutes or longer) in order to save energy over the long-term.

Photo: Images_of_Money

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