Here are my favourite ideas for growing your business each year

Once you’ve got your business up and running, you quickly learn to cope with family life and work. You have your routines, and you’re really organized to ensure the kids don’t miss out on anything. Sure, there are a few late nights and plenty of early starts. But the thrill of making it work energizes you and pushes you on in your commitment to the business.

So what happens when you realise that your business has real potential? Not only is it generating a good income, but it is already exceeding your forecasts. Is it time to celebrate? Absolutely. Every good thing that comes around should be a personal pat on the back for all your hard work. But, it could also be a sign that you need to make a choice.

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The photo is courtesy of Flickr.com
Continue reading “Here are my favourite ideas for growing your business each year”

Understanding your rights in the workplace

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Pic from Pixabay

Women’s rights have come an awful long way since the days of petitioning for abortion rights in the 1970s. These were the biggest strides the feminist movement had made to that point, and they have continued to go from strength to strength ever since. In this day and age, it is hard to envisage a time when women’s rate of pay were legally less than men’s. Or when banks would refuse to grant loans or credit on the grounds of gender. But it happened.

And while great strides have been made, there’s just as long a way to go as there was back then. It is still, by and large, a male-dominated world. If you’re going to bravely take the plunge into this territory, it’s important to know where you stand on a multitude of issues. It’s vital that you understand your rights at work, and I hope that this clears any issues up for you.

Maternity Continue reading “Understanding your rights in the workplace”

Why hire a marketing agency?

Marketing is a buzzword in modern day business. Everyone from Facebook to the smallest businesses in the industry is trying to maximise their marketing opportunities with varying degrees of success. Hence, more and more people are turning to marketing agencies to help them achieve their goals. A lot of readers will be thinking do they work? The short answer is yes they do work, as long as you hire the right partner, and here’s why.

Your Lack Of Experience

You are a businessperson, not a marketing expert. So, it stands to reason that you nothing to very little about marketing your company. Your lack of experience is the main reason that you should hire a professional in any case. When you lack the knowledge and skill to perform a task, you will only do more damage in the long-term.

Their Skill And Reputation

On the flip side, they are incredibly skillful and reputable. When you hire a marketing expert, from a digital agency to a conventional agency, you hire their knowledge and their talent. Although you might have to pay for the privilege, they will get the job done much quicker and more efficiently than any other option.

Cost Versus Results

Simply put, the results tend to outweigh the costs. So, if you are thinking that hiring an agency looks like a costly expenditure, do the maths. Although the initial cost is expensive, the money they will make you in the long-term will negate any expense. In fact, a good marketing company will make you money, and every business in the world needs a little extra influx every now and again.

Make The Link

Why can an agency have such an effect on your ability to make money and succeed? Well, barring expertise and skill, because they have a wealth of contacts. After all, they are businesspersons just like you and your partners. Contacts come in handy when they need information or they need someone to repay a favour. As a businessperson, you understand how important it is to have someone owe you a kindness when you are in a hole.

Tricks Of The Trade

They also know the industry inside and out, which is essential. Due to their knowledge, they can exploit techniques that will turn your company’s fortune around. Or, they can exploit new tactics that are yet to become public knowledge because they can see and analyse the pros and cons. Any business that can steal a march on the competition is going to have a good year!

Success

Finally, they get the job done. Ask around and you will find that most peers in the industry will only have positive things to say. Regardless of what you think they can and cannot do, you never know until you see the finished product. For that reason, most partnerships are incredibly risky. Marketing agencies, however, take the risk out of the equation.

If the above is not good enough to persuade you, nothing ever will be.

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Let’s cut those business costs down to size!

analysisRunning a small business can be tough. One of the biggest problems is finding out how to keep those costs down. It’s important to do this, particularly when you are just starting out. The business world is competitive. If you can’t keep costs low, you can easily find your business pushed out of the market by cheaper alternatives. But, it never has to reach that point because there are easy ways to keep spending low. For some of these you might have to adjust your business model. others are quite simple and won’t take a lot of effort at all.

Hire An Accountant

I know many business owners avoid hiring an accountant for two reasons. Firstly, they believe they can easily manage their own spendings without any outside help. While this might be true any business owner will tell you how things can start to slip. Somewhat surprisingly, managing accounts is often pushed to the bottom of the priority list. But you should hire an accountant because it will end up saving you and your business a lot of money. Accountants to know how to free up funds and can assess where spending is needed. They’ll even be able to help you with those pesky business taxes, making them easier to manage. If you don’t want to hire an accountant, you can use an online, digital service. This is still a great way to keep spending in check and save money.

Outsourcing

These days, there are plenty of different forms of outsourcing to choose from. For instance, if you own an online business, you might want to consider using a virtual assistant. By doing this, you will hire staff through a company. They can help you in different areas of your business like marketing and content building. It’s a service that costs a lot less than hiring additional employees for your business. As well as this you can be guaranteed a professional, quality output.

Tech Savings

There are a number of different ways you can save money when buying tech for your business. You can buy second hand. By buying cheap, second hand tech online, you’ll be saving a lot of money. This is a possibility, as long as your business doesn’t require a lot of extensive computer work. We wouldn’t recommend this if your company offers a service such as IT support.

You can also switch to a digital service rather than bothering with expensive machinery. For instance, in this day and age there is no need for a fax machine. A digital service will be just as effective, and you’ll get all the information you need straight to your email.

The final option is to look for tech that saves energy and is more environmentally friendly. The downside to this is that this tech is usually the latest hardware and quite expensive. While the fixed cost is unfortunate, you will save money over time, so it is something to consider.

Any one of these solutions could benefit your business and reduce the costs of running it on a daily basis.

 

3 reasons why mums should start a podcast

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My name is Veena, single Mum to a very energetic 6 year old boy. He’s currently at school as I write this and today, I don’t miss him at all. He called me a ‘sucker’ as I dropped him in, I didn’t even have time to shout as he ran into class so fast and disappeared into the sea of children’s heads.

I’ve been listening to ‘Let it go’ so the anger doesn’t manifest inside me!

On Sunday, I will be uploading the 32nd episode of the Mum to Millionaire podcast. My podcast features inspirational stories from parents who have built successful businesses whilst raising their kids. It’s packed full of so much motivation and business tips on a weekly basis. Continue reading “3 reasons why mums should start a podcast”

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