book review – Business Plus Baby

September 3, 2015September 3, 2015

Watertight Marketing: Book review

Did you know it’s Small Business Advice Week (31st Aug – 6th September)? The aim is to help the UKs 4.5 million SMEs (small and medium employers) thrive in what can still be tough times for many.

So with this in mind, I thought I’d tell you about the book I’m reading right now, which is Watertight Marketing by Bryony Thomas.

First of all, it’s a really excellent book. And if you’re thinking it might cover stuff about sales funnels that you’ve heard before, then you’re in for a nice surprise!

A central theme in this book is to give your prospects and customers exactly the information they want, when they want it. And this book really does practice what it preaches in that it’s taken what could be rather dry business theory and made it speak to busy small business owners. It does cover how to set up a sales and marketing system that works in the long term – for both your business and your customers – that is built on solid relationships. But it uses lots of quick-to-understand concepts (buckets, funnels and taps) and looks at plugging the gaps we all have in our marketing systems.

One concept that really grabbed me was the logic sandwich. If you’re wondering whether to sell using facts or emotions, this could be just what you need. Because when people are first looking at your products, they need an emotional approach. Then they’ll want to know all the facts and figures about your product – that’s the logically part. Finally, when they are just about ready to buy they’ll switch back to using their emotions again. And those are the three layers of the sandwich. If you get this wrong, you can end up by hitting them with the facts too early and scaring them off, for example.

One thing that many small business owners are afraid of is being too ‘salesy’. Watertight Marketing shows you that a more subtle approach that goes at your prospect’s own pace is much more effective in the long run than selling fast and hard. That’s a big relief for those of us who aren’t natural sales people!

The book is very practical, and you can download workbooks from the website given in the book to make it easier to implement what you learn as you go along. I haven’t had a chance to do that just yet but I definitely will.

So I recommend you grab yourself a copy of this book!

January 18, 2013January 18, 2013

Blogging: The Essential Guide – Book review

If you’re completely new to blogging, you might like to grab yourself a copy of Blogging: The Essential Guide by Antonia Chitty and Erica Douglas. I’ll tell you more here:

Strangely, only the Kindle version seems to be available on Amazon for a sensible price at the moment! If you prefer a paperback, do take a look as there may be more in stock when you get there. Here’s the link again Blogging: The Essential Guide

For more useful tips and tools for running a business as a mum, click here to get my newsletter. I’ll also send you a copy of my e-book Running a business around a family: 9 steps to success.

March 15, 2012March 14, 2012

Kids Coach Naomi Richards launches her first book: The Parent’s Tookit

Congratulations to Naomi Richards, The Kids Coach, who has recently launched her first book, The Parent’s Toolkit: Simple & Effective Ways to Help Your Child Be Their Best.

Naomi was one of my first Twitter friends that I met face-to-face (that was a few years ago now at Mums The Boss in Bedford). As I didn’t get out of the house much in those days – I had two kids under age 2! – people I met in the flesh were pretty special 🙂 So it’s been brilliant to see Naomi write her series of e-books and now become a published author.

We all know that we should be actively listening to our children, but sometimes it’s not as easy as it sounds. Then there are those situations which are a challenge for both parent and child, maybe when life isn’t fair (bullying, parental separation) or a big change is on the horizon (starting secondary school). It can be so hard to find the right words when you want to be open and truthful on the one hand, but you worry that you’ll only confuse or worry your child on the other. What I liked best about the Parent’s Toolkit is that it helps you pick the right words and the best approach. Often, just changing a couple of words can make a huge difference.

In The Parent’s Toolkit, Naomi gives us very practical tips and techniques to help us be better parents, to build a better relationship with our kids and to help them be happier and more confident people. She also includes her advice on building self esteem, sibling rivalry, friendship and helping your child develop important life skills such as decision making, dealing with boredom and timekeeping.

I’m looking forward to dipping into it whenever I encounter a parenting challenge!

Click the link to buy The Parent’s Toolkit: Simple & Effective Ways to Help Your Child Be Their Best

May 27, 2010July 6, 2011

Review: Mum Ultrapreneur – Susan Odev and Mark Weeks

What’s a Mum Ultrapreneur? After reading this book, I know that she’s someone who wants an alternative to the corporate life. To embrace the strength, determination and creativity that mothers have always had and build a business with it.

The book takes an original approach by being made up of several sections that you can use in any way that works for you. The sections include interviews with mumpreneurs, an action plan to help you get your own business idea and Gemma’s story, a fictional account of a mum who starts her own business.

The acronym ‘SPARKLES’ is used to explain the qualities you need as a mumpreneur. ‘SPARKLES’ is the theme that weaves the different sections of the book together. (But I’d be giving too much away if I revealed what the letters stand for!)

The interviews with mumpreneurs are excellent. They show these Mum Ultrapreneurs are ordinary mums who went out there and just did it. That the difference between thinking about starting a business and being a successful business mum is really just about taking action.

Gemma’s story didn’t really click with me – I’d have preferred a more straightforward, non-fiction explanation of the SPARKLES concept. Having said that, parts of her story were very similar to my own, especially having bursts of creativity when I was pregnant and totally shattered, then collapsing and achieving very little once the baby was born. If you like to learn through stories, you may really enjoy reading about Gemma.

This book is good for getting you moving and for boosting your self-belief. With many mums saying that they would start a business if only they knew how, it’s great that there’s a book out there that tackles the vital first step in the process. However, Mum Ultrapreneur doesn’t cover the nuts and bolts of starting a business (and doesn’t claim to), so I’d suggest reading it alongside Antonia Chitty’s The Mumpreneur Guide or Anita Naik’s Kitchen Table Tycoon.

You can buy Mum Ultrapreneur from Amazon.