monday challenge – Business Plus Baby

November 29, 2010December 5, 2010

Mumpreneur Monday Challenge: Give Yourself a Pay Rise

It’s Monday Challenge! This is going to be the last Monday Challenge for a while because let’s face it, we don’t need anything else to challenge us in December! I bet your to-do list is big enough already?

(By the way, here are the previous Monday Challenges if you missed them.)

So today’s challenge is (drum roll please…)

Give yourself a pay rise!

Here’s how you could do this…

Check to see if you’re under-charging

Is a lack of confidence keeping your prices lower than they should be? Have you kept your prices at the same level for a while and never had the courage to raise them? This week take a really honest look at what you charge.

Get a grip on your finances

Are your books less tidy than they should be? Is it hard for you to keep track of money coming in and going out of your business? If your bookkeeping and cashflow were up to date you could see where you were making the most money – and do more of that activity. You would also spend less time sorting your books out at the end of the year – time you could spend on activities that generate income.

Talk to your customers

Do a survey, ask them what they really want. Perhaps you could provide that little extra product or service that would increase your profits without too much more effort.

Think (and act) bigger

Is there one thing you could do that scares you, but that would give your business a boost? Maybe it’s sending a press release to a higher-profile magazine than you do usually. Perhaps it’s having the courage to speak at an event. Do it this week.

Plan

Decide you’re going to make more money in 2011. Sit down with a pen and paper or a spreadsheet and crunch those numbers. Set yourself a target that you want to earn in 2011 and plan out exactly how you’re going to do it.

Leave me a comment and let me know how you got on!

If you liked this challenge, take a look at my Earn What You Deserve as a Mumpreneur E-Course. Sign up for more info and you’ll be able to download my e-book: Price It Right: Five simple steps to choose a price for your product or service.

November 22, 2010

Mumpreneur Monday Challenge: Time Management Tips

It’s that Monday time-of-the-week and that means it’s time for the Monday Challenge! (You can read all about the previous Monday Challenges here if you’ve missed them…)

Lately I’ve heard lots of business mums talk about not having enough time. Mums are permanently pushed for time so there’s nothing new there! But there’s no doubt the run up to Christmas puts us under even more pressure, especially if Christmas is a busy time for your business too.

So with all that in mind, this weeks challenge is to…

Try a new time management technique

Here are some ideas: Continue reading “Mumpreneur Monday Challenge: Time Management Tips”

November 15, 2010November 15, 2010

Mumpreneur Monday Challenge: Create Some Fresh Content

It’s Monday again, so it’s time for this week’s challenge. (If you missed the previous challenges, here they are: Promote your blog, Get out there!, Get creative!)

Right, let’s dive in!

Content, content, content. You need it for blog posts, words to put on your website, things to link to on your facebook page, useful links to tweet about….

But how do you come up with all this stuff?

Your challenge this week is to….

Create some fresh content

More specifically, to take one step that will make creating fresh content easier for you from now on. (But that doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue!)

Here are some ideas you could try this week… Continue reading “Mumpreneur Monday Challenge: Create Some Fresh Content”

November 8, 2010November 7, 2010

Mumpreneur Monday Challenge: Get Creative

It’s week three of the Mumpreneur Monday Challenge!

Weeks 1 and 2 have gone down really well, so if you’ve joined in don’t forget to leave me a comment to tell me how you got on. If you missed the previous Monday Challenges they were Promote Your Blog and Get Out There!

This week I’ve taken my inspiration from Business Plus Baby’s guest blogger Amelia Critchlow. Amelia’s an artist and workshop leader who blogs at 101 Bird Tales (fab blog, I really recommend going over there and having a look). Amelia really is making a living from being creative and that’s why she’s inspired this week’s challenge.

Recently I’ve got a bit bogged down in the logical, outcome-based side of business, so a quick read of Amelia’s blog was like a breath of fresh air for me.

True, you do need focus, planning and a firm grip on your finances to run a business. But if you lose your creativity you can get blinkered, miss opportunities and just stop enjoying what you’re doing.

So your challenge this week is to…

Get creative!

Here are some ways you could do this:

Go for a walk

Splash in puddles, crunch in the leaves, blow away the cobwebs, feel the wind on your face.

Be in the moment

Pick a time and just focus on where you are at that exact moment. Don’t think of the million things you need to get done before the end of the day, just pay attention to what is happening in that moment. You’ll notice things that would pass completely pass you by otherwise – perhaps that’s a feeling, perhaps something you can see, smell or touch.

Do a creative activity you haven’t done since you were a child

Play doh, sew, make stuff out of cereal boxes… it’s up to you.

Write whatever comes into your head

Sit down with a pen and paper and just write. Don’t think, don’t edit, just let the words flow.

Paint like a kid instead of a grown up

Do an art or craft activity with your children but be a child, not an adult. Don’t supervise or teach, just get in there and have fun together.

Something else?

Maybe this post has sparked another creative idea for you? Go and do it!

And after all that..

Has this task made you see you’ve got stuck in a routine? Or perhaps that you need to reconnect with why you started your business in the first place? Has it sparked some new ideas? Or maybe it has reminded you to have fun and take some time out?

I’ll leave you with a quote from 101 Bird Tales, which is taken from ‘How to be an artist’ by Michael Atavar

“It [creativity] doesn’t work to deadlines. It needs room to grow and that space can be a place of waiting. We assume that time on a bus, waiting for some-one to arrive, a train delayed is lost time. Perhaps it’s just the universe telling you that you need to do nothing.”

Please do leave me a comment to tell me how you got on!
photo credit: Siona Watson

November 1, 2010November 1, 2010

Mumpreneur Monday Challenge: Get Out There!

Welcome to week two of the Mumpreneur Monday challenge!

How did you get on with last week’s challenge? If you missed it, the Monday challenge was to Promote Your Blog.

The internet is a wonderful thing but nothing beats meeting real, live people in the flesh. Too much time on your own in front of a PC can drive you a little bit crazy, so this week your challenge is to…

Get out there!

Here’s how you could do it:

Go to a new networking group

Pick one that suits your style – structured, informal, for mums, for women… take your pick. Stuck for ideas? Ask people you know where they network and what it’s like. Also, ask if you can join them as a guest.

Want to take the little ones but there are no mums networking groups in your area? You could start one of your own! Take a look at Mums The Boss and Mums Business Club.

Have an informal meet-up (or a Tweetup*)

If you don’t want to start a networking group, you could just ask around if anyone knows any mums in business in your area, then arrange a time to meet up in the local park with the kids.

(*Tweetup = A gathering of people who use Twitter.)

See someone you know you should meet

Have you been bouncing emails around with someone when you know you should go and see them in person? It’s not always easy to getting around to meeting people face-to-face. This week, set the date and go and see that person.

Look for business events in your area

Sometimes you just need a breath of fresh air into your business. Look around for local business events and workshops where you can meet new people and get some new ideas. See Woman’s Work, you local Enterprise Agency or Universities, Business Link, or your local Chamber of Commerce.

Turn to Jelly

Have you heard of Jelly? It’s where groups of home-workers gather together and work in the same space for a few hours (but without networking). There are Jellies popping up all over the world and quite a few are in the UK.

If you’re a Twitter user, the hashtag #Jelly will keep you up to date with all things Jelly.

Go for a coffee, girls’ night out or whatever you fancy.

Between family and business it’s easy to forget that you’ve not been out just for fun for a while. So go out, enjoy yourself and recharge those batteries.

Drop me a comment and let me know how you get on!