Category: Business Ideas

Article Contributed by Hazel Mae

You want to be an always-available mom to your kids, and yet you also want to maintain your economic independence and continue to make contributions to the house bills and living expenses. How can you achieve these two goals without having to sprout an extra body to assist you? Being a work-at-home mom may be the answer to your dilemma.

Small Home-based Business

Setting up a small home-based business may be harder, but definitely more gratifying, since the benefits of your hard work all flow directly back to you. As owner of your business, there will be no middle man to take a cut off your hard work’s pay, plus, it would look great on your resume if in case you ever want to hit the job market again after the kids have grown up. Being CEO of what’s-your-company sounds productive and pretty impressive for a stay-at-home mom.

Here are some small businesses you can start at home:

• Daycare Center/ babysitting services

– Not all moms have the choice to be able to stay at home to take care of their kids. As a work-at-home mom, you can offer piece of mind to other parents who have to work outside and leave their kids by having your own daycare center/babysitting services. Let their kids stay with you and your kids, caring for them all as you would your own brood. Other parents in your neighborhood would be surely relieved from worrying about finding the right sitter and will be willing to pay for a work-at-home mom they personally know to take care of their babies right.

• Laundry Services

– Parents who work outside have to deal with travel time on top of all other tasks at work and those that they need to accomplish for their family. Maybe you can offer to check “laundry” off their to-do lists by offering this service. You can even offer the added perk of delivering right to their doorstep if you start marketing around the residents living in your neighborhood. Makes good exercise and exploration for you and baby, too. Just make sure you have your baby harness ready so baby doesn’t wander off while you’re busy transacting.

• Mini canteen/eatery – people can be so busy nowadays, but now that fast food has earned such a scorching reputation, you can offer your own healthier alternative without the steep pricing of other high-end, so-called “healthy eating” restaurants/catering services.

• Consultation/Tutoring/Coaching services – if you’ve had a specialized career before, especially if it’s related to law, health care, physical education, or if you know a foreign language or can at least teach basics such as reading, math and science, setting up your own consultation/coaching/tutorial services business might be right for you. Sessions can either be done via skype, email correspondence, chat, phone calls, and personal appearances, or a combination of all, whichever suits your client and your curriculum best.

Set up your home-based office

Setting up a business means you’re going to need some time and space isolated specifically for business or work purposes as opposed to mom or home duties. This sets a space that allows you to focus on getting things done.

What you’ll need:

• Appropriate furniture

– Since this will be an at-home office, you don’t need to worry too much about getting expensive or designer furniture. Just a comfortable work desk and chair will do fine. Also, a computer desk beside your main work desk, or a convertible computer-writing desk will do just fine.

• Wifi router

– This is a powerful force any business aiming to get big must not be caught without: an Internet connection. If online gaming is not going to be connected in any way to your business, then opt for a connection that’s decent enough for you to, in the very least, make video conferences with. If you can afford it, pick a wifi router that you can use at home and have a portable wifi device you can lug around with you when you have to go outside or travel.

• Desk lamp

– Waking up earlier or sleeping later than everyone else in the household is a common way work-at-home moms actually get some work done after family duties time. Having a lamp ensures that you can keep a light on when you’re trying to get productive without disturbing the rest of the household. This is especially useful if you’re setting up your office or desktop near your child’s room or letting your child (especially if he/she is still a baby) co-share in your room. This also lets your spouse sleep undisturbed if your home office is sectioned off in a little corner of your master’s bedroom.

• Smart phone

– As a business owner, you’ll more likely need at least two or more of the following necessities: an organizer, a calendar, an alarm, a notepad, a voice recorder, a mobile communications device, a portable document-editing device, a camera, video camera, a portable wifi-ready device, and the like. To have all these needs answered in one place, the best solution would be to get a smart phone with decent specs that you can use to conduct your business tasks with even when you’re on the go.

Emailing, texting, chatting, checking your social media updates, online conferencing, maneuvering apps, processing payments, setting up to-do lists and reminders on your calendar, recording pictures/videos of stuff for potential clients or business ideas, can all be done without cell phones, of course. But do you really need all the extra bulk of carrying around multiple devices? Just one do-it-all investment can help you achieve most of these things.

• Decent laptop or business computer setup

– Have a desktop set up at home in your office that’s preferably separate from those for-home-usage devices. This ensures that your business files will be safe from the risk of getting wrongly accessed or getting lost due to malfunction.

Sharing computers or laptops with the household could expose your pertinent files to certain risks, especially if your kids play online games, browse in high-risk sites or download content from various unknown sources. To avoid getting your business information compromised, invest in getting your own for-business-only desktop or better yet, a good business laptop, for added portability.

• Business phone line

– To avoid embarrassing encounters with clients calling and your children or tired spouse answering your professional calls, again, if you can afford to, invest in getting your home office a business phone line separate from your home line.

• Mobile signal booster

– having a mobile signal booster ensures that you never run out signal or encounter communication problems. Running a business is a hectic job and you’re going to need all the stability and reach-ability you can get, especially when it comes to communication.

• Website

– Just like having a decent business laptop and internet connection is a necessity, having a website now is also an investment any business owner would be wise to make. In fact, nowadays, it’s par for the course. Set up a website so you can have a platform for you to market your business to the world without worrying about advertising costs (unless you plan to do sponsored ads or posts).

A website must be an easily accessible portfolio you can showcase to more potential clients and it can also function as a passive advertising tool for you. You can go to bed, spend time with the kids or with your spouse, but your website will still be there, full of searchable and browse-able content that you don’t need to actively promote ALL THE TIME.

• A business email

– Fullname@company.com looks more professional than hottiemommyloveskids@hotmail.com doesn’t it? And actually getting a reply from katanderson@toddlertutorials.com or at least, katanderson_toddlertutorials@gmail.com looks more promising (and reassuring) to a potential costumer than hottiemommyteacheskids@hotmail.com now, doesn’t it?

• Financial management software

– You’re going to need all the invoicing, money tracking and budgeting help that you can get. But to avoid hiring extra work force, you can opt for time-saving and money-saving software that can be found for free, or at least a more reasonable cost on the internet. App marketplaces have a lot to offer such as Wave Accounting software, Expensify, Mint.com, Square, InDinero and the like.

Conclusion

With the right information and tools together, all that’s left for you is to persevere against the ups and downs of  owning a business. Do not give up early in the game, when it’s more difficult and you’re only just beginning to get a handle on things. Rely on the staying power of your will to carry you through the challenges of managing both career and your parenting duties for the longer term. You just might become the next mommy mogul on the block that your kids will look up to.

About The Author

Hazel Mae does financial information research and editing full time for a multinational ratings company. She has also been a freelancer with at least 10 years of experience and is currently working as a content creator and marketer for MyAmplifiers, a leading provider of mobile signal boosters for small business and personal use. She also writes for Sourcing Pen and enjoys topics on business, technology, economics, finance, psychology, careers, productivity, motivation, music and writin

College is not just a time to take classes related to your major, you can fill your life and your resume with valuable experiences. Those who start their own businesses in college will graduate with more life experience. The American job market has also become extremely competitive, leaving many new graduates with the option of working for themselves.

Even if your business venture fails, or does not grow into a million dollar idea, working for yourself has several advantages that make it worth the adventure. You’ll learn more about how business works, how to save money properly, how to advertise yourself and develop valuable experience along the way.

Painting Business

College Works Painting is designed to teach college students how to manage a painting business. It’s more complex than you might think. Students are taught how to prime a room for painting, how to order supplies and manage work flows like an apprenticeship. Jobs take them all over their cities to commercial buildings and individual homes.

Students are taught to work independently, using their basic skills to open their own painting business. This business usually doesn’t need a permit, so there are fewer administrative costs and a lower bar for entry. Acquiring business will  be the key to your success, and that requires some clever advertising.

Visit the contractor’s area of your local hardware store and talk with some of the workers there to get some work. Build a website for yourself and show you know about painting by blogging interior design and painting tips. Find a business address and phone number that you can operate from, and put that data on your website.

Also, start a Google Places page, which is like a signal to the search engine that you operate in your town. The advantage is that may secure more local business from contractors doing searches within your town.

Mobile Car Detailing

Mobile car detailing is popular amongst office complexes, where a team of workers can rake in a decent day’s wage by washing and detailing cars for executives. Build a following on Twitter and use it to let your audience know where you will be each day.

You should also contact business owners in your area and ask permission to post flyers advertising your services. Post these flyers on the restrooms of these buildings, and in public spaces like the lobby. Just be careful that you follow any building restrictions for ads so that your advertisements don’t get thrown out.

Cut costs by renting equipment like the portable washer. You should keep receipts for the materials you order as well, they are deductions for the cost of doing business and you can save money by factoring those into your taxes.

Courier Service

Couriers have interesting professions because the only cost is fuel and a phone line for the business. You’ll need a general knowledge of your area, and a few drivers that have relatively open availability. With a few friends, you can work out your school schedules so some of you cover pickups when others are in class or at another job.

Google Voice works well for this kind of work, as you can set up call forwarding to any phone. Buy a good GPS unit, or use a state of the art smartphone. You’ll need to know how to get to your destination as quickly as possible if you want to stay competitive.

Blogging

Blog about your interests, with your friends stepping in to relieve some of the writing burden. If you or your friends feel you can’t write well, try video blogging or content aggregation. Gathering news for your audience and keeping your eyes on topics that others don’t have time to can have financial rewards. A bit of amateur journalism is easier to do with the Web, and you can create original content by spending only a bit of research time.

Article contributed by Jenna Smith

Article Contributed by Kelly Richardson

If you want your business to reach more customers you will need to stand out in the crowd. Not only do you need to reach your customers where they are, but you also need to prove that your business deserves their attention and their hard earned money. Here are 10 creative ways to help your business stand out among the competition and succeed where others fail:

1. Unique Product

If you have a unique product that your customers can’t get anywhere else, you’ll definitely stand out from other businesses. You don’t need a full line of one-of-a-kind products, but having one or two will help your business. Focus on a message that tells them what truly makes your products different.

2. Create a Niche

Niche stores help you stand out because customers will know that you do one thing, and you do it well. Niches can often get away with charging higher prices, so it will help increase your profits as well. Most people are willing to pay a little more to get exactly what they want.

3. Be the Solution

Do your customers have a problem? Tell them how you can solve it. Whatever your company does that makes you stand out, be sure to advertise it and let your potential customers know what it is. Focus on what your value proposition is, and drive it home.

4. Fill a Need

If you don’t have a solution that sets you apart from other businesses, find a need that you fulfill. Study your competition; are they filling a need for their customers? If not, maybe you can.

5. Promotional Products

Give your customers small thank you gifts. Give them something that they will use so they stay familiar with your business name and your brand. Personalized pens and notebooks are always great. When your business participates on an event, bring custom t-shirts to hand out. If the event is outside, bring custom sunglasses or koozies.  People love free swag, and it’s a great way to promote your brand.

6. Value

Do you offer more for the money than other companies? Tell your customers! They won’t know if you don’t tell them. Create a campaign that tells your customers about a longer warranty, or about how you use higher quality materials, or ship faster. Find what it is that you do that brings value to them. This makes your business different from everyone else, and will attract customers.

7. Service

Great customer service spreads through word of mouth on social media and with friends offline. Treat your customers right and they will tell their friends for years to come. Soon, this will lead to more sales and revenue.

8. Offers

Most people love to save money, so offer discounts for loyal customers. Include a coupon on the receipt, or use email or Facebook to deliver coupons to your customers. The more unique the discount, the more memorable it’ll be. For example, instead of a free item with 10 purchases, make it an odd number like 9. Offer a percentage off to customers who walk in the store and repeat a phrase from your Twitter or Facebook page. Who doesn’t remember McDonald’s Two all-beef patties slogan for the Big Mac?

9. Guarantee

If you guarantee your work, create a strong call to action about your guarantee so your customers feel comfortable giving you their business. Tell all of your customers about your guarantee, and include it on your invoice and other written communication with potential customers.

10. Tell Everyone That You Are Different

After you’ve chosen one or more ways to set your business apart from other businesses, you need to tell your customers. Use this difference to help you market and advertise your products to potential customers so they know more about your company and how you can help them.

Setting yourself apart from your competition goes hand in hand with building your brand. Your brand is your business’s personality, and it should directly reflect how and what your business does. Once customers learn how your company is different, they will be more likely to spend their money with you the next time they need your product or service.

Author Bio:

Kelly Richardson is the community manager at InkHead Promotional Products. Founded in 2003, InkHead is a leading distributor in the promotional product and advertising specialty industry, offering a diverse catalog of customizable items ranging from promotional apparel to custom coffee mugs.

 

Generating a business plan is an important part of the entrepreneurial process. However, different business concepts require different strategies in order to generate successful ROI.

The business of life sciences is an important example in this regard. The commodity being cashed here is the intellectual ideas and there are a number of technicalities to be realized.

First of all, starting up a business in life sciences requires a defined target. This segment is being described here because a lot of commercial ventures are blooming in this area. Life sciences may go on to translate into a bio-based economy that will become a major part of the business growth cycle.

With life sciences, an important area is defining the intellectual property state of the idea. By intellectual property, not only the idea of patent is being applied, but also the worth in terms of actual profit. Taking the example of Genentech, it’s a company that started on a very small scale with the goal to commercialize insulin. Genetech is now a market giant that has cashed in using its intellectual asset.

This brings to the need for investment and the question of how to appropriately manage the ROI.  Managing ROI and accounts for intellectual property can get overwhelming for businesses short in budget, but it’s possible to reduce workload as there are websites for accountants, HR managers and other departments in business available.  These kinds of sites provide tools and services that makes the management process much easier.

In life sciences, knowing the right scientists/researchers is very important. Your breakeven period would be made much smaller if you have a number of scientists in your interaction sphere. Their intellectual endorsement defines how quickly your product/service gets sold.

Based on this idea, it’s a wise ploy to mention the intellectual assets in your business plan as your strength. Venture capitalists can be convinced based upon the experience of your R&D team.

A vital part of the business plan for life sciences is to present the concept in a simple manner. This approach has been wonderfully demonstrated by companies that are planning to bring plants that glow to the market.

The project has been picked up for crowd funding and is now in process to commercialization. The important element was that the science was held back, and the aesthetic charm of the product was sold.

When starting a life sciences business, it’s also important to consider the legislative impact of your product/service. For understanding this approach, agribusinesses are a good example with genetically modified products. There are a lot of health considerations which you should be able to foresee before bringing the product/service to the market.

Another worthwhile tip is getting your product endorsed. Certifications are important, and you can get your product/service certified by a distinguished lab because doing so is important to increase its credibility and it also increases trust of the buyers.

Life science ventures are mostly done in a partnership manner where generally one person offers the science while the other is the science manager. The science related portion is defined by the impact factor of the researcher and the science manager bit is defined by the ability to turn it to profit.

Life science ventures are attractive in the sense that if commercialized, they’re literally a gold mine. This is demonstrated by pharmaceutical industry selling lifesaving drugs. Technology has reformed the innovation process and expanded life sciences more than ever. It does incite the entrepreneurial spirit, but has to be handled with caution.

The ideas mentioned above can be safely categorized as workable business ideas if the business plan is made carefully with all considerations in mind.     

Article contributed by Jenna Smith