Business Mums Blog

This week I thought I’d share with you five of my favourite business blogs to read. All of these provide great business tips to help you grow your business.

1. Small Business Diva - Donna Marie Coggins is the owner of Jacaranda Business Support Services and author of Ready, Set, Go For It! One of the best business books for business mums I’ve read (I especially love the CD in the back). On her blog, Donna Marie shares fantastic business tips and resources.
2. Word Constructions  - Tash Hughes of Word Constructions has a fantastic blog that shares business tips as well as tips and information about how to communicate with your clients effectively.
3. The Australian Small Business Blog - run by Greg Chapman, author of The 5 Pillars of Guaranteed Business Success, he shares tips, resources and ideas to help Small Businesses grow and succeed.
4. Heart Harmony - Ingrid Cliff is a regular contributor to the Business Mums Magazine and shares her business knowledge on her blog.
5. Blog Whammy - OK, so technically this isn’t a business blog, however it is a great program to help you get traffic to your blog. It is also where I came across Ingrid’s blog, so I thought I’d mention it here.

There are a just a few business blogs to read. What are some of your favourite business blogs (other than this one of course!)

For most business mums, we don’t have systems in place for anything - we kind of make things up as we go along.

Donna-Marie over at Small Business Diva (in case you hadn’t realised, this is one of my favourite business blogs) has posted about the Importance of Having Effective Business Systems in Place. This post is well worth a read.

Having written systems will help you as your business grows, you get busy, put on staff or get your kids to help out, and also when it comes time to sell your business. They can also help make sure nothing is forgotten! Systems can also help you manage your business and be more effective and profitable.

So, read Donna Marie’s blog post, then start putting systems in place in your business. The easiest thing to do is start with one task, and go from there.

There are a number of different prize hunts on the Internet. The latest I’ve seen is run by Blue Zamboo called “Santa’s Sleigh Chase“. The idea of these hunts is to go around different sites and collect clues. For some of them, you can also get points for purchases and other activities.

I participated in their Spring Style Hunt last month for the Business Mums Magazine and noticed a marked increase in traffic. I also gained a number of new subscribers, both to the magazine and my e-newsletter. This also exposed my site to a new audience.

I believe there is still time to get involved in “Santa’s Sleigh Chase“, and for only $20 to be involved it’s a great way to boost traffic and sales before Christmas.

Over the last few years, I have been collecting stories of Mums and their kids. They’re the funny and heartwarming stories that go to make up what a business mum is all about.

I am compiling the ones I have in a blog, and I want your stories too.

So, if you would like to share your stories of life running a business with children, please visit www.onlyabusinessmum.com and share them. Or you may simply like to read the stories of other business mums to know you’re not alone.

Note: normal Marketing Monday will be back next week. It’s a long weekend in Melbourne for Cup Day.

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about Pay It Forward.

This post is just a reminder - if you would like to have a surprise gift, be one of the first 3 people to reply and I’ll put something special in the mail for you.

Last weekend I went shopping with my Mum. After a while we were hungry and headed to the food court for lunch. We thought it would be nice to share a burrito and the trimmings. At Chadstone, we do this often, however this was a different shopping centre.

We went to the Mexican place & ordered a burrito either cut in half or with a knife so we could cut it - only to be told it couldn’t be done. So, we walked away and ordered some chinese that we could share.

Both of us commented that the guy at the Mexican stand had just lost a sale simply because he wouldn’t cut a burrito in half!

So, do you offer your customers little extras that don’t cost you any time or money to help with customer service, or do you rigidly stick to what you’ve always done? A simple act of cutting a burrito in half would have got him a sale of not only the food, but also two drinks, and, coming back to that shopping centre again we would most likely have gone back there!

There is nothing nicer than receiving a package of something you ordered and finding a surprise freebie inside. (well, maybe there is, but that’s not really the point!)

Elena from EP Designs once commented that she’d ordered some chocolate soaps from Funky Soaps and found a real chocolate inside. I once bought a gift for Christmas and it came with a candy cane.

Surprise freebies don’t need to be anything large. It could be as small and simple as a candy cane for Christmas, a sample of one of your other products you think the client would like to try or anything really. These little touches help your customers feel special and go a long way to increasing word of mouth referrals.

Have you ever given a surprise freebie away? If so, what was it?

Number of children & their ages:
aged 10.5, 7 & newborn

URL:
www.lovesanta.com.au

How people can contact you?
Via website or email

When did you start your business?
2003

Where are you based?
Melbourne

Background information:
I am a professional writer, believe in the magic of Christmas and love children. In the early stages of my professional writing business, I wanted to make more money so I started the Santa letters for a little pocket money. I have since fallen in love with this aspect of business – I get to make children and their families happy, I get to do it in an Australian way and it builds up the Christmas excitement for me, too.

What products/services do you sell?
Personalised Australian letters from Santa, plus there is a blog for people to share their Christmas experiences, recipes and ideas.

What are some of your achievements?
Making children very happy – including reinforcing their belief in Santa when other kids shook their faith (the letters of gratitude from parents are lovely.)

What advice would you give to other Mums who wanted to start their own business?
If you can start slow, do so as it gives you time to learn and try new things before income is the big issue. Understand that running a business covers many things, not just the actual product/service you sell, so allow time and be prepared to learn and/or ask for help

What has been your biggest challenge so far, and how have you overcome it?
Time management. It wasn’t so hard in the early days but with more customers and other commitments time management became more of an issue. One key way to overcoming it was getting an online ordering system instead of taking all orders via email or snail mail – automation is a great business tool! It also made everything more professional and, if I choose it later, easier to outsource.

Other time management tips were to set aside time for answering emails (rather than being reactive,) outsource tasks such as bookkeeping and involving my eldest daughter (so we can do something together and it saves me time.)

What is the best thing about being a Business Mum?
I set my own terms and I can be here when my children need me – I can go on excursions and help in class; if they’re sick I can keep them home and sometimes still work!

I know, it’s only October, but a good/organised business Mum should be turning her thoughts to Christmas and making sure she’s ready for it.

Here are five ideas for Christmas promotions:

1. Free gift wrapping - this may be something you already offer, however if you don’t, the lead up to Christmas might be a good time to start. This way if your customers want you to send a gift to a friend or family member directly, then it is already wrapped.
2. Christmas packaging - depending on what you make, you may want to invest in some Christmas packaging for your customers.
3. Christmas cards - send Christmas cards to some of your biggest clients, suppliers and supporters. This lets them know you appreciate them and are thinking of them. It’s also another chance to contact them.
4. Gift with purchase -encourage your customers to do the bulk of their Christmas shopping with you by offering a gift with every purchase over a certain amount.
5. Special Christmas range - you may want to introduce some special Christmas products to your range to make the holidays festive. These could include ornaments, Christmas clothes and cards, and so on.

These are just a few ideas to help promote your business for Christmas. Also remember that not everyone celebrates Christmas, so to stand out from the crowd, you may want to introduce some items for the other holidays, such as Hannukah, that are celebrated in December.

This morning I was asked by a friend to confirm she is the owner of her blog on Facebook, so I confirmed her and added this blog. I didn’t realise there was a blogging community on Facebook.

You can invite people to become fans, rate your blog, add comments and more. This could be a geat way to get extra readers to your blog and promote your business, especially if you have a business blog.

The fan page for this blog can be found here. I will keep you updated with how this goes. If you have a fan page for your blog, please post the link so we can all become fans too.