Take Root and Write

3 Tips on How to Balance a New Business and Family

Are you a parent who is wondering if you can also run a home-based business successfully without neglecting the kids? Preparation is needed to do both roles effectively.

Both parenting and entrepreneurship take a lot of care and attention. That raises the question: can one person handle both? Through careful planning and evaluation, yes, both can be handled. Here are 3 tips to help successfully balance a new business and family.

Time Management

In order to successful launch your new business without neglecting the time commitment needs of your kids, take inventory of how you currently spend your time. Create a time study, recording what you do over a week's time. Next, evaluate the results, looking for time waste that can be allocated for your business start-up. Then try to find 5 to 10 hours per week to carve out of your schedule.

Time Management also takes into consideration away-from-home time. While, not an issue in a home-based business, it might require doing home parties at other locations. Does your work time over-lap your kids dinner time? Bed time? Extra-curricular time? Will your work schedule be conducive to your family-time needs?

It is also important to take some time for you and your spouse. Keeping your marriage strong is key to a happier family and business. You want your spouse’s support, so you need to be careful not to neglect time with them.

Through successful time management, you can ensure that both family and business get attention to thrive.

Money Management

Kids cost money! They need clothes, school supplies, plus outside activities that all come with a price tag. Family expenses need to be considered while building a business. Building a business includes start-up costs, in addition to the time it takes to build a steady income.

Create a study of current family expenditures. Take a good hard look at where money is currently spent. Do you go out to eat or get take out each week (or multiple times per week)? Do you spend money on a hobby? What are the places to tighten your belt?

As you evaluate your financial start-up needs, consider supplementing your income with a part-time job in the beginning until more consistent money comes in. Telecommuting is a stay-at-home option. Working from home for an employer would allow more flexibility than working an outside job, plus you would save money on gas and child-care, including commuting and away from home time.

Space Management

You have a choice: renting office space or creating a home office space. Is there home space, either a separate room, or a corner of a room, to allocate to your business? Productivity suffers with interruptions, so creating a distraction-free area to conduct business is import to the success of your business.

Rental space, while reducing distraction, is a more costly option that takes you away from the convenience of working from your home.

Comparing home space and rental options will help decide which is best for you and your family.

As your business begins to bring in some profit, think about outsourcing some of your activities or projects. Eventually, you could even hire some others to assist you, which will minimize time, financial and space issues.

Entrepreneurship can be an awesome journey! Three tips - analyzing time, finance, and space challenges help you plan ahead, and avoid potential conflicts between parenting responsibilities and business start-up will be minimized. Enjoy the adventure!

Laurie Newman teaches others how to make their journey of working from home an easier one. Laurie has worked from home for over five years and savors the freedom and flexibility, plus the purpose it has added to her life.

Letting Your Gifts do the Marketing

How do you feel when you hear the phrase, "Home Business Marketing?"  As an entrepreneur, respecting, possibly even loving your product might be the easy part. Marketing communication is what has you tearing out your hair. Can you relate to any of these reactions? Maybe you need to let your communication gifts do the marketing.

From panic-induced, "Help! I can't sell anything," spiraling down into "No! Anything but telling others about what I do!" to a scrambling-towards-the-light , "I'd rather let someone else do it for me," some people freeze when it comes to public communication.

However, others respond with "Great! Selling is my strong-point" to oozing, "I love it! I believe in what I do - and I love telling others about it!"

Marketing is a necessary activity even if have a home business. You can have the greatest product or service, but if others don't know about it, your product will not sell.

If you are not overly thrilled at the idea of marketing your home business, don't despair. There are many ways to market a business that don't "hurt" at all! Start by developing a marketing strategy focusing on your communication gifts.

While the obvious solution might be to hire a marketing manager, they can be expensive. Marketing Managers also don't know your product like you do.

That means you need to manage your product marketing. First, realize your product knowledge makes you the best choice to share product information. Notice the word I used the word SHARE. My own feelings about marketing began to change when I looked at promoting a product as sharing. Now, instead of trying to sell something, I share about what I do and offer.

As Christians, we like to share with others. Why not share with others about what you do? If you are offering something that will benefit others, you are doing a favor by sharing your information.

Next, realize that Marketing strenghts are not a "one size fits all" kind of thing. People's gifts vary; some people are public communicators; some are behind-the-scenes communicators. Some love to write and can write articles, newsletters, emails and blog posts about what they do. Others can't write without getting frustrated but can successfully promote their product face-to-face.

Because of diverse communication strengths, it makes sense that communication methods should intitially build off of those strengths. Some marketing strategies available to home business owners are as follows:

• Article marketing
• Social networking
• Print Media (Pamphlets, Flyers, Product Literature, Press Releases)
• Guest blogging
• Local events (Product Fairs, Chamber of Commerce Involvement)
• Webinars/Tele-seminars
• Store-Front Website Development

If you enjoy speaking, local events, webinars or teleseminars would be
a natural fit; However, if you prefer writing over speaking, then article marketing or guest
blogging just might be your niche area for product promotion.

Determine marketing strategies that match the personality God gave you. Not only will you enjoy marketing more, but your efforts will be much more effective.The next time you hear the phrase, "Home Businesss Marketing," you will think, "Oh - that's taken care of. My communication gifts do the marketing."

 

Laurie Neumann teaches others how to make their journey of working from home an easier one. Laurie has worked from home for over five years and savors the freedom and flexibility, plus the purpose it has added to her life.

Should You Charge For Your Work?

Have you ever wondered this?  With running a home based business, do you ever become confused on whether you should be charging for the work you do? As Christians, I think sometimes we think we should give everything away.  Or, maybe others make us feel this way.  They may suggest that you should be sharing your knowledge without charging.  But why?  What is the basis for this kind of thinking?

We need to look to the Bible for our answer (as we always do.)  Consider this verse:

 "Who ever goes to war at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock?" I Corinthians 9:7

 

Let me ask you a question.  Are you running a business or a ministry?  I understand that sometimes the lines get blurred as they do for me too.  I consider myself to be running a business/ministry.  A business because I started it to make some extra money for our family.  A ministry because I do give away a lot of my knowledge, and there are times when I feel led togive some products away.  But that is not the norm.

 

Empty Nest Syndrome - Can A Home Business Fill The Void?

 

Let me start out by saying I have not yet experienced the empty nest syndrome.  But things have happened that can help me relate.  My kids are both in their twenties, and I expect will be moving out at some point.  However, with today's economy, it has made it very difficult for someone to live on their own - pay rent, a car loan, and have enough money left over to eat.                           

 

I homeschooled them for ten years, and when we came to the end of that, it was somewhat of an "empty nest" feeling.  I had put my time and energy into teaching them and driving them to outside activities.  Now what?  What would I do to fill my time?  What could ever bring me as much purpose as homeschooling my children?

 

Are You a Homeschool Mom Who Could Use Some Extra Money?

 

As a homeschool mom, you are a very busy woman.  Not only are you teaching your kids at home, but most likely, you're also doing a lot (if not all) of the house cleaning, shopping, laundry and running your kids to different activities.  You may also have church activities you are involved in.  Your days are filled to the brim.

 

But you have a dilemma.  Your family could use some extra money, but you know you don't have time to fit a job into your schedule.  Besides, you would have to be out working when your husband is home, and that isn't the ideal situation.

 

Have you ever considered running a small home business to bring in some extra money?  A home business is much more flexible than going to a job would be, plus you don't waste precious time commuting back and forth.

 

While this could be the perfect solution, you are probably still wondering how you can fit it in.  Let's look at some ways to make this work.

 

Work From Home Business Ideas - What Can You Do?

 

Many people want to work from home but need ideas of what can actually be done from home.  That is what I would like to cover in this week's column.

 

If you look online, you will see a variety of work from home opportunities - some legitimate and some not.  The ideas I am presenting to you are ones that have worked for others.

 

What Can You Do From Home?

Sometimes we get all excited at the prospect of running a home business, but when it gets down to the nitty gritty, we are stumped as to what we can actually do from home.  Have you ever felt that way?

 

I did many years ago.  I had wanted to run my own business for a long time, but never got past the "what should I do?" stage.  I didn't know what others did from home or how to take my skills and turn them into a home based business. 

 

This week and in my next column, I will be describing some of the more common business models you can use to work from home.

 

I homeschooled my kids and every week they took classes with other kids who were also being homeschooled.  While they attended their classes, another mom and I would get together and chat.  Inevitably, the conversation would turn to us both wanting to start a business but we both were at a loss for what we should do.  It's funny, when I think back to those conversations, I can see how God has taken that challenge and built my business around it.

 

So, let's get down to it.  What can you do from home?  I am going to outline the main business models that people use to run a home based business. 

 

Telecommute or Start A Business?

 

 

 

Will you telecommute or start a business - meaning, work for yourself or someone else?  You may think the only choice you have if you decide to work from home is to work for yourself.  However, that is not the case. 

 

To telecommute refers to work that you do from home for an employer.  You have a boss just like you would if you worked outside the home.  The difference is that you will communicate with your boss via email or the phone.  Most likely, you will have more flexibility in the hours you work than if you held a 9 to 5 job.  Now, you will need to get the work done in a timely manner and meet deadlines just the same.  But many times, you will be able to decide which hours you will work.  This is something you will need to get communicate with your employer - always know his/her expectations of you.

 

You may work for a company in your same city or across the country.  When you telecommute, it doesn't really matter as you can communicate in other ways than face to face.

Working From Home

I am writing a series of posts about working from home, but before I get into more specifics, I want to introduce myself and share my story with you.

I have been married for 26 years and have two children, now in their twenties. By the time they were ready for elementary school, my husband and I decided to homeschool. We homeschoo
led both our children through their high school graduation.

When my youngest was in her senior year, I started thinking and praying about what I would do next. My days had been filled with planning their studies, helping them when they needed it, and driving them back and forth to activities. Soon, that was all about to end, and I grew apprehensive about how I would fill my time.

As I went to God in prayer, I started searching for a home-based business. This desire did not arise overnight. I often thought about running some type of business over the years, but didn't know what to do and was involved in other things. Now that time would not be an issue, I pursued my desire. 

Ultimate Homeschool Expo 2011

"I'm just not sure I want to go this year," Laura whispered.  "There are just so many people and the vendor hall is so crowded. It stresses me out."

"Well, I have to admit that the crowds got to me last time too." I shrugged my shoulders and took a deep breath. "But, how will we get equipped and see the latest books if we don't go?"

"Well," Laura paused for a moment, "We could go to an online convention."

"Oh, Laura, please. I've surrendered to email, blogging, and virtual field trips, but virtual conventions too? I just don't know...."

Soon, my friend, Felice was telling me all about her online convention, The Ultimate Homeschool Expo. Though I dragged my feet the whole way there, I was still determined to check out this virtual convention. Once I did, I would be free to go back to real conventions, real books, and maybe, even a horse and buggy. 

Online conventions require you to have internet access. That's all you need. The Ultimate Homeschool Expo sessions are on Blog Talk Radio, a site that airs online radio shows. You don't have to park, shove through the crowds, wait in long lines, push your stroller, and rush from workshop to session. You can settle down in your favorite chair with a cup of tea and soak in the wisdom of your favorite homeschool speakers.

The Ultimate Homeschool Expo was founded by Cindy Rushton, an amazing homeschool mom and author, with a vision to share her enthusiasm for homeschooling and motherhood with other ladies. Because God is now moving her on to another ministry, Felice Gerwitz, founder of Media Angels Inc. has taken over this ministry to homeschooling families.

An Entrepreneur at Heart

 

Is an entrepreneur born with the skills needed to be successful? That could happen, but more than likely, the characteristics are developed over a period of time. Some people really want to own something and be the boss.  Others are happy working for someone else. Neither is better - we are all different and need to follow who God made us to be.

 As I look at my family line, I see many entrepreneurs. My grandfather started his own company, which later was taken over by my dad and uncles.  My brother moved to California to pursue his dream of becoming a golf pro.  He has been quite successful, although didn't quite make it to the big leagues. He runs his own business giving golf lessons now. My other brother has done various things, many of them falling into the entrepreneurial category. Then there is me. I run my own online business.  And it is still being passed down, as my son runs his own internet business.  So, in a way, I guess entrepreneurship was kind of "inbred" in me.

I don't believe that has to be the case. It has to start somewhere, so even if you are not from a long line of entrepreneurs, you can start the chain and become a successful one. I think more important than heredity is possessing some essential traits that are typical to entrepreneurs. Let's take a look at some of them.