Motivating Mum

I was listening to a journalist speak recently and she made a very pertinent point. If a journo uses your media release, you should thank them.

It might seem obvious but I had never done it when my media releases had been used. I’m not rude, it had just never occurred to me as I guess I felt it was just part of their job. Or that I was helping them out by providing them with content for their magazine/newspaper that they hadn’t had to search for.

But the more she spoke, the more it made sense. And it made me wonder – how many people do we fail to thank as it’s just their job? Or we’re really busy? Or we thank the people that do those big, life or work changing things for us but what about those people that just support us every day, listen to us, put up with us?

That’s why I was so glad when Ferrero contacted me with an idea – why not give away an Easter gift hamper to someone you want to thank? What a great idea! Finally a competition that isn’t about winning stuff for yourself but winning it for the person that really deserves it. The person you should thank.

So, to win this Ferrero gift hamper (pictured above) for that special person go to the Ferrero Gift Hamper and check out the hampers, then leave a comment on the blog below letting me know:

1. Which hamper you would choose from the page if money was no object.
2. Who you would gift it to and why.

The winner will be drawn Friday, April 6 and Ferrero will then send the hamper pictured to your ‘thankee’.

Cheers (and thank you for reading), Alli x

Hosted by Three Lil Princesses

I have just finished up five goal setting and review sessions with my Biz Mums Clubs in Melbourne. Five different sessions, with different women in different fields but boy, the message was the same. The first year of business isn’t really a year of business – it’s more a lead up to business.It all starts out so easily doesn’t it? ‘I can’t afford childcare/I love making things/I need to make some money – I know, I’ll start a business’. In fact, that decision is probably the easiest part of the whole process!

Then you get to the tricky stuff. Most likely, like me, you’ve never run a business before and are probably lacking in at least 50% of the skills required to run a business: accounting, bookkeeping, law, marketing, pr, writing, design, sales, networking, social media, organisation and more.

And you have to achieve everything for next to nothing. Meaning you have to do everything!

No wonder a lot of mums reported in their reviews that in their first year of business they hadn’t actually achieved many of their business goals. They were learning how to be in business. Many of them were finessing their unique selling point, feeling out their target market, getting the hang of things.

The reason I tell you this? I also had a few mums this year query the potential of their business success six months in or wonder if they should shut up shop as they weren’t making any money a year in.

The cold hard truth? You probably won’t. Think of this as the year of the lead-up, learn from your mistakes, set yourself up and then get ready start running a business in year two!

Cheers, Alli x

p.s. I’d love to hear your experiences, please leave a comment below on your learnings.

Guest blog by Kristy Smith – Virtual Elves

It’s a funny thing trying to work out a name for your business that you hope will be memorable and make an impression…

Back in September 2009, I spent four to five months trying to figure out how to make an exit from the corporate world. My daughter was starting school for the first time the following February, and I wanted to be there for her.

After many months of research and trying to think of home-based niches, I found out there weren’t many virtual assistants in Sydney. Now here was something that I could use my skills in project management, planning and office and business management to good use!

As a self-professed “action woman” the idea became a reality spontaneously and with complete disregard to my husband’s concerns I started to plan for my transition into working from home.

A month later, in December, I realised I needed more than just my own name to promote my services. I rang a friend who worked in the advertising industry and asked her for help and suggestions on creating a memorable brand name.

My idea was to portray an image of someone behind the scenes who’d take charge of doing all the things people didn’t like doing. I had found a great image of a woman with many hands juggling administrative tasks that I thought would fit perfectly.

My friend and I weren’t able to come up with anything during that initial conversation, but that very same night, she sent me an email saying, “I’ve got it! What about Virtual Elves?”

Well, I liked the sound of it, and it kind of stuck! It’s a bit quirky and it sounds fun. In Australia, I figured that an elf is seen as Santa’s little helper, and I thought Virtual Elves, as a helper for business people fitted the service offerings very well!

Branding wise, it’s been great! It is a great talking point and I find that people remember me as “the elf that helps”, which is just fabulous!

As Virtual Elves, after 18 months in operation, moves into the next phase of growth, I have re-branded slightly to be able to appeal to more mid-level corporate businesses and brought the focus into a more corporate and not so quirky logo; but one thing remains the same and the name stays!

Virtual Elves, from a fun and quirky sole trading startup, has morphed into something much bigger than just an online provider of virtual administrative work. Now maintaining over 12 regular clients, completing more than 150 hours of work per week, and engaging more than 5 specialist contractors, we look after so much more!

Virtual Elves offers Administrative and Outsourcing solutions such as Print Design, E-marketing, Social Media Marketing, Web Design & Management & General Administration.

Are you in the process of choosing the right business name? Click the link for an article with fab tips on how.

My boyfriend illustrated it perfectly when we were buying a TV recently. He thought we should get the one that was $100 more expensive as it ‘must have been better’. Either that, I replied, or they are better at branding.

I see it a lot in services offered to mums in business. They are enticed to sign up for coaching at $100 an hour or a one-day workshop for $500 and rationalise that because it’s expensive it must be good. But is it? Or have these service providers simply decided to price their offerings at this level as they understand the message it communicates:

Expensive = Good

The problem is, unlike a product, it can be difficult to ascertain if a service is good or not is until you’ve paid for and utilised it. If it’s no good or not for you then there can often be no opportunity for a refund.

So, what to do?

• Don’t just believe the testimonials. Google search the service for feedback/complaints, do a shout out on Twitter or FB trying to find people who have used the business and see what they thought.
• Determine exactly what you need and how you expect to be helped before you enter into an arrangement. Better yet, get a contract signed that you will be getting exactly what you’ve asked for – by the date agreed.
• Ask for a money back guarantee if your expectations are not met. If people are so certain of their skills that they charge a lot, then ask them to put their money where their mouth is.
• Ask for a trial session or an initial chat to ensure you get along and they have the same values and beliefs as you. I know of mums who have engaged coaching services to help them make money within their business and have then been advised to engage in activities that made them very uncomfortable. One mums’ Anthony Robbins is another mums’ nightmare!
• Don’t commit to anything on the spot – no matter how tempting the ‘if you buy now you’ll get $$$ off’ spiel is. Ask them to hold the offer open for 48 hours for you to think about it- if they really want you on board, they’ll buckle.

Guest post by Purdie Barr, Mango Ink

Finding a name for little business felt like giving birth. A bit cleaner I’ll admit, but just as laborious. The hard (mental) yacka nearly did my head in and I swore (usually at my husband) that I would never be doing this again.

Technically, it was my second attempt at a business name. Late last year, I decided to rebrand. I was lacking direction and my existing name was boring and horribly unimaginative – to the point I was embarrassed to say it. (Okay. I’ll tell you. It was PHOTO BOOKS by purdie. Aggh. I still cringe. And the capitals thing? Seriously? What I was thinking.) But, I digress.

Over the course of a few months (it felt like nine), I spent hours and hours (usually at 2am) jotting down words that popped into my head, yet related to my craft of designing precious keepsakes for people. I brainstormed combinations and poured over the thesaurus for inspiration. I bugged my family for their suggestions. Friends were hounded with emails. Nothing seemed right.

Until one day, I was sitting at my desk, going about my Photo Book work, when the word ‘mango’ hit me. That was it! I had no idea why, but something was telling me I was onto something.

A few more labored hours (more like days) later, I remembered a holiday I went on when I was little. In the backyard was the biggest mango tree I’d ever seen. Mangoes had dropped to the ground and littered the backyard. Before we were allowed to play each day, we were sent out to collect a box of mangoes. Day after day, we picked hundreds of luscious mangoes. As I recalled this story, I felt happy. My sweet childhood memories were making me smile.

Then I had a light bulb moment. I realised life is filled with mango moments – childhood memories and birthday parties, falling in love and wedding days, giving birth and the joy of children and grandchildren, taking in the sights of the world and travelling.

Yes! It was perfect! The Photo Books I design and create bring everyone’s mango moments to life. Memories can fade over time, but a Photo Book is a permanent record. Something etched on paper that they’ll treasure forever. And so, mango ink was born.
Purdie Barr is a designer-of-sorts who helps your photos break out of the cupboard. She creates personalised coffee table books with your photos, from her home in rural South Australia, which she shares with her farmer husband, two kids, two dogs, 11 chooks and about 4,000 sheep.

View the deliciously good mango ink Photo Books or find us on Facebook

Are you in the process of choosing the right business name? Click the link for an article with fab tips on how.