Archive for Kids & Business
Friday Five - business tasks for kids
Posted by: | Comments
My kids have done a lot of jobs for me over the years, from stock take to packing goodie bags to mail outs to shredding. They are currently 6 and 8.
This week, I’ll share some strategies I use to get the job done and done right.
- Clear goal - be clear about the outcome you want. Do you want x bags packed with certain items? Do you want all the paper in a box shredded. Be clear to the kids what your expected outcome is.
- Break it into smaller tasks - depending on the age of your kids, you may want to break the job up. For example, when packing goodie bags, you may want to give one child the task of sorting out the DL size flyers, another the task of putting them in the bag, rather than giving them the whole task.
- Reward - have a reward for the children on completion of the job. Let them know before the job starts what the reward will be. Whatever it is, make sure it fits the job and your childs age.
- Make it fun - depending on the job, you can turn it in to a game, or put music on in the background, or make it a race. Whatever you do, make sure the job is done right. If you know that a bit of competition can help get the job done, then use it for your advantage, however if you know it is a distraction or will mean the job won’t be done properly, then you may want to choose something else to make the job fun.
- No pressure - give children the choice whether they want to do the job or not. Children can get bored and want to stop in the middle of a task, or not want to start at all. Give them the choice. This is where having a clear goal and reward can help.
Children, especially small children, love doing whatever Mum is doing. If you have tasks that need to get done for your business and the kids are wanting to help, then let them. The five points above help when my kids want to help me, I hope they will give you some ideas to get your children involved and helping you.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- For your daily dose of business mums websites and blogs, check out Business Mums DailyIt has to suit YOU!
Posted by: | Comments
Choose a date that suits you!
One issue with social media is you can be too accessible to your customers and their thoughts.
I recently saw some posts on Facebook from a number of different people trying to find a date for a chat and/or an online party plan style sale. The gist of the posts were trying to find a date that suited everyone. It seemed that every customer had an opinion in the date and time, leaving the poor business owner in a tizzy because she was having trouble choosing a date.
Whenever you are trying to choose a date for something, you will always find there are people who can’t come. You can’t please everyone. The best thing to do is make sure the date suits YOU!
It may be that an evening after the kids are in bed is best, or first thing in the morning. There will always be someone who can’t make it, that’s a fact of life.
The best thing to do is to have an alternative available. For example:
- If you are running a webinar, record it for those who can’t attend
- If you are having an online party, give customers the opportunity to order from a catalogue before hand
There will be some things, for example a market night, where you may not be able to offer an alternative that exactly matches what you are doing, however by having an online shop, people can still purchase from you.
One thing to keep in mind - it is your business, it has to suit you and your family.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- For your daily dose of business mums websites and blogs, check out Business Mums DailyDecorate Your Envelopes
Posted by: | Comments
Make your envelopes stand out
I love seeing fun ideas that people use to make their business stand out from everyone else.
I am a “liker” of Fairy Me by Tarja on Facebook. She shares photos of her amazing creations as well as an announcement and photo of fairies that are heading to a new home. One of the thing I love about these is the envelope she uses.
Each envelope is decorated with shiny stickers of fairies and butterflies. They are normal envelopes from Australia Post, however she adds her own touch to them. If you want to see the photos, go to her fan page and visit the “Fairy Fan Photos” album to see these pictures.
There are many ways you can make your envelopes stand out for delivery. Tania Wright over at Green Room Interiors uses green envelopes to send out her newsletter.
A different coloured envelope can often do the trick, however I love the idea of decorating them too. This is something children can help with - most children love sticking stickers on things.
For Christmas cards, I put Christmas stickers on the envelopes. If you send birthday cards you could do the same thing.
The sort of decoration you use will depend on your business. If you are sending computer equipment, for example, then stickers of fairies and butterflies may not work so well, however they will work if you are sending items to little girls.
Have you decorated your envelopes in a special way to help them stand out? Please share your ideas by adding a comment to this post.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- For your daily dose of business mums websites and blogs, check out Business Mums DailyEducational Resources
Posted by: | Comments
I have had a sick 6 year old for most of the year, and the end of last term, he was missing a lot of school. He’s off school again today, so I decided he can do some schoolwork at home so he doesn’t fall too far behind. While the work isn’t the same as he would be doing at school, he is doing some reading, writing and maths work.
At times like these, I love the Internet. I have been able to find some awesome worksheets for him to do. We decided the theme of today is fruit, so I Googled “Fruit activities for Kids”. I found a great site, Fresh For Kids. They have a great range of colouring and activity sheets for kids.
What has this got to do with business, I hear you ask. Well, these sheets are all branded with their business details. I printed the sheets out for Mr 6 to work on and the business details are right there in front of us. I will be keeping these sheets to show his teacher what he has done, spreading the word again about the website.
The website is also saved in my favourites, so I can get some more activities if I need them.
There are also other sites I got some activities from. Some of these required I register before I download the activities. There are others you need to pay to gain access. For a single day, I didn’t pay, but if this was an ongoing thing, then I would.
For your business, you may consider creating some educational resources, especially if you target school age kids. These could include:
- Maths activities - counting games, adding & subtraction, patterns
- Matching games
- Word finds & crosswords
Essentially, these are more than just colouring sheets. If you’re stuck, look at some of the other activities out there and see if they can be adapted for your business. For example, there were quite a few sites that had activities wehre the kids added up images of fruit.
These can be a free download, or require people to sign up to your site to access them, you could even have people pay for them. How you do this really depends on the goal for these resources.
If you have some educational resources on your site, please let me know in case I need some more sheets!
Oh, and these can also be great activities when the kids start to say “I’m Bored” during the school holidays.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- For your daily dose of business mums websites and blogs, check out Business Mums DailySchool holiday ideas
Posted by: | CommentsIn Victoria, the school holidays are here. It’s day 2 and already the boys are bored! My Mum gave them the task of creating an Easter Garden to show the family on Easter Sunday. This was a great idea in theory, in practice it’s a bit more complicated… Thankfully we had some boxes they could cut down & they’ve made crosses ready to go. We’ll get into it more this afternoon.
I read a fantastic idea on the EP Designs blog. To find it, you will need to scroll down to the post from March 13 called “Mystery Solved”. Elena sent letters to her son with clues and activities and he had to work out who the Mystery Bear was. The Mystery Bear was revealed on Easter Day, arriving with a basket of chocolates. This sounds like a fun activity and something to keep the kids busy over the holidays.
Another thing to do during the holidays is find some school holiday programs. We have ROCK running next week. This is a free holiday program run by the local churches. And, you can drop the kids off for the morning and do your own thing, or you can hang around and chat with other parents and enjoy a cuppa. If this is not your thing, then there are often holiday programs run at local schools.
Finding activities to keep the kids busy during the holidays can be a challenge, especially if you need to get work done on your business. If there are tasks the kids can do, then put them to work too. My kids want to earn some money so they can buy a bionicle!
If you have any great activities your kids are doing this holidays, please share your ideas with us by adding a comment.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- For your daily dose of business mums websites and blogs, check out Business Mums DailyA Choice - part 1
Posted by: | CommentsThis is something every Mum will relate to… Getting my kids to eat fruit and vegetables used to be an issue. There was always one or two pieces they said they didn’t like and would refuse to eat - often this would result in a tantrum because I wanted them to eat it, and they didn’t want to.
My Mum makes amazing roasts, often with 6 or 7 different vegetables on the plate. To avoid tantrums, I would give my kids a choice. They could pick one vegetable to leave off the plate, so long as they ate everything else. This was a win-win. My kids felt in control of what they ate because they could leave something off. I was happy because we didn’t have tantrums and my kids were still eating vegetables.
I do the same with a fruit platter. I give them a minimum number of pieces of fruit, often based on how big the pieces are, and they can choose which pieces to eat.
You can do the same with choices for your customers.
For example, if they come to you looking for cloth nappies, you can offer them a choice of different brands, colours, sizes or styles. This way your customers can choose the one that suits their needs - and from your shop.
Sometimes, choices can be overwhelming. I don’t give my kids 50 different types of fruit to choose from on a platter, usually there’s only 4 or 5 different types at most.
It may be tempting to put up every colour you have at once, for example, however you may be better to offer a slightly smaller range so you can change it from time to time. You are still giving your customers a choice, and giving them the option to come back later because your range is constantly changing.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- For your daily dose of business mums websites and blogs, check out Business Mums DailyCheck your links and update your site
Posted by: | CommentsThis may seem like an obvious tip for your website, however it’s something that you should do regularly. On the weekend, I did a google search for my name, looking for places people had published my free reprint articles (some are on some pretty good sites). I came across some references to a business I started around 10 years ago with a friend. We had listed on a number of websites that offered free directory listings - and the listings are still there! The information is over 9 years old.
Quite apart from the fact that the business is out of date and I no longer have access to the email address I used to register so I can get my password, these sites haven’t kept their details up to date and look out dated.
If you have a directory on your site that offers free listings, set a renewal date for the listing so you can make sure the sites listed still exist. If you don’t have a renewal date, go through the free listings regularly to make sure they still exist. This is a job you could give to a teenager as they will need to sit on the computer and click on links to check that a site still exists. This will keep your site up to date.
Another advantage of having your directory up to date is your visitors will come to trust that the listings on your site are all active and that they will be able to find what they are looking for.
As well as going through the information regularly, include a form or email address and instructions for your visitors so they can let you know of any sites that are no longer active.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- For your daily dose of business mums websites and blogs, check out Business Mums DailyPrize draws - get the kids involved
Posted by: | CommentsIf you read this blog regularly, you’ll know I love hearing stories of how business mums have got their kids involved in their business.
Over at Your Cheeky Monkey blog, Monique recently shared winners of her December giveaway. She got her son to help do the prize draw, so she accompanied the post with photos of her son drawing the winners. You can view the post here.
This is something I get my kids involved in as well. For most competitions I run, they draw the winners out of a hat. They love getting involved and doing something with Mummy.
Do you get your children to help with prize draws?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- For your daily dose of business mums websites and blogs, check out Business Mums DailyKids & Business - 5 September 2009
Posted by: | CommentsWelcome to the September 5, 2009 edition of kids and business.
Kylie presents Running a Business with kids and how it changes as they grow up posted at Tilda Virtual Services | Internet Marketing Virtual Assistant, saying, “running a business with kids around changes as they grow and change.”
Lucie presents My daughter has been happily entertained for three hours posted at Oz-E-Wahm :: Work from home online, saying, “A fun way to keep your preschooler entertained and you can work!”
Sheila Huggins presents I Need a Babysitter posted at Finding a Babysitter Made Easy, saying, “When you really need a babysitter, is usually when you begin to panic. You might even find that you don”
Traci Hayner Vanover presents Resources for Balancing Family and Work posted at Entrepreneur & Self-Employed Business Journal.
Amanda presents Don?t let your kids help you with your business posted at Reality Parenting, saying, “This is what happens when your kids help with your article marketing…”
That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of kids and business using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.
Technorati tags: kids and business, blog carnival.
Kids & Business blog carnival
Posted by: | CommentsWelcome to the August 8, 2009 edition of kids and business. This is our first carnival and we only got a couple of submissions. Make sure you get your posts in for next month.
Melissa Khalinsky presents It?s boring! posted at melissakhalinsky.com, saying, “My kids regularly help me with my business. This is them giving me feedback on my website!”
Imogen presents My 200th Post! posted at Inside Out Style Blog, saying, “4 year old Niamh was a guest blogger, demonstrating how to tie a scarf!”
That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of kids and business using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.
Technorati tags: kids and business, blog carnival.
