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Having change at markets

August 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Do you have enough change?

One of the biggest challenges when selling at markets is having enough change for purchases.

I was helping a friend at a market and we found we very quickly ran out of $5 notes as the most popular product was $15 and most people paid with a $20 note.

Another story I heard was a friend who ran out of 5 cent coins as most of her products needed 5 cents in change.

There is no magic formula for the amount of change you need at a market, however one suggestion I was told a while ago is to round all our prices to the nearest dollar, so you don’t need to worry about having enough “shrapnel”, or silver coins.

If you have a lot of products that will need change in a one or two dollar coin or five dollar note, make sure you have plenty of these. There is a chance you will get people who have the correct change and will be happy to give you smaller amounts when they buy, however the last thing you want to do is to scramble for change when you have people wanting to buy from you.

One thing that is worth remembering is that most ATMs only give out 20 and 50 dollar notes. When thinking about your change, remember this.

Before the market, write down the change you take with you, and following the market, do an analysis to see if you had enough change for your needs. If you had more than enough, that’s wonderful, if not, then adjust the change you take with you for next time.

Do you have any tips for change at markets, anything that makes life easier, especially if you have a lot of people wanting to buy at once? If so, share them here.

Filed Under: Finances, Markets

Saving Money on Packaging

August 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Save money on your packaging

Packaging your products for safe delivery through the post is important, it can also be expensive.

There are some simple ideas to save money on your packaging materials.

  • Reuse clean sheets of bubble wrap from parcels you have received
  • Buy tissue paper in bulk
  • Buy wrapping and tissue paper on sale or in $2 shops
  • Shred junk mail mail to pad boxes instead of buying packing peanuts
  • Reuse packing peanuts from packages you have received
  • Buy envelopes and mailing satchels in bulk

These are just a few ideas I have come up with. I’m sure there are plenty more ideas. If you have any ideas to add to this list, please add a comment.

 

Filed Under: Finances, Growing your business

Waiting for payment

January 19, 2011 By 1 Comment
Do you have terms for your sales?

Do you have terms for your sales?

I’ve seen a lot of posts on Facebook from business mums reminding people to pay them. In some cases the businesses have been waiting for payment for some time.

If you are selling things online, whether through a shop, eBay, Facebook or any other method, have some terms attached to your sales.

The first one should be the goods won’t be posted until payment has been received.

Another important one is the length of time you will wait for payment. You may specify that you will wait up to 6 working days (for example) and then the item will go back for sale or go to the second bidder (in the case of an auction).

Having clear terms on your sales will help you get payment and will reduce the stress following up people for payment. You may also say that you will send one payment reminder only. You can still be flexible if someone contacts you to let you know payment will be late.

Do you have terms on your sales, or are you left hanging waiting for payment for your sales?

Filed Under: Business Mum, Customer Service, Finances

Friday Five – Making Strategic Alliances Pay

November 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Strategic alliances are awesome! I have used them a lot to grow my business, and in many different ways. One thing I have learned is there is a danger of being out of pocket because you are offering so much and getting nothing in return. It’s a win for your partner, a win for your customers, but not for you.

If a strategic alliance is sending you broke, then it’s not a good strategic alliance.

This week I’ll look at 5 common alliance activities and give a tip or two on how you can make this pay.

  1. Expo Stand – split the cost of an expo stand evenly between all participants, especially if they are getting equal space on the stand. If people are just including brochures or similar to include on your stand, decide on what to charge them. After all, they are using space on your stand for promotion.
  2. Mail Out – ask for something toward the cost of postage to include items with a mail out. After all it is saving them postage and they are getting their items in front of your database. This is especially important if the item adds to the weight and you need to pay more to send each item out.
  3. Brochure/Advertising – sharing the cost of a brochure or ad in a magazine is a great alliance opportunity. Make sure you split the cost of design and printing among all the participants.
  4. Competitions – it may be tempting to get a prize for a competition as a donation only. One of the biggest dangers is finding the postage cost is high. You can either ask for the cost of the postage from the prize giver, ask the prize giver to send the prize directly to the winner, or split the postage cost between you. This will mean you are not out of pocket, especially if the prize is big and heavy.
  5. Events – if you are running events with alliance partners, again, split the costs between you. If it is a co-branded event, work it out so you also split the profits, giving added benefit to all. If you are simply handing out brochures or including items in goodie bags, ask for some money toward the cost of running the event, after all, your partners are getting their businesses in front of your database.

These are just a few examples to help make sure a strategic alliance is a win all around. Remember that in order to be a win-win-win, you must also benefit from it, meaning it’s not costing you financially and making it harder for you to do business.

Filed Under: Branding, Finances, Friday Five, Growing your business, Promoting your business

How can customers pay you?

November 4, 2010 By 1 Comment
Do you have multiple payment methods?

Do you have multiple payment methods?

This is an important question – how can your customers pay you?

A friend was telling me about a site she wanted to buy from, but they only had PayPal and my friend wanted to pay by direct deposit or credit card not through PayPal. There was no easy way for her to find alternate payment details, so they lost a sale.

At a market I went to recently, there were no ATMs nearby and I’d run out of cash. There was something that would have been perfect as a Christmas gift for my Mum, however they had no alternate ways of paying (only cash sales) and no business cards or anything I could take to order from home, or even an order book for them to take an order and give me payment details so I could pay when I got home.

So, how can your customers pay you?

Having a PayPal sign up is a simple way to add a shopping cart to your site, but what about those people who either don’t have a PayPal account, or don’t want to use PayPal. Is there a way they can find out your postal address to send a cheque or money order (yes, people do still use them) or find your bank details to pay by direct deposit, or contact you for these details?

If you are at an expo or market, is cash your only payment method, or can people pay with credit card also? If they don’t have cash and you don’t have credit card facilities, do you have an order form people can order your products, pay by direct deposit or PayPal and then you send them the products?

It pays to have multiple payment options in your business. Not everyone likes PayPal or has an account and not everyone has cash. You don’t want to miss out on a sale because people can’t find your payment details! The easier it is for people to pay you means you may not lose the sale.

So, how can your customers pay you?

Filed Under: Customer Service, Finances

Overheads in your business

October 21, 2010 By 3 Comments
Do you know your overheads?

Do you know your overheads?

I hear so many comments from business mums that go along the lines of “I work from home so I don’t have overheads”. In reality, this is not the case.

Many mums assume overheads are things like rent on an office or shop, or paying wages to staff. As many of the business mums I speak with don’t have staff and work from home, they assume they have no overheads and so don’t take into account any overheads when they are setting their prices.

Overheads can include:

  • Website – design, hosting updates
  • Bookkeeping – software, bookkeeper, accountant
  • Postage – envelopes, packaging, stamps
  • Stationary – paper for printing, ink, pens, note books
  • Marketing – advertising, brochures, market stalls

And don’t forget to factor in a salary for yourself.

This is an area where many business mums (including myself) fall down. They forget that these things need to be paid and when the bills come in find they are struggling to pay for them.

In order to avoid this, take some time and write a list of all the expenses in your business. Use the above list as a starting point. If you are unsure, take a look at your accounting program and get a list of all your expenses. That will also give you an indication of how much they are. Once you have worked out what your overheads are, you may find you need to change your prices accordingly.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you have no overheads because you work from home and have no employees.

Filed Under: Finances, Planning

Do you write reports?

October 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Do you write reports?

Do you write reports?

When we were kids, we would get reports from school, letting up know how we were going with our school work. In our business, reports are a great way to help us know how we are going, what is working, what is making money, and giving some ideas on how we can do things differently and improve for next time.

I have just started writing reports on the events I’m doing in my business. The information I’m including is about money, what comes in and what goes out, the number of people attended, how many are already on my database and how many signed up on the day, any product sold (if applicable) and things I would do next time to make things better.

To do this while it was still fresh, I sat down the next day over a coffee and wrote it all out. I then typed it up and sent it to my business coach. The aim behind sharing it is my business coach can keep me accountable for how things are going and can suggest things on any of the issues faced. It is also something we can review in our next coaching session.

If you don’t have a business coach, find someone else you trust to keep you accountable for your activities by sharing your reports. You can do the same for them. Even if you don’t share them, it is a worthwhile exercise, especially if you file them and then look back at them after time. You can see how your activities are helping your business to grow.

Do you write reports for different activities you do in your business? If so, what activities do you report on?

Filed Under: Finances, General, Growing your business, Organisation, Planning

Undercharging does NOT help WAHMs

September 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Help WAHMs by charging what you're worth

Help WAHMs by charging what you're worth

I’ve written a number of posts lately about undervaluing yourself and your business. Recently I’ve seen a number of comments on Facebook status updates from people who want to help WAHMs – by not putting up their prices!

Undercharging does not help WAHMs!

In my experience, WAHMs will find the money for the things they see as important to the growth of their business, especially if they are running a business and not a hobby. As an example, a number of years ago I saw a WAHM spend over $500 for a small ad in a parenting magazine, yet say an $85 membership was too expensive. This WAHM felt the magazine ad was important to their business, so found the money to pay for it.

Instead of reducing your prices, or keeping your prices low to “help” WAHMs, show them the value for their business. If it’s advertising, show how you will get their business in front of their target market. If it’s design, show how a great design will boost sales in their business. If you can, get some testimonials from customers that can show how using your services has helped grow their business.

By showing the value and how what you are offering will grow their business, you can value your time, charge what you’re worth, and still help WAHMs grow their businesses.

If you are still unsure about the value of what you offer (and we all go through it sometimes), bundle your services with complementary products and services to give even more value. You could talk to your strategic alliance partners and get some goodies from them as a gift or vouchers. When looking for goodies, look for no strings attached items that will add value. For example, if you are offering advertising, find a great marketing book that will help your client make the most of their advertising.

Remember, WAHMs will pay for what they see is important and will add value to their business. Also remember that you and your business deserve to be valued and paid what you’re worth.

Filed Under: Business Mum, Finances, Growing your business, Looking after YOU

It’s not always about what it costs you…

September 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Are you charging for your time?

Are you charging for your time?

After I wrote last weeks post, I found myself falling into the trap of undervaluing myself! I am planning a series of networking events for term 4 and was calculating my costs – forgetting to include my time. I know I’m not the only business mum out there who does this.

When you are working out what to charge for your products and services, don’t forget to add in something for your time. Your time is valuable and there’s no point working for $2 per hour – this is not a rate to be working for.

To put it another way, if you had to pay someone else to do whatever task you are doing, how much would you pay them? With the events, I looked at how much I would need to pay someone to do the bits and pieces I’m doing and worked that in to my costs. It is something I keep forgetting to add.

So, when you are working out your costs, be sure to add in something for your time. This will help you to bring in money, charge what you are worth, and help you grow your business in the future.

Filed Under: Finances, Growing your business, Looking after YOU, Planning

Cheap, Cheap, Cheap…

September 8, 2010 By 4 Comments
Are you too cheap?

Are you too cheap?

I read an excellent post this morning by Kathie Thomas about being a VA doesn’t mean ‘cheap’. Kathie makes some very good points, especially about charging enough so you can meet your cost of living.

There seems to be an attitude among business mums and WAHMs in Australia where they seem to be afraid to charge for their services. And, on the flip side, they seem to expect other businesses to put their prices lower simply because they are a business mum or WAHM.

Just because we work from home, doesn’t mean we have to do everything free or cheap. We are running a business to earn an income.

Melinda Brennan over at SuperWAHM created a WAHM Manifesto. This is free and well worth a read. Among other things, the Manifesto states that “Every WAHM has the right to earn a decent income”.

So, are you undercharging for your services? Are you too cheap?

If you’re not sure, try raising your prices slightly and see what happens. You may be pleasantly surprised.

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Filed Under: Business Mum, Customer Service, Finances, Growing your business
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