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School holiday ideas

March 30, 2010 By 3 Comments

Not quite an Easter garden...

In 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.

Filed Under: Kids & Business

A Choice – part 1

February 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment

This 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.

Filed Under: Customer Service, Kids & Business

Check your links and update your site

February 16, 2010 By 1 Comment

Have you checked your links lately?

This 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.

Filed Under: Branding, Customer Service, Kids & Business, Technology

Prize draws – get the kids involved

December 15, 2009 By Leave a Comment

If 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?

Filed Under: Competitions, Kids & Business

Kids & Business – 5 September 2009

September 5, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Welcome 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, .

Filed Under: Kids & Business

Marketing Monday – What do you do?

July 20, 2009 By 2 Comments

Marketing MondayOne of the biggest challenges many business mums face is talking about themselves. Too often I hear comments like “Oh, I’m just a work at home mum” or “I have a little business” or similar. Many Mums, myself included, are guilty about talking themselves down, or brushing what they do under the carpet along with the breakfast crumbs.

When someone asks what you do, often they are being polite, however often they are genuinely interested too. So tell them.

Now, I’m not suggesting you talk yourself up and make yourself seem better than you are, especially if you’re not comfortable with this. It’s more about being honest and saying things like “I am a business mum” confidently. Being a business mum is something to be proud of.

Many experts will tell you to hone your 60 second elevator pitch. I don’t have one! When people as what I do, I tell them, but don’t go on. If they are genuinely interested, they will ask more questions. You never know, the next person who asks could be your next strategic alliance, bringing hundreds of new customers to your business, or even your next big sale.

Stop downplaying what you do and be honest. What you do in your business is important, and being a business mum is no easy task – just ask any business mum who has just juggled or is about to be juggling kids on school holidays with their business!!!

Filed Under: Growing your business, Kids & Business, Looking after YOU, Promoting your business

Lachie’s Favourites

July 9, 2009 By Leave a Comment

It’s the middle of school holidays at the moment, so my poor blog has been a bit neglected!

As you know, I’m always on the look out for great examples of how kids can help with your business. This morning I was looking over the site of a new member, Jo from The Toy Bug and came across a brilliant idea.

The first category in her shop is called “Lachie’s Favourites“. Jo highlights toys her 6 year old son loves and acknowledges him as her best toy tester. I must admit, having 5 and 7 year old boys, I have been looking at that section and have found a few things the boys may like for their birthdays.

If relevant, your kids can be your testers and you can show off their favourite products. It will get your kids involved in your business as well as be of interest to parents with similar age children. This could also be a regular section on your blog, even if you don’t want to have a category dedicated to this.

Well done Jo for a great idea in your business.

Filed Under: Blogging, Growing your business, Kids & Business, Promoting your business

When you’re not feeling fabulous…

May 27, 2009 By 7 Comments

OK, we all have bad days. You know the ones, you’re tired and stressed, the kids are playing up, nothing seems to be going right. Yet, you need to attend a networking event, do a blog post, twitter, and all the other things us business mums do day to day.

When people ask how you are, you wish you could say “I’m having a really bad day, business really isn’t going as well as you think it is”, but you can’t!

What do you do? Do you just grin and bare it and hope tomorrow is better? Do you hide under the doona or lose yourself in a box of chocolates?

I’ve started using these times to either take a day off, or take a critical look at what I’m doing. It was one of these days I finally bit the bullet and hired Kylie from Tilda Virtual Services to take over my bookkeeping – it was getting me down, stressing me out, and driving me around the bend, and I really didn’t need the extra stress of bookkeeping on top of everything else.

How do you cope with bad days and your business? Post comments with your best tips. The best tip will win a copy of Real Songs for Real Mums from RealMums.com.au.

Filed Under: General, Growing your business, Kids & Business, Looking after YOU

School holidays – get the kids involved

January 6, 2009 By Leave a Comment

One of the many jobs kids can help with

I know of many businesse that grind to an almost complete halt over the Summer school holidays. This doesn’t have to be the case.

There are many things you can do to keep your business going. My biggest tip is to get the kids involved. Depending on their ages, there are a lot of things they can do to help you. These may include:

  • Stuffing envelopes
  • Shredding
  • Letterbox drop
  • Putting stamps on envelopes for use during the year
  • Filing
  • Packing orders
  • Putting address lables on envelopes and packages
  • Testing products
  • Reviewing products
  • Stock count

If your kids are older, they can also do things such as typing newsletters and entering invoices. My kids are only 5 and 7, so we’re not quite up to that stage yet (though I’m sure before long they will be).

What are some of your school holiday strategies to keep your business going and get the kids involved?

Filed Under: Growing your business, Kids & Business

School holiday fun

October 2, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Some school holiday fun!

We’re nearly at the end of another school holidays. I am looking forward to kids getting back to school and kinder on Monday, and I’m sure they are too – they’re getting bored with Mummy!

Six (nearly seven) year old Nat recently learned how to use the laminator – so has been begging me for some laminating to do! I gladly handed him a few papers that needed doing that I had been putting off for ages! I now have some lovely laminated graphs and useful tools on my walls.

Four (nearly five) year old Zac has been shredding for me. Every few days we’ve had to go down to the pet shop with another garbage bag full of shredding! He lives in hope they’ll give him a free pet in exchange for shredded paper…

Having these tasksto share with the boys has helped business to run a bit smoother, however there are some tasks that are very hard to do with two little boys wanting to ‘help’.  They are all on my list for Monday!

How have school holidays been going for you? What are some of the tasks your kids have helped you get done?

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