mompreneurship 
Ah, January. Maybe it’s the cold, the eggnog-induced five extra pounds or the impending credit card bill. Anyway you slice it, getting revved up for work in the new year isn’t easy. But here’s the good news: We’ve got five sure-fire ways to start making more money in your business right now. That should get your fire burning!
read more at our Mom Ink blog at YummyMummyClub.ca
Walking through Ikea today reminded of the Dragons’ Den. This week’s episode touched on the concept of the loss leader, a strategy Ikea executes to perfection.
One upside of being a small player in business is flexibility. Before you’ve gone too far down the garden path, and before you’ve invested too much money, you can take advantage of your ability to react to demands in the market.
Gail Vaz-Oxlade is mad, really mad, at Canadian lenders these days. We’ve all seen the author and television host force people to pull up their britches and get their debts squared away on her popular TV shows, ‘Til Debt Do U$ Part and Princess. And while no one is a bigger believer in personal responsibility when it comes to taking on debt, this time Vaz-Oxlade is setting her sights on banks and their ‘irresponsible lending practices.’ She sees a disconnect between the amount of credit lenders are willing to extend and the ability of people to assume that debt. Gail Vaz-Oxlade wants to ‘school’ lenders and is taking advantage of Credit Education Week (Nov. 13 to 19th) to ask Canadians to avoid credit card transactions, using only cash, in order to send a message to lenders.
We caught up with Ms. Vaz-Oxlade to talk about debt specifically as it pertains to entrepreneurs.
My favourite Dragons’ Den lesson this week came courtesy of Carolyne Braid, founder of Pole Fit. Although pole dancing may sound titillating, essentially this was a pitch that tapped into the latest trend for getting in shape. Pole Fit offers fitness classes in Winnipeg and brought in $89k in revenue last year. Braid’s ask of $35k for 20% of her company was to finance studio space, as well selling Pole Fit franchises across Canada.
A few years ago we found ourselves invited to admire our most senior employee’s brand new bedroom set. It was lovely. Believe us, we were delighted for her. But at the time, it made us wonder if her grass wasn’t just a little greener than ours. For example, at that point in time, we both happened to be sleeping on box springs - sans fancy bedroom sets. How was it that our employee was having sweet dreams based on her paycheque while we were still juggling the need to grow our business with the cash we were taking out personally?
Read more at our Yummy Mummy Club blog
The take-away from this week’s episode of Dragons’ Den reinforces one of our long-held beliefs: There is nothing wrong with starting small.
Read more from our Yummy Mummy Club blog:
Choosing
mom entrepreneurship can be exhilarating, invigorating and inspiring.
But it can also be stressful – after all, getting a business off the
ground can be one expensive leap into the unknown. Regardless of
whether you start your business for a few hundred dollars or a few
hundred-thousand dollars, we imagine that you’re just like us: you’ll
want to stretch your money as far as it can go. And, like every
business owner, you’ll need help, advice, referrals and bargains.
Before you pull out your credit card, think about what value you can
derive from your Rolodex.
We’ve found the old adage to be true: ask and you shall receive. We’ve got three tips on how you can implement this motto in your business starting right now.
Pursue networking opportunities
Be in touch with everyone you can if there is the slightest chance they can help you with your new venture. Who can help you with legal advice? Product development? New client referrals? Even if your network can’t help you out now, keep them in mind for down the road. You never know how your contacts might end up helping.
Seek out mentors
There’s a lot we stand to learn when we’re starting out in business for ourselves. The good news is that many people in business have gone through it before us. You just need to find a way to tap into their expertise. A mentor can be anyone whose opinion you trust, but your best bet is someone who works in a similar sector and is ahead of you on the learning curve. Go out there and ask people you admire for their advice – we’ll bet they’ll be flattered you asked.
Ask for better pricing
Whether you run a product or a service-based business, you can ALWAYS ask for better pricing. You’ll either get it or you won’t, but it doesn't hurt to ask! If at first you don’t succeed, you can always ask again down the road. Over time we’ve had our rates reduced on everything from fabric costs to credit card rates – but we had to ask.
You may be doing it all alone right now, but come out of your shell and ask for help. You simply never know what you’ll find.
Read more of Amy and Danielle's monthly business column at sweetmama.com
We’ve found the old adage to be true: ask and you shall receive. We’ve got three tips on how you can implement this motto in your business starting right now.
Pursue networking opportunities
Be in touch with everyone you can if there is the slightest chance they can help you with your new venture. Who can help you with legal advice? Product development? New client referrals? Even if your network can’t help you out now, keep them in mind for down the road. You never know how your contacts might end up helping.
Seek out mentors
There’s a lot we stand to learn when we’re starting out in business for ourselves. The good news is that many people in business have gone through it before us. You just need to find a way to tap into their expertise. A mentor can be anyone whose opinion you trust, but your best bet is someone who works in a similar sector and is ahead of you on the learning curve. Go out there and ask people you admire for their advice – we’ll bet they’ll be flattered you asked.
Ask for better pricing
Whether you run a product or a service-based business, you can ALWAYS ask for better pricing. You’ll either get it or you won’t, but it doesn't hurt to ask! If at first you don’t succeed, you can always ask again down the road. Over time we’ve had our rates reduced on everything from fabric costs to credit card rates – but we had to ask.
You may be doing it all alone right now, but come out of your shell and ask for help. You simply never know what you’ll find.
Read more of Amy and Danielle's monthly business column at sweetmama.com
If you follow Admiral Road on Facebook you’ll have noticed that this month we are celebrating our 20th Friendiversary. (To be honest, we stole the idea from our trusty office manager Lizz, who had a party for two when she and her bestie celebrated 10 years.) Now that Amy and I have been BFFs for 20 years we think it’s time we raised a glass to our best girlfriendship.
We met in our first year of university – at McGill in Montreal. Amy and I shared a major, a residence and sat on a student council together. Over the course of our first semester we became great friends. And the rest is history…
During the past 20 years we’ve been single, working girls sharing an apartment. We’ve stood up as ‘best woman’ at each other’s weddings. We’ve been there for the birth of each other’s children and for moments of intense grief. In short, we’ve grown up together.
We laugh when people ask us if we’re sisters (occasionally even if we’re twins). Given the 6 inch height difference not to mention being physically dissimilar in nearly every way, it’s a bit odd for people to think we’re related. On the other hand, we’ve been in one long 20 year conversation (no sign of it letting up) – so maybe we’ve come to resemble each other in some less obvious ways.
And, for the past 9 years we’ve been business partners, sharing the highs and lows of mompreneurship. We even recently wrote a book together about our business and other mompreneur ventures. We know that people say not to go into business with your friends – but we can’t imagine having done it any other way. It’s been doing it together that has made it not only sustainable, but also very enjoyable.
So here’s to 20 years, and here’s to 20 more. And here’s wishing you and your BFF all the best on your next friendiversary.
