http://www.lotuscourses.com/lotus_home_business_blog.php en leigh@lotuscourses.com Copyright 2008 2008-01-10T13:35:00+00:00 http://www.lotuscourses.com/lotus_home_business_blog_entry/how_to_stay_focused_on_your_business.php http://www.lotuscourses.com/lotus_home_business_blog_entry/how_to_stay_focused_on_your_business.php#When:13:35:00Z If you are easily distracted, staying focused on your business can be harder than doing the actual work of your business! It is very easy to procrastinate, especially when you are a WAHM. There are always so many other things to do. Here is a secret that you may not have heard yet: The dishes can wait! The laundry can wait! So feel free to make those phone calls or answer those emails. The laundry and dishes will still be there, waiting for you! However, if you wait too long to call a client back, they may move on to someone who gets back to them faster than you do. Why did you become a WAHM in the first place? Did you need to bring in an extra £200 a month to pay off credit cards? Was it to put money into your children’s trust fund? Or was it to save for retirement? Whatever the reason, write it down and put it where you will see it on a daily basis. When you are feeling distracted, look at what you wrote down. It will be easier to work when you remember why you are working in the first place. You may want to team up with another WAHM. Send each other your goals and keep one another accountable. Call each other at the end of the day and discuss what you accomplished; you can share your successes or lend each other a sympathetic ear over things that didn’t go as you planned. Stay motivated by setting daily, weekly and monthly goals. If you work backwards you will create a road map to your success. For instance, if you are in direct sales and your financial goal is to sell £1,000 in products that month. Do the math and you’ll see that you need to sell £250 of products each week. Now, how many home parties do you need to hold each week to accomplish that? How many phone calls do you need to make each day in order to schedule those parties? When you accomplish your goals, give yourself a little treat to remind yourself that you worked hard and achieved success! 2008-01-10T13:35:00+00:00 http://www.lotuscourses.com/lotus_home_business_blog_entry/5_ways_a_business_coach_can_help_achieve_business_goals.php http://www.lotuscourses.com/lotus_home_business_blog_entry/5_ways_a_business_coach_can_help_achieve_business_goals.php#When:10:49:00Z Starting and growing a business is hard work.  If you’ve never done it before, it can be confusing and overwhelming.  You may be in the business of your dreams, but frustrations can make it seem like you will never get off the ground. Ambition and motivation are two key factors in success.  But sometimes you need something more.  A business coach can share knowledge and inspiration with you and help you find the things within yourself that you need to succeed.  Here are some ways that a business coach can help you reach your goals: 1. A business coach can help you gain an objective view of yourself. Often you are the last person to realise your own strengths and weaknesses.  A business coach can give you insight into which traits are standing between you and success, and which ones you need to concentrate on using to your advantage. 2. A business coach can help you discover how to work more efficiently. When you have a million things to do and little or no help, it’s not unusual to become overwhelmed and not work as efficiently as you could.  Your business coach can teach you how to sort out priorities and get your work done more quickly and with less stress. 3. A business coach can help you delegate and outsource effectively. You may be tempted to do everything yourself, but that’s often just plain impractical.  A business coach can help you determine whether you should hire employees or outsource work.  Your coach can also give you pointers on how to assign and keep track of work for optimum efficiency. 4. A coach can share knowledge and connections that you might not otherwise have access to. Business coaches have experienced the ups and downs of business, and they’ve gained insights along the way that only come with that kind of experience.  This makes them uniquely qualified to help with a variety of problems.  And if they don’t know the answer, chances are they know someone who does. 5. Having a coach can give you more confidence. It’s comforting to have someone with knowledge and experience on your side, supporting you all the way.  The resulting increase in confidence can kick your motivation into overdrive and help you take your business to the next level. A business coach has been through the stages of starting and running a business, and they can help you get started off on the right foot.  Their advice and support can help you achieve your goals more quickly, and they can help you set new goals once your original ones are met.  Finding the right business coach could be just what you need to succeed. 2007-12-07T10:49:00+00:00 http://www.lotuscourses.com/lotus_home_business_blog_entry/how_to_stay_focused_on_success_as_a_work_at_home_mum.php http://www.lotuscourses.com/lotus_home_business_blog_entry/how_to_stay_focused_on_success_as_a_work_at_home_mum.php#When:06:42:00Z Being a work at home mum can be one of the most satisfying things you can do with your life. You will be able to spend time with your family and have the opportunity to create a successful business. It takes a lot of work, maybe more than you realise.  But if you take the opportunity you have by the horns and maintain a positive attitude, the rewards are amazing. That’s not to say there won’t be days when you wonder why you started your WAHM business in the first place!  Here are some tips on how to keep going when things get tough: There will be days when you feel like giving up. Don’t give in to those feelings. Success is not found overnight. You are going to have to put in a lot of time and effort into building your business, but you can do it. It is ok to take a “mental health day” once in a while, but when that day is over, you need to get up and start working again. Stay motivated by hanging up pictures of your kids near your computer or phone and writing down what you want to accomplish by working at home. Maybe you want to pay off credit card debt, save for retirement, take exotic holidays every year or buy the kids a pool. Whenever you feel discouraged read what you wrote down or look at the pictures of your kids. It will inspire you to keep working! Try to find a mentor or someone who has already found success in the work at home field you have chosen. They know exactly what you are going through and can offer advice when you ‘get stuck’ on something. They can also help keep you accountable when it comes to your goals. If you haven’t taken the time to write down your goals, take the time now. By having your goals written down on paper you will have a clear definition of what you want. Once you have them on paper, take a closer look at each one and write down specific action steps you can take now to achieve them. For instance, if your goal is to build a website, what are three things you can do today to accomplish that? Keep looking forward towards your goals and you will find yourself achieving success before you know it! 2007-12-04T06:42:00+00:00 http://www.lotuscourses.com/lotus_home_business_blog_entry/childcare_ideas_for_work_at_home_mums.php http://www.lotuscourses.com/lotus_home_business_blog_entry/childcare_ideas_for_work_at_home_mums.php#When:07:06:00Z If you are a work at home mum, or thinking of becoming a work at home mum, you probably made that decision so you could spend more time with your children. However, there will most likely be times in your business when you will need to arrange for childcare. The following are some creative ideas for your childcare needs. WAHMs in direct sales are very often faced with childcare predicaments. A large part of their business is conducting sales presentations, usually held at someone else’s house. If you’re a party plan WAHM, the most obvious choice would be to schedule these presentations when your partner can watch the kids.  But what happens if your partner has an unusual work schedule or you’re a single parent? One idea is to hire a local high school student to come to the party and look after the kids. Check with the hostess first, but she will probably love the idea (and so will the other guests, and since they won’t have to worry about getting a babysitter for their children, they will be more likely to come to the party and the more guests you have, the bigger your profits!). If you just need a babysitter every now and again, try setting up a child care group with your friends and neighbours. Each woman can designate a set time on a certain day of the week or month when they will be ‘the sitter’. Any of the Mums in your child care group who need a babysitter that day can drop their kids of at the designated babysitters’ house. The children will get to play and interact with one another and each Mum can get free childcare on an ad hoc basis. Check with your local library as they may have story hours where you can drop your children off and the librarians will read the children a book and after the book is read, the children can participate in a craft, game or activity. If you just need some quiet time to do some work, you can hire a local teenager to come over and play with the kids while you are tucked away in your office. You will have some uninterrupted work time, but will still be there in case you’re needed. If you have regular meetings away from home, check with friends and family to see if they can help out by watching the kids. Offer your product or service in exchange for their time. They may jump at the offer! And don’t feel guilty if you need to put your children in day care part-time. Yes, you may have had every intention of working at home in order to spend time with your children, but, there may be times when your business will need your total focus. By taking that time and completing your business tasks, you will be able to focus 100% on your children during family time. 2007-11-28T07:06:00+00:00 http://www.lotuscourses.com/lotus_home_business_blog_entry/starting_your_own_home_based_bookkeeping_service.php http://www.lotuscourses.com/lotus_home_business_blog_entry/starting_your_own_home_based_bookkeeping_service.php#When:21:39:01Z Many small business owners will hire a bookkeeper to keep track of their day to day expenses and income. A basic bookkeeper keeps tracks of expenses, profit, receipts, etc. and enters the information into a computer program. The bookkeeper will then provide the information to their client on a monthly basis or however frequent the client requests to be updated. What skills are helpful? To become a bookkeeper you’ll want to have skills in the areas of paying attention to detail, basic computer bookkeeping, and absolute accuracy. Honesty and confidentiality are crucial. Your client’s information is private and needs to be kept that way.  What tools are needed? A reliable computer, preferably with system for daily back ups to protect your clients data. Up to date bookkeeping software is a must. Other tools that are needed are communication tools such as phone line, fax line, email address, etc.  How do you get started? To begin your own bookkeeping business you will want to have some business cards and flyers made up. Send out the flyers to local businesses letting them know what services you offer. Join your local chamber of commerce and begin getting involved in community events where you can put yourself out there to meet business people and become known in your community. Another good way to get started is to place an ad in the local newspaper. Having a website available that details your services and lists your rates might be another option to look into it; build your own or hire someone to build a basic one for you. Don’t get frustrated when you find that all your marketing efforts don’t seem to be working right away. Word of mouth will go a lot farther than any of your other marketing efforts. So once you have your first client make sure to go the extra mile to ensure satisfaction. A happy client will spread the word! 2007-11-21T21:39:01+00:00 http://www.lotuscourses.com/lotus_home_business_blog_entry/breaking_free_from_negative_thoughts_and_embracing_mistakes.php http://www.lotuscourses.com/lotus_home_business_blog_entry/breaking_free_from_negative_thoughts_and_embracing_mistakes.php#When:09:42:00Z Have you ever had a negative thought? Have you ever uttered it out loud, even in jest?  Most of us have.  More importantly, more often than we’d like to admit.  Negative thinking can be damaging not only to our self-esteem, but can begin a cycle of thought and behaviour that negatively impacts our own perception of events in our lives.  For example: Perhaps you’ve been assigned a special project at work, or in your business. You’re confident in taking it on, but upon completion you notice one tiny error. You begin to berate the way in which you handled the project, even though the error was not significant. While your boss or client is telling you what a great job you’ve done, you begin to make excuses for it. Your negativity has minimised the entire project, and magnified one area of it. What steps can you take to avoid this pattern?  Take a step back and look at the project objectively.  Not only did you complete it in an efficient manner, but it will become the template for future projects. Forget about the mistake; think about what you’ve achieved. This is especially important when you run your own business.  Making errors is a part of learning. In actual fact, if you’re not making mistakes then you’re probably not challenging yourself enough.  Remember this and hold it with you in everything you do: Mistakes are the building blocks to growth.  Whenever you make a mistake, welcome it as a learning opportunity. 2007-11-16T09:42:00+00:00 http://www.lotuscourses.com/lotus_home_business_blog_entry/how_to_meet_other_wahms.php http://www.lotuscourses.com/lotus_home_business_blog_entry/how_to_meet_other_wahms.php#When:22:32:04Z If you have been searching online for work at home opportunities, you have probably come across several websites, message boards and forums. These message boards and forums will allow you to meet and network with Work At Home Mums across the world.  Networking online with other mums on message boards is very easy!  Find a forum that you like, register an account and post an introduction message right away. Let the other mums know where you are from and what you want to accomplish with working from home. The women you meet there will provide you with advice on how to start a business, information on a wide variety of subjects, employment opportunities, and they will be more than happy to lend an ear when you need to complain about a bad day. Start reading other people’s posts and you will notice that there is a section where the poster can list their business website. Visit the different websites and eventually you will find a few work at home mums that have businesses similar to the type you would like to start. Send them a message and let them know you admire their business and ask for advice on how you can get started in the same type of field. Keep reading and replying to posts regularly; you will find that people have questions about things you are an expert in. By building relationships and establishing credibility, people will come to you when they have a need for the product or service you provide. Seek out the services of other home based mums when you need help with something. If you have done business with a certain mum, recommend her services to others when they need them! Your work at home friend will appreciate your help and will recommend your services to other people. Eventually, someone new to the WAHM community will seek you out and ask for your advice on how to get started. Take them under your wing and show them a few helpful pointers. You may not be able to pay back all of the mothers who have helped you with your business, but you can definitely pay it forward by helping others! I recommend the following message boards: Giant Potential Mums Club 2007-11-15T22:32:04+00:00 http://www.lotuscourses.com/lotus_home_business_blog_entry/a_sure_fire_way_to_boost_your_confidence_and_banish_fear.php http://www.lotuscourses.com/lotus_home_business_blog_entry/a_sure_fire_way_to_boost_your_confidence_and_banish_fear.php#When:11:06:00Z There’s no doubt about it.  Staying within your comfort zone is… well… comfortable.  But if you don’t venture outside of your usual boundaries every now and again, you could start to feel bored, or worse… trapped. Trapped in a mediocre life, when you could be leading a life full of new challenges and excellence. Is there something you need to do, or know you should do, but it scares the living daylights out of you?  Whatever it is, get out there and do it! Harness your fear, and turn it into a burning ambition to succeed and overcome whatever it is that scares you.  Almost without exception, it’s the things that scare you the most that teach you the most. It’s the things that fill you with fear and dread that give you the most satisfaction and joy when you conquer them.  Fact. Here’s a personal story to illustrate.  When I was travelling in Australia, my now husband snuck out of our tent in the early hours and came back to tell me that the next morning we were going to be flying to 12,000 feet to jump out of a plane.  Gulp! Now, we’d often talked about how we’d love to do a skydive.  Thinking it was never actually going to happen, I was full of bravado: “Yeah, yeah, that would be FABULOUS!” Actually, the idea scared me to death.  I’m afraid of heights.  Anyway, when he came back and told me this news you can imagine how terrified I felt.  Still, my pride got the better of me and the next morning I jumped out of that plane at 12,000 feet (strapped to a pro of course!).  And do you know what, I absolutely LOVED it!  Freefalling through the sky for 40 seconds has to go down as one of my all-time, most amazing experiences.  As soon as my feet hit the ground, I wanted to get right back up in that plane and do it all over again… and again… and again. So you see, it’s the things that scare you the most that cause you to grow the most.  Start taking the bull by the horns.  Then watch your confidence (and happiness) soar.. 2007-11-12T11:06:00+00:00 http://www.lotuscourses.com/lotus_home_business_blog_entry/just_when_you_feel_like_giving_up.php http://www.lotuscourses.com/lotus_home_business_blog_entry/just_when_you_feel_like_giving_up.php#When:08:01:00Z I’ m reading an excellent book at the moment called ’The 80/20 Principle‘ by Richard Koch.  The 80/20 principle is a term first coined by a man named Pareto that states 20% of effort leads to 80% of rewards.  An interesting theory in itself, but I came across another principle in the book that resonates with me, and wonder if it does with you too. It’s a concept called ‘The Tipping Point’.  It says that when you start something new you will put a large amount of effort into it at the beginning without any results. I liken it to a new business start-up, or a new website launch.  You have to exert an enormous amount of energy to get the business up and running without seeing any financial reward for your efforts. After hundreds of hours of blood, sweat and toil it’s very easy to become disheartened and just give up.  I know how this feels because I’ve been tempted on more than one occasion to abandon projects that just haven’t been developing as fast as I’d like.  You start to wonder if that great idea is really so great after all.  But, then there comes a ‘tipping point’.  An ‘invisible line’ you cross when just a little more effort leads to a shed load of reward.  Then the success starts rolling in. So if ever you’re feeling despondent because you’re working really hard, getting all the right signals, but not getting anything back financially, stick with it and chances are very soon your business will start to take off. In fact, doubts creeping in is often the signal that things are about to change, so don’t give up! 2007-11-08T08:01:00+00:00 http://www.lotuscourses.com/lotus_home_business_blog_entry/have_you_got_the_patience_to_be_a_wahm.php http://www.lotuscourses.com/lotus_home_business_blog_entry/have_you_got_the_patience_to_be_a_wahm.php#When:08:00:00Z Indi is such a mummy’s girl at the moment, which of course I love She really wants mummy to be by her side every time she wakes in the night, which is cute, but just recently she seems to be waking quite a lot! Never having been one to let her cry when she obviously needs me, I do of course pander to her every need.  Yes, I’m a sucker! , but with a face like this… Anyway, the last few nights I’ve been able to do very little to reduce my mountainous To-Do list.  In some ways I find this REALLY frustrating, but then something you soon come to realise when you run a WAHM business is that the needs of your family (which always come first) can have an affect on the pace at which your business can grow.  You can outsource tons of the day-to-day work, but still, developing new ideas and learning new techniques for doing business takes lots of time and energy.  Always much more than you think. So a good piece of advice I had that I’d like to pass on is to always expect your business to grow much, MUCH slower than you expected.  This holds true for any business, but especially when you’re a WAHM with so much else on your plate. It’s just a fact of WAHM life, so be prepared for times when you feel things aren’t moving forward quickly enough.  Accept it as part of the process, and most importantly, expect it. 2007-10-23T08:00:00+00:00