In the process of learning how to run a business I have discovered some amazing people who have helped me along the way: some just by sharing helpful information on their blogs, some by connecting on social media like Facebook or Twitter, and some who have taken that further to forge a real relationship. Not only have I learned so much, I no longer feel like I am on that lonely island. I feel now that I am a part of an amazing group of kick-ass, biz-building women!
I have also learned that I have something valuable to share with others. I started my blog, build a little biz (www.buildalittlebiz.com), to share what I was learning with other busy, talented mums who were working on their own home businesses and needed help finding resources or support. I discovered that the more I helped other biz builders, the more I learned myself, and the more I could improve my own business. What an amazing thing!
Wherever you are at with your little business right now, I would bet there are people you admire; people you consider a 10 on the scales of awesomeness and brilliance, people you would love to mentor you. Just keep in mind that there are people looking at what you are doing with your biz who admire you. To them, you are their 10! No matter where you are at on this journey, you have something valuable to offer to others, just as much as you are looking for help from others.
Having a mentor can be the thing that keeps you going, keeps you sane, and keeps those light bulb moments coming. So while you are on the lookout for fabulous mentors that will help you on your way, consider the ways in which you can also mentor others. The more you give, the more you get in return…
Karen Gunton is the builder of a little photography and design biz which she runs from home, called smile.play.love ( www.smileplaylove.com ). She is passionate about helping other busy, talented mums kick ass with their little biz ideas and started the site build a little biz ( www.buildalittlebiz.com ) to do just that.
Because You’re Worth It
Sumi Olson
Create a support structure which will allow you to grow your business and spend more time with your loved ones
Many women take up self-employment after they’ve had children because they believe it will allow them to devote time and care to their families whilst bringing in an income. However, the extra work, stress and responsibilities can mean that the pressures of running a home and a business combined creates the very opposite of the life they’d dreamed about.
I’ve titled this piece ‘Because You’re Worth It’ because I wanted to emphasise that the process I cover here will help you to focus on something that is easily forgotten by women who perform a multitude of roles as well as run a business—your time and effort is worth something tangible. Treat it—and yourself—with the respect you deserve!
This is something that I see both in fellow mumpreneurs as well as in my own work-life as I adjust to working life with two toddlers and a growing business. I realised that on returning to (paid) work, I had to create a business model that allowed me to have the family life I wanted, as well as a business that brought me a viable income. I also had to learn to value my own time and contribution to my business and my domestic life.
I hope that my piece will give you the guidance you need to evaluate your own business model and begin the process of helping you create an income stream whilst developing a business that doesn’t take over your life.
One step on the journey is to make a plan for yourself which outlines your goals, objectives and timelines. Other sections of this book cover goal-setting in more detail so use this knowledge to think about what your strengths and weaknesses are, what approaches will suit your time, budget and target market, and what your priorities are.
Preparing yourself means that you focus your valuable time and resources to further your goals without getting side-tracked or bogged down with other commitments. It is also a reminder of why you went into business—to provide your family with an income, to create a flexible environment so that you can spend more time with your family, or even to have extra money for treats and luxuries for you and your loved ones.
We’ll start by working out your cost to your business. On a piece of paper, write down how many weeks you’d like to work over the next 12 months. Remember, you’re looking at creating a business model that allows you to balance your home and work life—you want a business that works for you, not the other way round!
So, on that assumption, you might decide that you want to work during term times only. So, let’s say 40 weeks for ease of calculation. Next, how many days a week do you want to work? Let’s say four days. How many hours a week? Let’s say 20 hours. That’s 800 hours in total.
You might have already set an income goal for yourself for the next 12 months, but again, for this example, let’s say £50,000 is your goal for this period. To work out your hourly rate (not your billable rate), divide your financial target by the total hours you plan to work. In this case it would be £50,000 by 800. In this example, your hourly rate is £62.50—your billable rate would usually be between 2 to 3.5 times this amount, so let’s say £187.50 if taken at three times. Does this tangible figure surprise you…?
This approach might seem revolutionary to those self-employed people who are pricing to external factors. Pricing to internal factors allows you to first structure your business systems and processes and then concentrate your time and effort in finding the necessary number of clients who will allow you to meet your financial goals.
In this case, you’re looking at 266 clients over 12 months, if taken at £187.50/hour. But remember you’ll need fewer clients if you put together some bigger-ticket, more value-laden offerings and packages amongst your services.
Now you’ve worked out your financial targets and working patterns, it will be easier to plan the necessary products and services you want to create. Also, remember, while you might be working for 20 hours a week, you won’t be using all this time in direct contact with your customers, you’ll be doing admin, marketing, research, bookkeeping and other back-office functions. Or will you? Let’s review what you need to do for your business for it to function smoothly.
Make a list of all the things, large and small, that you do each day or week to maintain your business. Include things like filing, having sales conversations (i.e. talking to customers to sell them your goods and services), providing services to clients, creating content such as marketing materials, answering correspondence, dealing with emails and phone calls, cold-calling, presentations, preparing proposals, ordering stationery. Be sensible but ruthless: now is the time to be looking at how you’re working, so don’t leave things out.
It’s a list that most of you are doing on your own. But having just worked out your hourly cost to the business—£62.50 in this example—is it the best and most cost-effective use of your time…? If you now divide your list into high-leverage, medium-leverage and low-leverage activities, it becomes clear that as a business owner, you need to be concentrating your time on the high-leverage tasks such as having sales conversations, or holding presentations or working on billable work with clients which bring in the money.
This isn’t a validation to avoid filing and other boring admin tasks, as we all know that they need to be done. It’s a financial incentive for you to structure your business so that you can do what you do best to bring in the money. Outsourcing admin, bookkeeping and other important but low-revenue producing tasks, allows you to spend that same time in doing the things that will earn you your target income.
A VA (virtual assistant), bookkeeper, an admin helper who comes in once a week for a couple of hours to sort your paperwork (could even be the same person who does the bookkeeping),