Tag Archive for: startup

Even in a Home Office – It’s All About Location, location, location!

, ,

Since many of us operate our businesses out of our home, I thought a great topic to visit would be creating a great home office space. The location where we complete our work is SO important! It needs to be functional and comfortable! Good office space helps us to be effective and to keep our sanity! I thought I’d share a few ideas for creating a mom-friendly home office that makes for exceptional – and happy – work.

Mom-Friendly Home Office = Limited distractions!

Your office probably shouldn’t be located in the center of your kitchen, or any busy room for that matter. Choose a room or location that is away from most of the home’s traffic. A spare bedroom or a basement make great options. If one of those isn’t available, you can still create an effective space by portioning off an area of a larger room.

Mom-Friendly Home Office = Adequate work space!

If you need a table top or extended desk area to assemble products or mailings, make sure you have it. Use the top of filing cabinets or bring in a spare card table if you have limited funds or space to work with.

Mom-Friendly Home Office = Well-Organized!

Create a system that works for you! This goes for your hard copies and your digital copies! Keep your spreadsheets updated and in order and keep your filing cabinet the same way! Both you and your customers will appreciate it!

Mom-Friendly Home Office = Involves the kids!

Making your office kid friendly will allow you to get some work accomplished while your children are close by. Set up a small area for them, with their toy computer, some quiet toys and books that will keep them occupied while you return a few e-mails and make a phone call or two.

Mom-Friendly Home Office = Details Matter!

Don’t forget about some of the seemingly small things. Good lighting, a comfortable chair and enough storage space are all critical elements. All of these can strongly affect your work environment!

I’ve learned that when I have the right home office – whatever that means for you – that I’m happier and I do better work. So, I hope these tips help!

Hope you are having a great week!

Madison Crenshaw is a mother of two and a serial entrepreneur originally from the Southern US. In the last decade, she has made the DC area her home. She is a savvy businesswoman who is always looking for the next big opportunity. She is an expert at networking and knows how to make her presence felt. She is a strong believer in the power of education and has been actively involved in her children's education. In her free time, she loves to travel, explore new cultures, and spend time with her family. She is passionate about making a difference in the world and is always looking for ways to help her community.

Contact Madison
/by

What’s in a name? Picking a Great Name for Your Business

, , ,

A name leaves a first impression. A name gives a customer their first glimpse into your company and what you do. A name is passed by word of mouth. A name will last a lifetime.

So, needless to say, the name of your business is a pretty crucial element to your overall business plan. How in the world do you ever begin to name your business?

How to Come Up with a Name for Your Biz

There are several questions you can ask yourself that may help you begin to formulate a name.

  • What does your business do?
  • What is unique about what you do?
  • What type of impression do you want to leave? Classy? Quality? Bargain?

It is a good idea to come up with three to five potential names and move on from there. Then you can begin to narrow them down. You’ll need to do a trademark search, to make sure you aren’t infringing on anyone else’s company name.

You can do it yourself by visiting The United States Patent and Trademark Office. And, it’s also a good idea to search the internet and see if anyone else is using the name without a trademark. Or, if your budget allows, you can always hire a lawyer to perform a comprehensive search for you.

Once You Have a Name, What’s Next?

After determining if your name(s) are available you can make your final choice. Do some research, ask others what they think. You might use these items to help eliminate some of your finalists::

  • Is the name easy to pronouce?
  • Is it relatively short and easy to remember?
  • Do you have a catchy slogan in mind that will accompany it well?
  • Is it descriptive and accurate?
  • Do you like it?

Conclusion – Don’t Take the Name Too Seriously!

Well, I think we can all agree that naming your business is serious business! But, at the same time, it’s okay to have a little fun with it. After all, when you’re an entrepreneur, you wear many hats.

So why not embrace the ‘Chief Name Picker’ hat, too? Just remember, when all is said and done, it’s the quality of your product or service that really matters. And if you pick a name that makes you giggle, then who knows – you might just find that your customers start giggling too.

Happy naming!

/by

Solopreneurship: Could It Be Right For You?

, ,

In today’s world, entrepreneurship is incredibly common; we live in a time when people are encouraged to follow their dreams, start their own company, and find the business success they have always wanted.

Given the sudden increase in the number of entrepreneurs in the world, it’s unsurprising that some have chosen to redefine the concept of starting and running a business. Rather than following the conventional route of hiring staff or partnering with a like-minded friend or family member, some entrepreneurs have chosen to do things very differently indeed and chosen to embark on the exciting journey that is solopreneurship.

What is a solopreneur? 

A portmanteau of the words “solo” and “entrepreneur”, a solopreneur is a businessperson who starts and runs a business alone. This is in contrast to more standard business models, where the workload is usually shared with a partner or full-time staff members.

So, solopreneurs do everything for their business?

Not necessarily – in fact, it would be quite unusual for a solopreneur to perform every role required to sustain a modern business. Usually, solopreneurs will turn to external agencies to assist with various important aspects of their business; seeking graphic designers, advertising advice, and specialists in IT consulting for businesses to help ensure the business has all the fundamentals it needs to succeed.

However, as these services are outsourced rather than completed by in-house staff, the business is still considered to be run by a solopreneur.

What are the benefits of running a business as a solopreneur? 

Solopreneurs have the freedom to dedicate their time to delivering results for their business; there’s no need to deal with issues such as recruitment or employee management to deal with.

What’s more, solopreneurs are in complete control of their business and its future, which many find empowering, and they also realize the dream of being their own boss in its entirety; they can arrange their schedule and their working hours exactly as they prefer, as there’s no need to align with employee requirements or base themselves in a specific business location – they can work wherever they want, largely whenever they want.

What are the downsides of running a business as a solopreneur? 

For most, the biggest downside is the lack of support: solopreneurs are the sole decision-maker for their business, which can often be a significant weight to shoulder. However, this downside can be offset by networking with other solopreneurs and joining business forums online; these measures help to ensure that they always have somewhere to turn when they need advice, guidance, or support.

In addition, solopreneurship can sometimes be lonely – but again, this can be addressed by choosing to use coworking spaces, joining business community groups, and so on.

Could life as a solopreneur be right for you?

If you feel that you would thrive in an environment where you are the sole decision-maker, and that you’d prefer the flexibility of being able to set your own working patterns, then solopreneurship could definitely be an option that you may want to consider.

It’s also worth bearing in mind the fact that running a business solo isn’t a permanent commitment; you could start out working alone and outsourcing to various agencies, but then decide at a later point that you’d like to hire employees too – and there’s absolutely nothing to stop you doing so. As a result, if you’re intrigued by the idea of solopreneurship, then it might be worth giving it a try at least initially and seeing how you get on.

Madison Crenshaw is a mother of two and a serial entrepreneur originally from the Southern US. In the last decade, she has made the DC area her home. She is a savvy businesswoman who is always looking for the next big opportunity. She is an expert at networking and knows how to make her presence felt. She is a strong believer in the power of education and has been actively involved in her children's education. In her free time, she loves to travel, explore new cultures, and spend time with her family. She is passionate about making a difference in the world and is always looking for ways to help her community.

Contact Madison
/by

Starting Your Art Business: 4 Tips for Success

,

With 28.8 million small businesses in the world, it can be tempting to join the crowd. One big barrier to entry is figuring out what you want to build your business around. For this, you can turn to your natural strengths or areas that excite you.

One area that you may turn to is art! Luckily, the art industry is growing rapidly, with a market value of $64 billion as of 2019. So how do you go about getting into this industry? Here are 4 steps to make sure you start on the right foot.

1. Choose your Niche

Before starting out, niching down will make sure that you avoid as many problems as possible into the future. As a beginner, it can be helpful to try out as many areas of art as possible so you can learn what you enjoy doing and what you are best at. However, if you’re someone who is ready to get paid for your art, it’s best to niche down and specialize in a very specific area. Take photography for instance.

As a beginner photographer, you’ll be taking pictures of everything. But if you’re ready to start a business, it’s important to get really good at one area.

Are you best at shooting professional headshots or candid wedding photos? Or if you’re selling prints, are you a specialist in landscape, animal, street, or architecture photography? Asking these questions early on can help you get really good at one thing, centralizing your focus into getting better. This way, your quality of work is a lot higher, clients will be much more willing to hire you if you specialize in what they want, and you’ll have better knowledge of the industry.

2. Create a Plan

As boring as it may sound, creating a business plan is an extremely important part of building your business. This plan will help you make tough decisions and can be an anchor point for you to turn to when times are rough.

On top of this, your business plan can keep you on track during the good times, allowing you to plan out the vision for your business and set goals to stay focused. Here are some questions to help you get started.

  • What is the vision/purpose of your business?
  • What do you want the business look like in one year? 2 years? 5? 10?
  • Who’s your target market? Who are you selling to?
  • What does your cash flow look like?
  • How much art/many clients do you need to stay afloat?
  • What will you do to scale?
  • What is your exit strategy?

While these questions might seem trivial, they can prove to be essential to define. Take defining your target market, for example. If you don’t know exactly who will be buying your art, can you be sure that there are consumers out there?

42% of businesses fail due to a lack of an available market, so there’s a lot weight on this question alone. Creating this plan might seem like a trivial “business” task that won’t make you money, but, it might just save the future of your business

3. Manage your Finances

Finances are one part of your business that may fall by the wayside while focusing on your art. However, this can cause a multitude of problems. Knowing your expenses and income for your business can give you an outlook on your financial situation in general, to know if you’re making enough money or if you should consider producing/selling more or raising your prices.

It’s also important to know about any debt you may have or may want to incur to help your business grow. If you have to pay down any debts, you’ll want to use your business funds to pay these off as fast as possible to ensure that you are saving on interest, yet balance it with investing in your business today.

Speaking of which, if you think that your business can benefit from some sort of loan to invest in your business, you need to know what options are out there. Big banks only approved 26.9% of small business loans, leaving the other 73.1% to other lenders. It’s important to shop around for the best interest rates and features, alongside knowing the reason and proof behind why you should get a loan in the first place.

You’ll also want to make sure the legal side of your finances are in check. If you’re working as a freelancer, you have to know how to report your income and expenses on your personal tax return. However, if you have a legal business structure like an LLC or corporation, the way you file your taxes is going to be extremely different.

4. Grow your Brand

Marketing is essential for people to know that your business exists. There are two main areas that you can invest in to get the word out and help sell people on your business.

Word of Mouth

Word of mouth marketing is one of the strongest ways to gain clients. 92% of consumers trust recommendations from family and friends over any type of advertising. So how do you use this to your advantage? Here are a couple of ideas.

  1. Provide stellar work and customer service for current clients
  2. Put customer testimonials on your social media and website
  3. Start a referral/finder’s fee program

Use these to build trust with your customers and to encourage them to tell their friends and family about your art.

Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is a vast field, including areas such as SEO, PPC, social media, email, and your website in general. Depending on what industry you’re in, you may see success in different areas.

If you’re someone who is selling prints or doing lower-ticket client work, then working on your social media might be the best bet. This allows the platform to put your content out to possible clients, where they might come across your work at no cost to you.

If your revenue per client is higher, then you might be able to afford to spend more money to get your name out to them. You may find success in PPC campaigns like Google Ads, where you could make upwards of a 200% return on your investment.

Go and Build Your Business

Art and creativity are extremely important in our technology-filled lives. When surveyed, 94% of people say that their workplace is made more welcoming with art, with 61% agreeing that it stimulates creativity.

Building an art business to fill the demand for this is a wonderful idea. There are, however, a few items that you need to keep in mind while starting your business to ensure your success. But most importantly, never lose your passion and love for creating something beautiful. Now it’s time to go and build the business of your dreams.

Madison Crenshaw is a mother of two and a serial entrepreneur originally from the Southern US. In the last decade, she has made the DC area her home. She is a savvy businesswoman who is always looking for the next big opportunity. She is an expert at networking and knows how to make her presence felt. She is a strong believer in the power of education and has been actively involved in her children's education. In her free time, she loves to travel, explore new cultures, and spend time with her family. She is passionate about making a difference in the world and is always looking for ways to help her community.

Contact Madison
/by