Posted inA mix What's in the news?
The working mum’s guide to changing a tyre
There are some skills in life that every busy mum needs - the ability to…
Posted inA mix Starting and running your business
5 things you should know abut social media
If surveys and site traffic from social networking sites are anything to go by, we now spend a significant amount of our time on websites like Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook…and so do our customers.
The majority of business owners now use social media to grow and promote their businesses – from the mumpreneur online store to big global brands, they’re all doing it.
If you want to tap into social media successfully, it’s therefore essential that you know how to effectively use effectively so you don’t waste your time updating your Facebook page, and sending out tweets when no one really has any interest in reading them.
Here are the five social media tips to get you started and to improve the results that even experienced social media butterflies can gleam:
3 tips to save time, money and hassle
As a working mum, you may be quite familiar with the feeling that you’re always trying to keep up with something – your child’s social calendar, your work commitments and managing the family budget.
There will doubtless be days when you feel that the demands of your family life are pressuring your work life, or that the same thing is happening in reverse.
There are some things you just won’t be able to avoid, but you can avoid a good deal of the stress by managing your business and financial life with care. This sounds obvious, but often finances can take a backseat to other tasks.
If you’re busy all the time taking the kids to school, going to work, picking them up from school, etc., you may find it hard to take the time aside to make sure that you are budgeting your finances well, and doing things to save money.
However, spending a little bit of time on these things can pay off in the long run.
A good place to start is by looking for simple, easy ways to save money on everyday expenses or products. Of course, this is easier said than done, but here are a few specific ideas that may help you to get started:
10 hobbies that can become a business
If I had a fiver every time someone said “it’s only a little hobby” I’d be a rich investor on Dragons Den!
Hobbies are often a goldmine that people just cast to the side as something they do for themselves, or help friends an relatives out with and that’s it. But if you’re looking for a way to make some extra money, why not earn it doing something you love doing?
Here are 10 hobbies that you can turn into a business or use to make extra money:
1. Organising – call it obsessive compulsive if you like and laugh off your organising skills, but use them wisely and you could be laughing all the way to the bank!
Don’t take your skills for granted – people will pay (a lot) to have someone come into their homes and businesses and organise things for them – wardrobes, filing you name it!
Tax credits: business owners and mumpreneurs – you may qualify, too!
We often think about tax credits as something that lower income families get, or something…
Are you making money online, but not letting the taxman know? You have until 14th June to let them know before they find YOU!
Making money online is a perfect way for many mums to get around issues with childcare and earning a crust. And it’s a great way to earn extra money if you already work for someone else. But, it doesn’t mean you can get out of paying tax.
If you sell things online – eBay, Amazon, Etsy among others – or run your own online store where you’re not just getting rid of old possessions, you need to get in touch with the tax office (or HMRC).
Posted inReal mums
Real mum profile: Anna Wreford, Big Bird Boutique
?Running a hobby/craft-based business sounds like fun, the cost of supplies or ingredients leaves you laughing all the way to the bank…right?
But is it really that easy – married mum Anna Wreford, 33, talks about running Big Bird Boutique and and how she makes sure she doesn’t get left out of pocket – even when doing favours for her friends.
What work did you do before you set up your company?
I was the design director at a furniture consultancy company that specialised in the education sector.
?How did you fund the business?
I’m funding the business with my personal savings, and using my hoard of fabrics I have been collecting for years.
5 ways teenagers can make money this summer
Next week sees the last half term of the school year, and with it a closer step towards the school Summer holidays…which means spending more money for childcare, and coping with bored teenagers.
While we might not be able to do much about childcare costs, we can do something about the bored teenagers, and they’ll love the extra money their time spent with a summer job will do, too! So, if you child would have finished their GCSEs at the end of the school year, here are some ideas for summer jobs they’ll likely enjoy:
Posted inA mix Family life
Hand-me downs just got cool again
Hand-me-downs often conjure up feelings of resentment – being the one who has to wear or use something that someone else has taken the best years out of…but times are changing, and it seems that nothing’s off limits these days!
So just how and what should you hand down to children? Here are some tips on handing down gadgets, clothes, scooters and more:
Posted inStarting and running your business
It’s not you, it’s me: four common stumbling blocks to home-based businesses
Whether it's Avon, Kleeneze, Mary Kay or other successful direct selling businesses that you can…
Posted inReal mums
Real mum profile: Yuliana Topazly of Phase 1 Enterprise Training
Married new mum Yuliana Topazly, 31, is passionate about entrepreneurship and is the director of Phase 1 Enterprise Training and juggles this with managing enterprise activities for London-based universities. She tells Motherswhowork.co.uk how she has managed to juggle a new business with motherhood, and how it has helped her overcome postnatal depression.
What work did you do before you set up your company?
I have worked in high education sector lecturing small business development most of my working life, managing students’ enterprise curricular and extra-curricular activities in London-based universities. I have a large portfolio of businesses I have supported from pre-startup stage, so I decided to use my knowledge and experience and my passion for entrepreneurship to start working for myself.
Posted inA mix
Get your car seat kids fit and exercising the fun way…on a scooter! They won’t even know they’re exercising!
Research shows that the number of children travelling to school by car in the past 20 years has doubled, and the number of children walking to school has reached its lowest level ever. Just 47% of primary school-aged children now walk to school, with the figure falling to a paltry 36% among secondary school pupils.
So, it comes as no surprise, then, that the government’s Chief Medical Officers say that 68% of boys and 76% of girls aged between two years and 15 years do not meet the minimum recommendation of an hour of moderate physical activity per day, and that they are therefore at risk of obesity, weak bones and future heart disease.
If walking is too much of a chore for your child and becomes a bone of contention, scooting is the latest craze, which has become a must for most primary school aged children. If you haven’t seen, bought or been gifted with a Micro Scooter then you you’ve really missed a trick!
Posted inA mix Courses for mums What's in the news?
Free courses and support to mums – can you afford to miss out?
If you answer yes to any of the questions below then you need to book yourself onto one of our courses (prices start from FREE!):
Posted inA mix Courses for mums
FREE e-course: Your First Online Sale
One of the great ways to make money using the web is to set up an online store. If you get the ingredients right (website design, payment gateway, and choose the right products to sell!), you can really make a sustainable income from your online store, which you can leverage with marketing and promotion as the profits start to flow in.
If you already have an online store but haven’t had a single purchase yet, or just can’t seem to convert your traffic into purchases, you need to take this e-course to get you on track.
In just five days, you’ll find out why you haven’t made any money, and what you can do to change your losses into profits in next to no time!
Posted inA mix
Is life insurance the newest way to say ‘I love you’ to your other half?
Long gone are the days when men would say it with a box of chocolates – ‘I love you’, that is, according to a recent survey. They – and women included! – are doing it with life insurance cover.
Bucking traditional gender stereotypes it’s the men who most want to be protected with a gift of breakdown cover should the worst happen. But how much do modern couples really know about each other?
Posted inStarting and running your business
Starting an online business: here is the start-up road map you’ve been looking for
Now, more than ever, mums around the world are taking control of their income and starting a business.
On Motherswhowork.co.uk, we’ve seen hundreds of success stories, but one of the key themes is the ability to bite the bullet and go for it.
The following start-up road map comprises the fundamentals you need to know to set up an online business, or a business that has an online presence.
Follow the roadmap and you’ll be well equipped to start your online business, or start to make improvements and grow an existing online business.
N.B. You must be a member of the Mothers Who Work Club to view the videos – membership costs just £5 a month, and you can cancel at any time.
Laying the foundation
Online Business Tools
Learn how to manage your time and improve your business productivity so you can run your online business effectively.
Posted inA mix
Thinking of buying a new car or selling your current car?
Whether you work a nine-to-five job, have a family to take care of or are studying full time, finding the right car for you is very important. If you’re thinking to yourself, “I should sell my car with Auto Traderâ€, and feel that an upgrade is absolutely necessary, then there are a number of great value new and used cars which are ideal for women who lead busy lifestyles and need something to make it all a little bit easier.
Small city cars which are perfect for getting to and from work are often features in Auto Trader’s used car sales. Buying a recent model such as a Chevrolet Matiz for as little as £1000 seems too good to be true, but, despite the reduced price, you get all the features you would expect to find with a brand new model.
Posted inA mix Courses for mums
Crossroads no more: FREE course for mums on making money
We all need it, we all want a way to do it that fits in with our lifestyles…yes, you guessed it – money!
There are some things in life you can’t do much about – the fact that the cost of living is getting higher, and that the cost of fuel is ever increasing, and that you may be on a pay freeze at work (especially if you can’t leave because the other benefits are too good to leave!).
But you can decide to do something to help improve your financial situation - find other means to make extra money, and that's exactly what you'll get from our FREE What Now? course!
How to make the leap and change your career
Are you finally ready to move on with your life and take the career change plunge? While it may sometimes feel like you are the only one in the world trying to change your career when everyone else seems settled in theirs and loving what they are doing, the average jobseeker actually changes careers seven times during his or her lifetime.
So what are the options for successfully making the transition to a new career? Here are some mum-friendly career change options to consider:
How to act during a job interview
Congratulations – your CV has done the talking for you, and you have been asked to attend a job interview. Now you get your chance to prove that you’re the best person for the job.
There are many things that you can do that can take some of the pressure off during an interview. The way that you behave is one of the most important. It’s not all in the words that come out of your mouth, but often has a lot to do with your body language.
Interviewers are not just wondering if you are skilled enough for the job, they are often wondering if you would fit in nicely with you the rest of the team. Your personality is a big part of your interview and can make all the difference in you getting the job or not.
Here are some of the things that you should pay attention to during an interview: