The government has made it clear that when it comes to austerity measures no one is protected – even families with young children. So the 7th January 2013 saw the axe go down on the former universal benefit (child benefit) for families where one parent earns £50,000 or more per annum.
If you’ve been hit by the recent child benefit counts and need to find a way to make up that money quickly, here are a few simple things you need to do to get things moving:
1. Decide how you want to make money
D yu want to sell other people’s products or make and sell your own? Do you have a strength, expertise or hobby that other people could buy into?
Selling other people’s products and services is often quicker because the direct selling or affiliate opportunity is there and ready for you – you just need to sign up and get going.
2. What do you like?
Selling a product or service that you don’t have any interest in, or are not passionate about can be a real chore. If you don’t care for it, how will you convince other people that they need to buy it?
Get yourself a notebook and start jotting down things that interest you and those things that you really don’t like and work back from there.
3. Start that online business you’ve always talked about
You don’t need hundreds of pounds to get a website up and running with your branding and top quality design that your customers will love. These days, developers and designers working on quick and easy WordPress sites are ten a penny, and they won’t charge you a small mortgage to get you up and running.
You can even build one yourself – we have video tutorials on just that in the Mothers Who Work Club that will show you how to get your website up and running, all for free with just the small investment of your time.
4. Spread the word
Once you’re up and running or signed up to your direct selling/affiliate opportunity, you’ll need to tell everyone you know and more about it.
Social media is a great place to start – and besides the time you invest in using it to promote your business, it’s free. Use:
- Pinterest – if you make products, Pinterest is a great way to show images of your wares and get people interested in buying.
- Facebook – to find people who will buy your products and/or services.
- Twitter – to see what people are talking about, give discounts to get more customers interested in your business.
- LinkedIn – to make business connections; in a very basic form, it is like a network of business cards
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5. Offline promotion
Now, as much as we all talk about how great the Internet is, you still need to do marketing and promotion in magazines, newspapers, using brochures and flyers (offline marketing) – especially if you run a local business.
