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How I Doubled My Productivity Without Spending More Time Working

Twenty-two hours. This is how much time, on average, I have to spend on my business in a work week. And I get up at 5 am every morning in order to even have that much time. If I didn’t get up early, my hours would be down to 14.5.

I want to build a business that is contributing to my family’s income.

Building a business like that takes time. And time is something I and all mamapreneurs who are juggling their business and kiddos are in short supply of. In actuality, the time available that you have to spend working on your business could even be less if you have a full-time job, don’t have kids that take regular naps or have other commitments. Our already meager hours are dwindling as our calendars fill up!

With that small amount of time, I felt like I was spinning my wheels in my business. I was spending so much time replying to emails, posting on Instagram, packaging orders, and renewing listings on Etsy that I had virtually no time to work on expanding and growing my business.

My time was wholly spent working IN my business and not ON my business.

Despite the fact that I didn’t have much income coming in, I decided two years ago to look into hiring a virtual assistant. This turned out to be one of the single most beneficial decisions that I have ever made for my business. I began to outsource the tasks that I didn’t enjoy, that took up too much time, and that were easy to explain to someone else. And I found exactly what I was looking for.

TIME.

Now I spend much less of my time working in the day to day weeds of my business. I don’t schedule my own social media posts. I don’t format posts or do any of the many other tasks that I don’t love and that take away from the time that I can be spending doing what I love. Which is creating content to help mamapreneurs succeed.

And I’m accomplishing all of this without sacrificing time with my family or any more sleep! My work hours are the same, and sometimes less, than they were before I hired a VA and yet the productivity of my business is not stagnant or declining but growing.
Many mamapreneurs understand the benefits of hiring a virtual assistant but get stuck in the details of how the relationship would work. The single most common question that I’m asked when I talk abot hiring my VA and why it was a great decision for me is this:

But I don’t know what a virtual assistant could do for me!

That is a problem. You do need to know what you’re going to ask a virtual assistant to do before you hire one. And while figuring out what those tasks are going to be might seem like too much effort to you, I know that hiring a virtual assistant could potentially be the most important investment that you make in your business this year.
Which is why I’ve put together my four-step process to help you identify what you will have your virtual assistant do for you. but also getting all the details specified so your assignment of that task to her simply involves sending her a file. These four steps will walk you through exactly how I detail my tasks for my assistants and you will end up with a way to convey not only what you want but what you expect from your VA.
I believe, as mamapreneurs, doing everything we can to maximize our time spent working is extremely important. Because of that, you can download this resource for free right here! You can download it, print it, and then spend just a few minutes working through the four steps before you’ll be ready to assign a new task to your current VA or hire a brand new one and get her up and running with your business.

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Make the decision to take advantage of all the shortcuts that are out there and are available to you. Hiring an assistant could mean the difference between staying stressed out and always feeling behind to being back to a place where you enjoy your business again and are focused on the tasks that you alone can do. Download your four easy steps to finding a task for your virtual assistant today and you’ll be ready to hire her and give yourself some time back!

Business

Mamapreneur 101: Do you need a separate bank account for your business?

One of the first things that I do when I begin working with a mamapreneur is to help them establish a strong business foundation. The first area that we address is their legal and financial foundation. For many of them an early question is, “Do I really need a separate bank account for my business?” My answer is always a resounding YES!

As mamapreneurs get started they are often only working with the funds that their family can contribute. They typically begin as a sole proprietor (this is the default business entity that you are in when you start a business for yourself) and so all money that goes into and comes out of the business goes through their bank account. They often look at a separate bank account as an extra step that they have to take which is just going to complicate their bookkeeping and add time that is already stretched thin to their accounting. And, legally, if you are operating as a sole proprietor under your name only then you typically aren’t legally required to have a separate bank account (confirm with your accountant or lawyer to confirm this). But I recommend that even women operating in this way need a separate business bank account. And women that are operating as other legal entities like LLCs or corporations definitely need a separate account. Here are six reasons why.

1. Saves time, stress, and money

A separate business bank account saves you time, stress, and money in that you don’t have to consider whether a purchase is for personal use or business use — everything is for business use. You don’t have to stress that an expense got classified wrong or that you can’t pay your power bill because you accidentally used the money in your checking account on your business that was supposed to go to your personal bills. And you save money by providing your accountant with clear and concise records at tax time which makes their job easier and results in a lower bill for their services.

2. Reduces your personal liability

With a separate business account you reduce your personal liability (the amount of money that you could be personally liable for in the event of a lawsuit). If your business and personal expenses aren’t co-mingled in one account then it is clear what assets and liability your business has thus not making you personally liable. When your business and personal finances are intertwined it’s typically called “piercing the veil” and is something that you definitely want to avoid.

3. Reduces tax complications

As a business you are entitled to certain IRS business deductions such as business use of your home, mileage reimbursement, etc. However, if the IRS comes to audit you and sees that your business and personal finances are operating out of the same account, it is possible that they could decide that your business is actually a hobby and that you don’t qualify for business deductions.

4. Establishes yourself as a professional

While we are taught from an early age that it’s not what others think about us that matters, in the business world this is less accurate. Your professional appearance is valuable and will impact the success in your business. Having checks, debit cards, and other professional accounts allows others to recognize that you are serious about your business.

5. Satisfies legal requirements

The legal requirements for having separate business and personal accounts might differ based on the different types of business entities or your state, but I always lean towards being better safe than sorry. And the majority of business entities require you to legally have a separate business account.

6. Shows you an accurate financial picture of your business

Whether numbers are your thing or not, as a business owner you need to be able to get an accurate snapshot of your business’s financial health at various times. With a separate bank account it is easy to see whether your business is profiting or suffering from a loss and allows you to allocate your resources in a worthwhile manner. With business and personal expenses in one account it will take you much longer to accurately judge your company’s financial health which means you’ll do it less often which can be very detrimental to your business.

These days getting a separate bank account for your business is not only the smart choice but it’s fairly painless. It is usually simplest to call your personal bank and create a business account there as well. Most business accounts are free these days without fees and if your bank is not offering an account like this then find a bank that will!

Please remember that I am not a financial or legal advisor. All information that I offer is based on my own experience and is not to be taken as a replacement for consulting a financial or legal professional. Remember that all advice, articles, and education that you see online pertains to a specific type of business in a specific environment and you could always consult with someone familiar with the laws, guidelines, and best practices of your industry as well as being familiar with your individual company.

Business

Mamapreneur 101: The 5 Areas Of A Solid Business Foundation

When I decided to start my own business back in 2013 I was so ready to get started and so overwhelmed with the thought of making a formal business plan that I just jumped in where I thought I wanted to be without setting up a foundation. While this is understandable, especially for mamas whose time is short, it left me with little ability to scale and no clear direction of what I needed to do to set my business up for success. The longer I spent in business the more I realized that while a formal business plan wasn’t necessary, a little bit of planning and a firm foundation were. Over the past years, I’ve identified five areas of a solid business foundation that need to be addressed in order for your business to not only survive but thrive.

The 5 Areas of a Solid Business Foundation Are:

Legal and Financial
Values and Mission
Client
Product or Service
Communication

Why do these areas matter?

Just like the house you live in requires a well defined and strong foundation, so does your business if you want to continue building and growing your business. While it’s possible to grow with a shaky foundation, it will take significantly more effort from you to keep everything upright than it will if you have a steady foundation on which to balance everything else. And as mamapreneurs we not only want to succeed but we want to do it as quickly as we can with as little extra effort as needed — after all, our strength and time reservoirs are tapped pretty dry to begin with!

One way our foundation can affect our progress is that a firm foundation gives us a clear direction. With a clearly identified foundation, you know the direction you are headed and can keep your focus there which allows you to advance as quickly as possible. By articulating who and how you are serving you can easily avoid “shiny object syndrome” and not get distracted by outside pursuits that you could do but that don’t align with your business objectives.

A strong foundation also allows you to bring in outside help which is the quickest and easiest way to increase the time being spent building your business. When you know the details of your business foundation it’s easier to get contractors, employees, and consultants up to speed on your business so that they too can help propel you forward. Delegating tasks that you don’t enjoy or don’t have time for is one of the simplest ways to improve your efficiency in your business. But you can’t tell someone else what your purpose is or what to do if you don’t know yourself!

Finally, having a clearly defined foundation means that all vital aspects of your business are easy to understand. When you understand your goals and purpose for your business your customers will be able to understand that with less effort as well which will naturally draw them to you. By solidifying these five areas in your business everything that you do will begin to appeal and draw in your ideal customer allowing your business to build upon itself.

How can you define your business foundation?

Solidifying the foundation of your business is ideally done before you get started but if you’re like me and skipped that part in your rush to get your business going already then it’s never too late to go back and define these areas. The best way that I’ve found to do this is to work through the five areas of your foundation purposefully. I’ve found that reviewing these areas in this order lets each area build upon the previous so that when you’ve clearly articulated each of these areas you are left with a foundation that can support the growth of your business.

Legal and Financial

Ideally, this area is set up once and then you don’t have to worry about it anymore. That is why you should address this area first. This piece is the bedrock of your business and essential to continued growth. Details that you should define in this area are your business entity, legal operation within your city and state such as licenses and taxes, and beginning a relationship with a trusted lawyer so that you are prepared in the future for any unexpected problems.

Values and Mission

Your values and mission will define your purpose and where your business is headed so it’s important to be clear about them. You’ll start by defining three to five values that you personally place importance on and want your business to exemplify also. And once your values are clear then you can create a mission for yourself or your customers that will be the guiding principle for every decision that you make as a businesswoman.

Client

While you want to serve as many people as possible, without identifying your ideal client you will, in reality, end up serving no one. You should be clear about exactly who your ideal client is and the easiest way to do this is to create a fictitious person modeling your ideal client traits. Once your ideal client is defined then you’ll use this persona to filter every decision in your business by reflecting, “Would she be drawn to this?”

Product or Service

Once your client is defined then you can solidify what problem you are solving for her and how you are solving it. While some products are easy to find a problem that they solve (for instance accounting services) others may be difficult for you to articulate what problem they solve (like stationery). But if you can’t identify what problem you’re solving with your product or service then your client definitely won’t be able to identify it! And people don’t buy things that they don’t think they need.

Communication

Your communication is the most fluid of the foundational areas but the basics must be nailed down in order for you to change the particulars are the months and years go buy. While your methods of communication may change you need to be firm with how and what you are communicating with your customer. To do this you will need to know the guidelines that you’ll follow while communicating and what the best way to communicate with your ideal customer is.

Where do you go from here?

In order to review or create a firm foundation for your business, you should look at each of these five areas and make sure they are clear to you. By creating a business management binder or something similar you can keep all of the information that you define for these areas together and make it easy to reference them when needed. And if you want more details about these areas then you can join me for my next free masterclass on the topic by signing up below to receive notification when it is scheduled.

Business

5 Questions To Ask As You Plan Your New Year

This year is almost gone and as most of us wrap up our holiday orders and look to taking a few weeks of rest from our entrepreneurial adventures, we’re also looking to plan out 2017. On Sunday I was featured in a write up in the local paper (I’ll share if it comes up online). As a part of that I decided to create a list of questions that I think we should consider before or as we are planning our new year.

As mamapreneurs it does us no good to start planning our next year without giving some thought to what we want our year to look like. We can set big goals and not have a reasonable idea of how we’re going to achieve them or if they’re even possible for us to reach. While we all wish that tomorrow we’ll wake up and one of our posts has gone viral and we’re the hot new thing in our niche, the reality of that happening is slim and is not something that we should count on in order to achieve our goals.

Setting unrealistic goals and plans for the new year will only leave us disappointed when we don't meet them. Click To Tweet

We need to think about our available time, what our priorities are, and what have we already committed ourselves and our family to that is not flexible in 2017. Once we consider those things in-depth we can then begin to map out the time that we will be able to work ON our business and not IN our business to reach our goals. And that limited amount of time that we have as mamapreneurs to work on our business will determine which goals are realistic for us to meet and which ones are not.

I encourage you to click on one of the images above or click here to download the five questions that you should ask as you plan your new year. They will help you visualize your schedule for the new year and help you gauge how much you should realistically strive for in 2017. Don’t downplay your strengths and abilities and aim too low but also don’t neglect to consider your time available and aim too high. Either of those actions will leave you disappointed at the end of 2017 instead of happy with the progress that you have made in your business.

Have questions? Want to talk to Jenn one on one? Want to join a community of mamapreneurs dedicated to helping each other succeed? Email Jenn today to discuss a one on one consulting session in January of 2017. Space is very limited so email today. Or join the Mastermind Mamapreneur Facebook group to connect with other women just like you.

Business

Mama’s Black Book – a magazine written by mamas, for mamas

About two months ago I was thinking about ways that I could help fellow Mastermind Mamapreneurs and I came up with the idea of launching a free, online magazine with a directory listing. This is not a new concept as others have had online directories for a long time, but I wanted for this to be more of a magazine with encouraging articles, a beautiful print for each season that you get with the magazine, and a resource spot for mamas who want to shop small but often don’t have the time available to do the digging to find the businesses to shop from. And with that little time spent brainstorming, Mama’s Black Book was born!

The first issue is launching on November 8th and tomorrow, October 15th, is the deadline for the first set of shops to get their businesses featured in the magazine. And while I have a number of fantastic shops already participating, I want to take a second to speak to those who haven’t yet made the decision to hop in to Mama’s Black Book. I know that advertising dollars are in short supply (that’s why I wrote that blog post earlier this week!) and investing in a brand new magazine seems risky, but I think it’s a pretty good investment and I want to give you some background info to show you why.

By the numbers

Since this is a brand new magazine I don’t have any hard or fast numbers about readership yet, but I can share with you my current reach online which should help you get an idea of the beginning reach of the magazine.

Roughly 450 email subscribers with an average open rate of 12.8%
Follower counts around: 1500 (Instagram), 700 (FB page), 90 (FB group), 700 (Twitter), 1700 (Pinterest)
Over 8800 video views and a reach of over 22500 for my promoted videos on FB in the last two weeks
Over 150 visits to the Mama’s Black Book website since it was released three weeks ago
A marketing plan to send over 50 printed copies of Mama’s Black Book to influencers after is releases as was as run ads on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest in addition to other ideas
An affiliate program that is growing every day and gives you 20% back on shop listings and features purchased through your link (not for your own purchases though)
9 gift guide posts for the holiday season all of which will have Mama’s Black Book tie-ins
A 100% commitment to having this magazine succeed and benefit each shop that is in the issue

What’s Guaranteed?

As you know, in life and in advertising, we aren’t guaranteed anything. And I can’t promise you hundreds of sales from Mama’s Black Book (I can’t even promise you 1!) but there are some things I can promise you.

Shop listings include over $200 in complimentary bonuses which include a Mastermind Mamapreneur eWorkbook download on Business Planning, ad space on the main page of this website for the quarter, blog post submission option, credit towards a listing in the next issue, consulting credit with me, promotional images and copy with your listing shown, badge to display on your website, gift guide submission credits, preferential access to advertising opportunities, and (as announced on FB yesterday), all advertisers in this first issue will get to choose a complimentary t-shirt or tote bag from the designs being released next week and a printed copy of the magazine!
Shop features include over $500 in complimentary bonuses which include a Mastermind Mamapreneur eWorkbook download on Business Planning, a choice of a dry erase planner or the How to Write A Bio eWorkbook, larger ad space on the main page of this website for the quarter, feature on the blog with the option to host a giveaway, individual promotion on the Instagram and Facebook pages at least once during the quarter, blog post submission option, credit towards a listing in the next issue, consulting credit with me, promotional images and copy with your listing shown, badge to display on your website, gift guide submission credits, preferential access to advertising opportunities, and (as announced on FB yesterday), all advertisers in this first issue will get to choose a complimentary t-shirt or tote bag from the designs being released next week and a printed copy of the magazine!

What Shops Should List Themselves?

Shops that are small businesses of all types are encouraged to join the Mama’s Black Book community. Specifically shops that

are small businesses or independent distributors/consultants of national brands (only 3 allowed per brand and are subject to approval)
include mothers as their target market
value honesty, quality, encouragement, family, kindness

I encourage you to go back and read my blog post from earlier in the week about how I’ve messed up in advertising in the past and the three questions I now ask myself before I participate in an advertising opportunity. Mama’s Black Book might not be a good fit for your business, which I totally understand, but if you sell to mothers, I highly encourage you to get your shop listed! In future issues, shops that participated in the first issue will have a star by their names to denote them as a “Founding Member” of Mama’s Black Book.

What Do I Do Now?

If you

Want to be included: Go directly to the Mama’s Black Book website or directly to the Shop Listing or Shop Feature pages
Want to purchase a printed copy: Purchase a printed copy of Mama’s Black Book on the website
Want information about advertising in the future: Sign up for the MBB mailing list by texting BLACKBOOK to 44222 or sign up online
Want information about when the online magazine releases: Sign up for my monthly mailing list by texting TIMEMGMT to 44222 or sign up online
Have more questions: Email me today so that I can answer them and we can get you included

Don’t forget that the issue contents close at midnight tomorrow, October 15th so don’t delay! I look forward to working with you in the future as a part of this exciting new magazine for mamas.

Business

How I Got Burned Advertising My Small Business

Over the past three and a half years I’ve invested in a number of advertising options. I’ve found them in various places like Facebook groups, emails I subscribed to, blogs, and personal recommendations. But across the board they have resulted to very little sales for my company. Which makes me very hesitant to invest in future advertising opportunities. But after contemplating what went wrong I’ve found three places that I messed up and, to save you the heartache and pinch in your checkbook, I want to share them with you.

The target market wasn’t right for me

Sometimes I get pulled in by good advertising. It’s a once a year offer! It’s got tons of free stuff! This is my only chance! And these marketing tactics distract me from being diligent on making sure that the opportunity is right for me. Then I end up spending advertising money some place where my target market doesn’t frequent. For instance, my target market for miniPeanuts is moms who work, who have disposable income, who love personalized items, who value quality, and who have a strong faith. So if I spent money marketing miniPeanuts on a platform geared toward single women who value organic items and like to go hiking, then I’m wasting my money. That’s a great place to market if your target market fits their audience, but if not, you’re not reaching your target audience by advertising there.

Takeaway Question To Ask Before Advertising: Does my target market frequent the location/site/magazine/etc that I’m considering investing in?

I didn’t know how many sales I would need to recoup my expense

In the past I’ve looked at advertising from the old adage “any advertising is good advertising” and figured if I could even make one sale from the advertisement that the additional awareness in the mind of the audience could compensate for the rest of my investment. Well, for small mama-owned businesses like us who are on a very limited budget, this could not be further from the truth! We don’t have unlimited funds to spend so if we’re going to invest in advertising, we need to know exactly how many sales we need to make to recover that money. While we want to expand our reach, if we’re not making our money back or more, then we need to move on quickly to another opportunity. If you want to invest in a new opportunity that you’re not sure will make you your money back, then you can work hard over the next few days to make those sales ahead of time to offset the advertisement expense.

Takeaway Question To Ask Before Advertising: How many sales do I need to make to recover the cost to advertise? Am I going to make that before I spend the advertising money or am I expecting the advertisement to make the money back for me?

I didn’t have a marketing strategy in place

In addition to not advertising where my target market was and not having a plan to recoup the money I spent, I also didn’t have a plan for my overall marketing so I would just buy in on an opportunity when it became available. This meant that I wasn’t strategically boosting ads on Facebook at a certain time or always advertising in one location during the non-holiday rush to keep my orders up. My advertising spending was thus erratic and ineffective. I would sometimes have ads running on two platforms and then go months without having an ad anywhere. With no game plan in place I was just throwing everything against the wall to see what sticks. Let me tell you, this will not only leave you frustrated and burnt out but you’ll also burn through your money quick! If you don’t currently have a marketing strategy you can be looking out for a new eWorkbook to come to the shop in the next month or so to help you with that. But until then, sit down with a piece of paper, write down each month, and brainstorm how you’re going to market during that month and make sure you aren’t overlapping opportunities too much and you don’t leave any time without something in the works.

Takeaway Question To Ask Before Advertising: How does this opportunity fit into my marketing strategy?

Before we go I want to give you an example using one of my current marketing strategies. And, yes, these are all products/services that I offer but that doesn’t make the example any less accurate.

Company: miniPeanuts

Target market: Mothers who work, have disposable income, shop online, love personalized and unique items, value quality, have a strong faith, believe in a traditional way of life (close to family, respect, honor, etc), and aren’t fans of mass marketed goods.

Advertising opportunity: Mama’s Black Book

Target Market: Mothers who care about giving special gifts, shop online, support women-owned businesses, and value quality.

Does this match my target market? Yes!

How much does it cost and how many sales will I have to make to recoup that cost? A shop listing is currently $45 so I’ll have to sell three placemats or two plates to recover that cost.

Is that number of sales feasible and to be expected from this investment? Yes!

Does this fit into my marketing strategy? Yes, before the holidays I ramp up marketing in markets targeted to mamas for Christmas gifts so this along with participation in a number of gift guides and some promoted products on Etsy is a perfect fit for my marketing strategy.

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