It’s no secret that writing promotional material is a major headache for most small business owners. Think about it. How much time have you wasted trying to create the killer headline only to reuse and recycle the same old headline you used last time?

What if we could show you a sure-fire way to create tried and trusted headlines in minutes that sell any product or any service? Would that be of interest to you? Don’t reinvent the wheel, use the formulas that the advertising professionals use every day and watch the sales roll in. You’ll also discover the Top 20 ‘Power Words’ that make people buy and the Top 10 reasons why people buy. This will change forever the way you market your business – and it won’t cost you the earth to implement it either!

Here’s what you’ll learn:

• 3 quick and easy headline formulas that work every time.
• How to generate an immediate response to your advertising.
• Why people buy – The top 7 reasons behind every purchase.
• Words that sell – The top 10 power words that can sell anything.

Guest Speaker: Bernadette Schwerdt, Founder and Managing Director, Australian School of Copywriting

Where and When

Melbourne  Tuesday, 29th April 2008, Chadstone

Sydney   Wednesday, 7th May 2008,  Burwood

Early Bird Special – book 2 weeks in advance of a Business Building Session and you are eligible for the Special Early Bird Price of a 10% saving on the normal price.

Would you like to attend to see what Mums in Business is all about. Attend your first session at member prices to check us out!! 

Click here to book

 More than a mum, I’m a mum in business

Wouldn`t it be nice…. to turn your computer off, say nighty nite to your website, go to bed and wake up with an extra 500 visitors to your site overnight? Imagine how great that would be! Most businesses struggle with driving traffic to their website and converting it into sales. Why? Because they think it`s hard, or complicated or they have to pay hundreds of dollars in marketing. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Are you ready to take advantage of these simple and proven strategies that will create a constant flood of potential new customers to your website?In this presentation you are going to find shocking and jaw dropping information on how you can create results from your website that will take your business to a new level.

But you must be warned this could be the most important presentation that you will ever see for the future of your business. This revealing presentation includes:

• The very first thing you must do to take advantage of your website being your 24 hour salesman
• An in depth look at why you need to understand the concept of Google Adwords that once known can eliminate the pain of not being able to track and measure your marketing budget!
• Leverage the power of website referrals using a simple Internet Marketing process that works like crazy!
• A completely free web site traffic tool that lets you discover the demand for your business on the internet

Want more traffic to you website? Use the strategies you will learn at our next event.

Where and When

Brisbane Central & North Side Thursday 24th April 2008
Brisbane South Side & Gold Coast Tuesday 6th May 2008

Early Bird Special – book 2 weeks in advance of a Business Building Session and you are eligible for the Special Early Bird Price of a 10% saving on the normal price. 

Would you like to attend to see what Mums in Business is all about. Attend your first session at member prices to check us out!! 

Click here to book

From Alison Basson – Mums in Business, for mums and women who are serious about business 

 More than a mum, I’m a mum in business

You hear it all the time – you must plan, plan, plan…But what does this mean.It is a well known fact that if you do not plan for the success of your business, your small business will not achieve or survive.

Planning is essential whether you are starting a new business or already operate an existing business.But how much planning do you need to do? If you don’t do enough your business will fail to achieve its full potential but if you do too much you spend all your time planning and not enough time doing? My advice is whatever approach you take; use the KISS approach – Keep It Simple Sweetheart

It comes as a real shock when business mums find out that they have been working for the last year for no money or even worse that the business has been costing them money.

There is no point spending time, money and energy on your business if it doesn’t make you any money.So how can you easily evaluate if your business is making any money if you don’t know a lot about finance.

Well, first let me say why it is so crucial. If you don’t know how you are doing, how can you improve it and how are you going to stay in business? I am going to show you a few basic things you can do to monitor your business and improve its performance:

1. First the basics – you need to have more money coming into your business than what goes out of your business. I can hear it now – well that’s simple, everybody knows that and yes they probably do but you will be amazed at the amount of people who have no idea how much they spend each month but continue to spend money they don’t have.
2. Have a working budget that help you to identify number of sales required, expenses, breakeven point and profit or loss.
3. Complete your accounts on a regular basis so that you can compare them against your budget. This can be a really simple process and you don’t have to purchase expensive software, you can even do it on an excel spreadsheet if you don’t have a lot of activity.
   
   Monitoring them on a regular basis will allow you to identify early on areas of your business that may need to be improved.
   • Look at your sales. The figures should be improving – if they are not, ask yourself why. What are your strategies for making sure you achieve your sales budget. How are you going to generate more sales?
   • Look at your costs. Are your costs in line with your sales – if you are not getting the sales you need, reduce your costs or increase your sales?
4. Know how much profit you make on each of your products/services. The aim is to make as much Gross Profit out of each of the products as possible. The higher your gross profit percentage the more money you will make.
5. Know your business break-even point – this is how many sales you need to cover all your costs. If you cannot cover your costs you are going to lose money and eventually go broke.

Doing these few things could make the difference between making money and losing money.

Here is an example: AXY business makes $2,500 in sales per month and makes a guess that their costs are around $2,000 per month. So they know that they will make $500 per month. However, when they checked their costs they realised they were actually $2,500 per month which meant that they had not actually made any money at all. They had been working for months for nothing.

If they had known these figures before hand, they could have done several things. Reduce their costs and/or increase their sales. As I mentioned earlier if you don’t know how you are doing, how can you improve it and how are you going to stay in business.

A great way to help keep your business on track would be, if you are already a Mums in Business member to access these plans and other in depth resources on the Business Essentials website. If you are not a member why not chat to other business mums just like you on the mums in business – business discussion forum. Get your free access by going to click here where you can also discover proven, easy-to-apply strategy that mum’s just like YOU are using every day to start & grow profitable businesses!

From Alison Basson – Mums in Business, for mums and women who are serious about business

  More than a mum, I’m a mum in business

You see, I often talk about building strong foundations for your business. Well, these are two of the things that go into building those strong foundations.

For this to really hit home and help you as a business mum, you need to ask yourself one question:

Am I really serious about my business? Or am I just ‘playing’ at being in business – is this a bit of a hobby?

For answer one, then you need to make the decision to knuckle down, and follow the steps and instructions here to enjoy the benefits of a strong, successful business.

For answer two, you may take a bit more of a casual approach to this newsletter and topic and take what tips you think are relevant to you. Have a think about that question……  

Check out the following articles which will help you get on track…

• Is your business actually making any money? 
• Are you failing to plan or planning to fail… 

 Until next month!

 Alison

 More than a mum, I’m a mum in business

Our guest speaker is Lorraine Pirihi from The Office Organiser – Australia’s No. 1 Productivity Coach.

If you’re one of those people who have great intentions at the beginning of the year to achieve your business and personal goals and then ‘get busy’ and lose focus on what you really wanted to achieve, then this is for you. Find out on this free teleseminar how to:

Date of Call: Tuesday 18th March 2008 

Time of Call:   09.00am WA, 10.00am QLD, 10.30am SA & NT, 11.00am VIC, NSW, ACT and TAS  

To reserve your place now, click here 

 More than a mum, I’m a mum in business

Journaling for business allows you clarify thoughts, let go of feelings and focus on what you really want. 

Below are some examples of the benefits to keeping a business journal. 

Reduces Stress – Journaling has a proven benefit of reducing stress.  The process of writing your thoughts and feelings down allows you to let go, and not carry as much with you throughout your day.  This is a powerful form of self-expression, and through that expression you can gain clarity, release, and relief. 

Increases Focus – Taking the time to journal can help you disentangle thoughts and ideas so that you can identify your true feelings and bring a clearer focus to what you want.  This allows you to begin to live your life to the fullest. 

Encourages Personal Growth – As you express yourself you can integrate life experiences and learnings, which in turn allows you to move forward in discovering who you really are and how you want to run your business. 

Better Know Yourself – Journaling helps you create awareness of your beliefs and options, as well as help identify your values. This self discovery reveals different aspects of yourself, and allows you to better know yourself and make changes where you feel there is a need. 

Better Communicator – Instead of saying something you may regret at a later stage, journaling is a safe way of expressing feelings and half-formed thoughts until you are ready to communicate them to others in a healthy and constructive way. 

Setting Goals – You can clarify what you want and what is most important to you through journaling.  Once you have identified those, you can begin to set goals and create action plans to support you in achieving what is important to you. 

No Structure – Start today, stop tomorrow and that is how it should be.  Journaling allows you to write whenever you feel like it.  It is your journal, and your journey – record what you want and when you want based on your personal and business needs. 

Overall journaling can be an effective tool of self-empowerment and will help you be productive and positive in your business. 

Your journal is your own sacred space, where you honour yourself, your business and the unique light that you bring to our world. 

~ 

Nicole Graham and Tara Spicer are currently on a virtual book tour promoting their recently released writing journal, Journal for the Modern Goddess.   

About the Journal for the Modern Goddess: 

This beautiful hard covered, spiral bound writing journal helps women uncover the beautiful, unique and powerful Goddess that they really are.

The journal features 6 coloured inserts with inspirational quotes, guided questions, affirmations and 204 lined pages for journaling. The coloured inserts divides the journal into sections – Gratitude and Happiness; Moving Forward; Dreams and Visions; Journal Pages; Guided Meditation; and Sanctuaries and Sisterhood.

The companion guided meditation CD features 3 tracks that provide women with sacred journeys that inspire and encourage them to create positive life patterns. These tracks help them to recognise and invite magic, inspiration and loving energy into their lives. 

The journal retails for $34.95 AUD including GST. 

To view or purchase the journal, please visit Nicole and Tara’s website, Journals for Empowerment.  Please click on the banner below:- 

Tomorrow, Anne hosts Nicole and Tara over at The Tall Poppy.  To see their latest affirmation video, visit http://thetallpoppy.blogspot.com

 More than a mum, I’m a mum in business

Our speaker for both events was Kerry Townsend from Mums All Organised who encouraged us to “get all organised” and ready for a great year. Kerry had some great strategies and tips for us on:

• Knowing where you are now and where you want to be
• How to overcome obstacles
• Determining smart business and life goals
• Being committed to achieving your goals
• Establishing an action plan for achieving your goals
• Identifying tasks that waste our time and determining what is really necessary

In our Q & A section, Kerry and Alison Basson took time to answer questions from several of the ladies about some of their goals and how they might begin to start achieving them.

We set the group a challenge to go away, make a change by setting some goals and work towards achieving it.

So, if you  are a Mum in Business and want to talk and network with other mums in business, listen to inspirational speakers who share their business knowledge with you…and have an opportunity to win some prizes, then come along to our next event and see what we are all about.

Mums in Business – for Mums and Women who are serious about business

   More than a mum, I’m a mum in business

The guest speaker at our Sydney and Melbourne events was Lorraine Pirihi, The Office Organiser – Australia’s No. 1 Productivity Coach. Lorraine was fantastic; she shared with us some useful strategies and tips that any women in business could use to help them get organise and focused in both their business and personal life.

In our Q&A section, Lorraine and Alison Basson took time to answer questions from several of the ladies about what they had learnt during the talk and specific challenges they were experiencing in their business.

So, if you are a Mum in Business and want to take time to talk and network to other mums in business, listen to fantastic and inspirational speakers who will share their business knowledge with you…and you have the opportunity to win some prizes! Then come along to our next event and see what we are all about.

Mums in Business - for mums and women who are serious about business   More than a mum, I’m a mum in business

Organisation and a ‘great well oiled plan’ is the key if you wish to create a successful business and lifestyle. 

When becoming a mum in business it is important to have a balance between your children/family and your small business, otherwise your new business will take over. A business does not grow over night so don’t try and make it – and an extra few hours a week will not achieve this.  

If you want to create a successful professional small business you will need to make some decisions about when you are going to work in your business and who will look after the children at those times.

So here are some great tips to help you successfully juggle both:

• Have a routine and plan your day. Write down everything you need to do and achieve.  Include personal and business goals and then put together a weekly action plan and daily task list. It will make it easier if you can dedicate set days to your business and then you can do all your business tasks on those days.
• Separate your work and family time and balance your time. Make a clear distinction between the two. Set time aside for your family and avoid working in family time. Trying to work with children in toe is not a great recipe for success and not very fair on your children.
  • Set up an office environment away from the children. – This will help you to focus on work and be professional.
  • When making phone calls – children will always interrupt so make your business calls when they are asleep or when someone else can watch them. It is not professional to make calls with noisy children in the background.
  • Do the day-to-day running of the business. If you look after your children full time, working when the children are asleep can be a great option.
• Have set working days. This will help you to focus on your business with no interruptions from your children. If you need some additional time to concentrate on the business then consider having your children looked after for a period of time each week by a relative or friend, Childcare or Family Day Care or Au Pair or Nanny?
• Get help from experts. If you try and do everything yourself, you will pay a high price – your health, family time and an unsuccessful business. Outsource tasks to experts; use their knowledge to help you grow your business. Recruit a PR person, a bookkeeper, an admin person etc. 
• Know what you want to achieve from your business. Having definite objectives will help you to work towards your goals. Break them down into smaller goals that you can achieve as you work towards your ultimate goals. It is much better than having everything going round in your head and being unsure whether you are actually achieving anything.

By following these few steps, your business will develop the strong foundations it needs to succeed. Remember, building a business takes time, and you must be patient and dedicated to be successful.   

A great way to help you successfully juggle being a MUM and an Entrepreneur would be to chat to other business mums just like you on the mums in business – business discussion forum. Get your free access by going to http://www.mumsinbusiness.net  where you can also discover proven, easy-to-apply strategy that mum’s just like YOU are using every day to start & grow profitable businesses!  

From Alison Basson – Mums in Business, for mums and women who are serious about business  

 More than a mum, I’m a mum in business