Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Starting your Business- Choose what is right for you as a Parent and a Business Person

In this busy life, we often forget that we all have the freedom to choose what we put into our lives. We get swept up by keeping appointments and filling up our schedule with more and more engagements. When we make the wonderful decision to bring children into our lives, time seems to disappear before we even wake up in the morning. Our jobs and other commitments compete with the precious time we want to spend with our children.

However, we all have the freedom to choose how we organize our lives in this modern age and in our country that welcomes innovation and entrepreneurialism. It is possible to make the right choices to be successful as a parent and business person. It is all a matter of choice.

Thirty five years ago my husband and I decided to exercise our freedom to choose and we started our own children's ceramic handprint business. We committed to working hard, growing our business and to always keeping our family as our first priority. You too can commit to finding success through hard work in starting your own business as well.

Decide what you want to do. Part of choosing what is important is first figuring out what is important to you. In order to make a commitment to starting your business, you must first decide if a home based business or being in business for yourself is truly what you want. Having success with your business can and will be had, but it does take a lot of work and dedication. You have the freedom to organize your day and schedule in order to spend more time with your family, but it also means that you and you alone carry the responsibility for your service or product. Take time to reflect on whether you want to take on this commitment and if you can take it on responsibly. Being accountable to yourself and your clients will determine the success of your business.

Are you ready to commit? Create a schedule that will allow you to balance your life, work, and your family.

Making your schedule: Before you turn your light out to go to bed, grab a pen and paper and write down all the different appointments and commitments in your life that take up most of your time. Write them all down! Then write down which of these you would like to devote your time to. Are there any you can eliminate? Are there any that can be re-prioritized? Are there any that can be combined? Where does your family fall on the list? Put your list aside and sleep on it.

In the morning, with a fresh perspective, make a choice to change how you allocate your time. Have the courage to eliminate commitments that are not benefiting you or your family. Be creative on how you use your time... can you make a couple phone calls or schedule appointments while your kids are napping?

Decide what you like to do and be honest about your abilities. Do you like to work with people? Do you work well on your own and with people? Do you like to work with your hands, or be creative? Are you capable of working by yourself? Do you need someone to tell you what to do, or are you a self starter? Do you need to have people around you to assure you that you are doing a good job, or can you feel assured that you are doing fine on your own. Are you capable of making a schedule that works for you and your family and sticking to it? Or are you the type of person that does better in the world by going to work at the same place and at the same time everyday? Do you know your strengths and weaknesses? Are you capable of motivating yourself or do you need someone to motivate you.

These are questions you want to ask yourself before you venture out to start your own business. The rewards of owning your own business are tremendous, but, you must be a self starter and truly commit yourself to your business and it's success. This takes work. Any business that has integrity and honesty takes work. Starting you own business can be rewarding and profitable, but, you are the one who is responsible for the success of your business.

Knowing your strengths and weaknesses and deciding on what you want to do are truly the key elements necessary to have your own successful business. We all have the freedom to choose what we want to do in life. Choose what you want to do. Make a plan, follow it, be responsible to yourself and your family. Having your own business is definetly a dream that is attainable and worth working for.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Marketing Your Children's Clay Handprints Business on a "Shoestring"


Marketing your clay handprints home-based business is something YOU can afford to do!
2 Tips to get you started with minimal costs!

Going into business for the first time can be scary. In our situation, we initially had very little funds to get started. However, we knew that we needed exposure for our clay handprints to become known and to build our business and we were determined to make it work because we believed in the benefits that a home-based business would bring our family. So we decided to start small which we did by first offering our product to merely our family and friends. We received an overwhelming positive response. We soon learned that the wonder of our ceramic handprint home business is that it needs very little marketing in order to grow and to bring in repeat customers.

1. Advertise first to your family and friends
Offering your product first to your family and friends can be done by simply picking up the phone or inviting them to have ceramic prints made in ordinary conversation. Once they have prints made, your finished product will hang in their homes as and advertise themselves to all who see them. Furthermore, they will mention it to their family and friends creating a web of promotion for your product. Although this may sound simple, this was our first marketing strategy. Not only was there no cost involved, it continues to be our most effective form of marketing and has been the foundation of our home-based business.

2. Personally visit preschools, doctor’s offices and hospitals and all mom’s groups.
Rather than making your customer’s come to you, go to them! Not only do you save on costly advertisements, your customers will have the opportunity to personally meet you and find out more about ceramic handprints. Bring along a few sample prints for them to look at! Preschools, doctor’s offices and hospitals are full of babies and children, which are your client base. Make your service known there simply by introducing yourself and your business, or make up a simple flyer to leave in the waiting room or office area.

Once again, this is an affordable and pleasurable way to spread the word about your business while minimizing your marketing expenditure. Over the years, we have found that our most valuable and effective form of marketing has been through relationships. Begin with the relationships you already have in your friends and family. Then begin building relationships in your community through preschools and pediatric- medical establishments. Marketing through relationships is not only affordable, but also rewarding! Marketing your home-based business is something YOU can afford to do!
Marketing your home-based business is something YOU can afford to do! In both our In Studio and At Home Training business opportunties we show you step-by step how we have successfully marketed oursevles for 34 years. Let our experience work for you. We can show you how! Call us, you will be glad you did. (800) 808-8615
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Thursday, September 13, 2007

The Joys of Starting A Ceramics Business

Starting your own ceramics business can be fun, creative, and profitable. Your studio can be set up so that you work from home in your house, outside studio, or garage. You can start with a small space and grow as you need to.

In 1972 we started this ceramic business in a spare bedroom in our home making clay beads. We made necklaces, earrings, pins, buttons, and our one-of-a-kind ceramic art. We had a very small electric kiln in our garage and fired often. We also made coiled planters, which were very popular then, filled all our planters with our clay beads and buttons and fired them together because we were able to save on kiln space and for economical benefits.

The joy and beauty of making these ceramic beads and buttons while developing our ceramics business was that we were able to create our clay sculpture pieces as well to sell at local galleries, gift stores, and craft faires. Our clay jewelry line now created an extra income for us with very little expense. Plus, we had another product to add to our business.

As we made money we invested in more supplies and equipment. This has truly been one of the great benefits of owning our ceramic business. Throughout the years we have found ways to make new clay products with low costs that we were able to market well, create extra income for ourselves, and at the same time, create our ceramic art work.

Since 1974 we have been making children's and babies hand and foot clay prints for families. This ceramic hand print and footprint business has been great! The families, kids, and babies we work with are wonderful and the this clay hand print business has created a way for us to increase our income as well. Throughout the history of our ceramic business we have found ways to make new clay products that are fun, creative, and profitable! You can do the same!

Friday, September 7, 2007

The Lost Art of Customer Service

When you start your business having good customer service is what will set you apart from the rest, and is what will assure you of repeat business. In today's world of computerized robots and non-human menus, getting a real person on the other end of the phone is a breath of fresh air.

This is the beauty of our ceramic handprint business. Our business is personalized. It is my husband and myself. When a customer calls they talk to one or the other of us. This is very reassuring to them. If they have a particular question or concern, we are here to help them.

Our policy is simple: The customer comes first. We aim to please. We want all of our customers to be happy with Pawprints no matter what the cost. If we make a mistake on one their orders, we not only redo it, but, because time is money, we actually give them another ceramic handprint for free. This takes a potential problem, and creates a win-win situation for everyone! They in turn tell their friends and family how well they were treated by us, and we now have them as a happy customer for life.

This ceramic handprint business is a very personalized business to be in. We are dealing with babies, children, families and their pets! Our business is one whereby we have the opportunity to offer not only a life long treasured keepsake, but, we are also able to know our clients and their families for generations.

Repeat business is something we all want to build on. Being accountable to your clients and their needs will keep them coming back for years. In todays world, good old fashioned customer service is rare. By offering your clients personalized and genuine customer service, and letting them know how much you truly appreciate their business will keep them happy and coming back to you for generations.