by theEmother | Jun 20, 2013 | build a Mother of a Business, business ideas & thinking, entrepreneur trends (past & present!), entrepreneurial mothers, Finish Unfinished Business, how to sell a business, MEinc, SELL your Mother of a Business, so you think you're in business, start with the end in mind, the business model
I was pondering this very question myself just yesterday…
A Business Owner called, who has made the decision to sell her own business. She wanted advice on how to best do that, anonymously, over the phone. Cheeky? perhaps.
Useful? She was pleased.
But, how far do you go?
And then I came across this great article from “The Business Bakery”. I’ve pulled the key bits out for me and suggest you read the entire article…
There are five reasons to work for free, which one is it?
1.It’s good “exposure”
This is the most common reason for being asked to do a freebie. The idea is that you give your product for free and lots of people will hear about you. Donating cakes to a function or writing a column for a magazine are examples.
2.It will give good credibility
This is when you do something for free for a well know person or large organisation because it gives you credibilty. So making a birthday cake for Nigella Lawson would give heaps of credibility.
3.It’s a way to trial a new product
Sometime you give a freebie because you need to have a go with a real life customer. This could be your first wedding cake
4.It’s for family and friends
Not totally unreasonably, family and friends expect the occasional thing for free. The trouble comes when pretty well all your customers are family or friends…..
5.It’s for someone who ‘needs’ it but can’t afford it
We’re often asked to give freebies for “charitable” reasons.Mostly these are genuine requests but there are some shonky people out there.
Read on…
by theEmother | May 28, 2013 | build a Mother of a Business, business ideas & thinking, Buying2give.com, entrepreneur trends (past & present!), inspiring women, MEinc, the business model, women in business case studies
ABC Q&A aired a special extra episode tonight after securing an audience with visiting billionaire Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates. The program featured Gates as the sole guest, fronting an audience at the University of NSW with host Tony Jones.
Whilst Mr Gates is interesting, impressive and industrious, he performed admirably and did himself and his causes proud. What I found even more impressive though was the quality of the thinking that had gone into the audience questioning and the Twitter feed happening concurrently.
There are many who think deeply about some of the hard stuff and that buoys my faith in humans being able to better do good stuff. However, as Mr Gates pointed out this evening, if one sits around waiting for permission to do what needs to be done, death is likely to come first!
A case in point, Stephanie Woollard. Such a dynamic young woman, who has taken it upon herself to assist and truly empower all the marginalised women she can. Starting in Nepal first, world domination is definitively on the cards. She didn’t have to do it, she could have talked about it and done nothing because working from Australia would have been too difficult but she didn’t…
Instead, she started “Seven Women” (www.sevenwomen.com.au) which has since established two business centres whereby they become financially stand-alone entities as well as enabling the women to learn to earn. No permission sought, other than to appreciate the enormity of the task and then getting down to the tin-tacs of working out how to get it done.
With the women now eternally grateful.
by theEmother | May 2, 2013 | build a Mother of a Business, business ideas & thinking, entrepreneur trends (past & present!), so you think you're in business, the business model
Talk about going from one extreme to the other!
Yesterday, as smooth as clockwork.
Today, disaster…
Actually that’s not strictly true, it depends on what I’m comparing it to.
If using my diary and to do list (as I did yesterday), today’s activities were not even remotely close to doing what I was supposed to have done. If on the other hand, I review the activities in terms of upping the ante on playing a bigger game then I was right on the money…
Today I had two phone calls that were not planned but have the potential to be enormous…
Both took time to work out what was being asked, both took time to nurture and both could go absolutely nowhere!
Using the old “Tattslotto” motto – “you’ve got to be in it, to win it“, this goes for business opportunities as well. Yes, you do have to be savvy enough to recognise not all presented are in fact what you should be pursuing. Nonetheless, the initial conversations can be rather interesting, as well as time-consuming, so you do have to be careful.
As I’ve been known to say, being opportunistic and bold is the only way to really get ahead.
Sometimes doing the stuff you’re invited to do has to take precedent over doing the stuff you need to do; don’t you think?
What sphincter-tightening moment did you have today?
by theEmother | Apr 18, 2013 | build a Mother of a Business, business ideas & thinking, Buy a Mother of a Business, entrepreneur trends (past & present!), EXIT execution, Finish Unfinished Business, Online Strategy incl. www, Sell Your Business, SELL your Mother of a Business, so you think you're in business, the business model
Another day, another conversation with a Business Owner who thinks that having a website covers off the Online Strategy question…
IT DOES NOT!
A website forms part of an Online Strategy, absolutely.
But is it not the be-all that ends-all.
In fact it is only a small part of the overall digital consideration.
From a “Sale-ability” point of view, when asked about what digital | online strategies are in place, if “I’ve got a website” is offered as the answer, the potential buyer will start rubbing their hands together in glee (if it’s a business they want that is).
Why? Because it gives them an issue on which to start down a sale price-discounting path.
Do you have to cover off every little thing to appeal to a potential buyer?
Well ideally, yes, but we know that’s not necessarily doable.
However, given the growing impact and importance of the whole digital | online space, “what is your Online Strategy?” is one question Business Owners looking to sell have to have a well-formulated and accurate response for.
by theEmother | Mar 25, 2013 | 4 hour work week, business book club, business ideas & thinking, entrepreneur trends (past & present!), Finish Unfinished Business, MEinc, so you think you're in business
Seth Godin’s – Poke the Box
I’ve just returned from my every 6-week Book Club soiree. We have a lovely time catching up with each other and discussing the books. Some of which we’ve loved and others not so but nevertheless, much discussion and sometimes debate ensues. And we all learn about little bit more about ourselves and the world around us as a result.
That got me thinking on the way home… why don’t we have a Business Book Club. I’d be happy to run it. Can do it via webinar so no need to leave home. I’m convinced a whole lot of learning about the businesses we are building would take place, both at an individual level and the greater good we are trying to impact.
What do you think?
If you’re interested, email me on sell@theentrepreneurialmother.com and lets get it started… Never enough book reading and learning in the world I say!
by theEmother | Jan 1, 2013 | business ideas & thinking, entrepreneur trends (past & present!), so you think you're in business
According to TrendWatching.com…
2013 will be the perfect storm of necessity and opportunity: some economies will do OK(-ish), others will be shaky, but whatever market or industry you’re in, those who understand & cater to changing consumer needs, desires and expectations will forever have plenty of opportunity to profit.
A remapped global economy, new technologies (or ‘old’ technologies applied in new ways), new business models… hey, what’s not to like?
Hence this overview of 10 crucial consumer trends (in random order) for you to run with in the next 12 months.
Onwards and upwards
Read on…
If you want to bring your business into the 21st Century in order to Exit it, pay attention to these trends and see what else you can be doing to step up?
