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March 18, 2019 0 Comments

7 Strategic Ways To Grow Your Mompreneur Business

If you are a mompreneur who has been working your business for a while, there comes a pivotal point when you seek to take your business to the next level. Whether it’s to increase your income goals, elevate client experience, streamline your processes or all of the above, growing your business will require some high-level strategies.

As a full-time mompreneur myself in business since 1996, it can be easy to get overwhelmed with the details but the best place to start, even when growing your business is to focus on drilling down what has worked best for you so far. And it’s important to keep in mind, that there is no substitute for keeping it simple.

So here are our 7 strategic ways to take your business to the next level right away.

 

1. Reevaluate Current Expenses

Before you dive into all the new ideas you have for your small business, it’s always a good idea to evaluate where you are right now. Make a list of your current business expenses and ensure you are not spending time and money in areas that you aren’t using. Those $15-$20 monthly subscriptions can really add up.

 

2. Juicy Offer

If you have been building an email list with an opt-in through your website great job! Building an email list is one of the best things you can do for your business. With social media platforms changing daily and algorithm’s decreasing the organic reach of content, having a clear and consistent email marketing strategy is a must. When you email your list, you don’t have to worry about how much reach it will get.

Maybe you have a freebie on your website that has been working and now it’s time to create some additional free resources so you have multiple offers to share and market. Consider creating a “Resource Library” on your website where your visitors can sort through the best offer(s) for them. Create pinnable graphics for each offer through a Pinterest Canva template and pin to a free resources board on Pinterest. This will help you capture more leads for your business where you can build a deeper relationship with through email.

Don’t have a freebie offer on your website? Now is the time to create one! Come up with a high value resource that can help your ideal client solve an immediate problem and position you as an expert.

 

3. Email Marketing 

As you build an email list, it’s important to communicate on a regular basis with that list in order to take your business to that next level. Send out a weekly newsletter to share something of value, your latest blog post, tool, video training, helpful hack or resource.

When it comes to email marketing, it’s definitely quality over quantity. The goal is to provide high-level value that can help your ideal client while positioning you as an expert. The goal is not to pitch your audience to buy something (this is a strategy that is okay every so often but 90% of your emails should be high quality value). Pitching your email list with offers constantly will only land you with lots of unsubscribes.

When crafting emails focus more on letting your personality shine through and less on perfecting polished sales copy. Tell a story through your emails and talk to your audience like you are sitting down with them for coffee.

At the end of the email include a photo of you with a bio, a subtle call to action and link to learn more about how they can work with you.

 

4. On Boarding Process

Maybe you’ve built your business doing discovery type calls and while it’s worked, you are wanting to take back control of your time so you can focus on only working with exactly the type of clients your skill sets are best suited for.

Having an on-boarding process for new clients can definitely grow your business by helping to weed out people who are not 100% your ideal client. Create a Google doc that you can direct people to through your website. You can set up this document to email you the responses once it’s filled out.

Ask important questions that can help you determine if a phone call is the next step or if responding with an email to let them know they are not the right fit for you at this time. You can direct them to paid resources or courses you offer, (we will talk about this more below)or refer them to someone who is a better fit.

Having a process to properly vet clients can save you hours of precious time each week so you can spend that time on other revenue generating activities, working with the right clients and spending more time with your family.

 

5. Passive Income Resources

Marketing a business takes a lot of hard consistent work, and you want to leverage the leads that come into your business as much as possible. While not everyone who lands on your website will be a good fit to work with, that doesn’t mean you don’t have value to offer them.

Put together digital products or courses that can generate passive income so you can focus on investing time to work with higher-paying clients. If you are a graphic designer who designs logos for example, you could put together an eBook training of how to create a simple logo for a new website and charge say $27. Those who may not be the right fit for you to work on a larger scale can take a DIY approach allowing you to still earn revenue for your expertise without doing any extra work.

Passive income resources like this are a great way to grow your business since it’s a product you’ve already created that you can sell over and over again.

 

6. Streamline Processes With Templates

Create templates for every aspect of your business for tasks such as onboarding clients, emails, proposals and invoices. Tools like Freshbooks are great for this as they not only manage invoices and expenses, but also client and project notes.

Use apps to track expenses to save you hours at tax time and create folders for client emails so you aren’t spending hours searching for them. Spending time up front to stay organized can greatly increase your productivity and take your business to the next level.

 

7. Batch Your Time

There is nothing worse than feeling like you are going in circles not being productive. In order to grow your business, you need to use your time wisely and batch your recurring tasks.

For example, instead of trying to figure out every day what to post on your Facebook business page, batch that task and work on it each Monday from 9am-10am and plan out the whole week. You may not even need a full hour as you will find that as you create content focusing on one platform, your creativity and momentum will flow more easily.

Now think of other recurring tasks and batch those. For instance, schedule an hour each Tuesday to create pinnable graphics for your blog posts and quote cards in Canva and upload them to your Pinterest boards.

Batching your time will drive up your productivity while creating a higher level of consistency.

There are your 7 strategic tips to grow your mompreneur business. Implement even half of these and your business is sure to flourish!

Looking for more training, networking, support or ideas? We’d love to have you join our HireMyMom community today!

 

 

 

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August 10, 2017 0 Comments

3 Top Tips to Use Pinterest for Business

According to SocialMediaToday.com, “87% of Pinners bought something because of content on Pinterest” – which means that Pinterest is still clearly a very powerful social network. You can truly make sales from this network, and it’s important that you’re using it to your advantage in business.

Not only is Pinterest a great place to find recipes and home ideas, it’s a useful place to share your business knowledge. From images of your work to blog post graphics, it’s crucial to utilize Pinterest’s visual medium to produce content for your clients and prospects.

Work on your images

Pinterest is a visual platform, so your images are crucial! Pinterest images should be a certain size to be optimal, and that size is 735 px x 1102 px. You can use a program such as Canva.com to create graphics in this size.

In addition to the correct sizing, your images should be eye-catching and optimized. You can optimize images by naming them something relevant, versus simply leaving them as is. If you’re writing and then pinning a blog post featuring homework tips, you can name it something like: “top-homework-tips-for-kids.” It’s also important to look into keywords here, as that will make your images even more likely to be found. This allows your images to be optimized and more SEO-friendly. In addition to your image file names, you’ll want to include a detailed description of the Pin.

According to CoalMarch.com, you can use keywords to create image file names by using this formula: Industry + Service Provided + Location or Feature (not both). Use Google Trends or another keyword search to find trending topics, as well as keywords that those in your industry are seeking.

Lastly, you can use free graphics programs to create a custom image. Find a stock image of your blog theme, add some text, and make it look nice! Attractive images are more likely to be pinned.

Get social

Pinterest is place where you can share, but it’s also a place to be interactive. Follow relevant Pinners, Pin others’ content your boards, and generally stay active.

The more you add content, pin others’ content, and continue to follow new users, the more your page will be viewed, and the more your Pins will be saved. Try following other Pinners every day, and see how many you get in return. If you’re putting in the effort to follow others, it will likely come back to you.

Be consistent

Consistency is very important in using Pinterest for business! Whenever you write a blog post, piece of content, or produce a product/service with quality photos – Pin them. Get into the habit of sharing your content on this platform, as it’s very visual, and visual networks are encouraging for buyers.

By spending some time optimizing your images, creating stunning graphics, naming your files, being social, and posting consistently, you can see the outstanding sales and business results of Pinterest.

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March 16, 2015 0 Comments

How to Market Yourself Online

When looking for a job or preparing your profiles for the job search, it’s important to learn how to market yourself online. While you need to be as honest as possible, there are small tweaks and online marketing strategy tips you can use to make yourself stand out.

Marketing yourself online basically consists of using online websites and social media to the best of your abilities. You always want to do your best to highlight your strengths – on and offline. Here are some best practices for marketing yourself online in an effective, authentic way.

Add some honest praise

On many sites, especially LinkedIn, there are places to include praise and recommendations. Use these features to your advantage! Since these are outside recommendations, they’re more likely to be honest, effective, and impressive. When a potential employer or organization sees that you come highly recommended, they feel more at ease and therefore, they’re more likely to call you in for the interview. When they see that past employers and clients have been pleased with your work, it gives them a type of reassurance. Testimonials and reviews of your past work are excellent ways to market yourself – be proactive in asking for them and keeping them up to date.

Be descriptive

You have a lot of room on social media sites and profiles to write about your job, community, volunteer, and organization history and accomplishments. You’ll want to use this space to the best of your ability and be as descriptive as possible. Give an example of a job task and make it sound professional. Additionally, include measurable data and metrics if possible. Always include descriptions that make you stand out, and that goes doubly if you can include numbers to support your work.

Be on the right sites

If you want a certain type of job or work environment, be in the right online places! If you want to work from home, use sites such as HireMyMom.com to find reputable home-based careers. There are numerous industry-specific job search and forum sites, so be sure that you’re on them providing value and getting your name out there. In addition to job sites, be sure that you’re on the right social networks. LinkedIn is great for the professional realm, while Facebook is still #1. Keep them all professional and updated as much as possible. When you’re marketing yourself online, you want to show that you’re capable of the current technologies while providing knowledge and value to your audience.

When it doubt, ask

Being proactive is an excellent way to market yourself online. If you see an organization or job position that would suit you, don’t be afraid to ask or inquire further. Part of getting the jobs and opportunities we desire is putting ourselves out there. Most of the time, the best job positions and opportunities aren’t listed online, which means reaching out gives you a great chance for success! Take the time to craft an effective email to organizations that you’d like to work for, all while showing them why you deserve the job. All of your work on the tips above will ensure that you’re ready for this final step!
Check out these other great articles about home-based jobs as a work from home professional. Also check out our home-based job descriptions and current job postings for mom professionals.
(Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net)

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January 19, 2015 0 Comments

4 Tips for Social Media Success

There’s a lot of talk about social media these days. Not only is it popular for personal use, but businesses are realizing the power and impact behind digital marketing. Despite the abundance of social media advertising information available, it can be hard to determine what you can do to leverage it for personal success.

In general, keeping social media current and frequently updated is key, especially if you hope to land a job in the digital marketing world. If not, it’s still important to keep your resume and work information current and your profiles professional.

  • For Facebook: Keep your info updated and professional. Did you know that you can add your past and current work experience to your profile? Beyond work, of course you can share personal information (that’s what Facebook is for!), but do your best to keep it as professional as possible and avoid photos and information that you wouldn’t want an employer to see.
  • For LinkedIn: This is your online resume, so take extra care to ensure it is current and written with quality. Use the personal Summary section to really shine, as it’s a great place to articulate what you bring to the table in paragraph format. LinkedIn is the ideal site to connect with influencers and decision-makers, so it’s crucial that your information is updated. For bonus points, update your LinkedIn profile with valuable, professional content daily or a few times per week.
  • For Twitter: If Twitter is applicable to a job you’re looking for, make sure you have a presence. If Twitter is of no interest to you, that’s still okay. It’s a great place to find out what is going on in the world through trending hashtags, and it’s another place to learn about companies and organizations. Most people only look to websites and Facebook for company information, but Twitter can give a truly unique insight. You can see how a company tweets and responds on Twitter, which is typically a good barometer of how they work offline.
  • For Google: Google and Google+ are rarely considered to be on the same level as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, but they have their place. Google links your account to your Google+ profile and everything else you do on Google (Gmail, YouTube, etc.), so it’s important to have a presence. You can accumulate followers to share your posts and you can also follow other companies, people and organizations that interest you. Success with Google+ is an updated profile, using the +1 feature to show your appreciation for others’ content, and posting to your profile from time to time. Utilizing Google+ demonstrates a higher level of technological and social media knowledge that not everyone possesses.

Take the time to open these accounts and realize the power of social media advertising to gain that home-based job or more clients for your home-based business.

Check out these other great articles about marketing and social media as a work from home professional. Also check out our current job postings for mom professionals.

(Image courtesy of bplanet at freedigitalphotos.net)

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July 15, 2014 0 Comments

5 Social Media Lessons for At-Home Businesses

If you work from home, online marketing may be key to your success. Strategic use of social media can maximize your reach and resources including skills, successes, contacts and supporters (particularly those who can give you a professional reference). You don’t need to blanket social media. Your time is limited, so focus on key sites you are comfortable using and attract the type of customers you want. Here are five strategies to get you started.

Link In to Other Businesses

If you aren’t already on LinkedIn, you need to get on it. “LinkedIn is today’s Yellow Pages,” says Brad Friedman, a Denver-based social media consultant. “Business introductions are made, potential deals discovered and new employees or employment opportunities” happen on LinkedIn.

According to the latest stats from eBiz/MBA, LinkedIn is the third most popular social media site in the U.S. If you aren’t familiar with it, think of it as a business-minded version of Facebook. It’s free, easy to use and offers great online networking resources.

Even the Smallest Business Needs a Website

Get a website. It will help people find and contact you because even the Yellow Pages is online!

While today’s DIY technology makes it relatively easy to build a basic website, consider outsourcing this to a local firm that specializes in small business marketing. This way, you will (1) make a contact in the community, (2) support another local business and (3) get it done right by someone you can physically meet with if necessary.

A competent Web service will provide or refer you to a skilled writer who will ensure your site content is appropriate, relevant to your business, and optimized for search engines with keywords and metadata to boost visibility in Web searches. Request a WordPress-based site, which provides a back-end content management system that you can easily maintain on your own.

Use your site to blog about your product or service. Ask customers for permission to feature them and how they use it. Write about issues that customers need to know about, and provide links for more information. Invite them to comment or guest blog.

Make a Separate Facebook Business Page

If your business is a B2C (Business to Customer), you will likely benefit from a Facebook page. Be sure to create a separate business page for it: don’t combine business with your personal profile. Use Facebook’s tools and suggestions to create a page that works.

Why Facebook? Because it’s nearly impossible to be entirely free of it. According to the Pew Research Center, 57 percent of all American adults and roughly 73 percent of teenagers use Facebook. Even half of all Internet users who aren’t on Facebook live with someone who is.

A Facebook page extends your business reach and acts as a kind of super magnet for your product or service. Keep your page tightly focused. Take for example a company like LifeLock. People who visit their Facebook page get the information they expect and judging from the numbers who Like it, find value in it.

Make Real-World Connections Through a Business Meetup

Meetup.com helps organize social and business groups in a given geographic area. Use it to find a business group that matches your interests. Many Meetups are free while others charge a small fee to help cover meeting room costs and other expenses.

Also attend Meetups that attract the kind of customer you are looking for. It’s not unusual, for example, for a writer to attend a Web developers’ Meetup and vice versa. In addition to finding potential customers, it’s an opportunity to learn about the issues customers face and gain insight into their interests and concerns.

These social sites will allow you to get “out” even if you work from home. Online marketing provides a great way to market yourself while being able to stay home with your family.

Check out these other great articles about marketing and social media as a work from home professional. Also check out our current job postings for mom professionals.

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