Category: Thrifty Business Tips

As more than 1 billion workers are virtual, dispersed, or non-traditional, the average employee spends more time in transit than ever before. Even while you’re on the go, your employer might expect that you get some work done or be prepared to hit the ground running. By preparing for your work trip the right way, you can be sure that it doesn’t disrupt your productivity or comfort.

Depending on how often you travel, the 3-5 days you spend recovering from jet lag might not be an option. You might need to be alert and aware every step of the way. That’s why you need a strategy for your next trip.

If you want to be happy, comfortable, productive, and well-rested before, during, and after your next work trip, follow these 3 tips.

1. Disrupt Your Sleep Schedule Now

As you move from one time zone to the next, your body will be stuck in the place you most recently slept. Even if the clock reads 1 AM, if your body thinks it’s only 4 PM, you could be in for a rough night of sleep.

Get to know the time difference you’ll be facing when you take your trip. Start adjusting your sleep little by little now. If you’re going from the US to Europe, stay up as late as you can so that you’ll be exhausted once you get on your flight.

If you can remain asleep during a flight, you should be good. If you have trouble sleeping, try a little bit of liquid melatonin to help you get to sleep.

2. Book Everything Now

Take the time to start sending out emails to the people you want to meet with. Book a full schedule so that you know what you’re doing at what time each day. This can prepare you in multiple ways.

You can be aware of when your hardest days are, so you’ll be well rested. You’ll know who you’re meeting for cocktails and who you’re meeting for business and know what to pack. You can also prepare mentally for the flow of events to come.

Try out http://www.contracthire.tv/ for booking your car from the airport in advance.

3. Take Some Vitamins

It’s important to load up on Vitamin C before you head to the airport. The number of doorknobs, armrests, and recycled air that you’ll encounter will contain lots of opportunities for you to get sick. Eat as healthy as possible for 3 days before your trip.

Make sure you’ve also packed your bag with plenty of medication. If you’re heading to a foreign country, you might have trouble getting what you need. You’re better off carrying extra.

Prepping For Your Work Trip Will Relax You

If you don’t know what you’re expecting from day to day, you could be on edge during your entire trip. This could lead to poor work output and leaves open the potential for making lots of mistakes. Taking the time to prepare will allow you to give your best performance while on your work trip.

If your work trip has you itching to take a vacation, check out our guide to choosing your next family destination.

If you want to start your own home jewelry business, knowing how to make beautiful and original jewelry is not enough to be successful, but it’s a great start. While creating jewelry is an art form few people have the ability or passion to master, starting your own business is something anyone is capable of doing.

However, simply wanting to be your own boss is not easy. Keep reading to find out what you need to do to start a successful home jewelry business.

1. Build Your Brand

You might not think that a small home jewelry business would need to build a brand. But nowadays, branding is an important part of any successful business big and small.

A large part of branding is choosing a name for your business. This needs to be memorable, unique and reflective of your jewelry.

Remember the brand name needs to be able to be used on business cards, online as well as on any official documents.

You’ll also need a logo to promote your brand online and in your marketing materials. For more information on how to design a dazzling jewelry company logo, view here.

2. Become Legit

The next part of your journey towards becoming a home jewelry business is registering your LLC with your state. This makes you an official business recognized under the law.

It might be that you want to have your jewelry trademarked. This can be achieved through the United States’ Patent and Trademark Office.

It’s essential to carry out all of the bureaucratic and legal procedures to make sure you set yourself up as a legal business.

3. Get a Business Plan

Of course, the business plan might be as simple as – making jewelry. But without a clear and detailed business plan, you could find yourself in trouble.

After all, the finances of your business are really important. You need to consider various outgoings, such as the costs of registering your LLC and sourcing the raw materials to create your jewelry.

But also, it’s important to set business goals for your business. This includes – how many pieces of jewelry do you hope to sell this year? How much profit do you hope to make in your first year?

4. Set Up Your Workshop

You might have been making jewelry for many years as a hobby. If this is the case, you might have a workshop already.

But if you’ve been making jewelry at the kitchen table until now. It might be time to invest in setting yourself up with a quiet workshop so you can concentrate and store your materials and products.

5. Websites and Social Media

Nowadays even the smallest businesses have a website and social media accounts. These are essential and cost-effective media and marketing tools.

Make sure you at least have a Facebook and Twitter account. But because jewelry is so well-suited to Instagram, you should also have an account on this social network. Make sure you include contact details and many sample pictures of your jewelry.

You can also use your website to sell your products. Other online platforms to sell your jewelry include Etsy, Artfire, Amazon, and eBay.

On your website, you should also include a blog. This will not only help you become an influencer within your niche of home-made jewelry but also boost your SEO (search engine optimization). SEO helps you rank highly on search engines such as Google.

6. Set Your Prices

Setting your prices is one of the most difficult steps in setting up your own home jewelry business.

There certainly isn’t a one-size-fits-all rule for pricing your jewelry. But you have to consider the material and labor costs of producing the products. While you need to make sure you’re making a profit on your jewelry, don’t overcharge or you’ll struggle to sell anything.

If you’re selling your jewelry through a variety of mediums and markets, then it’s important to keep your prices consistent. This means it should cost the same whether it’s at a arts and craft market in a local town or on your website.

7. Be Patient

Many people who set up their own businesses from home are impatient for success. This is especially the case if you’ve risked everything and give up the stability of a 9-5 grind.

However, the trick to a successful business is to be patient. There are lots of new things to learn about running your own business. It can take many years to really build your home jewelry business.

If you’re struggling to make a profit or find new customers for your product, adjust what you’re doing. This might involve making a different kind of jewelry or driving your social media strategy in a different direction.

8. Do What You Love

What makes you different to someone else making jewelry? It’s not price or the quality of your jewelry, it’s that you love doing what you do.

Making jewelry is a creative process that requires a lot of time, effort and passion.

That’s why if you’re making jewelry you believe is beautiful and wonderful, the chances are, other people will too. There’s always a market for it.

Starting Your Own Home Jewelry Business

Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of entrepreneurship, or you’re an experienced player in business, starting your own home jewelry business can be daunting.

With these tips, you’ll be well on your way to success with your passion project! If you’ve set up your own home jewelry business, we’d love to hear from you. Let’s us know in the comments.

Otherwise, if you want to know more about becoming your own boss, explore our blog or get in touch.

Having a great product to sell is awesome, but selling it can be frustrating. You have to rent a space, buy the furniture for the store, and hire staff to help you manage the store.

That already sounds exhausting! But what would you say if you could do it all today without all those extra logistics?

Well, it’s possible! With the technology available today you can get started now. Open your own online boutique today with the tips fleshed out below.

Choose Your Products

To get on track to open your own online boutique today you need to start deciding what products you want to sell. Find products that people are looking for or are on trend. Try to cater to a specific niche with your products.

After you find these products, take amazing pictures of them. Find a white background and bright lighting to ensure high-quality pictures. If possible, try to record some video of your products as well.

When you are done taking pictures of your products, start writing up your product descriptions. Include measurements and special features. If it is relevant, include the materials your products are made of.

Get Your Finances in Check

You need to map out your budget before you open your online boutique today. Decide how much you will spend on getting your products, setting up your website, and shipping costs.

Make sure you know what bills you will need to spend and what days you will need to pay them. Understand that if you have a website, you will need to pay to maintain it and to update it regularly.

Getting the word out about your online boutique will be crucial to the business. Decide up front if you will be paying for marketing to be done or if you will be doing it yourself.

Set up Your Website

The next step to open your online boutique today is setting up your website. Make sure that your site design is organized and easy to navigate, as this aspect will help customers decide your credibility.

Since people will be purchasing products on your site, you’ll want to make sure it’s secure. Update your website regularly to ensure that it stays secure. And work on getting your site SSL certified.

Purchase your domain name and create one that is relevant to your boutique. This is what customers will be looking for on the web. Before you launch your site, test it. Make sure all of the pages load effectively. If your website takes too long to load it may cause customers to navigate away from it.

If you’re not sure what design would be best for your online boutique, look at other online stores. Note what you like and don’t like about the sites of other businesses and use them as inspiration for your own. Yizzam is a creative online website for buying t-shirts and is a great example to look at. Check it out here for more info.

Get on Social Media

To help extend your reach, meet your customers on social media. Ask potential customers what social media platforms they are on.

Then start creating accounts on those platforms. You won’t need to be on every platform, just the ones that matter.

Create relevant content that includes the products that will make users want to see you on their timelines. Post on social media weekly to keep up with trends.

Make sure your social media accounts look the same as your website. All pictures and posts should have the same branding as your website. This will increase brand recognition.

Organize Your Checkout

Since you will be selling things in your online boutique you’ll want to create an efficient checkout process.

Give the option for users to check out as a guest with just their email. Having users create an account can be pushy and may deter them from making a purchase. Simply getting their email will still help with marketing tactics later on.

If you want to start out simple and don’t want to spend time making a whole checkout process now, consider using Google Checkout or PayPal for your business. As these can be easier alternatives.

Set up Stores on Other Sites

After creating a website for your online boutique, start setting up smaller stores on other sites. This can help extend the reach of your products even further.

There are many users on online marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay, and Etsy. Create an account on these and put a few of your products for sale. In the bio of your account direct them to your website.

These smaller stores will help you channel more users to your website and start building brand loyalty right away.

Learn About Your Customers

It’s important that you continue to learn about your customers. Use Google analytics for your website to help you understand how customers are interacting with it. Try changing some of your tactics based on how your customers behave and see if your site improves.

Take a look at your social media accounts and the analytics behind it. This will help you create an effective strategy for what you post and when.

Organize monthly checks of the analytics to observe how your online boutique is growing or suffering.

Start a Blog After You Open Your Own Online Boutique Today

After more of the pressing setup is completed, dedicate one page of your online boutique website to a blog. This will help increase your website’s search engine optimization gradually.

Start writing articles on topics that people are looking for. Choose a few relevant keywords and incorporate them into your content.

By optimizing your site for search engines, you’ll help put your site on the radar of customers and increase your traffic.

By creating a blog, you’ll also be helping your customers with problems they have. Thus adding value to their lives. This can also help your boutique’s credibility.

Optimize for Mobile

Currently, about 1.6 billion people use their mobile devices to shop online globally. Being able to access your website through smartphones is a must. If you’re going to open your own online boutique today, it needs to be accessible by mobile.

When creating your website, test its accessibility on your phone first before launching it. If you are using a site like WordPress or Wix, select their options for optimizing mobile.

More Business Tips

So there you have it! You’re ready to start building your online boutique store. Don’t stop here though. Keep researching best practices and other technology that can help.

Being a part of the e-commerce world means constantly improving and growing. For more tips on how to start your own thrifty businesses check out our page.

Are you an avid camper and outdoors enthusiast that is tired of the corporate world?

In 2017, there is more opportunity than ever in the camping industry, especially in luxury camping, also known as “glamping”.The market for a camping company has vastly shifted towards younger generations, who love the idea of closeness to nature without sacrificing comfort or luxury.

There are many different companies emerging in this industry to serve the demand. To make matters more interesting, the U.S. is actually behind other countries in the availability of these opportunities for glampers.

So, what are you waiting for?

The benefits are enormous once this business is off the ground. You are the boss of your own company, and you get to meet people from all over the world.

Read on to learn how you can invest your love of camping into a profitable company.

The Market of the Camping Industry

In planning to enter the camping industry, it is important to research the existing market.

This step will depend on what your niche is, such as an app, product, or campground.

Regardless, the market is on the up, and it does not appear to be going anywhere.

The existing camping companies in the U.S. and other countries do usually have one commonality: they cater to a specific group.

This could be in the form of a church camp, flyfishing camp, fitness camp, wellness camp, or any other number of demands you can identify in the target market.

The statistics support the fact that this is a growing industry full of opportunity, with a 147 million dollar increase predicted for 2018.

No matter which niche your camping company decides on, follow the market trends as you form your business plan.

Different Types of Camping Companys

As mentioned, there are many different types of camping and outdoors companies that are emerging.

One key change in the industry with the influx of technology is the appearance of web-based platforms designed as middle-men for camping experiences, such as Campsited.

The market for apps of this nature is fairly saturated, but that does not mean that there isn’t the opportunity to come out with another platform that offers a different approach.

For example, Fluid Market is one app that has been wildly popular because it is part of the new sharing economy model.

As well, these apps can be utilized by your camping company to reach your target audience.

Additionally, some business models in the camping industry have thrived by doing camping differently.

Instead of traditional log cabins and primitive tent campsites, you could try renting out custom camping vans, yurts, teepees or other unique abodes.

Best yet, let’s not forget about the potential of a quality camping product. Outdoor enthusiasts love to purchase functional items to use during their adventures, from apparel to coolers to outdoor blankets.

Think big or thing small, the camping industry can suit it all.

How to Create a Camping Company Business Plan

So, you read about the basic market for camping as well as some business ideas. Now, you want to know how to start a business plan.

The next four steps include how to begin the plan, as well as making the business profitable.

1. Discover the Goal of the Business

This step may cause an existential crisis because it does require you to look within yourself and ask: “Who am I?”

Not to worry, because this question can be answered by what you like in the camping world.

If you regularly camp, and you are looking for an off-the-grid business, then a campground may be for you.

However, if you prefer the city life with the occasional adventure, considering other options involving technology or a product.

No matter what, this is obviously a crucial first step in the business planning process.

2. Decide on a Demographic

Once you determine the goal of the business, the next step is to decide who your target demographic will be.

This will be reflective of the type of interests and life situation you have. Examples of target demographics could include families, couples, international travelers, or fitness gurus.

You can further refine the target by catering to specific interests. A luxury campground could be eco-friendly, with local, organic foods or a spiritual one that is dedicated to those looking to be in touch with a higher power.

Regardless, it is better to try and be specific with your demographic, as this will make it easier to market and cater to them.

3.Take into Account Your Resources

In the beginning stages of planning, it is important to think about your current life situation and resources.

This includes how much money you may have to invest in the company, or the availability of land.

If you have a family member that owns a large bit of land that they are not using, now is the time to reach out to them about your idea.

This also applies to any outdoors-related idea. It can be difficult to know how to start a business without the means or knowledge of how to do so.

Therefore, explored your networks, as well as supplementing with internet research.

Location is everything in the event that you decide to invest in a campground, it cannot be overstated enough.

The best and most profitable campgrounds are often in an amazing area with an existing tourism industry.

4. Get the Business off the Ground

At first, as with any business, it can be a struggle to get started. There is a lot that goes into a camping business, and you should expect to dedicate time and money to this endeavor.

Remember that it’s the little things that can help your business stand out in a crowd. Cultivate a campground that people would know is different, somehow or someway.

Moreover, marketing is the best way to grow your business, especially online. Branch out and explore different advertisement options, and don’t forget the importance of SEO.

Follow Your Dreams

The truth is, most of us dream of escaping the monotony of the work world. Many people are unhappy with their careers, and yearn to follow their passions.

Better yet, no matter if your business is a camping company or something else, entrepreneurship is truly the only way to be your own boss.

So, if you are passionate about the outdoors, don’t let life hold you back. Explore your dreams, and be the master of your own destiny.

Check out our blog post on tips for hiking with kids if you love the outdoors, but aren’t quite ready to take the plunge into owning a business today.

Did you know there are 38 million businesses that are based out of the home in the U.S.?

Yup, in the U.S. alone there are 38 million home-businesses which generate $472 billion in annual revenue. Of those 38 million, 20% of those businesses earn $100,000-$500,000 each year.

What we’re trying to get at is there are tons of people running businesses out of their homes and earning comfortable livings doing so.

Women overwhelmingly start home businesses (72%) for many reasons. They can spend more time with their kids, they like the flexibility, or they want to escape corporate life.

If you’ve been thinking about starting a business at home, check out our list of home business ideas for women.

Start an Etsy Shop

Do you have a knack for calligraphy? Jewelry making? Leatherwork?

Starting an Etsy shop is one of the most popular home business ideas for women. You can do what you love every day and see the joy your crafts bring to your customers.

You can also sell your crafts at farmers markets. This also gives your online shop more exposure.

Be an Online Broker-Dealer

If you’re coming out of corporate financial services, being an online broker-dealer is a lucrative position. Many professionals leaving corporate finance will set up shop at home and collect clients from past dealings.

There are a number of online exchanges where you can purchase investment vehicles for your clients. For example, TripleNet Gateway specializes in NNN property leasing investments and allows broker-dealers to purchase and sell on their exchange.

Explore Blogging

Starting a blog is one of the most attractive home business ideas for women. Blogging can be a highly lucrative business for those who carefully cultivate their online community and boost their web traffic.

There are no restrictions on what you can blog about. You can blog about one of your passions, provide expertise from your professional field, or start direct selling.

Through your blog, you can also sell products and services. For example, you could career coach or write a cookbook and sell it.

Found a Virtual Assistant Service

Virtual assistants are in high demand for all types of businesses. For the most part, businesses or individuals who need VAs are finding them through websites where VAs can post their experience.

This means there is still a gap for VA services that recruit, interview, and train VA specifically for each client. Starting a VA business is highly lucrative, especially if you already have a list of people who would benefit from having a VA.

Offer Coaching

If you like helping people achieve their goals, online coaching might be for you. With so many ways to communicate over the internet, there’s hardly a limit to who your clients can be.

The type of coaching you go into will mostly rely on your background. Popular types of coaching include career, business, fitness, life, financial, and direct-sales coaching. The list goes on.

There’s No Limit to Home Business Ideas for Women

Your mind is the limit when it comes to starting a business at home. You can do practically anything as long as you can figure out how to monetize it.

You can find tons of resources for home business ideas for women online. There are even Facebook and LinkedIn groups where women can encourage each other on their home business journey.

Once you decide on your home business, you’ll need a home office. Learn more about setting up a home office here.