Category: Thrifty Business Tips

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.

It takes less than 10 seconds for people to form an opinion of you. Can you afford to make a less-than-stellar impression in the place where you need it most – at work?

As a mother, working from home is probably your ideal situation. But if you count yourself among the almost 74 million moms that work outside the home, you know how important personal presentation is.

Here’s the big question – can you keep up with your kids and still stay stylish? Once you read our guide to office attire, your answer will be YES!

Suit Up

If there’s one thing every woman needs in her closet, it’s one great suit. The ensemble – a blazer and either suit pants or a skirt – seems easy enough, but there are ways to do it wrong.

First, splurge a little and make sure it’s good quality. You’ll pay a high price now but high-quality outfits last a long time.

Second, make sure it fits perfectly. You don’t want pants that are too long or a blazer that bunches in weird places. Getting it tailored makes a big difference.

The Perfect Ratio

You most likely will work for a place that has a “business casual” office attire policy. This allows you a bit more flexibility in your look.

With more formal offices, you will be stuck with stuffy button-downs and blouses. With business casual, you have more options.

Having more options, though, might make you feel overwhelmed. Don’t fret – there’s a formula for keeping your wardrobe in check.

Have a small set number of neutral bottoms and double that number for your tops. So if you have five pants and skirts, you’ll need 10 tops.

That way you can easily mix and match and create multiple outfit possibilities.

Sounds expensive? It doesn’t have to be. Keep this 6PM promo code handy and start building an amazing work wardrobe.

Office Attire Accessories

If you’re stuck in a conservative office, you can let your personality shine through accessories! Here’s a chance to get creative and add some sparkle to the workplace.

Have a certain passion or hobby? Consider a charm necklace with little symbols of what you love dangling off of it. Think how amazing a pair of bright pink heels would look peeking out from the hem of a charcoal suit.

While simple dangling earrings bring a bit of bling to your look, leave the giant hoop earrings for the weekend.

Bonus Tips

Don’t forget one of the working woman’s best friends – a fantastic attache or work bag. It should be neutral to go with all of your outfits and large enough to fit your work essentials.

As a busy mom who also brings home the bacon, it’s easy to forget to take care of yourself. Your skin will show your exhaustion – take a few minutes to lavish it with some simple TLC.

Love perfume? Not everyone does. You sometimes spend more time with coworkers than you do with family. Don’t overwhelm them with a super strong scent.

Do you have a surefire strategy for showing your best side at the office? We want to hear it! Leave a reply and start a conversation!

You started your blog because you’re passionate about what you do—whether it’s being a mom, an accountant, a gardener or a social media marketing whiz.

But let’s face it. You also want to get more blog traffic. You want to develop a following. And maybe you’d even like to make some money on the side through affiliate partners.

You want to find like-minded people who like what you have to say. You know they’re out there. How do you get them to your website?

Fortunately, there are some great ways to get more blog traffic on a budget. Let’s explore how.

1) Get a Real Domain Name

When you started your blog, you may have just been testing the waters. But now you’re ready to give it a go for real.

If you’ve still got Wix, Weebly or BlogSpot on your domain name, it’s time for an upgrade. If you’re serious about becoming a professional blogger, you need a real domain name.

Your website name is a major part of your personal brand. If you’re hanging on to a free domain name to save money, you’re costing yourself more.

People won’t take you or your website seriously.

Even if it’s not true, it looks like you’re just one of the many weekend bloggers who half-heartedly throws a blog together. If it looks like you don’t care, they won’t care either.

You could get more blog traffic just by showing that you’re committed to your fans, your blog, and your topics.

Choose a platform that’s fast and mobile-friendly. Get your blog set up. And then find a domain name that exemplifies what you do.

2) Welcome Visitors with a Great Experience

A great visitor experience will help you get more blog traffic because people will come back and share with friends.

As a bonus, providing the right experience helps improve your visibility in searches. When your site is optimized for people, you’re on your way to being optimized for search engines as well.

Site Speed

Do everything you can to make your blog as fast as possible. Nearly1/2 of people expect your blog to load in 2 seconds. After 3 seconds, most people will go somewhere else. If it takes over 5 seconds, you won’t get much traffic at all.

Free speed testers like WebPageTest.org will help you understand if you’re on the right track. Google also has a speed test but it’s not compatible with Ajax-based sites like Wix.

If your site is slow, you can do some things by yourself to speed it up.

1. Reduce the sizes of your images.
2. Don’t overdo videos
3. Don’t overdo embedding
4. Check your site each time you add something new

If you want to learn to do more, take free coding classes at W3Schools or pay to get a class certificate.

But check with your web host first. Some sites that run on templates give you limited access to the code.

Navigation

You might be amazed by the clever navigation options made available to you. But to provide the right experience, keep navigation simple and intuitive. If your visitors have trouble knowing what to click when they visit, they won’t come back.

And they won’t tell their friends.

That’s less traffic for you.

Use vibrant images and great writing to wow your visitors. But keep navigation simple.

Mobile-Friendly

Test the mobile-friendliness of your site. Over 1/2 of traffic is on mobile devices. Your blog should look amazing on it.

Some quick tips for mobile-friendliness include:

1. Making sure your web host adjusts the page for mobile (or you do)
2. Using large, easy-to-read fonts
3. Keeping paragraphs short
4. Eliminating distracting elements on mobile
5. Checking how your site appears on mobile

3) Think Outside the Blog

You can’t get more traffic because people can’t find you.But as long as people can’t find you, you remain hidden at the bottom of the barrel on search engines like Google.

A vicious cycle plagues your site.

Reach out to other bloggers with similar blogs. Be on the lookout for opportunities to guest post on the other site. Agree to write them an amazing post in exchange for a link, bio, and pic.

Many sites these days use Gravatar. You can upload your pic and information. Then when you guest post, your Gravatar follows you from site to site.

What you’re doing is leveraging someone else’s traffic to gain a following. Through this, you can earn your own traffic and build a stronger personal brand.

Ever heard of the Oprah-Effect? It’s like that but on a smaller scale.

4) Get Social on Social

Get more blog traffic by sharing with others on social media.

You’re probably already active on social media. But social media for a blog can be very different.

You may want to start a dedicated account for the blog or use your own. Share inspirations and other blogger’s posts. In addition, entice people back to your website to check out your latest blogs.

Show that you’re part of a community in your niche. And through it, build a following of people who will visit and love your website.

Use free automation tools like HootSuite to schedule posts for maximum impact. They also have great tools to help you curate posts to share on your account.

Be personal and approachable in your posts—not overly promotional—to earn a following.

5) Be Consistent & Stick with It

It can take a little time to build up your blog. For a while, the people may come in at a trickle. It can be discouraging.

But fake it ’til you make it. As you continue to drive more people to your site, your visibility in search engines and on social media will rise.

You’ll be able to do less promotion and more working on your blog. You can even monetize your blog with affiliate ads if you want. But don’t overdo it and lose your loyal fans.

Set a schedule for your posts. Your goal should be 1-4 amazing articles a week. Some of the most successful bloggers post 15-20 pieces of content a month.

But never sacrifice quality for quantity.That could hurt your blogger brand. Keep fresh ideas flowing in by spending time on other blogs, social and forum sites to see what people are talking about.

Start a topic log where you jot topics every time one comes to mind. This way, you never run out of ideas when it’s time to write.

If you have trouble keeping up, hire a content writer to help manage your blog. If you’re monetizing your traffic with affiliate marketing, they’ll easily pay for themselves.

Get More Blog Traffic Now

With these tips and consistent effort, you can quickly begin to get more blog traffic. Get serious with a real domain name. Be active on social. And create the right “customer experience”.

When you do, people will want to come back and tell their friends.

For more thrifty momma tips on everything from DIY to running a business, check out our blog.

Who wants to live the rest of their life making someone else rich? The only way out of this conundrum is to go into business for yourself.

And what better way to do so than by starting a home cleaning business? If you have experience as a housekeeper, maid or are really great at cleaning your own home, then this could be for you.

What’s great about this industry is that it’s very lucrative. After all, people will always need their homes cleaned and most lack the time to do it themselves. Plus, landlords require your services when tenants move out.

So there’s definitely a market for it.

Back in 2010, there were over 824,000 cleaning workers. The 50 largest cleaning companies made up about 30% of the revenue. Yet only 7% of cleaning workers were self-employed. So that means less competition for you in the small business sector.

Now, let’s review what you have to do to jump-start your home cleaning business.

Do Your Own Assessment of the Industry

There are many factors that play a part in determining whether starting a cleaning business is a good idea. For instance, the area you live in and your own skill set.

What makes this an attractive option is the low overhead required to start a home cleaning business. All that matters is that you and your employees work hard to maintain a happy customer base.

You’ll need to be in good physical condition, which means having the ability to stand, kneel, reach and bend repetitively. However, if you’re not fit, this doesn’t exclude you from being a business owner.

In this case, you can open up shop and then supervise employees who can handle the cleaning tasks.

What Office Skills Do You Have?

The more office skills you have, the fewer employees you’ll need to hire. For instance, you’ll need to know how to answer phones, schedule appointments, file paperwork and do your bookkeeping.

Then when tax season comes around, you’ll have to file accordingly. It’s also important to be very detailed, so you know exactly what your customers need to provide satisfactory cleaning.

Write Up a Business Plan for Your Home Cleaning Business

Once you’ve assessed the industry and your ability to run a cleaning business, it’s time to start planning. And the best way to do this is with a business plan.

This is mainly for your own use unless you need a loan to get equipment and vehicles to operate your company.

In your plan, go over details about the type of cleaning services you’ll offer, what demographics and locations you’ll target and whether you’ll have a niche. For instance, you can offer a “green” cleaning service for eco-friendly customers.

Next, go over your pricing plans – will you charge by the hour or per sq ft? Research what your competitors are charging and how, so you can gain a competitive edge.

Now, you don’t have to lower your rates to compete. You can offer greater quality or a different range of services to attract customers.

Set Up Your Accounting System

This has to be set up well before you begin operating. It’s important to keep track of all invoices, expenses, sales tax, payroll, and income.

Keep your business finances separate from your personal expenses. This will only muddle things when it comes time to file taxes for your company.

You can use an online software, such as Quickbooks to make things easier. Or you can work with an accountant. Either way, it’s good to keep track of your finances in the physical, so keep a record book on hand.

Apply for Insurance and Bonding

Customers like to work with businesses that are licensed, bonded, and insured. If you advertise this in your promotions, then it’ll help build trust.

There are different types of coverage you can seek. For instance, you’ll need liability insurance (depending on where you live). Options include yearly or quarterly payments, and bonds are readily available at local insurance companies.

Make sure to renew your bond annually. Do note that each employee you hire will hike up your insurance rates. So make sure you’re hiring people who are trustworthy and careful.

It’s also important to know that you can only cover employees under your insurance, not sub-contractors. However, you can check your policy to make sure.

Purchase the Supplies You Need

The products you purchase for your home cleaning business depends on the type of services you offer. For instance, if you boast eco-friendliness, then you need to acquire natural cleaning products.

It’s good to go with brands your customers heard of. This way, they already know and trust the products you have. Otherwise, you’ll have to educate them on why it’s healthy, good and reliable.

Make sure to ask whether the customer has specific cleaning supplies for certain appliances.

Then you’ll have to decide whether you want to use the customer’s vacuum or tote around your own.

Begin Advertising Your Services

Now, it’s time to get the word out about your new home cleaning business. You can easily do this with a mix of online and offline marketing. For instance, you can use social media, pay-per-click ads, fliers and feather flags.

Make sure the business logo, name, numbers, rates, and services are consistent on all your marketing collateral. You can choose to post your rates are only disclose it to prospects who call (to keep competition down).

Get Transportation and Uniforms

Presentation and consistency are everything in business. So you need professional cleaning uniforms and a reliable means of transportation.

You have to determine whether you want employees to use their own vehicles or supply them with one.

Continue Learning About Becoming an Entrepreneur

There’s a lot you can learn when you find the right online resources. At Thrifty Momma Ramblings, you can find tips and advice for running a thrifty business and living frugally.

If you’re looking to start your own home cleaning business, then browse through Thrifty Momma Ramblings blog for more thrifty business tips.

As a small business owner, you may struggle to know how to advertise to your target market.

How do you do it without spending a fortune on radio or TV ads, search engine optimization, or direct mail marketing?

One way to reach a wide audience, then grab and keep their attention, is to catch their eye in a unique and interesting way.

What’s one marketing approach you might not have considered? Vehicle wraps!

Today, we’re breaking down the ins and outs of these wraps and why they just might be the best tools in your advertising arsenal.

Ready to learn more? Let’s go!

What Are Vehicle Wraps, Anyway?

Have you ever spotted a brightly colored car with a company’s logo, name, and contact information splashed across the entire thing?

That’s a vehicle wrap.

And if you’ve seen one, you already understand its power. These mobile advertisements are hard to ignore or forget, which makes them ideal for on-the-go marketing.

Why Are They Superior to Other Types of Marketing?

Price

They’re less expensive than other advertising campaigns, for one thing.

Choosing vehicle wraps is a one-time expense, unlike those radio ads or digital marketing strategies that you have to keep paying for month after month.

Scalability

Vehicle wraps, like those provided by Southern Signs and Designs, are also flexible and can be scaled to fit a variety of business sizes and scopes.

For example, if your small business is selling jewelry in your spare time, you can wrap just one car: your own. Larger companies can outfit a fleet of delivery vehicles in vinyl wraps to build their brand as drivers do their job.

No Distraction

TV commercials and internet pop-up ads interrupt the potential customer. That’s kind of the point, and there’s no denying that it’s an effective strategy.

However, there’s a fine line between the occasional interruption and annoyance. Wraps don’t distract people in the same way. Drivers see your vehicle, make a mental note of your business, and go on about their day.

Attention Grabbing

On a highway or in a parking lot, cars are mainly black, blue, red, or white, or some variation therein. So, a hot-pink or vivid green car will stand out.

When people spot the brightly colored car or truck, they will take a second look, and that’s when they’ll see your company name.

Mobility

Wraps offer a wider reach than many forms of advertising. Not everyone watches TV, listens to commercial radio, or looks at their junk mail.

Yet, nearly everyone either drives or rides at some point, whether taking the bus to work or driving the kids to school. This means that your message will be visible to more potential customers.

Custom Design

Since you will choose the color, graphics, typography and other design elements of vehicle wraps, it’s easy to echo your brand and your other advertising materials for a cohesive marketing message.

Even if passersby aren’t able to read the words on your vehicle, they will take note of the logo or slogan and connect it to ads they’ve seen before.

Do They Cause Damage?

On the contrary, wraps can actually help protect the cars and trucks they’re applied to.

Made of PVC polymer, most wraps help safeguard vehicles from being dinged, scratched, scraped, or otherwise damaged from road debris and other cars. When it’s time to remove or change the design, that’s an easy job too.

Ways to Save That Pay

Whether you’re interested in saving money for your household or growing your company’s bottom line, we’ll show you how to do it on a dime.

Our easy-to-implement tips help thrifty businesses like yours stand out in a competitive marketplace without draining your budget.

Check back often for more advice on how to live frugally and make the most of every dollar you spend!