She Owns It

Celebrating, Connecting, and Supporting Women Entrepreneurs

Cooking for Cash by Holly Hurd of @VentureMom

by Leave a Comment

by Holly Hurd

Do your kids love your enchilada suizas? Are your friends begging you for your low cal lasagna recipe? Are your spiced pecans a hit every holiday season? You may think friends can cook like you or even love to cook. But that’s not the case. I can hardly boil water, and I would love for someone to cook for my family. And I’d pay them for it.

So many women love to cook and are getting paid to do it. Take Megan Ruppenstein for example, she began cooking great meals for her family and sharing her ideas with friends on the soccer sidelines watching her boys’ games. But when her friends said, “Would you just make extra for me?” she had an idea for starting a food business. With four boys to feed, she named her company Four Forks. Megan began by sending an email out to her friends a couple of nights a week, sharing what she was making and asking for orders. Customers would pick up their dinners at her home.

But her business grew, and she needed a bigger kitchen. Now she has a commercial kitchen and store front and offers prepared meals four to five days a week. The ordering process is completely automated and she’s rockin.

Another mom began making granola for her family around a recipe she developed herself. She shared her bags of handmade granola as gifts, and the fantastic feedback made her realize starting a food business with her granola could be successful. Naming her granola, By Hand, and using a hand drawn hand as her logo she was in business. Her son came on board and began selling the bags of handmade, By Hand granola to hotels creating a profitable business.

Cooking Sauce. Imagine your family’s marinara sauce in the local super market. That’s what happened when Stefanie Bhalla had an idea for starting a food business, “Launching the sauce business that we had talked about felt right to me. I could give part of the proceeds to leukemia research to honor my brother, and my own venture would give me ownership of my time.”

First step: Stefanie knew of a food incubator program at Cornell. She reached out to them to gain an understanding of the process of going from the stovetop to the shelves. “I worked with my Dad in a commercial kitchen to formulate a shelf-stable recipe for our sauce.” Due Cellucci specialty sauces was born.

Stefanie sent an email to everyone she knew—friends and family, business associates and her family’s restaurant patrons—and the orders started coming in. With an office at home, Stefanie ran the distribution center out of her dining room. Word of mouth fueled the growth of the sauce business. “When I got my first order from someone I didn’t know, I felt great. You offer this product with no idea if anyone will like it and ultimately buy it.”

What’s your specialty? Take your gift for cooking and use it to make money. Who knows, you could be the next Martha Stewart. She began by cooking for others.

Check out more Venture Mom stories at VentureMom.com.

———————————————————–

Holly Hurd is the founder of VentureMom.com, a web site devoted to profiling women who have their own businesses. Holly has interviewed hundreds of women with their own ventures, making her uniquely qualified to speak on entrepreneurship for the small start up. Her web site shows women how other women have created businesses out of thin air so they can do the same. The VentureMom Marketplace curates and sells the luxury goods these women offer
When she was only twenty-five, she was featured in Futures Magazine, USA Today and in Fortune’s “People to Watch” column for her exceptional work managing her own fund on Wall Street. She has put her life experiences to excellent use by creating VentureMom.com to provide women economic freedom.

How to Start a Home Based Business Right by Monika Beck of @SuccessHarbor

by Leave a Comment

by Monika Beck | Featured Contributor 

home-business-102015

Does it make any difference how you start a home based business?

Starting a business out of your home means becoming your own boss. But it also means you’re in charge of IT, finances, marketing, and, well, everything. The quickest way to burn yourself out is to try to do everything without help.

The best way to start a business is to use the right tools from the beginning.

Check out the tips below to learn how to start a home based business, the right way.


Finances and documents

You might have no problems tracking your cash flow, but what about when you need to produce a financial report? A CPA can help you produce invoices and reports. If you are a hands on kind of person take a look at at Freshbooks. Not only that you can use it for reports, but it is a great tool for invoicing clients and writing estimates.

Document management

With so much business online, you’ll need a good way to store your documents. I like and use Google Docs and Dropbox every day. Both of them have free options to start with. I recommend using your smartphone to scan documents for cloud storage. I use an app called TurboScan, but there are many others out there to choose from. It is just so much simpler that way.

Processing payments

These days, people expect to be able to pay with credit cards, so make sure you are setup to accept them. If you sell things online, you can also arrange for direct payments through a merchant services provider.

When you start out PayPal offers a simple way to get started with taking credit cards. I also hear good things about Stripe. I have used Authorize.net for years. Regardless of which merchant service you select check out how much they charge per transaction and what percentage of the transaction they take. Find out if there are any hidden fees before you sign on the dotted line.

Web design and marketing

Your website is often the first impression you make on your prospects. You don’t have to be a tech wizard to create a website. I recommend you use the WordPress platform. There are many templates and plugins to help you setup your website the right way.

If you need more than what a template can offer, or if you’re going to sell things through the web, then consider hiring a web designer. Be sure also to leave room in your budget for online marketing, including search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click ads and email marketing.

I recommend Mailchimp for email marketing since they have a great free option. Build your email subscriber list from day one. Email marketing is still one of the most effective forms of marketing.

Shipping orders

Unless you have lots of garage space, you might not have room to store your customers’ orders. Fortunately, fulfillment services can also be outsourced. Fulfillment companies can even arrange to have products shipped directly from your suppliers to your customers.

Phone

Realistically, most of us no longer have a landline. Your cell phone will most likely do the job. The only drawback is your inability to accept fax messages on your cell phone. I use a service called MaxEmail to receive fax through the internet. There are other options out there too, just check the best fit for your business.

How much office do you need?

Depending on your business, you might need a dedicated room in the house, or you might be to able to run everything from your dining room table. But, if you want to create a more professional image, you could rent office space by the hour. Executive offices offer an inexpensive way to create a high end image for your business without renting a permanent office space.

The best approach to starting a business is to find the most optimal way to do things. Use the right tools and get help from the right places. Doing so will help you succeed faster without burning yourself out in the process.

Shop around for the best providers of the services above. And don’t forget that you’re not alone. There are lots of great resources to help you succeed.

photo credit: Hemingford Abbotts 28th June 103

————————————————————–

Savvy web designer with a twist – Monika Beck with Webene – San Diego, CA.

Monika-Beck-AuthorMonika Beck is passionate about website design, web programming, ecommerce, and building businesses. She is a serial entrepreneur and the cofounder of Success Harbor a website dedicated to help entrepreneurs succeed. Success Harbor interviews successful entrepreneurs and publishes topics relevant to business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs. Monika started Success Harbor with her cofounder in order to ease the life of entrepreneurs through original research, tips and unique content. Monika is also cofounder of Webene, a website design and online marketing firm based in San Diego, CA. Webene specializes in mobile-friendly responsive websites built on the WordPress platform. Monika loves playing classical music on the piano.

How to Find Your True Business Passion

by Leave a Comment

It seems every single book you read on business has one primary word of advice: do what you love. Passion, then, is very important for business success. It makes sense. If you love what you do and are willing to devote yourself to it, then you’ll have fun and success will follow.

However, it can be difficult to determine your true passion. There are probably many things you enjoy doing. Some of them might make great business ideas too. However, are they a true business passion? Here are a few considerations to make and steps to take.

Look to Your Past

Yes, you’ve changed and grown over the years. However, often the hobbies or activities that really stirred your soul when you were younger are still there. Your passions haven’t changed. Look back to your childhood, your teenage years and even college.

What did you love to do? What classes did you take just because you were interested? What books did you read? What were you hungry to learn more about? Write down any ideas that come to you. If you’re unsure, call a parent or a sibling and ask them.

Do You Have a Bucket List?

Your bucket list is that list of activities you want to do before you kick the bucket – before you die. Most people put their hopes, desire and passions on their bucket list. It’ll be full of things they’ve always wanted to do. For example, go skydiving. It’ll also be full of those dreams that never quite became goals. For example, write a novel.

If you look closely at your bucket list you’ll find there are hidden passions. Uncover those hidden passions. Examine them more closely. Is there a business idea that’s worthy of more research? For example, maybe you always wanted to visit the wine growing in Italy. That might be a great idea for a theme-based website or a money-making blog.

What Are You Doing Right Now?

Finally, take a look at the activities you engage in right now. What brings you joy and passion? What do you love to talk to other people about? Make a list of those activities and interests. For example, if you love college basketball and look forward to March Madness every year, perhaps there’s potential for an information marketing business. You might write a book on how to win the office March Madness pool every year.

Finding your true business passion isn’t as difficult as it may seem. Set aside time each day for a few weeks. Look to your past. Explore your present. Analyze your future. Chances are you already have some very profitable passions just waiting to be uncovered.