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   After reading this news article over at MSNBC, I was a little saddened.

Vaccine failure deepens Alzheimer’s mystery

Experimental shot stopped plaque, but not dementia, researchers say

 I don’t suppose there is any hope of relief for the thousands of caregiving moms and families out there anytime soon.

   You know, many of us are in what is being called the “sandwich generation”, where we are struggling to care for our small children and forced to help or care for our aging parents as well. Add to that the craziness of owning, operating, and running your own business and you could really have the makings of a mess or at least a really good way to lose your mind.

   It’s pretty amazing that we are able to do all of that and in many cases without any help or support. So tonight as I write this, I tip my hat to all of you ladies out there who need and deserve a break. I know that many of you continue on day after day caring for many loved ones in your life, including your children, husbands, parents, and in-laws. Perhaps in there somewhere you even manage to check-in on an aging neighbor or friend.

   Don’t forget, during a quiet in the storm, to savor a silent moment or two and to pat yourself on the back heavily for the underpaid, underappreciated job that you do. Isn’t it amazing how we are expected to do all that we do, and never have a bad day?

   Take a good, long, hot bath girl. As a matter of fact, go and get a good massage too (especially if you’ve never had one). You totally deserve it.

   Over the years, I’ve seen an awful lot of really small businesses come and go. Most of the time it seems to be because they simply just didn’t know any better. I don’t want that to happen to you!

   We are going to try to avoid huge debt, not being able to pay the bills, no / slow sales.

   There are some things that you simply have to do to stay in business and have it be profitable and continue to grow. If your business is sagging, lacking profits or not growing, then listen up!

1. Get a good accountant. No H&R block does not count! Come on folks. Did you know that most of those people in there only took a 2 week course to help you file the paperwork for your taxes? Most of them don’t even work all year long doing taxes! They did not learn about how to save you money on your taxes. That is not what they are there for. That is partly your job as a small business owner. You are not an employee anymore! Which brings us to number 2.

    Requirements for a good account? A referral helps. Start asking any business owner that you know who they use for an accountant. Get 3 – 5 names and then call those people and talk to them. What kind of education do they have? Do they have an actual real office location somewhere? What type of clients do they have? Do they have any clients in your industry (manufacturing, daycare, haircare, service industry, consulting, web based businesses, etc..)

I don’t / won’t use:

people who work out of their house (not for an accountant, no way)

anyone who is not a licensed C.P.A. (certified public accountant)

anyone who just “does it on the side” and has a day job doing something else.

2. Learn as much as you can about the IRS tax code. My filing cabinet is organized according to the lines on my tax forms. No, I’m not kidding. Every line that I use (or think that I am going to use soon) has it’s own folder in the drawers. Why? Because at the end of the year, that’s all that matters. If I don’t take a deduction that I rightfully deserve, I have lost money in the form of a tax bill that is higher than it should be. Girl, forget clipping coupons and getting things on sale. This mistake will cost you thousands!

   So, what’s a girl to do? H & R block gives a 2 week tax prep course. Most community colleges offer small business accounting. I know it’s a yawn but it is a necessary evil. It is an important part of a business owners education. You can also check with the SBA for courses. There are many books of small business tax prep but beware that the information becomes dated very quickly.

   The easiest way to do this is to get a copy of every single IRS tax form your accountant is going to file on your behalf. Then sit down with them and have them circle very single deduction you are going to be eligible for and give you a super quick overview as to what that deduction is for and what records are necessary to prove it. You have to know those two things! This whole process should take between 15 and 45 minutes depending on how complicated your business situation is. For most Really Small Business (RSB) owners, it’s about 20 minutes. (If your accountant is lazy and doesn’t want to do this for you, go somewhere else! This is NOT negotiable!)

   Then, take your forms and research those deductions that were circled. The IRS has a free publication for every form that you have to fill out. Those publications are available online for free at www.irs.gov. You can also choose the publications that you want and have them sent to you in the mail from that same website.

3. Read some business books. Oh yeah, you’re going to have to read some pretty dry stuff, but you know what? You and the profitable future of your business are soooo worth it! Don’t want to read up on any business topics? Then girlfriend, it’s time to get your old job back because this is a part of what great business owners do.

     Some books I like are:

     Purple Cow by Seth Godin

4. Stop having a high tolerance for low pay. Don’t cut too many deals. Stop deeply discounting your product / service. That’s an excuse for either not doing the footwork necessary in building your business up or trying to sell a product / service that needs work / tweaking / ditching!

   Nobody sells 100% of the people that they approach. It just doesn’t happen. Therefore, you have to have enough eyeballs looking at your product / service to get enough takers. Read some books about sales to help you with all of the nuances necessary here.

   If you can’t get the price that you are asking then you need to ask yourself some serious questions.

What kind of client am I trying to sell this product to?

Can they afford the prices I am charging?

If not, who could afford the prices that I want to charge?

Would this product be appealing to them as is?

What would I need to do in order to make it appealing to them?

5. Get some sales training. Read sales books. Read online websites about sales. Read, read, read. Take a sales course either online or locally from a community college.

6. Ditto for marketing / advertising. You have to learn how to design an ad (if you are going to use print advertising) that will pull inquiries about your product or service. If it doesn’t pull, you won’t sell anything! You have to learn how to track your advertising and make sure that where you are spending your dollars is actually bringing in customers.

The number one mistake of small business advertising is this: if it doesn’t bring in customers, then don’t use it!

   If you know that your ad looks good and says the right things about your business, and you know that the paper / magazine is definitely serving your target market, and you know that the ad isn’t too small, then it should be pulling for you – period. Don’t let the ad guys tell you anything else! Remember, they are on commission!

   The goal is to spend as little as possible and pull in as many sales as possible. Here’s a little true story for you. I had a friend that opened a small business. Within 6 months, she had contacted a TV station for some advertising because some non-business owning “friends” thought it would be cool / a good idea. (”All business advertise on TV, right?”) A slick sales rep sold her $30,000 worth of TV advertising on a channel that her target market didn’t even watch! Her friends watched it and saw the ads but they didn’t bring in but a tiny handful (less than 10) new clients! OUCH! It utterly breaks my heart. Where do you think her business is today? They went out of business 2 years ago!

   This brings us to rule number 7.

7. Don’t take advice from people that don’t own a profitable business! Ask yourself these questions about someone you are getting advice from. Do they own a small business? How long have they been in business? What kinds of things do they say about their business? (Business has been slowing, we don’t sell as much as we used to, I need to retire, I need to get rid of this place, my employees get on my nerves, etc., etc..) or is it this (Wow, we’ve been swamped! That last ad is really bringing in the clients! Our new products are doing really well.) A lot of business owners will “fake it till you make it” when it comes to their customers but not usually with other business owners. When they sit down to talk shop, they are usually pretty honest about what is really going on.

8. Don’t buy things in the beginning that won’t actually effect your sales. (Like $30,000 worth of TV advertising!) Stay away from $5000 conference tables, expensive assistants, and the like. Don’t buy an expensive item when a more affordable item will get the job done.

   I knew a woman once that wouldn’t put a fence up for her home daycare because she wanted to wait and get the really nice white vinyl fencing (but she couldn’t afford it at the time). Now, take in mind that she neededthat fence to get a 4 star rating (the best rating) in this local area (outdoor areas had to be fenced in). That would have more than filled her daycare as soon as the rating had been acheived and published/promoted locally! The fence would have been $2500 – $3500. Needless to say, she went out of business before the fence could be purchased. What a shame.

   Much better to put in the cheaper fencing, get the 4 star rating, fill the daycare to capacity, then work on rasing the whole level of the daycare, then raise rates 1 year or so later, then save to buy the super nice fence with all of the profits your making!

   This brings us to rule number 9.

9. Don’t bleed your business dry. You can not take out 80 – 90% of the money that the business makes every month and expect for the business to grow. There will be no money for expanding or upgrading your business as you go along, and there’s a lot of upgrading in the first 3 years or so.

   In the beginning, I didn’t take a dime of the profits for about 6 -8 months (I lived off of my savings and cut way back on everything.). Then I moved on to only taking small amounts every month ($200- $400 per month) for about another 6 months. Now, I have myself on what I call a draw / salary. I write myself the same check every month and re-evaluate my salary about once per year.

   Your Really Small Business (RSB) also needs to have it’s very own savings account. No, I’m not kidding. Think about it. This business entity is going to need to stand on it’s own two feet some day. What is going to happen in the slow months? Where is the money going to come from? Your own personal wallet, that’s where. Debt, credit cards, loans, etc.. Bad move. That alone puts many people out of business.

10. Figure out what is missing in your industry and in the local businesses that are in the same field. When you look over their website and marketing materials (you have done that right?), what do you see that is missing? What would make it an ideal purchase for you as a customer? Better hours, friendlier people, more amenities, etc., etc., etc..? What would you find amazingly useful / helpful if you were a customer for this same product? Remember, price is not truly a factor in most cases. Fill in the gaps with your own business and then tell the world about it (or at least your own town)!

11. If you are in a storefront or brick and mortar industry, you will have to clean up / replace items at least every 3 years. Your business will need a total makeover every 5 – 7 years. Image is everything. Customers don’t want to see dingy or fingerprinted walls, dirty bathrooms (take note of that one auto repair places!), or see nasty uniforms on your employees. Get it clean, keep it keep, and freshen up often. Update your colors. Change out some furniture. Change your signage. Deep clean everything. Get a makeover yourself to coincide at the same time as all of the rest of this. I recently did a total interior re-vamp, and business is booming.

   Make sure that you notify your past customers somehow when you do a total makeover like this. (”Come see our fresh new look! postcards or on your website would be helpful.)

   Note: If you are doing alot of retail sales, you need to be updating those displays at least monthly. Move things around. Change up the signage and backgrounds. People stop seeing products that are always displayed in the same old way. Think up something new. Research “product merchandising”, “retail displays”, or “retail merchandising”. Do some window shopping and make notes of the displays and windows that knock your socks off. Then go back to your place and put a twist on your own copy.

   Well, there are the first 11 rules to live by. Print them out, stamp them on your forehead, or put them on your mirror. Every single one of these rules I have either lived through or personally seen broken, with dire consequences to follow. I really feel that these are some of the worst of the worst.

   Feel free to post a comment with your own rule that you feel I’ve left out or some sage wisdom that you’ve learned over the years. We could all use the experience of other people to help us “fail faster” so that we win sooner! Good luck ladies!

Additional Links Of Interest:

Check out this great article 15 Abilities You Must Have To Get Out Of The Rat Race for additional ideas to be successful as a mompreneur.

   Ok folks, I don’t think I’ll be installing solar panels anytime soon. They are just too expensive. So here’s a great list of real things you can do that will actually make an impact on the trail your family leaves behind on the planet and save some green to boot.

   Let’s think in terms of what a family uses alot of.

1. Grocery bags – Get reusable ones. Let the kids carry them into the store.

2. CFL bulbs – I don’t know about you but someone small is always leaving a light on at my house. Big culprits? Closets, bathrooms, garage, laundry room.

3. Buy biodegradable trash bags – Hopefully at least the bag will degrade so that what I put in it can break down too.

4. Recycle – Free, easy, and definitely makes an impact.

5. Laundry detergent- I do way more laundry now that I have two little ones. Get yourself something eco friendly. Your local water supply will thank you.

6. Dishwasher gel / powder – Ditto from number 5.

7. Compost- I cook more often and in particular, I fix alot more fresh stuff. Stop putting the peelings in the trash. Get a small bucket to collect your food scraps in. Let one of your kids haul it outside and put it in the compost  pile.

8. Commit to a “no-waste” lunchbox. 5 lunches per week X (Number of children living at your house) X (Number of weeks per year your children are off to daycare/preschool/school X (Number of bags used per lunch, usually 1 or 2) = OUCH! This one really adds up. Put the chips in a resealable plastic container. Get a reusable drink container for juice / water, etc..

9. Stop buying “snack packs” to pack for lunches or to give kids after school.Who are we kidding? It’s alot of waste for 30 seconds of convenience. Buy a bigger size and scale it down yourself in a reusable container. You’ll save alot of money here too.

10. Low-flow Toilets- With potty training and more people in general using our potty now, we flush way more than before. Especially when you consider that a potty training child (or even one way younger than that) is totally mesmerized by the swirl created by a toilet flush! Replace old toilets with low-flow toilets that use less gallons of water per flush.

11. Low-flow shower heads – If you have teenagers, get low flow shower heads too!

12. Low-flow faucet aerators – This is the little screen on your faucet. It adds air into the water by blocking some of the open space where water comes out. Great for families where they just won’t turn off the water while brushing teeth / shaving / washing hands.

13. Give your cast-offs to charity or Goodwill. – Consumerism is alive and well in America. Most American families probably have more than entire villages of people in developing countries. And let’s not forget how quickly kids grow out of their clothes and toys! Don’t throw the leftovers in the trash. Find a home for it. Many charities will even pick-up your items at your house, if you call them.

14. Recycle the odd-ball stuff.Yes, the main contribution here is time. Recycle your old cell phones, computers, leftover paint, old computers, printer cartridges, helium tanks from birthday parties, cordless phone batteries, CFL bulbs (they have some mercury in them), etc., etc., etc.. Even Crocs (yes, the shoes) can be recycled now.

15. Choose your plates carefully. Use real plates at home whenever possible. A plain paper towel works great to hold a sandwich instead of a paper plate. A paper plate is more biodegradable than a plastic one. A real cup or paper one is more biodegradable than a plastic one.

16. Get a filtering water pitcher for the fridge instead of buying plastic water bottles. You could also use a water delivery service, if you just have to have bottled water taste.

17. Use your local farmer’s market more often.Here in Charlotte, NC we have several farmer’s markets that are open during the week, not just on the weekends. Find out what markets there are in your town where you can buy local. This saves the gas from growing point to final destination, which can easily be from Chile or Brazil or even Thailand! Let’s face it – kids eat alot and often, so that’s a lot of gas saved in a year.

What do you use alot of at your house? Leave a comment to this blog post and let me know.

   There is enough paper clutter coming through our house in one week to choke a horse. Somehow, I just don’t remember my mom having to deal with all of the paper daily the way that I now seem to have to do. For one thing, the extraordinary amount of junkmail is just overwhelming these days. Buy this, buy that, buy me, buy me! I’m really sick of it. So, I’ve been taking a really strong stand over the past 6 months or so.

Sort The Mail Outside – Near The Trash Can

   In the afternoons, no matter whether I’m coming in from work, returning from picking the kids up, or just hanging out at home, I go to the mailbox and get the mail (just like the rest of you . But now, I sort my mail next to the trashcan. I make an instantkeep or toss decision, on the spot. It nevers hits a flat surface in my house, if I can help it. Grocery store weekly circular – keep. Junk mail – toss. All catalogs – toss. No peeking in them either. That will only prolong the process of mail sorting / tossing. (I don’t need another single item nor any more debt! Period!) Magazines – keep or toss (depending on if I know that I am going to have the time to read it or can give it away to someone within the week). Bills – keep but I open them outside, ditch all interior “junk” and throwaway the envelope.

   This exercise has been tough but very liberating.

I am getting over:

1.   the need to read absolutely every word of every piece of mail that hits my mailbox. I just don’t have time for that any more. I’d rather spend that time talking to my kids about their day or starting dinner.

2.   the yearning to look through all of the catalogs and drool. It’s a terrible waste of human energy and time, not to mention a financially ruinous habit, if you were to actually follow through with purchasing something. Nope, catalogs just give people a case of the “I wanna’s”. No thanks.

3.   the mentality that “I am going to have time to sit down and look through all of this later”. Know what? I am not going to have time to look through any of this later, so quit kidding yourself and ditch it now. Release yourself from the obligation. Just say no. It has really done absolute wonders for my life.

Start A Project / To Process Binder

Step by Step Instructions For Doing What I Do

   At any given time, I have 5 – 20 to-do’s. A to-do list really isn’t doing the job for me any more. Nowadays it seems like many of my to-do’s have a piece of paper attatched to them. Fill this out, return this, send this to so-and-so, take this to the docter then return it to us, blah, blah, blah. On top of the typical mom stuff, I still have all of my business to-do’s to do! Sign this contract, email this person, call this vendor. Recently, I have started a project management binder on steroids.

   First off, I sprang for a super thick, durable plastic binder with a funky color and modern design. I figured that if I like looking at it, perhaps I will actually open it and use it. Seems to be working so far.

   Inside the front cover, I have taped a piece of paper with my financial goals, predominantly related to this year. $1000 in savings, 6 months worth of living expenses, credit card debt amount and the corresponding interest rate (and also expiration date of that rate), amount per month for college fund (and date it auto withdraws), ditto for my retirement account. This little piece of paper keeps my from writing this info down again and again, just to get it out of my head.

   The first page is a master to-do list with every single to-do for me, the kids, and the house. I am currently switching some of that over to a little project block sheet that I have created. I will try to get it cleaned up a little so that I can upload it for you all to use. It has every project grouped together with tasks that are similar in goal. Yard, downstairs bathroom, self, child #1, child #2, etc..

   The very last page in the binder is a similar master project list except that it is only business related. I put it as the last page of the binder in the interest of time. There is no fumbling to look something up. It’s just open and bam, there’s your list.

   Between these two pages are heavy duty, clear pocket pages, about 20 of them. Inside each of these are located all of the slips of paper that need to be processed, handled then mailed, pictures to send Grandpa, birthday card to be mailed, slips of paper with phone numbers that need to be written down somewhere else, etc.. Similar tasks are grouped in the same pocket. As each task is completed the pocket is then emptied and freed up for the next task. Leftovers from those tasks head to the trash or the filing cabinet for long term storage as needed.

   Towards the back of the binder, there are two pockets that I am putting new recipes in to try. Pocket #1 has only the recipes that I might actually fit in this week. Pocket #2 has recipes for within the next 30 days. My guess is that if I didn’t get around to it in 30 days or so, then that new recipe probably needs to go right in the trash. It just wasn’t compelling enough to actually make it.

   I’m still getting in the habit of putting all pieces of paper in the binder but it’s been so handy that after the first few days, it really hasn’t been a problem. Every single piece of paper that I need to do something with now has a home. Not on a desk somewhere or hidden in a pile (where I won’t have time to look for it), but thoughtfully added to it’s own little container within the book.

   I hated cleaning my room as a kid but I’m loving this. No more paper piles. I feel utterly liberated! ::cleansing sigh::

Get And Use A Filing Cabinet

   After I got married, I bought a small two drawer filing cabinet. When I started my own business, I dedicated one of those drawers to the business. Huge mistake. In hindsight, it needed at least two drawers, hence this is how paper piles got started at my house. After the kids were born, I broke down and bought a huge, 4 drawer filing cabinet, extra deep. It’s been the best investment I could have ever made. Let’s call it a sanity saving investment. Now, the business has two drawers, personal has one drawer (current tax year), and long-term personal storage has one drawer.

   I misused and under used my filing cabinet for years. Do you have one that you aren’t using? Then it’s not set up right. (It literally took me years to figure that out!) It needs the file folders in it that you actually need to have. At the end of the year (or at least once per year), you’ll go back through every single folder. Empty ones either get their content matter absorbed into a different file folder or loose a place altogether in the cabinet.

   At a later date, I’ll do a blog entry with my filing cabinet master plan. Until then, enjoy all of these ideas. They’ve really freed up literally hours of my week!