News - Mums on the Go child friendly businesses, family friendly restaurants and cafes

How Well is Your Business Doing?

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -1100

Lets look at how well your Business sells its stuff. What I mean by that is… have you been able to make a go of your Business? Is your business making a profit? How does your Business make money?

A learned Broker colleague once said to me:
“What a buyer buys is profit, the reason they buy it is for the potential”.

If you’re not able to demonstrate how you have made a go of your Business, how it is turning over revenue, paying all its bills and leaving profit for you as the owner to do with what you will… then how can you expect a prospective buyer to believe that it’s possible and be able to weight its value.

Granted, there is always the acquisition of a business from a strategic point of view (ie buy it for its client list only for example), but that really does depend on a particular type of buyer, and they’re not likely to reveal that to you, the seller, are they?

Having a business as an asset implies certain criteria is being taken care of, that it has:
o   a database of clients/customers
o   systems in place, and ideally automated
o   brand presence
o   looked after its IP
o   growth potential
o   management, so it’s not reliant solely on the owner
o   numbers that make sense, and have been reported
o   measurable ways of indicating how all of the above makes profit!
o   assuming all goes ahead, options on how to make the sale happen

If any of the above cannot be qualified, then it raises the question of whether this business is actually an asset, ready for sale.

The answer may very well be no.

However, that’s not to say that parts of the whole cannot be sold and some payback realised. It may mean though that the vision of grandeur dreamed about come sale day will not eventuate after all…

Start with the end in mind TODAY, regardless of how old your business is, and slowly but surely think through how well you can demonstrate and illustrate what your Business does, what you can do to improve it, restructure it, have it show the profit that all Buyers are looking to score!

Denise Hall
the entrepreneurial mother® specialising in EXIT Execution Excellence!

Feeling confident breastfeeding in a café environment

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -1100

Society has a love hate relationship with the concept of breastfeeding. There are those who believe that it’s a beautiful thing and should be done whenever your bub is hungry, no matter where you are. Then there are those who think that it should be done in private, away from view.

No matter what you believe, feeding your baby in a cafe can be a little uncomfortable. You just don’t know what people are likely to say or do. These tips will help you to feel confident when you need to feed your baby in a café.

1. The best thing you can learn to do is to feed your child without drawing attention to what you are doing. It will avoid embarrassing the ‘sensitive’ others around you but more importantly, will give you peace so that baby can feed and you can enjoy your special time.

2. Feed baby when he or she starts to show signs of hunger. The longer they wait, the louder their demands will become and then you’ve got no hope of feeding discreetly.

3. I like to choose a seat in a quiet corner of the café, if possible. It helps bubs to settle to a feed but I can still see what is happening around me.

4. Make sure you think about what you will wear before you leave home. I don’t know anyone who is confident enough to take her top off in public! Nursing tops are stylish enough to go anywhere and have the advantage of giving baby easy access to your breast.

5. Take a breastfeeding cover with you. These give you total privacy, minimise distractions for your baby and still allow you to watch your child feed.

6. If you are feeding an older child, be prepared for little arms to wave and a little head to lift and look around, leaving you revealed in all your glory. Luckily, you will be used to feeding together by this stage. If you can lean back so that bubs is cradled in front of you, our baby’s body will help to keep you covered from view and give you time to find some cover.

7. If you can choose a café in which you feel quite at home, you will be more comfortable when feeding and that will put bubs at ease, too.

8. Finally, remember that for every disapproving glance there will be many more which are supportive. You are probably surrounded by mothers who’ve been in the same situation you are now. Ignore the grumps and look for the smiles.

A little discretion will help you and your child to enjoy the breastfeeding experience without attracting undue attention. You can be confident that you are doing the best thing for your child and that you won’t be disturbed by the people around you.

Janell Fowler is the owner of BabyButton, where she provides a unique range of breast pads and breastfeeding covers that will help provide further comfort while feeding in public. Products made by a Mum for Mums!

5 Great Outdoor Activities for the Whole Family

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -1100

Most parents have a pretty hectic schedule. Between managing a household, seeing to the needs of children, and often, working full time, it can be difficult to muster up the energy to spend some quality time with the family. Most nights it’s just easier to pop something frozen in the microwave and sack out in front of the TV. But surprisingly, a little activity and some fresh air can do you a world of good when you’re feeling beat from a stressful and exhausting day.

So for the parents out there that are feeling tired, overwhelmed, and distant from their spouses and children, here are a few great outdoor activities that could help you to turn things around.

1. A walk in the park. It doesn’t get any easier than rounding up the kids for a walk to the local park. You can shoot for every evening if you want to ensure some daily exercise and a chance to discuss the events of the day with your whole family, or you can make it a weekend outing complete with a picnic lunch.

2. Sports. Everybody is bound to have their preference on which sport is the most fun to play, but when you have a variety of equipment handy you can trade off so that all have a chance to enjoy themselves. So take the soccer ball, the baseball bat and mitts, or the tennis racquets to a nearby park for an afternoon of fun physical activity. Or simply play in your own backyard for fun and fitness.

3. Stargazing. Okay, so not everyone has the time and inclination to get physical. Or perhaps you’ve simply had your fill of exercise elsewhere. Either way, you can still have some fun with the family outside the home by picking up a star finder at your local bookstore to search for constellations. You can even find tutorials online to make easy telescopes from household objects (or order a kit). And you can visit the Sea and Sky website to find a calendar of celestial events (moon phases, meteor showers, etc.) to schedule in.

4. Gardening. Does anything make you feel better than growing your own organic produce and beautiful flowering plants? So why not get your whole family in on the fun? Let kids pick produce and flowers to grow and then help them get the feel of planting, feeding, weeding, and harvesting. Whether you have a large yard or a container garden this is a great way to get outside and do something productive and healthy.

5. Camping. If you have some time off coming up, don’t spend it at home, where you’re sure to find a million chores to fill your time. And resist the urge to blow your budget on a pricy trip out of town. Instead, pull out the camping gear, leave the cell phones at home, and spend a relaxing few days getting back to nature. You can teach the kids to fish, make s’mores over the campfire, and take nature hikes to enjoy the beauty that is all around you.

Evan Fischer is a freelance writer and contributor for Playground Equipment. He is also a part-time student at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California.

Tis the Season to Lose Weight and Detox?

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -1100

The festive season of overindulgence and inactivity has come to an end, and the reality of getting fit and healthy looms yet again, perhaps somewhat with a sense of doom and dread. You’re having trouble doing up some pants or skirts or noticing a few extra kilos on the scales aren’t you? You really want to make a positive difference to getting back to the pre-baby body this year.

Well the weight loss marketing machine is capitalising on your expanded waistline. Countless adverts are appearing everywhere promising rapid results with little or no effort. You want to shift a bit of the muffin top so a quick fix solution sounds as tempting as another Tim Tam.

However, the reality isn’t rocket science. If you want to lose weight all you have to do, is start doing some exercise and eating little less rubbish, high calorie food. It’s common sense and you’ve heard it time and time again, but it seems the message must continually be repeated ‘successful weight loss and better health requires a long term commitment to a healthy lifestyle and not a quick fix solution’.

Make a commitment to start moving more and doing more exercise. Prioritise exercise as you would any other important appointment you wouldn’t dare miss. Clear out the remains of the festive season food from your cupboard and replace it with fresh healthy food. You will eat what’s available so have healthy food at hand. For that you will need to go shopping. Sure it’s a lot harder with kids but it isn’t impossible. It will just take a little bit more conscious effort and scheduling with your partner to free up some free time to exercise.

You know what to do all you have to do is do it. Sure it will be hard at first, but a healthy habit is formed from a bit of effort over a few weeks. You will start to feel better in days, mainly from the commitment to yourself of doing something positive. It’s a great feeling remember? And you don’t have to exercise for an hour. You can get an effective workout from 30 to 40 minutes. Something is always better than nothing.

Try this little trick to inspire yourself. Measure your waistline at its widest point. Do some exercise, measure it again immediately after and I guarantee it will be slightly smaller, yes from one workout! Not because you have lost weight, but because you have engaged relaxed muscles and they have tightened up. Repeat this a few more times and the effect will become permanent!

Along with the weight loss ads also come the ‘detox’ ones too. ‘After all that alcohol and indulgent food hadn’t I better do a one?’ The reality is if you start to eat well and exercise you will be doing a ‘detox’. You will be encouraging your body to get healthier and remove rubbish from your system. Movement causes your body to detox. It aids the digestive system and the lymphatic system which is your body’s natural drainage network. You also just need to start drinking more water and eating lots of fresh foods particularly fruit and vegetables. I bet you haven’t had many of those over the last few months! Just like weight loss, you should make an ongoing commitment to healthy living rather than eating and drinking to excess then hope that a five day detox will sort everything out. It won’t.

The message isn’t revolutionary, it’s simple but it takes a bit of conscious effort but you know what the rewards are worth it. And you will save yourself money by not wasting it on quick fixes that prey on the weak willed. That’s not you is it? No I didn’t think so.

Timo Topp is a tertairy educated Fitness Expert with twenty years experience. He specalises in Mum’s Fitness and pre and postnatal exercise. Timo is also a father of two. His articles appear regularly in the Sunday Telegrpah Body and Soul magazine. For more information visit www.timotopp.com

Where Does Your Business Sell Its Wares?

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -1100

Offline? Online? Or is it a combination?
Do you have a strategy for both? Do you have numbers and statistics for both?
How do they complement each other?

Some businesses lend themselves to being ideal for online commerce. Others are more your traditional bricks and mortar type business. Nearly all try and cover both schools of operation. Whilst there are no right and wrong answers with this, there are definitely right and wrong questions being asked…

For example, for those with a website: “How does my Business website get more traffic?” is not the right question to ask. “What type of customer am I looking for and therefore where do they hang out?” definitely is.

If the purchasers of your products and services are to be found in a particular spot, then your Business needs to be there, no doubt. But just because one type of strategy works for one business does not mean it will work for all. When looking to Exit, what you want is to demonstrate what path you have taken, why you have taken the path you have, and the results of doing so.

If yours in an online business for example, then you want to provide the following information:
o   Pages views per month
o   Uniques per month
o   Gross revenue per month
o   Net profit per month
o   Google page ranking
o   Alexa ranking
If you operate off-line, where is your Business located? Why there? Is it about foot traffic? How successfully does it work? etc

For both strategies…how do your customers find your Business? Do you know how many referrals your Business gets? Is there a formal referral/loyalty program?

If you can’t provide answers to questions like these right now, don’t be alarmed. Start with the end in mind TODAY, regardless of how old your business is, and slowly but surely think through WHERE your Business trades and why, what results you have to back up your reasoning, and with your opportunistic hat on, where else there could be possibilities...

Next… How?

Denise Hall
the entrepreneurial mother® specialising in EXIT Execution Excellence!

Getting Fit and Healthy is so Much Easier than You Think

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -1100

The festive season of overindulgence and inactivity has come to an end, the reality of getting fit and healthy looms, perhaps somewhat with a sense of doom and dread. But it all seems just too hard doesn’t it? It really doesn’t have to be at all.

Being fit and healthy and getting back into the pre-baby jeans is actually relatively simple. It just takes a little bit of commitment to a few simple strategies that don’t actually take much time or effort, but make a massive difference to how you look and feel.

First and foremost, become more aware of deep breathing. Tiredness is often related to poor breathing habits. Without any air you would die in a matter of minutes so effective breathing must be important for health? If you tired or stressed stop and take 5 deep breathes. You feel better instantly.

Drink more water. Hunger, and again tiredness are often related to dehydration. The great thing about water is it is naturally calorie free and much healthier than those diet soft drinks that are full of chemicals. Imagine how many calories you can shave off your diet by replacing all beverages with water?

These two things are great to use as strategies to invigorate yourself and get through the tiredness and lethargy caused by all that broken sleep getting up to the kids. Healthier than endless cups of coffee and snack food.

Walk more and commit to some moderate exercise. Try to walk more and use the car and technology less. Get the little one into the pram instead of the car seat and walk to the shops instead of driving. When it comes to exercise you don’t have to commit to an hour, 20 to 40 minutes is still effective. Something is always better than nothing .Try to do it in the morning so you start the day with something healthy and positive for you plus it is more time effective as you get it out of the way. There’s always plenty that’s going to come up and prevent you from doing it so making time first thing is often the best way to go.

You don’t have to go on a radical diet you won’t stick too. Start by replace one indulgent, naughty food with a healthier alternative such as more fruit or vegetables. They are naturally low in calories and high in essential nutrients plus the fibre fills you up.

Whilst this one is hard for mums try to get enough sleep. Sleep is over looked when it comes to health and even weight loss. Go to bed on at a regular time, you need to get 8 hours to be healthy and help with weight loss. Try to sleep in a dark, ventilated room and don’t do work or watch TV straight before you go to bed. You will go to sleep with an overactive head and wake up in the middle of the night. Also write down stuff on your mind otherwise this will wake you up to. I know this isn’t the most practical tip for us parents but you should be aware of the importance of sleep for your health.

The hardest part about getting healthier this year is getting started. Once you make the leap and commit to do some of these simple strategies and gradually build on them, you will be looking and feeling so much better in no time at all. Guaranteed!

When is the Right Time to Sell your Business?

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -1100

Through selling three of my own “Mother of a Business”, and continuing to assist other business owners, here’s what to think about WHEN wanting to go down the EXIT path. Not only is the Right Time about demonstrating when your Business does what it does, and when else it might do so, but also when is the ideal time to actually put your Business on the market…

What I mean by that is, if you only maintain sales intensity for a set period of time, then a buyer is going to be really interested in how she can extend such periods, and/or activate them more often, eg: is your Business seasonal? If yes, when is it at its peak, so that a prospective buyer can get a real sense of not only what happens, but also a hint of what the potential is?

Maybe your peak is not seasonal, but driven more by the contracts you have signed and their term (length of time to run). Say you have multiple contracts that run for 10 years each. It’s going to be more appealing for a buyer if the Business can be bought when there’s a long time left to run on the contracts rather than trying to sell it when they’ve expired and run the risk of not been renewed!

Take my third and largest (7-figure) Business I recently sold… It had contracts with one of world’s premier petroleum manufacturers for 5-year terms. Knowing that executing an EXIT was in the Business Plan, it made sense to put the Business on the market when the contracts were only two years old, thus giving way for the buyer to not only handle the re-contracting when due, but also to “court” the client, so they got to know and love the new owner before contract due date was nigh.

Same applies when you’ve got a lease on a premises that the Business can’t really leave easily. If there’s 2 years to run on a lease, that won’t be as appealing as say 20.

Coming back to when your Business does what it does… are there other times when your Business could operate but you have chosen not to? because you do like to sleep some time! This can definitely be an opportunity of interest as a buyer may have ways and means to handle time differences.

Always keep your Business market trends in the forefront of your mind, know of opportunities and what’s possible, whether you have chosen to capitalise on them or not.

Starting with the end in mind TODAY, regardless of how old your business is, means you can start to, slowly but surely, work out WHEN is the best time to sell your Business, and then work backwards! Given it may take up to 12-24 months to get your Business ready, depending on the size, pick a prime date and commence this process 12 months before. You might even find your enthusiasm returns after all…

Next… Where?

Denise Hall
the entrepreneurial mother® specialising in EXIT Execution Excellence!

Who Does What In Your Business, and Why?

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -1100

The fact is, if you’re at the stage in your business that is OK for now, but you’ve come to realise it is not what you want to be doing for the rest of your life, that’s the time to start planning your EXIT.

You wouldn’t want your family to see you all stressed and unhappiness levels escalate because you’re stuck doing something you no longer want to do. BUT you know you’ve spent too much of your precious resource – TIME – on this little baby to not get some sort of payback. What to do? It might be time to get you out of the way…

Thinking of the typical "departments" of a business, and who's name features in the org chart boxes, maybe your's looks like this:

Management = YOU
Marketing = YOU
Sales = YOU
Operations = YOU
Financials = YOU

(Mentor = the entrepreneurial mother® of course! :)

If your name features in all the boxes, if your Business solely focuses around YOU and selling it is was what you eventually want to do, then it’s time to put new names in the org chart!

The type of business a prospective buyer is most interested in buying is one that is stand-alone from the owner. If your Business resembles the image above, then a sale is not as easy as one where another can just walk-in and take over. That’s not to say it can’t be sold, but it is not as straightforward.

Maybe you are interested in “going with the sale” for a period of time, whereby you gently handover the reins to a new rider! If you’re one that is already over your Business, and has moved on to do the next BIG thing in your Life, and cannot now entertain the thought of staying with it any longer… that’s a more difficult arrangement to be sorted. It is still doable however; if both parties are keen to make it work. Details like these are all negotiable.

Starting with the end in mind TODAY, regardless of how old your business is, means you can start to, slowly but surely, systemise your Business so you can replace your name in each WHO box of the org chart, to better convey that the Business is a stand-alone asset and not totally reliant on any one person…

Next… When?

Denise Hall
the entrepreneurial mother® specialising in EXIT Execution Excellence!

What’s the Business You Are Selling, Exactly?

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -1100

Starting a business is a BIG deal. Building it to become more than your hobby is even bigger again. In fact, building your business into an asset may result in it being possibly the largest asset you’ll ever own, or second maybe to your home.

If trying to sell it is what you eventually want to do, then get strategic about WHAT it is you’ve got, how it is someone else could do it and therefore who that special someone might be that will love it as much as you once did. Think about it this way, would you put your home on the market without a little thinking and TLC-driven renovation first?

o   What is the “story” of your Business?
Why did you start it? Who was involved? Are they still with you? What happened to them? How is it legally structured ie Pty Ltd, partnership, sole-trader? Why the Business name? Is it registered? Any trademarks/patents? How long has it been going? Does it look today like you envisaged when you started? Is there still a need for what your Business does? And why? Why should someone love it like you once did?
The evolutionary history, as well as its current story, is all-important.

o   What does your Business sell?
List everything; not just the features, but the benefits to your consumers as well. Why do your consumers buy from you? Did your Business always do what it currently does? If not, what did it start out doing? What happened? Why did you stop? Why the change of direction? Why the current choice? What other options are open in your market that you haven’t done yet? Who else does what you do?

o   What financial records does your Business have? (eg: Tax Returns and BAS)
Profit – that’s what a buyer wants to know about. To “prove” that requires “real” paperwork, not just what you can pull out of a financial software package. ATO tax returns and submitted BAS’s, Certificates of Currency for insurances, and reports of any forecasting done is what they’re after. This paperwork is very important to a prospective buyer because that’s what they will base a lot of their “valuation” decisions on. These records provide evidence that your Business is a worthy asset.

Starting with the end in mind TODAY, regardless of how old your business is, means you can start to, slowly but surely, gather and assemble the answers to each one of these questions, to be able to convey to a potential buyer WHAT it is they are buying…

Next… Who?

Denise Hall
the entrepreneurial mother® specialising in EXIT Execution Excellence!

Start with the End in Mind - Why?

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -1100

No doubt when starting out, you will have heard how you should “start with the end in mind”? Coming from experience, it’s really hard to do that without knowing what the “end” can look like. Having said that though, there are a couple of easy steps to consider from TODAY that will get you in the right frame of mind…

Yes, there are sound universal business practices that should be used at start-up and during growth, which would have you in the best shape when the urge to purge takes hold. However, even if you only start getting your ducks in a row now, it will all work out swimmingly come Exit time. Believe me!

In a nutshell, to “start with the end in mind” is a mindset thing really (as much as anything else). Followed closely by the form your business takes in terms of how a buyer will see and value it... and it can all start today.

If you have dreams of exiting your business through a sale, or something similar, then what shape it your business in right now?

What I know for sure is, having just been through selling my 3rd 'Mother of a Business' (where I went from being an unemployed, homeless and pregnant singleton to morphing into the entrepreneurial mother® by building a 7-figure Mother of a Business, all in guilt-free school hours!), it is never too late to give your business the Respect it Deserves, and the Finish you always dreamed of!

So, if you were to put your buyer “goggles” on, how’s your Business looking today?
Needs work doesn’t it? OK, lets get started…

I’m sure you will be familiar with the old “how, what, when, where, why”.
Add the “who” and you’ve definitely got the nucleus of your business plan covered.

The most important place to commence when “starting with the end in mind” is the “Why”…
Why did you go down the path of setting up your business?
For what purpose does it serve?
Why do you now want to move on?
In other words, why should a buyer be interested in taking this off your hands?

With any “why”, there has to be two parts…
a) why the world is a better place as a result of doing business with you (the external driver of the business)
b) why you set up your business the way you did (the internal driver)

If your solo reason for setting up your business was so that you had more flexibility over your working hours for example, then that would not be nearly as attractive as say, solving world hunger at the same time (assuming that was the market the buyer is in).

Emphasis on the personal only ie “b)” is interesting in terms of your history but it only forms part of the story. It’s imperative that there is a larger story at play at the same time, so that the attraction to the business from the external continues whether you are part of the mix or not.

For example, my Mother of a Business, aCE talentNET had a two part “why” when I first set it up, and the same path continued for the 15 years it was in my hands. To explain…

Coming from a management consulting background and therefore understanding the pitfalls of the game, I knew that the peaks and troughs of consistently finding project work added much stress at times, especially in the troughs! aCE talentNET was born out of looking to relieve that constant pressure, enabling the consultants to better manage the ebbs and flows. As projects were being introduced to them as opposed to having to go out and find them, this allowed them to do what they loved doing most ie working with the clients and not having to market themselves.

The personal side of the business was that I could structure how I delivered the service in a way that best worked for me, and Daughter.

How both aspects married was that even though the operating hours were during school hours, it did not preclude the business from establishing long-term working relationships with some of the largest organisations in the country! Turning over 7-figures in the process. Gotta be happy with that!!

So I ask again, why are you doing what you’re doing? And if wanting to have an asset to sell features in the answer, be sure to have the two considerations loud and clear in your “why”.

I’ll address the “what” next article…

Denise Hall
the entrepreneurial mother® specialising in EXIT Execution Excellence!