Business Savvy

We witnessed it and still couldn't believe it happened. My sister, and fabulous business partner, showed all attending Christmas dinner at her family's home what a savvy business lady can do.

She prepared a delicious meal and as we were all patting our full bellies, she commented that she'd better run upstairs to get an item that someone was in route to purchase from her. I perked up. "Surely, you're kidding," I said. "It's Christmas day. Who would come by today? And I think I'm more shocked that you are actually selling stuff on Christmas." She was nonchanlant about the whole transaction which took exactly one minute as she ran down the front steps wearing only socks, no shoes, to deliver the package.

When she returned, grinning with money in hand, my mouth fell open. "Well, I set the whole thing up earlier," she said, waving the greenbacks around in the air. What she had sold was old and used, but the customer wanted it because it fit their need. Point. Set. Match.

Thanks, Meek for reminding us all to be business savvy. I'm taking this attitude straight into the New Year.

God bless you all,

Polly

Back In The Day!

About two years ago, I stopped buying regular meats, eggs and dairy at the grocers and switched to organic goods. It was a bit more expensive but very much worth it to me. My husband planted a small garden in our backyard when we first purchased our home, but it did not thrive in the nutrient deficient clay. Nonetheless, I opted for frozen veggies instead of those in the can (gotta avoid that BPA) and scoped out farmer's markets in the area for fresh produce. There is nothing like fresh fruits and veggies organically grown without any artificial enhancements. Even my nieces and nephew are on the bandwagon, picking 15lbs of fresh, organic apples from a nearby farm in their area.

I am once again finding myself shifting gears. While I was pregnant, I asked God to show me how to actually lose weight after I delivered. I am down from my pre-pregnancy weight and it is all due to the additional challenge of cutting dairy from my diet (my angel is allergic to milk protein). All of these adjustments made me start to think about all the organic goods we used to get from our local 'Fruit Man' when I was growing up. The 'Fruit Man' used to come by every Saturday to sell his fruits, veggies and sometimes meats to the families in our neighborhood. He would come with beans and collards, eggs and potatoes and all the wonderfully, delicious and unadulterated goods from his garden. He was a small business owner and he made a healthy bounty from all the families who would wait for his arrival each Saturday to glean foods from the back of his truck for their Sunday dinners. He knew his target audience, minority families, especially older women who needed a good deal on some good eats! I can see my grandmother now pulling a bushel of garden peas off of his truck and hauling them into the house. We all knew this meant the end of our outside play time and the beginning of a long evening shelling peas with Momma!

Other small, home based business owners included my Great Aunt Tunny who supplemented her income by making the best brown dogs in the land! Brown dogs are delicious sugar and peanut or caramelized syrup and peanut candies. Just thinking of them makes my mouth water. Everybody came to Aunt Tunny's to buy her famous brown dogs at $.50 each. When she made a batch they sold out in no time flat just from word of mouth sales.

And who can forget the 'Freeze Lady', Mrs. Maggie. Mrs. Maggie sold freezes and candy out of her house to supplement her income. She made the very best kool-aid freezes with just enough sugar in them to keep us running back to her house with our $.25 every day and sometimes twice a day. LOL!

Happy memories from my childhood. Very easy and simple small businesses, but small businesses nonetheless!

Cutting Costs While Running a Home-Based Business

Running a business from home can be a great solution to the time and money issues that families with preschool or school-aged children face. Being available to your children provides comfort and well-being for them along with a strong bond between the parent and child. During time at home children can be taught educational concepts that will prepare them for life long learning and give them a head start. Another major bonus is that daycare costs are eliminated, as are commuting costs and expenses associated with going to work.

The savings and benefits don't have to end there. Finding more ways to cut costs can help boost your business and keep you working for yourself, even when the economy looks grim.

Follow these tips to save even more money while managing a successful home-based business:

1.Conserve energy- unplug appliances while not in use or use a power strip with a reset button. Keep the power strip turned off until needed. Switch to energy saving bulbs and turn off lights in unoccupied spaces if you'll be gone for longer than 1 minute.

2.Buy in bulk - if you have the storage for extra food or office supplies, then great! The unit cost of the bulk products will be much lower. So take advantage of warehouses and superstores. Just be sure you'll actually use whatever you buy.

3.Plan meals- use the circulars that stores send out to comparison shop and remember to clip coupons. Meals that can be prepared in your kitchen are normally a fraction of the cost of eating out.

4. Borrow - when your business requires research or self help books turn to the public library for resources that can be checked out for free. If you must buy, then remember Amazon, and other online bookstores offer used products at discounted prices.

5. Get a Membership -join a club for the things you purchase frequently and watch the rewards add up. Office Depot has one such program called WorkLife. Who doesn't need office supplies from time to time?

6. Just say no - delay any large purchases that aren't completely necessary and try to stretch the time before giving in to spend huge sums of money. When you are finally ready to buy, always ask yourself if it's a need or a want. Let the needs prevail.

May your home and family prosper and your business expand!

Polly