Tag Archives: planning

Investing Business Profit

Many of us have such small home businesses that any money we net after expenses goes directly into the family coffers. As a matter of fact, it may be hard to imagine that your home business will ever be so successful that you will make MORE money than you can spend on a monthly or annual basis. This may happen, however, and when it does, you will have to decide what to do with the excess profit. Do you save it? Invest it back into the business? Or do you invest the profit in other ways and work to grow … Continue reading →

When it is a Good Idea to Ask Yourself “What If?”

We have many of us heard that asking the “what if” question can be a trap; it CAN be a way of focusing too much on stuff that could happen and not enough on the present. Many experts will warn those of us who get stuck wondering what could happen to let go of those thoughts and try to get grounded in the present. I would like to argue, however, that asking the “What IF?” question can be a way of getting inspired and growth-focused for our home businesses. What if you expanded your business and started gathering customers in … Continue reading →

Where are You Spending Most of Your Time?

Staying organized and reasonably efficient in a home business means having a good idea of what you are doing with your time, energy and resources. Just because you have a plan or an “idea” of what you imagine you are doing as you work at your business does not mean that is actually what you are doing. It takes some honesty and self-examination, but periodically it is a good idea to review where it is that you are actually spending most of your time? When I first started my writing business, I figured up a budget based on all the … Continue reading →

Scheduling Your Work Week

This may seem like the most obvious thing in the world but I do not know how many times I have talked to small and home business owners who confess that they take things day-by-day. They get up in the morning and get down to work, letting their day unfold as it may and putting out fires, tending to details, and dealing with things as they pop-up. They confess that they just don’t have time to schedule and plan and, after all, isn’t that one of the realities they left behind when they left the traditional work world?! Okay, maybe … Continue reading →

Summer Tip–Stick to a Schedule (within Reason)

For a busy single parent, summer time can be chaotic. With the kids out of school and vacations and events, there is often much more to do than we can reasonably manage. Although summer time may be known for its freewheeling reputation, for a single parent, having a schedule and sticking to a plan for the days of the summer can be the best approach. Of course, we need flexibility—and we need down time and unscheduled leisure too, but as a single parent, we also need enough structure to make sure that the kids are cared for and entertained, work … Continue reading →

Anticipating Where You’d Like to go and Figuring Out What You’ll Need when You get There

While we are busy handling all the daily details and putting out fires in our home businesses in the present—there is still a certain amount of “forward thinking” that we need to do. One of the biggest challenges of running any sort of business is trying to figure out where you are going and anticipating what you might need when you get there… Planning in advance means that you can lay the foundation now so that the infrastructure is ready when you get where you are going. I know that for many of us, we just assume our business is … Continue reading →

Designing a Per Diem Expense Budget

As a small business owner, you may find yourself spending most of your time “doing the business” instead of planning and preparing. In fact, most people I know who start their own home businesses have learned how to plan and budget as they went along, picking up business skills and organizational details “on the job” so to speak. You may find that in addition to your overall budgets and bookkeeping that you need to learn how to design a per diem expense budget. If you travel to conferences or workshops, or find yourself traveling at all in the line of … Continue reading →

Let’s Talk About Luck

People generally fall into two camps, those who believe in “luck” or chance and those who do not. I am one of those people who do believe that there is such a thing as luck and that we really don’t have much control over it. While I am not someone who believes that everything is random and everything is chance, I do think there are things that are simply out of our control and when it comes to our home businesses—there is only going to be a certain amount that we can influence and some things that we cannot. We … Continue reading →

So, You Think You Have a Plan?

I tend to cling to my planning and organizational skills. I imagine my role as a single parent has only served to increase my need to have a plan and a system for everything. Even while I understand this about myself, I have also lived long enough to realize that a big part of living life is learning how to adjust when the best laid plans go awry… I have not yet learned how to live entirely without a plan, but I have learned that family life and planning are only partially-compatible. There are unending surprises and adjustments that need … Continue reading →

You Get to Decide How You Want to Do Business

You may think it goes without saying but for many of us, it takes us a while to learn just how much we are in charge of the HOW in how we do business. For those of us who are inexperienced or lacking confidence, we may be overly concerned with following “protocol” or trying to run our small home businesses like a large corporation. It is worthwhile I think for us to remind ourselves that we are the ones who get to decide exactly how we go about conducting our businesses. You do not have to do anything you absolutely … Continue reading →