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- Win a great bundle of business books to inspire you
- Find out QUICK ways to get more customers
- And catch up with news from my blogs.
And if you are looking for a new way to work, don't forget the Ideas and Inspirations e-course at www.familyfriendlyworking.co.uk and the Business Start Up course at www.themumpreneurguide.co.uk. Both courses are free and could get you started on a whole new life.
Best wishes,
Antonia
Do you love to know how other women do it? Read the Mumpreneur Profiles over at the Family Friendly Working Blog. In the coming month you can hear from the mumpreneurs behind:
- www.singlewithkids.co.uk
- www.mothersofinnovation.com
- www.bellinghamsoapcompany.co.uk
- www.se22piano.co.uk
- www.whatson4littleones.co.uk
- www.schooltogethernow.com
In February there is an 'eco mums' theme, and in March we'll be hearing from mums who work freelance in the media or run their own publications. April is open to any sort of business.
May will feature Mums working in Travel: I'm looking for 1 more mum working in this area. In June I'm hoping to find some mums in Industry. If you'd like to feature, simply answer the questions here.
The Mumpreneur Guide 
More and more mums are signing up for free business help from The Mumpreneur Guide. It is designed for mums who are serious about starting a business. The site currently offers an e-course taking you through the essentials of getting your enterprise going. Galia Orme of www.chocchick.com says, "I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed reading the Mumpreneur guide on Search Engine Optimisation. I worked in Internet marketing for 3 years and thought the advice you offered was excellent. A lot of SEO is common sense and knowing your market, but many people still see it as a bit of a dark art! Your guide on SEO was very well explained, clear and easy to follow."Do sign up for The Mumpreneur Guide FREE E-Course: I'd love to get your thoughts on the course so far.Please forward the information about the course to anyone you know who wants to start a business.
Simple and quick ways to get customers fast Helen Dowling of Exceptional Thinking shares ways to give your business an instant bost this month:
January is traditionally a time when things go quiet for a lot of businesses as potential customers get back into the swing of things. When you need customers fast though, knowing that is no help at all. So, here's my top simple and quick ways to get customers fast.1. Talk to your past clients
Have you kept in touch with your past clients? Maybe they're looking for your products and services right now. Drop them a line (either by phone, email or post) just to see how they're getting on. When you're looking for customers fast, your past clients are often a great source of leads.2. Analyse what's worked in the past
Write down a list of your current and past customers and next to each name, write down where this customer came from. Be specific - if it was a networking event, which one; if it was a referral - who sent it to you? Analysing your marketing in this way should give you a very clear idea of which marketing methods are working for you and which are not. Then you can go out and do more of the methods that are working for you.3. Offer your customers something special in return for referrals
I'm sure in your business, you've had at least one referral in the past and when you need customers fast, referrals are a great quick source. Approach your current customers and past ones and offer them something in return for a referral - it could be a free e-book with quick tips; a bottle of wine; discounts of your future products and services. Try it, you might be surprised.4. Go where your customers go
If you're stuck for marketing ideas and want to find customers fast, one of the best ways is to look at your customers and have a think about where they would naturally congregate i.e. it might be at conferences; at the gym; on Facebook etc. Wherever it is, make sure you're in these places too - you'll meet your target customers very quickly and then you can start talking to them about what you do.5. Give away free samples
Free samples, demonstrations, reports, tips sheets, e-books, audio recordings and so on are a fantastic way to build credibility quickly and allow your potential customers to experience your services. This way, they're more likely to trust you and your company and feel that you can help them.6. Go through your 'potentials' list
Most businesses have a list of potential customers that were interested in their products or services, but didn't buy at the time. Dig those out and go through them all. While the vast majority may not buy, some will still have been thinking about using you and may well be in a position to buy.7. Do some marketing
Finally, don't sit there moaning and groaning that you haven't got any customers. Get out there and do some marketing. Go to networking events, write some articles, call some people - it doesn't matter what the marketing is; what matters is doing something and the more you do, the better you will feel and the more impact you will have.
Antonia Chitty
ACPR
In the blog this month I hope you're checking out the ACPR blog: you'll get the most up to date small business news there each week. Find out about And over at the Family Friendly Working blog stay up to date with the latest on Flexible Work, Party Planning, Maternity Leave and of course the fabulous Mumpreneur Profiles.
Win Essential Business Books
Winner of the Choc Chick Chocolate Kit
If you did not to win, visit www.chocchick.com and treat yourself.