Sunrise Business Builder Award

Let's all nominate a Bizness Babe for the Sunrise Business Builder Award!

There are so many wonderful businesses amongst our Bizness Babe graduates you may find it hard to pick just one, so feel free to nominate as many as you like.

More info from the Sunrise website:

We're looking for the unsung heroes of small business. The businesses that offer excellent products and services, are exceptional employers, are an important part of their local community.

Basically, the businesses that epitomise all the elements that are great about small business but who may not have received the attention they deserve. This is your chance to tell us about them and why they are exceptional.

To nominate a business you think deserves the Sunrise Business Builder of the Year Award 2010 and to be featured on Sunrise on Friday 9th July from Brisbane, please complete the following information:

NOMINATE A BiB HERE

July 9 isn't far away so you best get those nominations in asap!

Advice From a Babe - Networking (Part 2)

Thanks again to Bizness Babe Wendy Tadokoro for writing part two of her ongoing series on networking. To recap, here is part one.

Part 2: Types of Networking

What type of networking is best for you?

Before we can answer that question, firstly let’s take a look at the different types of networking opportunities available. Basically networking is done either in person or through social media on line. It pays to network in person for a number of reasons, it allows you to meet new people, re-connect with older relationships, practise your social and communication skills –especially good to practise your elevator pitch. Even if no relationship develops with a person, at least he or she will likely remember you as a nice person if asked about you at some future point.

If you spend some time researching networking groups in the web, you will find there is a vast number so best to define your search to your local area. Networking organisers usually hold events monthly and you can join their database to receive reminders of upcoming events. Most events follow the format of a workshop followed by casual networking or speed networking. Some events are held in the evening, breakfast or at morning tea. Cost will depend upon the type of speaker and whether a meal is included. There are some free networking events around, these are usually held to promote a business but can still be good value. The best networking results usually come from attending functions for your particular industry. These would include trade shows, conferences and industry association seminars and training courses.

The other type of networking is a referral based format. Referral networking groups usually meet weekly, require a membership, commitment and the focus is on referring business within the group. Depending on your business, target market and your stage of development, these groups can be a very effective form of referral business.

Social networking includes platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and many other business forums. These can be very effective as part of your marketing if used correctly. Decide first if this type of networking/marketing will appeal to your target market before you invest your time.

At the start up phase of your business, the best strategy is to attend as many networking opportunities as you can manage. You will then be familiar with the different types of events, who attend, and importantly their relevance to your business. Attend events with an open mind and you will always gain something whether it is a new contact, a prospective client, some business advice, a new skill or valuable feedback.

Next time on the blog - Part 3, The Value of Networking.

Wendy Tadokoro
Organising Works!

Spotlight on Stephanie Robles - MooBear Designs

Tell us a little about your business?

My business is MooBear Designs. It is an extension of what my family does to help out our planet and the people who we share it with! We weren’t happy buying mass-produced clothing for our children because you never really know who is making them and what the working conditions are like where they are made. MooBear was my solution to the problem.

All five members of our family are involved in some part of our business. From T-shirts designs, photography and paper making for our business cards. If we can work from home then we should work together as a family and have fun during the process.

We now offer a range of children’s garments with are ethically made with absolutely no negative impact on the Earth. All our designs use recycled fabrics so each one is as unique as the original ones made for Moo and Bear. We like to say ‘Designed by children made by adults, not the other way around’. We are proud to offer the world kids clothing with a conscience.

Why did you want to run your own business?

Running my own business is the perfect excuse for me to stay home, play dress ups all day with my children and enjoy being silly with them. We often start the day with all 5 of us snuggled in bed, which is something we could never do when we worked for other people.

I didn’t originally start out wanting to run my own business as such. I wanted to spend time with my daughter, Moo and have fun while it was still her and I before I gave birth to her little brother Bear back in 2005. After I made Moo and her friends at school their own MooBear’s I thought maybe this was something I could really do. My husband and friends were encouraging and assured me I had a viable business idea. It wasn’t until I attended Bizness Babes in 2008 where I learnt how to bridge the gap between hobby and business that I was truly excited about starting my own business!

I now run MooBear Designs with my business partner, best friend and husband, Carlos. We wouldn’t have it any other way and you will not find either of us working a nine to five job for someone else ever again. I have so much freedom to be creative and our children are so happy to have us both at home with them. I am sure they will appreciate it when they are a little older and talk to friends about “when I was little…”

The most important thing about running my own business would have to be knowing that no matter what I am doing I can stop and be there for each of my 3 children… Oh and I can totally play what ever music I want in my studio because I don’t have to compete with work colleges over the stereo.

What have been the challenges?

Some of the challenges we faced were starting in a market we were completely new too. We also wanted to source the best garments for our designs which turned out to be more time consuming than we first expected but we wouldn’t settle for anything less than what we wanted.

One of the biggest challenges we faced was advertising expenses. We never expected advertising to be so expensive especially for some of the free magazines aimed at our target market.

Where would you like to see your business go in the next year?

A retail presence would be great. To walk into a store and see our designs on their shelves would be something. We will be stocking new garments and new designs throughout the year and are aligning ourselves with like-minded companies with the same ethical values as our own.

The next five years?

How about combining our ethical clothing company with a fair trade coffee label. I shall call it MooBear Café. I hear you laughing but it was one of those midnight thoughts and Carlos said… “Why not?!...” I got so excited about this random idea that I even have a logo ready to go.

What have you achieved since finishing the BiB course?

For our business we have achieved quite a lot. We were commissioned by our friends over at Enviro Central to create a range of very special children's T-shirts. Moo’s ‘Earth design’ was featured in Earth Hour’s ‘Vote Earth Project Lantern’ promotion last year.

We have done promotional work with some of the baby markets in Sydney making banners and aprons. Plus our baby body suits were featured in the green fashion magazine Peppermint which I personally read. I laughed the first time a friend said she’ll see MooBear in there one day. I am lucky it wasn’t a bet or I would have owed her a few fair trade coffees.

We are also celebrating MooBear’s 1st birthday, which is a huge achievement alone. I have also been able to launch MooBear’s little sister label Over It! How exciting is that?! Who would have thought I would have launched 2 labels in one year??!! Sometimes it’s like have a one year old and a newborn. I get all excited about having a new label and concentrate on it. Then I remember MooBear and get excited all over again!! It’s great.

What advice has helped you most?

Always have business cards and know your spiel!! Chrissy’s words ring in the back of my mind, which reminds me I need to print off more business cards this week. I also remember Vicki telling me not to undersell my product. There is no way you will find a MooBear Design for $15 like I use to sell them for. That’s just ludicrous now. Learning the value of my products is so important and has brought me a long way too.

What advice do you have to others setting up their own businesses?

Find out if you have a viable business idea first then I say go for it!! Do a course and learn the nitty gritty stuff. You need to be confident and understand your product or service. I think being a mum has made this easier because I am so passionate about providing the best for my children and it just flows over into our business.

MooBear Designs

Avoiding the Mumpreneur Pitfalls

Bizness Babe Claire from Craft Schmaft mentioned this terrific article (thanks Claire!) on 'avoiding the mumpreneur pitfalls'. It really is an article worth mentioning, since many of us trying to balance family and business by working from home, have faced these issues.

Article written by Sara Howard via the Flying Solo website.

Please feel free to share your  own experiences of attemping to balance family and business in the comments section below. What works? What doesn't?

image above, from Piper + Lily

Advice From a Babe - Feeling Unmotivated

Feeling unmotivated in your business is common. You may indeed be feeling that way right now! If not (great, but) it will more than likely happen at some point. Feeling disheartened and unmotivated can occur for many reasons. Perhaps you are finding it difficult to see the results of all your hard work, or perhaps you are simply feeling overwhelmed by all you have to do. 

Luckily one of our Bizness Babes is a motivational writer and offers us this advice. Thanks Philippa.

Living the Dream

by Philippa Vette

So you’ve started your own business and hit the wall. You don’t feel inspired, you don’t know what your next step is and your dream seems to be drifting further and further away. Welcome to the world of owning your own business! One of the most difficult aspects of keeping a new business going is staying motivated when things become difficult. However, it’s essential that you stay motivated and inspired to keep chipping away at all the aspects that are required to establish a solid foundation and set all your systems in place.

Staying Inspired

Even as a writer, I’m not inspired all the time. I wear many ‘hats’ as we all do, so when I need inspiration, one of the techniques I use is a visual diary. On the Bizness Babes course I discovered how magical a visual diary can be. It had a significant impact on the direction of my business. Just by making up a poster with pictures of all your favourite things can jog new ideas. There’s nothing more exhilarating than unearthing a fresh, new idea and the spin off from that kind of vitality is enough motivation to deal with the less attractive aspects of the business (financials – ugh!) or dealing with yet another supplier who’s taking forever to get back to you. What inspires you?

Stay Connected

It’s so inspiring to hear other people’s success stories especially if you’ve tracked their ups and downs. Stay in touch with other Bizness Babes and meet new people at every opportunity. You might be surprised where it may lead. Schedule a meeting with your course co-ordinator and draw from their expertise. Even if you turn up with no clue of what your next step should be, you’ll leave with a long To Do List and the motivation to dive right into it.

Have a Plan

Without a plan it’s hard to navigate the direction of your business. To start, it can be as simple as a To Do List but at the end of the day you’ll feel satisfied because you were productive. From there, it can be expanded to include more details and more specific goals.

Be Patient

Setting up a business seems to take longer than we foresee. Don’t assume just because something’s not happening quickly it’s a bad idea or you should quit. Keep working at it and watch your idea develop. At the end of the day, it’s far better to invest yourself in something worthwhile than to always wonder what might have been.

For more inspiration check out Philippa’s website and inspiring blog.
 http://www.philippavette.com/

If you have any of your own advice regarding staying motivated we would all welcome your comments below.

Advice From a Babe - Networking (Part One)

Wendy Tadokoro rang the Brisbane Bizness Babes office last week to share her excitement over networking. She felt so enthused about the importance of networking that she wanted to share her experiences with other Bizness Babes. Well of course we couldn't let that knowledge and passion go to waste! So Wendy has kindly agreed to write a series of articles on the subject for us. Thanks Wendy.

Part One:

If you have just started your business, one of the first challenges you will face is how to let people know you exist. Networking or word of mouth marketing gets a mention on the list of possible marketing activities, it may be one option that you haven’t been too eager to get involved in.

Networking has enormous benefits and should be at the top of your marketing To-Do lists. The results can be huge as long as you can make networking work for you. The marketplace is competitive and the choice for consumers is endless, people want to deal with people they know, like and trust. For me, networking has enabled me to build relationships, get to know and further define my target market, find clients and prospects, gain valuable business advice, learn about other networking opportunities and events, find other businesses to form alliances with, compile a list of reliable business for my own personal use and also to refer to my clients and socialise with like minded business people who are often prepared to be mentors.

Some people say that you should attend networking with a strategic plan in mind; I prefer to go with an open mind as you just never know what opportunities may come your way. You will gain something from every event you attend even it is just something new you have learnt from a guest speaker.

In Part Two of this blog article  I will comment on the different types of networking groups and events that are available.

Wendy Tadokoro
Organising Works!

Photography - DIY Lightbox

Good photography is essential. You'll need quality images for your website, media and general promotion.
When you make products to sell, knowing how to photograph them well is one of your most important tools, and is a skill that you really need to develop. Even if your business is a service based one taking good photographs is also important. You may need an images for your website, or to document an event that you were a part of. Using stock images may be handy at times but there is a high chance that a competitor has felt the same, and is therefore using the same images. This can be confusing for a customer/client.

Paying for photography can be a wise choice. There may be times when you want the best photographs possible and getting someone else to do it is the better option. This can be at the start of your business, or when you are launching a new product.

Overall good photography doesn't need to be hard or expensive. With some practice and a few good tips I'm sure you'll get the hang of it. Lots more will be said on this topic over the coming months. Of course you are always welcome to ask some questions or let us know what has worked for you.

To start here is a quick and inexpensive way to build your own light box.
Of course you may choose to buy one if you're not much of a DIY person. There are plenty of cheap pop up ones available from photo stores, and on ebay.

Plus here are a few good tips via the ebay product photography guide. If some of that is a little confusing don't worry some easier tips will follow shortly.

pictured above, image via Moobear Designs
 
This is a great example of the use of nature lighting. Wait for an overcast day to avoid harsh shadows. Early morning or late afternoon are best.

Guide To Wholesaling

I came across this terrific guide to selling your products wholesale, and thought I would share it with you. It was created by the Australian Design Unit.

The guide provides a thorough checklist of all the important things you need to do before approaching retailers. Plus it gives you a few helpful tips on the best ways to go about approaching them, and how to maintain a lasting commercial relationship.

The ADU guide below, covers these six important steps:

1) Know your market
2) Know your product
3) Research target retailers
4) Marketing collateral – prepare price lists, a brand overview,
photographs and samples
5) Logistics – quantities, lead times, and shipping
6) Business matters - pricing , payment terms and invoicing

ADU Guide to Wholesaling

It would be terrific to hear about your own experiences of dealing with retailers. Also feel free to ask any questions on this topic. We will all do our best to offer some advice.

Blackbird Corner, pictured above

Spotlight On Natalie Mayerhofer - Miss Dish

This is the first in an ongoing series of Bizness Babes interviews. If you would like to interviewed please contact your State BiB coordinator directly.

Tell us a little about your business?

Miss Dish jewellery and accessories are designed with a fashion forward market in mind that value products that are unique and a little bit quirky. Each piece of jewellery and accessory are handcrafted using both new and vintage fabrics, beads, crystals and buttons.

Currently Miss Dish has two collections ‘The Secret Garden’ collection made up of fabric flower accessories and ‘Petite Cheri’ collection made up of charm and vintage inspired earrings and bracelets.

Miss Dish is also currently creating a Bridal collection which includes a new range of vintage inspired birdcage veils and fascinators. Brides will have the choice of traditional whites and ivorys as well as bolder colours like red, black, gold and silver. Miss Dish is also offering Brides a new service where they have the choice to use their own bridal fabrics to incorporate into a one of a kind Miss Dish piece.

Why did you want to run your own business?

For many years I have worked in an office and felt that my heart was not really in it. I have so much passion for creating and I felt stifled by the office environment. The last straw came last October and after much deliberation I decided to resign from my job and 'follow my heart'. Another huge influence on my decision was the fact that my parents have ran a successful business for most of my life and I think that they have also played an important part in why I finally made the decision to go for it.

What have been the challenges?

For me its about organising my time efficiently. I find it ironic that when I worked in an office I was good at time management but put me out of that environment and I floundered. Bizness Babes helped me think outside of my usual ways of organising my time and experiment with new ways that worked for me. As the owner of a micro business I find it a challenge to manage the many facets. For Miss Dish that means, creating the product, writing content for my website, taking photos of the products and models, accounts etc.... it's challenging and can be overwhelming if you think about all of those things at once. My advice is to take one step at a time and it will all come together.

Where would you like to see your business go in the next year?

I'd like to see retailers actively seeking me out to purchase Miss Dish for their boutiques. I am currently developing a wholesale catalogue for interested customers. Also I am having a brand new website developed for Miss Dish. It should be ready to 'unveil' in the next 3 months.

The next five years?

Ideally I would like to have my own Miss Dish boutique. As well as being stocked in boutiques both in Australia and internationally. That would probably mean that in the future I will have employees to assist me in my goals.

What have you achieved since finishing the BiB course?

I have been so busy with Miss Dish since graduating from Business Babes and I love it. I have done a professional photo shoot with models to help create an image for Miss Dish. These photos will be used for my new website which is currently being developed to replace my current website. I have created hair accessories for a fashion show the 'Religion of Fashion' for up and coming designer 'Lady Phuncle'. I am now stocked at the Bleeding Heart Gallery and at in.cube8r on Wickham Street in the valley. I am still working on my Business Plan, which is almost complete. The biggest challenge for me is the financials. But I'm getting there. I'm proud of what I have achieved so far and I certainly include writing most! of a Business Plan as one of those achievements.

What advice has helped you most?

Trust in your instincts. Your life experience is more valuable than you may give yourself credit for.

What advice do you have to others setting up their own businesses?

Seek out like minded people. Its great to start networking with people in the same industry as you or who are starting out with their own micro business. People and their knowledge are empowering. Also look for a course that introduces you to the world of running your own micro business. For me Bizness Babes was ideal. They are warm, welcoming, and extremely knowledgeable people who are approachable and speak in plain English. I like that a lot.

Visit the Miss Dish website

Bizness Babes Directory

If you are a Bizness Babe and your website/blog isn't listed in the directory here, simply add your business name and link in the comments section below. If the link for your business changes, simply add the updated link in the comments section also.

More detailed listings of Bizness Babes businesses are available via the website.

Kylie Bowers cell phone cover, pictured above.