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- EPnews -- from The Entrepreneurial
Parent
a work-family resource for home-based entrepreneurs
@ www.en-parent.com
January 26, 2000
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Do you find EPnews useful?
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For easy reading, simply print
out this newsletter.
_______________CONTENTS_______________
- The Funny Things EP Kids Say
& Do!
What's It Worth? -- "Frugal Resources"
EP Expert Q&As
What's Happening at EP
We Recommend
Oxygen Media Spotlight
__________________________
Editorial Note: EPnews is back
to a twice-monthly schedule with an all-new
automated mailing service from ONElist.com. We are now splitting
the content
and will shift between Lisa & deB's editorials and other
selected columns.
EPnews is distributed the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of every month.
The
Entrepreneurial Parent web site is updated on an ongoing basis
throughout
each month -- feel free to check in regularly via the What's
New banner on
our homepage (en-parent.com).
Welcome all new subscribers!
~____~_~____~_~____~_~____~_~____~_~_____~
A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR
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THE FUNNY THINGS EP KIDS SAY & DO!
=====
Submitted by EPnews Subscriber,
[email protected]:
=====
At bed time my 10-year old and
I have a "mom moment." This is a quiet time of
snuggles and "How did your day go?" before prayers.
(I found that asking a
second time at bed time I'll get some direct and surprising answers
other
than the, "Fine Mom" I get after school.) Last night
Nick, my son, was
telling me about his math class. He suddenly burst out with the
Jeopardy
theme music. This isn't a show we watch so I asked him where
he'd heard it.
He looks at me and states, "Mom, I learn more than math
in math class!"
=====
Why work at home? So you can hear the funny things your EP Kids
say
throughout the day. Share with the EP Community something your
child said
or did recently that made you smirk, giggle, or LOL. Send your
submission
via e-mail to:[email protected].
And if you need a stockpile of smiles
to get you through your EP day, pick up your own heartwarming
copy of Grace
Housholder's "The Funny Things Kids Say":
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0963871536/theentrepreneuri.
On those
stressed-out EP days, you'll be glad you did!
____________________________________
WHAT'S IT WORTH?
"Frugal Resources"
by deB Sechrist
Each time I finish a What's It
Worth article, I find myself wishing I had a
better way to help EP's keep their financial balance. A list
of links here,
an idea thrown out there, but not the full scope of what seems
to be needed.
As an EP I know that many of you want information about how to
make ends
meet, how to adjust from two salaries down to one, how to keep
your finances
afloat when business is slow or plans go awry. So we've put together
another
Resource Center to help you find the information you need to
live a frugal
lifestyle that fits for you and your family.
The EP Frugal Living Resource
Center features articles and essays by EP
Experts and member contributors, a list of weblinks and newsletters
and a
forum to share your tips. Many of you have learned from hard
experience not
to buy certain items or which substitute item will work and which
won't. The
Frugal Forum is a place where you can share that information,
and someone is
bound to benefit! There are only a few tips posted so far, but
we hope you'll
drop by and take a look around, maybe even take a moment to share
your
favorite tip with us.
Visit the new Center at:
http://www.en-parent.com/EPcenters/Frugal-Central.htm
and be sure to drop us a line to let us know what you think!
=====
deB Sechrist is the mother of three, Webmanager of The Entrepreneurial
Parent, LLC and owner of deBweB, a web design business. Find
out more about
deB at http://www.en-parent.com/webdsn.htm.
_____________________________________
EP EXPERT Q&As
Have a question? Our EP Expert
Panel is available to all EPnews Subscribers.
Visit them at <http://en-parent.com/experts.com>. If your
question isn't
already answered on our site, then send it in to: [email protected].
They'll be glad to help you out if they can!
Q. I currently own & operate
an auto cleaning/detailing business to which I
would like to add a house cleaning service. This would be a "shoe-in"
to my
business & may even replace the auto cleaning part, which
is weather
affected. I am seeking info as to the most efficient way start
& operate the
house cleaning business. Whatever data you can supply me with
will be
greatly appreciated. Thanks.
A. Finding complementary -- or
"shoe-in" -- businesses that naturally fit
with your existing enterprise is a great way to grow your company.
Not only
do you (hopefully) already have a clutch of satisfied clients
who might be
game to hire your new business, they might be willing to refer
you to others.
No matter the business, growing it along complementary lines
is an important
growth strategy. Congratulations.
Now, as for finding resources
and information to launch the business, ample
resources exist. Assuming you already know how to run a business
(research
gained from your time in auto detailing), next you have to learn
how to do
the house cleaning work. The easiest way would be to learn by
example. Know
anyone who already employs a housekeeper? If so, spend a day
or morning with
that person on the job, picking their insights, watching them
work,
maybe even helping out. Find out what products they prefer and
why. Do they
supply their own or require the client carry their preferred
products? If
they supply their own, do they buy them in bulk at a wholesale
club like
Costco or Sam's?
If you don't know anyone who
already employs a cleaning service (and even if
you do), go online to learn more. I just did a Yahoo! search
of
"Housecleaning service" and found seven sites. If you
have Internet access,
go online and do your own search. Contact those outside your
market and pick
their brains, asking the same questions as above.
As for marketing, get some of
your auto detailing clients to agree to provide
referrals, if needed. Then, using your PC or Mac, create a little
flier you
can photocopy and distribute, and saturate the neighborhood with
them (beware
of putting them *in* mailboxes; it's against the law). Go to
Office Depot and
get some business cards made up (around $10 a thousand). Give
them out like
candy.
Finally, see if you can register
with an "infomediary" like iMandi.com, which
steers business queries -- for everything from travel to contracting
to
housecleaning services -- to companies that have registered with
iMandi.
They'll steer any leads based on geography and bid specifications.
Congratulations on your ingenuity
to branch out. Good luck. Here's to a
Prosperous Millennium & Keep Goin' SOHO!
=====
Jeff Zbar, is our EP Dad Expert and is known as the "Chief
Home Officer."
He's an 11-year-veteran home-based freelance journalist specializing
in
work-at-home, teleworking, alternative officing and small business
marketing,
technology, communications and motivational. Jeff writes the
monthly home
office feature for the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, is a contributing
editor
to Home Office Computing and Entrepreneur's Home Office, and
is a monthly
columnist for Writer's
Digest. He is the author of Home Office Know-How (Upstart Publishing,
1998),
a tips book on working from home and teleworking, Your Profitable
Home
Business Made E-Z (on CD-ROM from Made E-Z Products, Inc., 1999),
and Home
Office Success Stories, a free ezine on working from home
(www.goinsoho.com/stories.html).
Jeff ([email protected]),
and his wife and
three young children live in suburban Fort Lauderdale, Fla
_____________________________________
WHAT'S HAPPENING AT EP
New Resource Center:
Check out our new Frugal Living
Resource Center at
http://www.en-parent.com/EPcenters/Frugal-Central.htm
, where you'll find
information and resources for living on a tight budget and making
the most of
your time and money. Learn how to break down cultural conditioning
to spend,
change old attitudes and habits, and train your family to conserve
resources. Share your experiences and tips with others, read
advice from
experts and friends, and follow the web links to find a whole
world of
resources and ideas.
EP Gift Basket Contest:
Only a few days left to enter
the January EP Contest! Win an EP Gift Basket
full of your choices of goods and services totalling $100. To
enter, answer
the survey question at http://www.en-parent.com/contest.htm
Good Luck!
_____________________________________
WE RECOMMEND
New Events/Contests:
Let's Get It Together is hosting
the 2nd Annual Online Organizing Expo on
March 22, 2000. The Virtually Organized Expo will be held in
celebration of
"Clutter Awareness Week," March 20-24. This free, all-day
expo will begin at
12:01 a.m. and continue until 12:00 p.m. The expo functions as
a resource to
help people get (and stay) organized. It will provide everything
from
teleclasses to live chats, streaming audio and video recordings
of workshops,
seminars, and articles. You'll be exposed to several well-known
speakers,
professional organizers, authors, and event planners. Just to
name a few of the participating experts:
***Lisa Kanarek, author &
professional organizer, Organizing Your Home Office
for Success
***Lisa Roberts, author and entrepreneur, Raising a Family and
Career Under
One Roof
***Sunny Schenger, author and professional organizer, How to
Be Organized in
Spite of Yourself
***Kathy Peel, author, The Family Manager's Everyday Survival
Guide
Debbie Williams, founder and
owner of Let's Get It Together, has teamed up
with sponsors such as Bella-Online.net and GuidryNews.com to
bring you
another exciting year of resources that will help you get organized,
manage
stress, and balance your life.
For more information about the
upcoming 2nd Annual Online Organizing Expo
(Virtually Organized), contact Debbie Williams directly by phone:
(281)
286-9512; by e-mail: [email protected];
or visit the Let's Get It
Together website at http://www.organizedtimes.com.
=====
A Nationwide Search for the Most Unusual Home Office!
Is your home office located poolside,
seaside or mountainside? How about in a
treehouse, playhouse or refurbished warehouse? If so, you could
win the Home
Office Life.com "Search for the Most Unusual Home Office
Contest" beginning
February 1 and ending March 10.
Whether you're a homemaker, home
office professional or telecommuter, your
out-of-the-ordinary home office could earn you $2,500 worth of
products from
Iomega, Hewlett-Packard, Furniture.com, AtYourOffice.com, Microtek
and CNF
Mobile Solutions, Inc. To enter, submit a photo of your home
office, along
with a 50-word description by e-mail to: [email protected],
or mail
your entry to Home Office Life.com, 660 Preston Forest Center
#120, Dallas,
TX 75230. The winner will be announced on March 14, National
Organize Your
Home Office Day. Full contest details available at www.homeofficelife.com.
For questions about the contest, please contact Lisa Kanarek
directly at
(214) 361-0556 or [email protected].
=====
New Sites to See:
TechEmployment.com -- for high
tech jobs
www.techemployment.com
=====
Children Doc -- pediatric advice
www.childrendoc.com
=====
InaQuest, an administrative resource that is an online system
for printing
and promotional needs.
www.inaQuest.com
=====
Womansdesktop -- Information and support for women
www.womansdesktop.com
A Few Women's Conference Announcements:
=====
Feminist Expo 2000 -- March 31 - April 2, 2000
www.feminist.org/expo2000/expo2000.html
=====
Women.future Conference on April 5, 2000
www.women.com/womenfuture/
=====
EMA 2000 -- 2nd Emerging Markets International Fair, Sept. 20-22,
2000
www.ema2000.ch
_____________________________________
OXYGEN MEDIA SPOTLIGHT
Will you be watching the Super
Bowl this weekend?? Look for word about
Oxygen's new cable channel launching on select cable carriers
across the
nation on February 2, 2000 (02/02!). And of course, don't forget
to visit
Lisa Roberts at Oxygen any time at:
http://ka-ching.com/business
and stop in for Lisa's weekly
chat open to ALL Entrepreneurial Parents on
Monday nights, 10:00 p.m. EST at:
http://ka-ching.com/community
We look forward to "seeing"
you there!
_____________________________
A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR
Do You Plan to Succeed?
Every entrepreneur *expects*
to succeed. How many *plan* to succeed? You'd
be surprised at the answer! The difference between success and
satisfaction
and business failure is not luck, but PLANNING.
The most common causes of business
failure are insufficient marketing,
undercapitalization, and lack of focus. Depressing, maybe. But
all of these
causes can be eliminated or minimized by a GOOD BUSINESS PLAN.
Together, we can develop a solid
marketing strategy that is flexible and
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initial capital in a small business? With a coach, you can ZAP
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those causes for failure and take charge of your future.
If you are coachable (ask me
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together to ferret out all the fears and grey areas, minimize
your weaknesses
and risks, and develop the positive goals that will move you
forward into
success.
Your first consultation is free
(30 minutes or so); EPnews readers qualify
for the discounted EP rates.* Pay by February 14, and take an
additional 10%
off to get your New Year off on the right foot!
Contact Jay Cox at mailto:[email protected]
to jumpstart your future.
Be sure to put "coachability quiz" in the subject line.
Sign up for the FREE
ezine, Seeds -- brief, weekly messages filled with encouragement
and wisdom
for the 21st C. Send a note to the same email address with "Seeds"
in the
subject line.
*Discounts only apply to monthly
and twice a month levels. Hourly rates are
available, too! Online payments now possible via x.com, a full-service,
on-line bank at http://www.x.com
___________________________
CONTACT/SUBSCRIPTION INFO
The Entrepreneurial Parent, LLC
is not engaged in rendering legal or
financial advice. If expert assistance is required, the services
of a
licensed professional should be sought.
This newsletter may be redistributed
freely via the Internet. Re-publishing
of separate articles for your print publication needs approval
first; write
to: [email protected] for permission.
© 2000, The Entrepreneurial
Parent, LLC
Editor: Lisa M. Roberts
EP Webmaster: Deborah Sechrist
POB 320722, Fairfield, CT 06432; http://en-parent.com
Ph:/Fax: (203) 371-6212, Email: [email protected]
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