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- EPnews -- from The Entrepreneurial
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a work-family resource for home-based entrepreneurs
@ www.en-parent.com
- Volume 3, Issue 1
April 7, 1999
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A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR:
For EPs, the Web is Working.
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home-based
business has never been so favorable. The Internet is helping
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indirectly, as well, by creating exciting new ways to purchase
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needed to be
part of some huge organization to get affordable group rates?
Well, EPs no
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- _______________CONTENTS_______________
The Funny Things EP Kids Say & Do!
- EP Times -- An Editorial
What's It Worth?
Making Money Matters
EP Q&As
We Recommend
EPs Respond
What's Happening at EP
- New Membership Options
_________________________________________
Note to New Subscribers: EPnews
is published and distributed on the second
and fourth Wednesday of every month. The Entrepreneurial Parent
at
http://www.en-parent.com
is updated every weekend; look for new content on
Mondays.
____________________________________
THE FUNNY THINGS EP KIDS SAY & DO!
Submitted by EPnews Subscriber,
Evelyn Hardesty (mailto:[email protected]).
=====
When I am really bogged down
with work, I don't usually shower until after I
pick my kids up from school. The other day my seven year old,
Rose, comes
into the bathroom saying to whoever's on the phone, "Well,
she's in the
shower, but you can talk to her..."
=====
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]
with the subject heading "A Funny Thing My EP Kid
Said (or Did)". 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://en-parent.com/familybooks.htm.
On those
stressed-out EP days, you'll be glad you did!
____________________________________
EP
TIMES -- AN EDITORIAL
"War, Work and Parenthood"
© 1999 by Lisa Roberts
It's hard to focus on business
when our country is at war. Every task I work
on seems trivial. Every business solution becomes anti-climatic
problem-solving. Every new brainstorm seems like misdirected
thought and
energy.
It's hard to listen to my kids
in heated discussion over which candy -- jelly
beans or marshmallow rabbits -- is the greater prize in their
Easter baskets,
when visions of refugees -- from infants to the elderly -- have
been crossing
over the television screen and front page news stories for two
weeks now. My
husband's eczema and my periodic sinus troubles are thrown into
the pile of
trivia along with upcoming parent-teacher conferences and end-of-year
school
projects. In short, during this time of international unrest,
parenting my
well-provided for children seems more of a blessing yet more
of an indulgence
as well.
Without question, our family's
aches and pains and worries are like mosquito
bites in a cancer ward in respect to world news. How do we go
about the
business of our blatantly sheltered day when the business of
the day for
thousands of refugees is scrambling for food, shelter and a shred
of hope?
My mother, who visited Yugoslavia
with my father three times in the past,
helped me bring the Kosovo people and their experience to light.
I asked her
to share her thoughts and experience with us for this issue.
She wrote:
"In 1989 we made our first
trip to Yugoslavia to visit Medjugorje, a place we
felt was holy ground, to give thanks for our eldest daughter's
recovery from
Hodgkin's disease (Lisa's sister). During our visit we stayed
with a family
from that village. You could see how close and devoted they were
to each
other. They had so much less than what we in America are use
to, but were
content with what they had. They worked so much harder than we
do for their
daily existence, but worked without complaint. We went to visit
a nearby town
called Mostar while we were there. Everyone there was kind and
warm also. It
made our heart break to know that war had broken out and destroyed
Mostar
after we had left during the Bosnia war. Now to think of all
the refugees in
Kosovo that have been forced out of their homes and country makes
me very
sad. How do you leave everything that you own and love and still
go on? I
know how difficult it was for my parents, who migrated from Italy
to America,
to do this, but at least it was their *choice*. God give the
people of Kosovo
the strength they need."
For my part, I believe it helps
to get involved, in whatever remote way
possible, considering that we are so far away in time, distance
and
experience. When I found a listing in the newspaper of organizations
taking
donations for the refugees, my family came to prompt attention,
and everyone
with their own bank account was willing and eager to contribute
in some way.
Granted, what we can give is a drop in the bucket, but that bucket
is deep
and every drop counts.
Wherever you are living and whatever
you may think about the decisions our
leaders are making as each day of this crisis unfolds, you may
be interested
in helping the incomprehensible number of displaced Balkan families.
Here are
a few international organizations standing by for your call:
CARE, 800-521-CARE, www.care.org
Catholic Relief Services, 800-736-3467, www.catholicrelief.org
Christian Children's Fund, 800-776-6767, www.christianchildrensfund.org
Doctors of the World, 888-817-4357, www.doctorsoftheworld.org
Doctors Without Borders, 888-392-0392, www.dwb.org
International Medical Corps, 800-481-4462, www.imc-la.org
International Rescue Committee, 877-REFUGEE, www.intrescom.org
Lutheran World Relief, 800-597-5972
MAP International, 800-225-8550, www.map.org
Mercy Corps International, Kosovo Relief, 800-852-2100, www.mercycorps.org
World Vision, 888-511-6423, www.worldvision.org
May peace be within each of you
individually, and our respective countries at
large, very soon.
=====
Lisa Roberts is the mother of four, Web Producer of The Entrepreneurial
Parent and the author of "How to Raise A Family & A
Career Under One Roof:
A Parent's Guide to Home Business." For more info on her
book, go to
<<http://en-parent.com/bkinfo.htm>>
_____________________________________
WHAT'S
IT WORTH?
"Who's Doing the Cleaning?"
by deB Sechrist
For a lot of us, no matter how
much we talk about delegation, cooperation,
shared responsibility or earning allowances, the plain fact remains
that the
majority of the housework still falls to the parent who's at
home, even if
the spouse supports the home business, even if the kids are old
enough to
pitch in and do their share. Finding ways to cut housework time
and effort
then becomes an integral part of managing the work/family balance.
The first issue to resolve is
to find your comfort level with how you want
your house to look on a day-to-day basis. Once you find your
level and
delegate all you can, learn to accept and not feel guilty about
your decision
or your limits. This may also take some negotiation with your
spouse to
moderate expectations s/he may have and to find a standard everyone
can live
with.
Then make a plan that will work
for you and your business. Do you do better
with a whole-family cleanup day where all participate and all
possible
chores, even cooking, are done at once? Or is it more effective
to spread
the chores over the course of the week, a few a day until the
week's cycle is
complete?
Although I've BTDT on both, right
now the latter works better for me -- each
day there's a sense of accomplishment and the house stays at
an overall
low-effort level of cleanliness. Best of all is the flexibility:
if I have a
deadline on Tuesday, the vacuuming can usually wait until Wednesday
or
Thursday if it has to. Nightly before dinner all toys are put
away in
roughly categorized boxes and the house is restored to the "clean"
mode.
Laundry is ongoing every day with a big foldfest every 3-4 days
when all the
baskets are full. The miniblinds are vacuumed when I do the floors,
the light
fixtures and fans get cleaned when I have to change the lightbulb.
Everyone
pulls the comforters up on the beds each morning and the bathroom
sink and
floor are quickly wiped down nightly after the kids' bath.
A hard-fast rule for me is that
I don't do any housework during prime work
time, i.e., whenever my kids are asleep or at school. I usually
don't try to
work on the home business when they're around, but I do catch
up on email
correspondence and some small filing or data entry tasks while
they eat lunch
or play nearby. That way they're used to seeing me doing something
all the
time and I can sneak in a few minutes of work here and there
if I need to.
Even the best-laid plans can
catch you up short, though. For "emergencies" I
confess to having a handy can of disinfecting bathroom spray
cleaner in my
closet for those days when I have 10 minutes to make the bathroom
sparkle for
company or the occasional client stopping by. Of course I always
buy it when
on sale and with a coupon...:-).
=====
deBorah Sechrist is the mother of three, Webmanager of The Entrepreneurial
Parent and owner of deBweB, a web design business. Find out more
about deB
at http://www.en-parent.com/webdsn.htm.
____________________________________________
MAKING MONEY MATTERS
Being available to your kids
and managing a career under one roof sounds to
many like the best of both worlds, but without pulling in some
kind of
income what's all the effort for? Making Money Matters! This
week Susan Pisani of "Cruisin Easy...where you get Oceans
of Options for Cruises and much more!" shares her marketing
tips
with us. You can reach Susan at [email protected],
by phone at (888) SEA-EASY, (732-3279), or her Web site at
www.cruisefun.com/cruisineasy
=====
1. In a 2-3 sentence statement,
explain what your home business is about,
including your target market and "mission statement."
We sell cruise and tour travel
to the public with an emphasize on added
values and personalized service. Our target market is 25 to 75
year olds who
want the "extra service and expertise, i.e. personalized
service" that most
travel agencies don't take the time to provide their clients.
Our mission
statement is: Cruisin Easy strives to provide great rates and
service beyond
the "typical order-taking mantra" most travel agencies
tend to provide. We
treat our clients like friends and their trips or vacations as
if we are
taking them ourselves.
2. What are the most popular
products and/or services you sell? How much do
you sell them for (or what's your hourly rate), and how did you
find the
right price/fee schedule for them?
Our most popular product and
service are cruise travel consulting. There is
no consulting cost to our clients as we are paid a commission
by the cruise
line or travel company whose product we sell. Through our years
of
experience, we have learned to differentiate between a potential
client who
is serious versus a "tire kicker." Our clients find
our knack for detail and
personalized service an added value to do business with us. Our
commissions
versus the time spent with each customer can roughly range from
$50.00 per
hour and upwards, depending on the amount of research and extras
a client may
desire.
3. What are *your* favorite products
and/or services? Why do you like to
sell them?
Cruises are our favorite product.
The customer satisfaction rate is the
highest in travel, running about 98%. There is only one time
unpacking and
packing on a cruise. No other land-based vacations offer as much
inclusively
with the amount of high level service and pampering experienced
on a ship.
Entertainment and activities are included. One can do as much
or as little as
they want and still get the same wonderful service.
4. Tell us a bit about your marketing
campaign. When did you start noticing
your first sales (after which marketing technique), what marketing
efforts
have you noticed yield the greatest results, and how do you make
your first
contact and subsequent sales (via online, phone, fax, mail, face-to-face)?
We market locally and through
the Internet. Word of mouth and referrals from
clients have offered our best growth. We also have expanded our
market by
offering business opportunities for satellite offices throughout
the US and
hopefully soon outside the US. We offer our "crew"
members training, moral
support, marketing tools, cruise training trips, etc. and continually
recruit
from clients or interested parties who see our classified ads
or respond to
one of our websites. We use all forms of communications -- email,
phone,
fax, as well as face to face. As we love what we are doing, our
enthusiasm is
infectious.
____________________________________
EP Q&As
Have a question? It may already
be answered in 1 of the 16 EP Expert Q&A
pages now up and running! Check them out at
http://en-parent.com/experts.com
(follow the "Q&A" links). If your question
isn't answered there, then send it to: [email protected].
We'll be glad
to help you out if we can!
Q. I'm about to negotiate a contract
with my current employer to do work out
of my home. While this is exciting and exactly what I've been
wanting to do,
starting my own business within one month is scary. I want to
negotiate a
fair hourly contract rate, but don't want to gauge my employer
or price
myself out of my first home business job. On the other hand,
I don't want to
be taken advantage of because of my lack of time to plan. What
expenses do I
need to consider when determining my hourly rate?
Thank you for your attention,
Anne Ramstetter Wenzel
A. Dear Anne,
First of all, in your move from
employee to independent contractor (IC), you
may want to consult with an accountant or tax attorney regarding
whether the
work you end up doing for your soon-to-be former employer meet
the strict and
specific, IRS-defined criteria for "independent contractor."
A checklist
exists to help make the determination. If you work as an independent
contractor for them, but are later discovered to be miscategorized
based on
the criteria, I understand both parties can get into "hot
water" by the IRS.
If all is well in that arena,
when figuring your hourly rate, take into
account what you must now cover yourself, without the help of
an employer:
the portion of Social Security taxes your employer was paying
for you, which
will double what you as an employee alone pays (called self-employment
tax if
you are set up as a sole proprietor); insurance (medical, life,
disability);
office supplies; equipment (purchase, maintenance and repair);
utilities;
plus holiday, sick and vacation pay (you must have a rate that
allows you to
take such days off).
If you will be doing work for
other clients (this is an important item on the
aforementioned checklist), you need to consider sales and marketing
expenses,
including your time. Time for planning, accounting duties and
the like, will
also be on your own time. While my expertise is in helping employees
set up
work from home as an _employee_ (telecommuting and other flexible
work
arrangements), from my own experience and research, one recommended
rule of
thumb is to charge about 2-1/2 to 3 times what your hourly rate
was as an
employee. (Even if you were salaried, figure your hourly.)
A pre-contract-signing trip to
the library or book store for a crash course
on subjects related to your needs (negotiating, fee-setting,
business
start-ups) will probably yield a valuable payoff for you. If
I were you, I
would start on the higher side and negotiate down, but have a
bottom line
figure and hold firm.
Best wishes in your new venture.
Pat Katepoo
=====
Pat Katepoo is the founder of a home-based career consulting
service, Work
Options Inc., and creator of a popular workbook-on-disk, "Flex
Success: A
Proposal Blueprint for Getting a Family-Friendly Work Schedule."
To learn
more about Pat's work, go to http://www.workoptions.com;
to ask her a
question, go to http://en-parent.com/Experts/exp-katepoo.htm
_____________________________________
WE RECOMMEND
From our EP Parenting Expert,
Jodie Lynn: Calling all Moms! Send me your
best funny story titled: "GO AHEAD AND LAUGH," and
you may win a free copy of
my latest book, "Mommy-CEO." Come on moms -- let's
show America what we're
made of and what makes us laugh (and connect together in some
of our funny
scenarios at home or the office). Check out the details and contest
rules
at: www.parenttoparent.com
and your story may be published for all of America
to get their giggle boxes going! Sample topics are available
for you to
review. Who knows -- your story may be chosen to be published
in an upcoming
book! :)
_____________________________________
WHAT'S HAPPENING AT EP
IN THE EP COMMUNITY: Congratulations
are in order for EPnews Subscriber
Marjorie Love, President of Hermitage Ol'factorie, Inc., 813-960-3230,
[email protected]. Her original
product, "Aroma Dough," appeared on the
nationally televised Donny & Marie talk show yesterday, April
6! The famous
Osmonds and viewers nationwide learned about Aroma Dough -- the
first product
that combines a natural stress ball with pure essential oils
-- from the
managing editor of SPA magazine in a segment entitled, "A
Day in the Spa
Without Ever Leaving Home." An "EP Triumph" to
be sure!!
Congratulations also go to Debbie
Williams of "Let's Get It Together"
(www.organizedtimes.com).
She had over 3800 visitors during the week of her
Online Organizing Expo! For all those EPs who paid her a visit,
a big thank
you & let's do it again next year...
Debbie has also volunteered to
help out with our "EP Office Clean-up Day."
We're thrilled to have her onboard to spearhead the event. Mark
your calendar
for Wednesday, May 26, a few days before the unofficial start
of the summer
season (Memorial Day Weekend). This seems an appropriate time
for some home
office "Spring Cleaning"... In the meantime, suggested
activities for the
event are most definitely welcome -- mailto: [email protected]
and let's
work on this together.
NEW FEATURES: All back issues
of EPnews are now archived, the EP Showcase has
Sue Piller of Senior Care Solutions' new profile, a "What's
New?" Bookshelf
at the EP Bookstore has been built, and a new crop of EP Q&As
are now
available at the site.
Have an opinion or idea? Let's
hear it -- mailto: [email protected].
We
look forward to hearing what you have to say!
____________________________________
EPs RESPOND
This new EPnews column will be
the Voice of our Subscribers, Members and
Visitors. If you have an opinion about our Web site or newsletter,
this is
the place to air it! So far, gratefully, we hear only the good
things...but
all feedback is welcome ;-). Mailto: [email protected]
=====
From Sue Piller, owner of Senior Care Solutions a home-based
business that
assists seniors or their adult children with health care needs.
Sue is a new
member of the National Association of Entrepreneurial Parents.
You can meet
Sue, learn how and why she became an EP, and what she advises
others at her
EP Profile Page: <<http://en-parent.com/Profiles/Piller.htm>>
"I love my new profile!
My son was so excited to see his picture up there,
thank you so much. I can't tell you what this means to me!"
=====
From Michelle Donahue-Arpas, www.geniusbabies.com:
"I just wanted to take a
moment to tell you how much I appreciate your
newsletter. I have subscribed to a bunch, and yours is really
on the top of
the list! Very informative, clear and fun too! As a pretty new
EP, I find it
very useful. (Of course, it took two days to be able to open
it and have the
chance to read and enjoy it!) Keep up the great work :-)"
=====
From Mary Beth, [email protected],
1-Stop PartyShop:
"Hi! I just had to let you
know how much I enjoyed reading the newsletter
today. I think this is probably one of the best that I've been
getting
recently, filled with informative views, ideas, information,
etc., etc., etc.
Thanks so much for a great newsletter and site for the 'EP!!'"
____________________________________
NEW MEMBERSHIP OPTIONS
The National Association of Entrepreneurial
Parents (NAEP), a "real-time"
community and career resource for the 15-million strong who are
pursuing
home-based careers while raising their growing families, is now
accepting
Charter Memberships.
~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~
SPECIAL EPNEWS SUBSCRIBER DISCOUNT RATE:
Get in as an EPnews Charter Member
of NAEP and you'll receive a 25% discount
off membership dues! That's just $33.75 for the first year, or
$45 for a
2-year membership. (Orders MUST come in before May 1, 1999 to
get the
discount, and you must already be an EPnews subscriber BEFORE
ordering your
NAEP Charter Membership.)
TO GET YOUR DISCOUNT --->>
Add the line "I am an EPnews Subscriber" under the
question "What would you like EP to offer, both online and
off?" on the
application form <<http://en-parent.com/member2.htm>>.
We are so sure that membership
in the National Association of Entrepreneurial
Parents will meet (and hopefully exceed!) your needs that we
are even
offering a 30-day money-back guarantee on your membership dues.
You have
nothing to lose, so join today! Go to: <<http://en-parent.com/member2.htm>>
~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~
To learn more about what NAEP
has to offer you, go to:
<<http://en-parent.com/NAEP.htm>>
___________________________
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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