Moms and Online Shopping: How to Reach this Lucrative Market

So great is the boom in Internet retailing, that a Forrest Research survey estimated U.S. online sales would grow from $96 billion in 2003, to more than $200 billion by 2008. Who is out there, doing all that buying?

A good part of the market is women, particularly young mothers who are part of the consumer group that cite a preference for Internet shopping to avoid crowds, get better prices, compare products, and reduce the need to travel around to find what they want.

In 2003, women in the 18-34 year age bracket made up 15% of Internet users. They also constituted 24% of the buyers from cosmetic and fragrance sites, 20% of the customers for wearing apparel, and 22% of the shoppers for jewelry and other luxury items.

With 50% of online purchases being made by someone from a household where the chief wage earner is between 25 and 55 years of age, there is growing evidence that the family unit, particularly where women are responsible for the buying of goods for personal use and gifts for others, significantly impacts the annual sales figures for all online retailers.

It also impacts local retail sales, with industry statistics showing that the research done by potential customers online, results in $1.50 spent locally, for every $1 spend on Internet shopping.

According to a recent survey conducted by Marketing Sherpa, one of the best ways to tap into the lucrative mom’s market is through solid information. If you’re looking for great content to appeal to moms, get it cost-effectively at All Mom Content

technorati tags:online, marketing, content, moms

How Failure Breeds Success

Below is an interesting article by Jena McGregor for Businessweek online. Although she's giving examples in the corporate sector, the information and insights are applicable to your family business as well.  As a family you'll need to take some risks and try some things to see if they'll work for you or not.

Here's a quote from the article.  I hope you enjoy it!

...But intelligent failures—those that happen early and inexpensively and that contribute new insights about your customers—should be more than just tolerable. They should be encouraged. "Figuring out how to master this process of failing fast and failing cheap and fumbling toward success is probably the most important thing companies have to get good at," says Scott Anthony, the managing director at consulting firm Innosight.

How Failure Breeds Success

How Failure Breeds Success

technorati tags:business, ideas, success, failure

Summer Survival Tips

My friend Sherry Freward is a work at home mom and writes some great articles and this is one of them! Since the mom is usually the one running the family business to start while Dad continues his full time work until the business can hold it's own, it's good to think about ways to make it work with all the other responsibilites of motherhood.

Enjoy the article and thanks Sherry!




Work at Home Mom Summer Survival Guide by Sherry Frewerd

Working at home during the summer creates challenges for the WAHM. As the summer begins, there’s a lot to keep the kids entertained and give Mom time to work on her business. As the summer progresses, however, choruses of ‘Mom I’m bored’ ring out, causing otherwise mild mannered Moms to throw up their hands in complete desperation; right before they start planning an escape route.



Moms can’t escape for too long however, and kids have an uncanny knack of finding the hiding spot anyway. So what can you do to keep your business in tact during the summer months when the cherubs are effectively running the show?



How flexible are you? No, I don’t mean can you play a mean game of Twister while baking a pan of blueberry muffins, but rather, how willing or able are you to adjust your normal work at home day to meet the ever changing demands of tireless children?



Leslie Spencer, founder of http://hbwm.com , suggests using a laptop with a wireless internet connection. You’ll be a mobile mom, able to take your work anywhere your kids go.



Planning and preparation will make your life less stressful. Before summer vacation begins, do some research to find local youth programs being offered and enroll your kids. Make lists of ‘things to do’ and have ready all of the needed supplies so your school age kids can entertain themselves.



Be realistic. Come to terms with the fact that you may not be as productive during the summer, and schedule your work to make the best use of your time.



Summer challenges for WAHMs do not have to cripple your business. Find local groups and activities for your kids to participate in and remember, time with your kids will pass all too soon, and summer vacation is just one part of WAHM life.


Sherry Frewerd publishes several websites and blogs for various affiliate and networking promotions. A WAHM, she has created The WAHM Summer Survival Guide, complete with tips and ideas from real work at home moms; along with a free downloadable E-book full of activities and suggestions for how to keep the troops entertained during the summer. http://wahmsummersurvivalguide.homestead.com



Article Source: www.ladypens.com

technorati tags:family, business, home based business

Using your home business as part of your homeschool curriculum

Here's an article by Annette Yen. Club Mom published an excerpt of this article back in April 2006. Enjoy!

A Home Business is a perfect compliment to your home school curriculum. Children of all ages can benefit from working with you in a family business. Try some of these simple tips to find the right home business for your home schooling family:

* Have an initial family brainstorming session. Sit down together over the dining room table and talk about what you like to do together as a family. Talk about each family member's skills and how they might contribute to your family business. Make sure one of the kids who can write can take notes on your discussion. This meeting is not to determine your business, just to start the discussion with everyone.

* Create a family business binder or notebook. Keep your binder in a prominent place (the kitchen!) and give everyone in the family the freedom to jot more notes as they think of them. No thought or idea is a bad one in this brainstorming phase. Have a section for "Business Ideas" and "Book Suggestions". Have a pocket available in your notebook for newspaper clippings and magazine articles. The little ones who might be too young to jot notes in the binder should be encouraged to share their ideas with the older kids or mom and dad who can transfer their thoughts into the binder as well.

* Ask around. Start talking with your extended family, friends, church members and neighbors about your hopes for doing a business together. Ask for their ideas. Often new businesses are formed just from hearing the needs and ideas of people around you. Talk to other home business owners that you know about how they got started.

• Research. Spend some time at the library and/or the Internet researching various topics within your family’s passion areas. Search some work at home websites and read about opportunities already out there. Make sure you spend time investigating to insure that any potential business you consider isn't a work at home scam...there are a lot of them out there so be diligent.

• Meet as a family again. Go through your notebook and cross off any idea that doesn’t sound good to everyone. Talk through the possibilities, read through the articles and start narrowing down your choices. Discuss again each child’s skill level and how they might contribute in the choices you’ve selected as well as any limitations you might have to doing a certain business. The key here is to narrow down to one or two ideas that would involve each member of your family.

Once you’ve found the right business you can begin to craft a family business plan, which will also serve as a curriculum guide for that part of your home schooling year. The fun is just beginning!

5 Lessons Your Kids Will Learn by Starting A Business

5 Lessons Your Kids Will Learn By Starting A Business
By Joelle Davidson

Kids need to be kids and enjoy their time as children. But, at the same time, as they get older, they also need to learn to make money and function in our society as responsible adults.



Oftentimes, they get a job at a Burger Joint, where they learn how to listen to a boss, and how to work with others, but then they may also have to give up some extracurricular activities, study time and time with family. Not terrible things, but enough of a challenge that many families are helping their kids start their own businesses.



Why? Let’s compare the lessons your kid is learning working at a burger joint verses starting a business.



1. Responsibility.



Burger Joint: Yes, it teaches responsibility. You need to show up for work and do a good job or your boss and co-workers will get mad at you.



Entrepreneur: Teaches you responsibility as well. You need to work hard or you won’t get paid.



2. The Value of a Dollar



Burger Joint: You learn that time is money.



Entrepreneur: You learn that creativity, ownership of responsibility and hard work is money.



3. How to Market Yourself



Burger Joint: Teaches you how to fill out an application and go on an interview to market yourself. You do this once and then you’re done.



Entrepreneur: You have to market yourself and your business on an ongoing basis if you want to make any money.



4. Customer Service



Burger Joint: Service with a smile or your boss may reprimand you.



Entrepreneur: Service with a smile or you don’t get repeat business and your income drops.



5. Banking Skills



Burger Joint: You learn how to collect a paycheck and how to deposit it into the bank.



Entrepreneur: You learn how to budget for advertising costs, taxes, and expenses and weigh them against your profits. You learn to deposit your income into the bank and write checks to cover expenses. You learn how business works.



As you can see, both options have benefits. As for which option you’ll choose? That’s up to you and your child.



About the Author: Joelle Davidson welcomes you to http://www.showkidsthemoney.com where you’ll find plenty of free information to help your kids start their own businesses.



Source: www.isnare.com

technorati tags:family, business, kids

A good article in Businesssweek on getting the family business going...

Although this article focuses more on getting adult children into a family business, the tips he suggests can easily be applied to starting a business with kids still in the home.

Thanks to Timothy Habbershon and Businessweek for a great article:

The Talent Bank At Home To sell kids on the family biz, treat them like pros Even though family businesses often struggle to find talented employees who will stick around, many entrepreneurs don't realize they have exactly the talent they're looking for in their own children. Each spring, I listen to undergraduate and graduate students trying to decide whether to join their families' businesses. It's not just a sense of obligation that is driving them. Many really want to work with their parents, but worry that challenging and rewarding work isn't an option in the family business.

Read the rest of this article here...

The Talent Bank At Home

technorati tags:family, business, biz, children

Here's a DVD course you might be interested in to start....

Finally! A course specifically designed for FAMILIES to teach them how to start their own business! Want to start a small family business, but do not know where to start? Finally, there is a biblically based course on DVD geared for families and teens! This eight-hour information packed course will take you by the hand and guide you through the obstacles of starting a business the whole family can be involved in. Click on the lilnk below for all the details: Starting A Family Business!

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Just to kick off this blog! :-)