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Planet::Articles
To build a long-term brand you need repeat purchase from loyal brand fans. They are the ones who enthuse about you, don't consider alternatives when buying, and recommend you warmly to all their mates. Word of mouth is trusted far more by consumers than expensive advertising, and it costs you nothing. How can you generate that warmth?
For years, working for someone else, I'd been able to take time off and not worry about a work. Now, running my own business, going away is a different story. I think going away is imperative, if you can. It's so important to rest. By the time I went away, I was shattered, and by the time I came back I was raring to go and ready for the next 6 months! This will benefit my business, if I'm healthy and energetic. So I thought I'd share my experiences to see if this can benefit your business too.
At some point, even working from home, you will need to collaborate with a group of people in different locations. This might be to develop a new product, work on ways to promote what you do or organise a public event. Thankfully there are a range of free services to help you do this effectively online.
- Get a cleaner. Mine comes once a week for 2 hours for around £20 and does the cleaning, leaving me time to tidy. It's so worth it!
- Order your food shopping online. Okay, so it takes an hour the first time, but just 5 minutes for the basics after that. I buy the rest locally (butchers, bakers, candlestick makers) in the market town where I live, and go for coffee afterwards, knowing Tesco is taking care of the household staples (washing powder, loo rolls, cat food, dinner, nappies, chocolate, etc).
- Get your house sorted. I'm not talking about making a show house, but put systems in place, know where your bits and bobs are. Spend just 15 minutes each evening doing a little tidying - putting toys away, getting kids school uniforms and your clothes ready the night before, laundry and ironing every other day. So much easier than letting it all build up only to spend your precious weekends sorting it.
- Set aside an hour a week to sort out your finances. We do it every week on a Monday night. That means less stress and more bills paid on time with no charges or arguments.
- Okay, so this bit is boring, but it works: create a schedule on your BlackBerry or your iPhone of what needs doing around the house each week: so, food shopping (order online Thursday evening), laundry and ironing (say Monday, Wednesday and Friday), tidying (15 mins each night), finances... maybe Monday evenings get together with your other half for a one hour reward and a bottle of wine? Then spend the rest of the time with your family and on your hobbies...
Life is short, so make the most of yours! If you're struggling with getting your life and your home sorted call Caroline today on 0780 313 6023 to discuss creating a life plan that will change your life and make time for you and your family to enjoy the nicer things in life!
Caroline O'Neill is a life strategist, speaker and author. She shares her steps for happiness, success and wealth by using a success approach that mixes life coaching with strategies such as space planning, time abundance and a little secret ingredient to help you overcome obstacles and achieve your goals.
Photo credit: alasam
On Tuesday, I explained how I recorded a Skype call with Enterprise Nation founder Emma Jones. Now that conversation is on the blog, let me explain to you how it got there in just five steps.
- Firstly, make sure you've got a an MP3 or an AAC copy of your recording. They're the two most popular audio file formats.
- Then find a suitable host for your file. We used the Internet Archive, which lets you share any kind of media that you own. We wanted to use AudioBoo, which is a bit trendier really! But it's got a five minute limit on audio uploads. The steps are pretty much the same though.
- On the host website, look for the upload button, select your audio file, watch it upload and then wait for it to process. You'll have to register for the Internet Archive and for AudioBoo to do this, but they're both free and pretty easy to use.
- Once your audio has processed, you should see a page with a player on it. Click the play button to make sure everything sounds right, then look for the 'embed' link beside or beneath the player. You should see some funny looking code. Copy that!
- Then switch to your own website or blog and start a new page or post. In whatever editor you use - maybe Blogger, WordPress, Mr Site, etc. - switch to HTML mode. Most editors should have this. You should see more of that funny looking code! It's easier to understand than you think. Place your cursor where you want the audio player to appear and paste the code.
You may need to fiddle with that last step a bit to get the player exactly where you want it. Also, your website editor might make this easier or harder!
Let us know how you get on in the links below.
San Sharma
San is community manager at Enterprise Nation, as well as the voice of @e_nation on Twitter.
Photo credit: zoomar
Regus is giving out free businessworld gold global membership for 1 month to anyone who fills out the survey. That's unlimited access to drop-in business lounges and cafes, plus complimentary internet access and refreshments at over 1,000 Regus locations worldwide. A pretty good deal, we think!
Shall we get started?
Photo credit: Drink for Design
In a brand new feature on Enterprise Nation, we'll be listening out for your pleas and matching your business, lifestyle and technology dilemmas with the people who can help.
Whether you're unsure about what counts as a business expense, how you can better manage your work/life balance, or how to use Twitter effectively, our experts are waiting for your call.
And this is how you can get in touch:
- By leaving your business, lifestyle or technology dilemma in the comments below
- By replying to the Get 'Help!' topic in our forum
- By writing to us on Twitter, starting your tweet with '@e_nation Help!'
- By writing on our Facebook fan page wall, starting your post with 'Help!'
- Or by leaving us a voice mail on our Skype number: +44 (0)208 123 9436
If a problem shared is a problem halved, we could smash your dilemma into tiny little pieces! However you get in touch, we'll share your message, your tweet, post or voice mail with our readers and listeners on Enterprise Nation - and crucially with our experts.
They're standing by, ready to help.
San Sharma
San is community manager at Enterprise Nation, as well as the voice of @e_nation on Twitter.
Photo credit: estherase
Business services
Are you an IT contractor, graphic designer, business coach or expert translator? These sites are a good match for your talents:
- PeoplePerHour.com
Over 45,000 freelancers use this website to source work and new clients. As the freelancer, you respond to job opportunities, pitch for work and receive payment, all via the website. - Business Smiths
Companies needing anything from business plans to web design head to this site to find experts who can help. Could you be one of them? - Wooshii
A new kid on the block, this website has been created for creatives who produce video and rich media. Companies upload their projects and Wooshii registered creatives respond with their best offer. - Lingo24
For linguists, Lingo24 can become your business development tool as work is sourced on your behalf. Clients include multinational companies and government bodies and Lingo24 services these clients with a workforce of thousands of freelance translators spread across the globe.
Personal services
If health, beauty and wellbeing is more your thing, here’s where to head:
- Return to Glory
London's largest home massage and mobile beauty company, this website is a displaying ground for beauticians and health experts who deliver treatments in the clients own home. - Wahanda
Welcome to the world of therapists, stylists, practitioners and trainers. They gather at wahanda.com as customers come looking, ready to order their services
Handmade crafts
There's a growing number of websites catering to the artisan and handmade community. Here's just three of them:
- Etsy
The mother of all craft sites. Since the company launched in June 2005, more than 250,000 sellers from around the world have opened up Etsy shops. - MyEhive
Launched in September 2008 to promote the products of handmade devotees - notonthehighstreet.com
This website offers personalised gifts and other delights you – as the name suggests! – won't find on the high street. At the end of 2009 the company reported 1,500 craft designers using the site with sales of £6.4m.
Manufacturing
- Alibaba
Through this website you can make your niche manufacturing dreams come true by sourcing production in China and then selling the finished item.
There are many more websites like these - websites that make selling so much more straightforward for the freelancer, the home business owner or the 5to9'er. Test them out and watch those sales roll in!
Emma Jones
Emma is founder of Enterprise Nation, a business expert and author of Spare Room Start Up and Working 5 to 9.
Photo credit: the justified sinner
It's easy to get great quality free photos for your website, using a Flickr search tool, like Compfight:
- Go to http://www.compfight.com
- Enter a search term in the search box. You can have Compfight search through photo tags or text, like in the photo's title or description
- If you're looking for a photo to use for commercial use, choose 'Commercial' from the Creative Commons field; to find only Creative Commons licensed photos, choose 'Only'; or for all photos choose 'Off'
- Hit the search button
- Click the thumbnail of the photo you'd like to use
- In the Flickr window that opens, click the 'All Sizes' button above the photo
- Download the photo to your computer and use it on your website
- Remember to include a credit in your post, linking to the original photo or the photographer's Flickr account. See below for an example!
What is a Creative Commons license?
A Creative Commons license is a free alternative to copyrighting your work - and it gives you more flexibility with how your work is used by others. In the example in this post, the photographer has allowed us to share and adapt their work as long as we provide attribution. You can check for usage terms yourself, by clicking the 'CC' icon below the photo in Flickr.
Find out more on the link below.
San Sharma
San is community manager at Enterprise Nation, as well as the voice of @e_nation on Twitter.
Photo credit: kalandrakas