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Three Women Entrepreneurs and Their Important Considerations For Launching a New Product or Service

 

Go Jane Go is passionate about her work, and has no problem marketing and selling herself, so she has plenty of clients—but she’s struggling to keep up with demand. She may be a classic overachiever, taking on volunteer opportunities as well, because she’s eager to make an impact on the world and may really struggle saying “no”.  Because she wants to “say yes” to so many opportunities, she may even be in denial about how many hours she actually works during the course of a week.  During the worst of times, Go Jane Go may tend to run herself ragged or feel guilty about all the things on her “to do list” that aren’t getting done quickly enough to satisfy her exacting demands. 

 

1. Sometimes, when you have a great idea, you don’t need to say “no” – but you DO need to say “not right now”. 

 

 

When you truly feel ready to commit to the new product or service launch, several things can make it easier for you to experience success without frustration:

 

1. Alternatively, hire someone (even part-time, virtually) to design and implement the new product for you, under your direction.
2. To preserve your sanity, You Need to give yourself plenty of cushion for the inevitable unexpected events.)

 

Merry Jane. This entrepreneur is usually building a part-time or “flexible time” business that gives her a creative outlet (whether she’s an ad agency consultant or an artist) that she can manage within specific constraints around her schedule.  She may have a day job, or need to be fully present for family or other pursuits. She realizes she could make more money by working longer hours, but she’s happy with the tradeoff she has made because her business gives her tremendous freedom to work how and when she wants, around her other commitments. 

 

1. Choose the method based on the size and type of customers you have.

 

 

Accidental Jane is a successful, confident business owner who never actually set out to start a business.  Instead, she may have decided to start a business due to frustration with her job or a layoff and decided to use her business and personal contacts to strike out on her own. Or, she may have created something that served her own unmet needs and later found other customers with the same need, giving birth to a business.  Accidental Jane enjoys what she does and is creating a satisfactory level of income. 

 

1. Below are some probing questions to ask yourself about your new product idea before taking the additional steps to create it:

 

• Will doing this be something I really enjoy?  Will it give me “job satisfaction”?
• How much time will it take to create this new product the right way?  Am I willing to add that many more hours to my plate?  Are there things I can give up to make room for it, without diminishing my income or happiness?
• What if this new product really takes off?  If there’s more demand that I can serve right now, what will I do?  Will I feel comfortable hiring people to help me?  Will I feel comfortable letting go of other work I’m doing today to make room for it?  If it really took off, how would it change the financials of my business and how I spend my time?
• If this new product doesn’t work out, how will I feel?  Will I be willing to invest additional time required to fix it or market it to make sure it works?  Will I feel like a failure or do I see this as an important opportunity for personal growth, even if it fails? 

 

Since Accidental Jane is generally happy with the way things are right now, using these questions as filters to determine whether or not to launch a new product will help her make sure she doesn’t “accidentally” create results that take away some of her joy or income.

 

1. The key to doing so lies in appreciating herself and her own business needs, and pursuing new opportunities in a way that will really serve the life she wants to live.

 

Interested in learning more about the five Jane types and which Jane you are? Check out www.janeoutofthebox.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

Michele DeKinder-Smith is the founder of Jane Out of The Box, an online resource dedicated to the women entrepreneur community. Discover more incredibly useful information for running a small business by joining Jane Out Of the Box. Jane offers networking and marketing opportunities, key resources and mentorship from successful women in business, and is now available as a FREE, 7-day trial membership. Claim yours today at www.janeoutofthebox.com

Merry Money Mania Snow Globe-(Lodi) 11/21/09

Scrooging – the How-to Guide to Merry Gift-giving

Scrooge must have been pretty smug, sitting by a fire with a nip of brandy while shoppers bustled their way through blizzards to buy the most wanted in Dickensian gifts, such as horsehair hairbrushes and tortoiseshell soup tureens. Festering in a drunken grumble, he would have then toddled off to bed alone, woken up alone, and had another nip of brandy —for breakfast—alone. Thankfully the activity of gift-giving is possible whereby you keep your friends, your sanity and ease the burden on the environment.

Gift-giving—whether it be Christmas or birthdays—is a perfunctory gesture of modern times as expected by all, as much as tax cut promises in election campaigns; the more you give, the more popular you are. But as anyone knows, shopping for gifts involves overheating the radiator while cruising for a parking spot, then traipsing around endless aisles with sweaty swollen feet. The whole thing rarely has the glow of goodness ascribed to cherub-cheeked Santa Claus. The elves do all the work and Santa rocks up to a house, gulps down some milk and cookies then pats the cat and ho ho hos on his merry way. Easy! But us mere mortals are faced with the dilemmas of gift-giving: unwanted presents, piles of packaging and exploitation of resources to provide the latest in gadgetty gimmicks.

In 2005, Australians received over $700 million of unwanted Christmas presents (ref 1) and in the UK in 2004, an estimated 1.6 billion pounds worth (ref 2). This fiscal waste is also manifest in bulging cupboards and bursting drawers full of dowdy underwear and nanna doilies. We keep things out of obligation or laziness—some more enterprising folk may jump onto eBay and make the most of a hydrosonic cleaner to fund the latest edition of Halo. Polling by ICM Research for eBay revealed that 65% of adults would consider passing on unwanted gifts (ref 2). So why give presents if no one wants or needs them? Physical entities take up much valued space, even in wheelie bins— full as a beltful of Christmas lunch with bubble wrap, boxes of plastic to wrap plastic to wrap paper wrapped in paper.

The packaging associated with gifts, such as plastics and paper, accounts for 10% of domestic waste (ref 3). This may not sound like much, but consider the fact that each on average each year, each Australian household produces 400 kilograms of waste and an average person buys about 1500 packaged items (ref 4). Saying ‘oh it’ll just be recycled’ is false—only 20% of domestic waste is recyclable (ref 4). Even the raw materials to make ‘stuff’ is wasteful considering the absolute need for hot dog steamers and egg cookers is about as necessary as a fly swatter in an igloo. Anyone ever heard of a saucepan and water?

The glow of giving seems to be tarnished by the stress of shopping, unworthy recipients and on the acres of land needed to cram that foil wrapping paper away post-Noel. Is it possible to ‘do the right thing’ by your sanity, your friendships and the environment?

Ho ho ho it is possible—the term is ‘scrooging’. A scrooge-gift is an experience— nothing physically to hold, break, stow or lose, but a service performed, a memory to cherish, or a feeling of making a difference. By gifting an experience to someone, you get to shop online, the person gets something they are more likely to enjoy, and there is minimal packaging waste.

Just imagine sitting at your computer with a nice cold drink while you click your way through Christmas shopping online—no more cheesy Christmas carols muzak while waiting at the checkout. There’s even Santa /aka Australia Post to deliver it all for you. The wheelie bin will have room to fit New Years Eve champagne bottles because the only packaging is a few envelopes and an empty jar of cranberry sauce. The scrooging method of shopping is easy, personalised and green—just match the person to the scrooge-gift.

Possible scroogey presents:

***Arty types
Movie vouchers, season tickets to opera/theatre/ballet, concert, magazine subscriptions, website subscription, Itunes music voucher
---http://www.greaterunion.com.au/giftcards/index.asp
---http://www.opera-australia.org.au

***Motoring Enthusiasts
Petrol vouchers, car wash vouchers, supercar rides
---http://www.thesupercarexperience.com.au/

***Family
Family pass to zoo, fun park, picnic
---http://www.dreamworld.com.au/content/standard.asp?name=BuyTickets

***Science types
Buy a star, sponsor a shark, shares in new growth forest
---http://www.nccnsw.org.au/
---http://www.universalstarcouncil.com/

***Sporties
Tickets to games, membership to sports club, gym membership, gym passes
---http://www.brumbies.com.au/act.rugby/page/53094

***Adventure Addicts:
Gift vouchers to kayak weekends, bridge climb, parasailing, flying lesson/s
---http://www.freemanx.com.au/
---http://www.australianexplorer.com/experiences/

***Epicureans:
Restaurant vouchers, cooking classes, wine tastings
---http://www.perfectgiftcertificates.com.au/PG/restaurants.aspx

***Humble Humans: Charity vicarious gifts
Water wells, goats, RSPCA donation, Oxfam, donations.com.au
---http://www.karmacurrency.com.au/about.aspx
---http://www.perfectgiftcertificates.com.au/PG/restaurants.aspx

And what about the humbuggers out there saying that Christmas is all about ‘stuff’, that to ride through the neighbourhood on a bike has more street cred than a cardboard promise, well, you won’t have to change a tyre, reboot software or dash down to the shops for batteries. Just share a brandy with your friends by the fireplace and toast to Scrooge.

References:

(ref 1 = SMH article)
Clarissa Keil, Dec 13 2007, “End the unwanted gift cycle - give a goat or two instead”
December 13, 2007
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/

(ref 2 ebay article)
eBay, 20 Dec 2004, “Santa's unwanted £1.6 billion Christmas presents could be a Boxing Day bonanza”
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/community/aboutebay/news/pressreleases/consumer/12_20_2004.html

(ref 3 Tuckerman)
Robin Tuckerman, Nov 10 2005, “Packaging the Statistics”.

(ref 4 PCA)
Packaging Council of Australia, Feb 2006, “Submission to the Productivity Commission – Waste Generation and Resource Efficiency Inquiry”.

About the Author

I am a freelance writer and editor specialising in article and review format. I generate story ideas, conduct research and interviews then complete the piece in line with house style and expected deadlines. The underlying philosophy to any writing I do is ‘information through engagement’.

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Merry Products Multifunctional Pet House in White $79.99 Merry Products - Pets - Introducing the most versatile, practical and multi-functional Cat Washroom /Night Stand Pet House that blends seamlessly in any interior settings and style with the classic clean Espresso Solid Wood Veneer and cabinet design, wainscoting paneling details and stainless steel hardware. Cat washroom: No more mess from cat litter boxes. The Cat Washroom serves as an attractive cover to hide away the litter box and confine all litter messes inside, while providing useful shelf space and stainless steel towel bar for many organizing options. Door opens wide for easy to clean. Fits a large litter pan up to 18.5”W x 16”D. Litter Box Not Included. Night Stand Pet House: No more unmade and mismatched beds of your pet in your house. This multifunctional unit can also be used as a coffee table or night stand while providing a discrete resting/sleeping area for both dogs and cats, which satisfies your pet’s instinctive need to feel safe and happy. Cat Washroom Designed to look match existing bathroom cabinets with wainscoting panels. Can Also Serve as a Night Stand / Side Table Pet House for Small Dogs. Confines All Litters Messes Inside. Hide Away Messy Pet Beds. Useful Shelf Space and Interchangeable Stainless Steel Towel Bar for Many Organizing Options. Easy To Clean. Color: White Litter Box not included. Specifications: External Dimensions: 20” x 18” x 25” Internal Dimensions: 18.5” x 16.5” x 18.5” Door Dimensions: 7 x 8 Minimum assembly required.