Mamma Fairy

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Starting a business from home is not a difficult thing, but it does take some planning and understanding of the business environment. If this is something that you’ve been thinking about doing, you’re going to want to take it more seriously right now. Because it is now easier than ever to start your own business. There are now more opportunities than before and people can now work from their homes. There are many benefits of starting a home-based business such as freedom, flexibility, and no commute time.

The benefits of starting your own business from home are huge. You get to set your own hours and enjoy the freedom that comes with it. You get to work from wherever you want and create your own work-life balance. With the right business idea, you can start a successful home-based business that will let you create meaningful work that you enjoy. Many entrepreneurs have started their businesses from home. If you are considering starting your own business, here are some of the benefits of doing so:

• Work anywhere in the world since your business is not tied to a specific location
•  You can work on your own schedule. It’s not hard to meet deadlines if they are flexible with yours
•  You are free from office politics and unnecessary meetings

So now that you’re sure this is definitely what you want to be able to do, let’s take a look at what you actually need to get this started.

Equipment

First off, you’re going to think about what you need physically. Getting started on your own can be difficult. You need to know what you need in order to make it happen. There is no one size fits all solution for business equipment. Every business has a different set of needs and a unique set of challenges, so it is important to choose the right equipment. Before choosing, you should have some idea about what your business will be doing. For example, if you are looking to start a cosmetics line, then sourcing cosmetic packaging from a reliable supplier would be essential to ensure you have the necessary packaging for your products.

Once you have an idea of what you want your business to do, it is time to think about which equipment might best suit your needs. You can start with things like picking a laptop or desktop computer for word processing and editing. However, you need to make sure that you have the right budget and you only spend what you can – sometimes, you can get by with more than you’d think.

Niche Supplies

But then also, you might need to go one step further than that and find niche supplies. If you have a specialist business, there might be more than you need from expert suppliers. The key to finding the right suppliers for your business is to be able to build relationships with them. There are many different types of suppliers, but the most important thing is that you identify what kind of supplies or services your company needs, such as a medical fridge or inspection services, and then find the right people that supply it.

There are also different types of suppliers and services to think about when you are outsourcing, for example, Toll manufacturing services versus contract manufacturing. This is an important consideration that needs to be reviewed carefully.

Some places that may be good to search for suppliers are trade-shows, events, job boards, wholesale clubs, social media groups, association websites, and business directories. Finding the correct suppliers can be difficult. But with the right strategy, you can connect with suppliers who are specialized in the supplies that you need for your business. It’s often a process of trial and error to find the right people.

Motivation

But then also, because you will be starting this business idea from home, you’re going to want to make sure that you’re feeling motivated and ambitious. This is such an important part of making your business succeed. Business owners will find a lot of motivation to work from home. They can check their progress and see how they are going at all times. They can also give themselves a break if they need some time off. But it has to be something that you feel driven to do.

Motivation is essential when you start your business. It helps you not just to get up every morning, but also to stay motivated throughout the day. You could look to find inspirational and motivating content online, join online business communities, and connect with other entrepreneurs to help you. It is harder to stay motivated on your own when there are no people around that share your interest or belief in what you’re doing. So, surround yourself with like-minded people who want the same thing as you do – success!

A Plan

But then also, it can help to have a plan. A business plan is essential in launching a new venture or expanding an existing one. It will help you to create a clear vision for your venture and keep yourself on track for success. With business plans in hand, you can make sure that your new business gets off the ground without any problems. It will also help you to create a guide for your business and to work towards it efficiently. Planning your business before beginning an entrepreneurship venture can be difficult, but it is worth it. Having a plan in place will help you avoid risks that could lead to decline in profits, such as poor product design or too much competition. It can also make you excited about what’s to come too.

Access

And finally, all you really need is access to the internet! You can learn and grow your knowledge online and start your business with very minimal or zero investments. Starting a business is no longer a challenge, it has become a reality for many people today. The idea of starting a company without investing in any physical assets is now easier than ever because there are many ways to make money from anywhere in the world.

Online learning tools are available on the internet. For example, you could learn how to code, start a business or how to make your blog. Anyone can start an online business by taking advantage of the internet that provides access to all kinds of information for free. We live in a world where so much is possible, so just get started today!

Note: This is a collaborative post

Looking forward to a holiday is one of life’s little pleasures, but the practical side of planning and organising it can sometimes be a bit stressful. There’s a lot to remember, and only one chance to get it right. 

The Before-you-go To-Do List

Most of us make some kind of action plan for holidays, even if they’re only in our heads. We certainly have some idea of places to visit and things to do. Having a countdown action plan for tasks before you go is equally useful. Items to go on the list can include:

• Departure and return dates to give to family, friends, or anyone you’re leaving a spare key with.
• Flight times with accompanying travel arrangements, taxi, or long-term parking bookings.
• Getting kennels or cattery places organised, or arranging for vaccinations or pet passports.
• Cancelling any regular deliveries to your home.
• Organising self storage if you’re placing valuables there for safe keeping.

Earning money when you are gone

One thing to give careful consideration to is the option to make some money while you are gone, utilising the exponentially growing rental market, especially if you plan on being away for longer periods of time. Covid had changed the way we travel and  now particularly when it comes to family travel, people including ourselves now tend to favour vacation rentals over a hotel.  For me personally the driver for this decision is the ability to cook meals and the extra space when the kids go to bed… we can chill.

We are currently planning our 2024 and beyond adventures and we are constantly gravitating towards the use of a vacation rentals over our previous preferred option of a hotel.  Perhaps we may even consider the use of our own property as a vacation rental while we are on longer trips, certainly something to give some thought to.

Plan plan and plan some more 

Sometimes the planning itself can be very daunting, especially if its  a long trip or a trip to a far flung destination. In these instances enlisting the help of a personal travel planner can be hugely beneficial.  A personal travel planner can take care of all the details of your trip including flights, hotels/airbnbs, transportation, excursions, restaurants, tours, sports etc. The great thing about a travel planner is they are dedicated to making the trip work for you and your needs as opposed to for example a travel agent who only works with certain properties etc.

I also make a checklist for the final walkthrough before I leave. Checking that lights are off, everything is unplugged that should be, and you didn’t leave the oven on, clears any nagging doubts out of your mind.

Stress-free Packing

Packing for a holiday can be more stressful than it needs to be, especially if it falls on one person to do the job for all the family. Make it easier by:

• Starting early. Give yourself a few days to gather everything and do any laundry. 
• Having a packing rehearsal. Make sure everything fits in the cases you have, and that your cases conform to airline regulations.
• Working from a packing list. Write down specific items each person will need, then tick them off as they’re packed.
• Avoiding those ‘just in case’ items by packing according to the type of holiday you’re taking, the activities you’ll do, and how long you’re going for. Also, can you wash things while you’re away? If so, you don’t necessarily need a fresh outfit everyday for everyone.

Pop cables, chargers, adaptors, or batteries in separate bags. (Little sandwich bags work well). As well as preventing tangled wires, you can use these to help protect phones or hold keys when you’re on the beach, and they’re useful for keeping together paper items such as venue or travel tickets. Just remember not to leave them behind on the beach!

Home Security

Knowing everything’s safe at home gives you peace of mind while you’re away, so it’s worth giving it some thought. Things to consider include:

• Asking a neighbour to keep an eye out. If they can actually go in and just check around that would be best, but at least let them know you’re on holiday and not expecting any visitors. If they see anyone on your property, they’ll know they have no business being there.
• Putting valuables into storage. You can rent a locker storage unit if you don’t want a bigger space. If the worst happens while you’re gone, at least your valuables will be safe. Think of jewellery, important documents, or items with sentimental value that you could never replace. You could also consider computers, cameras, or other equipment that’s expensive but easily portable.
• Put a couple of lights on a timer so they come on at dusk and go off later.
• Check home insurance to make sure your possessions and property are covered if the house is left empty. It probably is, but you check if there are any exclusions and make arrangements accordingly.

Happy holidays take some organising, but if you allow plenty of time you can make it part of the anticipation and enjoy the process!

Note: This is a collaborative post

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Whether to make ends meet, pay off debt, or monetize an arts and crafts passion, having multiple sources of income is a practical goal in today’s world. There are times when a full-time job cannot cover the costs of sudden unfortunate incidents like accidents or injury, so having that extra fluff on the budget certainly helps in situations like these.

If splitting the body were an option, a lot of people would take that opportunity because there is simply not enough time to take more jobs when you have two. Fortunately, the internet exists, and there are thousands of handmade crafts that are highly sought, so you can sell them well online. Setting up shop online is easier than you think and only requires minimum supervision, so you can focus on more important things like making the stuff you want to sell.

Looking for home craft-business ideas? Read on below.

Baked Goods

It can be hard to go wrong with baked goods, my sister in law actually started doing this during the first lockdown at the very early stages of Covid and her new business which started as a hobby has really thrived. Just one word of caution is to check compliance with the relevant Health & Safety guidelines where you are, it is imperative that they are followed.  I was more than happy to help out with research for my sister in law, in fact I happily applied for the chief taster option…. I mean who would say not to carrot cake topped scones…one word divine.  However one challenge she did have was sourcing bespoke packaging her wish list was sustainable, high quality and eye catching. After all you want repeat business and often times the packaging can create the wow factor particularly for products that are used as gifts in an already crowded market.

Bath Products

Soaps and bath bombs are the most accessible feel-good treats that anyone can buy. Most people purchase these products as a reward for themselves. The most popular bath products today are organic and made with avante-garde designs, shapes, and scents.

It takes time and multiple trials and errors to master the art of soapmaking. The costs may be huge in the beginning, but profits will build overtime once the processes are streamlined. Additionally, buying materials in bulk wholesale prices will reduce the costs per bar.

Knitted Items

Many hobbyists find knitting a pleasurable pastime. You only need needles and yarn to start, and while that is deceivingly simple, the options for these things are endless. There are thin and thick needles made of wood or plastic, and balls of yarn come in different sizes and colors.

If you’re interested to learn, there are countless beginner’s guides out there you can follow. There are plenty of knitted things that you can profit from. Items like gloves, scarves, and hats are always popular during colder seasons.

Luxury Scented Candles

Believe it or not, there is a market for people who are obsessed with candles. These are the folks that you see at the candle section of the store, sniffing and admiring blocks of wax and wicks. Candles have really come a long way since their invention.

In modern times, candles imbibed with scents are often used for relaxation, and that is one of the reasons they are popular. Candlemakers often come up with new types of candles for each season as these are also used as decorations. 

The market for candlemaking is fairly saturated because makers know that supplies are inexpensive. Your edge is to make new aroma combinations and packaging that are attention grabbing to stand out from others.

Slime Products

Slime is big business (probably driven by my pairs!!!), and makers as young as teenagers have made big bucks off it. This gooey, sticky, non-Newtonian fluid has surged in popularity over the years because of how fun and satisfying it turns to solid, then liquid, and back again. Many people also use slime as a stress reliever while others collect it.

Basic slime ingredients are easy to get, and making one is fairly simple. There are different varieties of slime, including glitter, fluffy, popping, and glow in the dark. The most important thing to remember to make slime last is to store it in an airtight container so it doesn’t dry out.

Make Seasonal Items

Apart from pricing products for profit and having the right branding, consider making special limited items for the changing seasons. This is an excellent way to boost your sales and drum up excitement for people anticipating new products. 

What other handmade items do you think are popular-enough businesses to earn extra income from? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Note: This is a collaborative post

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There is no such thing as the business that is going to be working efficiently 100% of the time and expecting that much is an easy way to see yourself failing to meet your targets. However, that said, you should be aiming to reduce downtime as much as possible. Here, we’re going to look at some of the most common causes of business downtime, how they can affect your business, and what you can do to combat them.

Some of these sources are going to directly affect business operations and resources, but others are personal sources of downtime that can affect you and your employees.

Blackouts and brownouts

They might not be the most common thing in the world, but when they do hit, they can cause a huge disruption, especially if they take more than a couple of hours to fix. If your business is hit by a power cut or any other power supply options, what can you do to keep it up and running? The best option may be to make sure that you don’t need to rely solely on energy from external providers. Setting up a backup power supply, such as a battery pack or an emergency generator can see things kicking into action mere seconds after a power cut hits, allowing you to keep working.

Losing your network

The vast majority of businesses now rely on the internet to operate, be it in little ways or large. For that reason, if you’re finding that you lose access to your network repeatedly, it can become a serious interruption that becomes too costly to bear. Having an IT team check out your network set-up for any faults should be the first step and, beyond that, checking to see if any competing providers offer a more reliable service should follow. However, backup internet connections from teams like Morefield Communications might be able to help you ensure that you can stay online when your primary network is down. This can be especially important for any businesses that use unified communications systems, such as wiring their phone networks through the internet.

Electrical faults and failures

There may be issues with the power supply and electrical equipment in your business, but it’s not always down to blackouts or similar losses of power. The more electrical equipment you have in your business, the more likely that you are to run into problems with electrical problems. What’s more, you might find that the average residential electrician might not have the experience or expertise to help you deal with said faults. Teams like Caslec Electrical & Data are more likely to be better equipped to help you get your business back up and running. Make sure that you have the contact for a local electrician that is able to get out as quickly as possible to help you get back up and running.

Data breaches and their massive impacts

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While some of the interruptions here can be costly due to the nature of reducing business productivity to zero, there are few that can have consequences as serious as a data breach. Many businesses are asking customers for data and collecting it to better help them gain insights on how to serve their market. Experiencing a breach that puts this data at risk can shut down your business, but it can also put it at least risk. Invest in the appropriate IT security provisions to protect the data that you keep. Beyond that, look into the crisis management plans that you should have in place to get things back up and running and to start communicating effectively following a breach.

Humans errors and distractions

Usually, when your team isn’t being as productive as you would like them to be, it’s because there is a systemic issue that’s affecting that productivity. However, there are plenty of internal reasons for lost time as well. Errors in work can require workers to go back and fix their mistakes. However, distraction tends to be one of the biggest causes of human downtime. You can help prevent it by creating workspaces where workers are less likely to distract one another, and using tools like Freedom to restrict access to websites that might be particularly time-consuming when it comes to your workers’ use of their digital technology.

Roadblocks and bottlenecks

There may not be a technical or even a personal reason for some of your team finding it difficult to get on with the work that they’re supposed to do. Sometimes, it can be down to a matter of how that work is organized. Your workers can often rely on progress made by other workers in order to get on with their tasks, especially when it comes to large-scale collaborative projects. To that end, you need to make sure that work processes are ordered and organized in a way that prevents delays as best as possible and identifies bottlenecks in the process. Project management tools like Mavenlink can help you ensure that effective communication and planning keep the workload as orderly and reliable as possible. You can’t prevent every delay, but you can do your best.

Note: This is a collaborative post

It seems like something of an oxymoron. Starting up a business now, in this climate after everything we’ve just been through a planet. However, truth, as they say, is far stranger than fiction, and as it turns out, this just happens to be one the best times in modern history to start a new business.

So, the words “logistics”, “supply chain”, and “cold storage” hardly strike an inspirational fire the likes of which Vulcan would be proud of, but take a look at these five new startups in cold storage and cold-chain supply logistics from right around the globe, and get yourself some courage!

INPROUS – Temperature Controlled Packaging

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For our first case study, we go to Spain to see how this company addresses the ever-changing needs of the packaging industry.  As the sector worldwide moves to become greener, more sustainable, and “smart” simultaneously, this has given budding entrepreneurs and visionaries a whole new level of creativity to aspire to.  Take a look at this article out of the United States to get an idea of just how rapidly this element of product and brand management is evolving – and the profit-making potential is rising.

So INPROUS develops ecologically sound and specialised packaging solutions for a wide range of industries.  Pharmaceutical companies, diagnostic laboratories and hospitals, to name just a few of their clients, have highly technical logistical requirements that, by nature of their storage needs, can at times fall foul of environmental goals.

They also provide a range of reusable thermal containers that can be remotely monitored, taking the stress from rotational planning and monitoring. Genius.

CLOUDTRACK – Temperature Monitoring

Now we go from Spain across the ocean to India. 

CloudTrack has developed highly sophisticated temperature monitoring systems through the “Software-as-a-Service” (SAAS) platform. In today’s age where goods have to make it across large distances, and where that distance could exponentially increase the “risk factor” for insurers, ensuring precisely monitored and delivered temperature control in cold storage logistics is critical.

CloudTracks system offers real-time monitoring and reporting of cold storage to preset levels. As soon as there are deviances from these levels, the system communicates with the client via SMS or phone call to let them know of the event. Their system dramatically reduces the chances of produce or pharmaceutical products arriving damaged or worse.

SOLARFREEZE – Sustainable Mobile Cold Chain

Tulips from Amsterdam are lovely, but chances are – you’re getting them from Kenya. The East African country has positioned itself as a significant player in the global floral trade. This has meant innovations in how these beautiful blooms make it all the way from Africa to Europe and beyond.

Enter “SolarFreeze”. This company develops solar-powered cold storage units. The electricity generated by photovoltaic panels is stored in the form of ice to keep the flowers chilled in non-solar hours. These units are used for all types of perishables, not just flowers, and they communicate with farmers in real-time via an “app”.

SmartCAE – Simulated Temperature Control

Back to Europe now, where German company SmarCAE creates sophisticated virtual models of the cold chain for testing and optimisation purposes, a critical element of the entire cold-chain supply business.

Ensuring that quality and freshness remain as near perfect as possible throughout the cold-chain logistics function is an ongoing challenge for companies in this field. As a product moves from farmer/producer to transport, storage, transport back to the warehouse and finally to destination, there are many potential areas in that chain where things can go less than desired. SmartCAE offers software tools that analyse the performance of packaging by simulating the conditions of an insulated shipping system.

HashMove – Smart Third Party Logistics

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Ask anyone involved with shipping, transporting or getting anything from one location to another, and they’ll likely tell you that they preferred getting a root canal. Then, when you add in the more significant challenge of temperature-controlled storage and transportation, well, you could make that a double-root canal.

It’s expensive, cumbersome and tough to keep a handle on all of the moving parts and moreover, requires a team of specifically trained personnel.  This means that companies are outsourcing to third party logistics providers instead of having to refit and rekitt their own operations with the latest AI/Software solutions. HashMove develops platforms for manufacturers and suppliers so that they can collaborate with  logistics providers, in order to outsource their coldchain logistics. They also provide real-time monitoring and reporting including location tracking.  The great thing about their software is that it interacts with the IoT (the internet of things), so you’re getting an holistic structure of useable data.

Right around the world, the logistics industry and all of the associated industries are set to explode. Especially in the developing world where many of the raw materials and resources that the industrialised world needs to operate, originate from. “The Times” of India has a very good read that you can find, here.

For the budding entrepreneur the time has almost never been as right, as right now. Retail, business services, solutions based suppliers and information technology industries are all tipped to see massive gains in the coming years. When you expand your way of thinking all the way down the processes that are involved in restarting the planet, one can barely contain the excitement.

Logistics and all of the associated industries that feed this industry is set to be a big gainer so if you’ve been thinking about expanding, diversifying or restarting you may want to think about getting in on the action and providing solutions where Compressed Air Treatment is a necessity. 

OK, that was somewhat lighthearted because clearly logistics is not an industry for everyone, but this post goes to show you, and this is especially true if you’ve had a particularly tough run of the last year, that hope is not lost. The world of business is screaming to get restarted and that means entrepreneurs the world over are realigning, redesigning and reevaluating what the “new normal” commercial landscape is going to look like.

And so, can you.