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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.

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Every business is gearing up for massive sales as we enter one of the busiest shopping seasons. However, this year is far from the normal calendar year. With the pandemic and recession causing businesses to close, the surviving companies have to do whatever it takes to remain afloat. The consequences can be seen in declining customer spending power.

That should not worry you if you know what to do to make the most of this shopping season. Here are four ways to prepare your business for an unusual holiday season. 

Enhance your online presence

Digitalization is not a new concept in business. However, this pandemic has hastened the move to digital platforms. As we come closer to the busiest shopping season of this calendar year, you can expect online shopping to increase drastically. 

If you rely on in-store sales, this is the time to shift to online shopping or miss out. Accordingly, if you have an online presence, ensure you have the tools needed to make shopping and payments more accessible and manageable. Create a seamless system that helps you attract more clients and drive up sales. 

Simplify customer checkout experience

Customers want to shop with a single click or touch of a button. This is even more common with increasing eCommerce activities. As you prepare your business for this unusual yet busiest shopping season, reduce the friction by making shopping more seamless. One further consideration you could look into is the use of a Virtual Waiting Room, this can help avoid website crashes due to large volumes of traffic and manage queues in a fair manner thus maintaining trust with your customer base. 

In addition it is also important to ensure your platform does not take customers around to make purchases. The simpler the checkout experience, the more sales you will make this season. This is made possible by reducing the cart abandonment rate. Wrap up the transaction as fast as possible to allow clients to check out with a single touch or click.  

Improve engagement

Customers are shifting more to online shopping. Interestingly, if you do not improve engagement, you will still miss out even with an online presence. Many businesses make their services more accessible by engaging more with their clients online and physically. You should meet your customers wherever they are and enhance in-context checkout. 

Additionally, simplify your marketing processes and campaigns to reach more clients. This is the time to think about more personalized campaigns that enhance customer experience. Think about using inflatable marketing tools or targeted and personalized adverts for every customer segment. Visit Glow Inflatables to learn more about marketing inflatables. 

Offer flexible shopping and payment options

This pandemic has hastened digital migration, meaning that all transactions are done online. With the declining in-store purchases, you should ensure your clients get the most seamless and flexible shopping and payment experience. 

Customers want to shop and pay faster without wasting time on your product listing pages. You can make it more convenient by including the option to buy now and pay in installments over time. This strategy is one of the best ways to improve customer loyalty even after the holiday season. 

Final thoughts

There is no denying that the covid-19 pandemic and the resulting global recession have shifted the retailing landscape. Whatever you do going forward should focus on improving customer experience. Create a brand awareness campaign today and adjust accordingly to the new normal to help you adapt and thrive. 

Note: This is a collaborative post

I know choosing gifts for loved ones can be a tough choice however I think I have found a really great choice for pretty much any occasion.  Jewellery is kind of like the old reliable, can be safe choice too sometimes. However there is an insane amount of choice out there so where do you even start?! While most people will have heard of Pandora bracelets and charms, Gnoce is a much more budget friendly option without compromising on quality.  There is a massive selection of bracelets, in various colours and styles with a fantastic selection of charms to choose from including my favourites… personalised photo charms and engraved charms. There really is something special about receiving a personalised gift, it shows a lot of thought and care I think anyway.

Pic Credit: Gnoce

I am not a huge jewellery person for decorative purposes but I do love meaningful jewellery,  one with a a lot of thought put into it and that for me is what Gnoce brings – I know name necklaces remain popular for all ages and I can say hand on heart it would be very much appreciated as a gift for Christmas or a birthday. Gnoce prices are really affordable making them a great choice for many occasions.

They don’t just do bracelets and necklaces, there is also a large selection of rings, earrings and men’s jewellery.

Halloween

Pic Credit: Gnoce

However, I know a few people who absolutely adore Halloween (not me!!) and I noticed Gnoce do really cool selection of spooky Halloween charms, if this is your thing you will want to check this out. Do keep an eye out for offers as I see currently they are running a buy 2 keep one free offer.

The personalised photo charm is definitely on my list, I really do have a weakness for personalised item and love wearing them with pride.

Note: This is a collaborative post

Confidence – that magical trait which all parents want their child to be in possession of. What makes a confident child? Is it nature or nurture? Research suggests it’s some of both – while some children are born socially gifted, others can certainly be trained into the habit of self-belief and self-confidence. So here are some top tips to ensure that you’re well-armed when it comes to helping your child be at their confident best at all times.

It starts early

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You can’t begin too soon. From birth, most children are protected from the harsher realities of the world by loving parents but there’s a fine line between protecting and smothering. As your baby grows into a toddler, it can be difficult to loosen the reins and let them experience a few bumps on the road to growth and learning. But it’s vital that we do loosen the reins. If we protect toddlers from every single knock and bump, they won’t learn how to navigate as quickly or as confidently as they might otherwise do when left to their own discovery.

Provide your toddler with many safe opportunities to explore the world physically and mentally. Take them to parks, gardens, play centres, libraries, museums, and playgroups. Allow them to climb appropriately, to touch and experience different textures and materials. Allow them to get dirty! Talk to them constantly – offer positive reinforcements when they successfully navigate a new environment. Praise them for trying new things and commiserate – but briefly – when they fall.

Small children are like sponges – let them see you in action and at your most confident. You are their best role model and it’s to you they will look when they come to measure their own successes. 

As they grow

Once children reach school age, some experience a period of shyness or difficulty relinquishing their attachment to you as carer. A new environment, exposure to new people and routines can cause all sorts of emotions to rise to the surface. Talk them through these times by naming their emotions. Little children have no experience of emotions in an intellectual way so they can’t always make sense of strong feelings.

If a child has never felt jealousy or insecurity before, then how can they process that emotion without a name for it? Discuss their feelings with them and let them know that they are valid and normal. Give them the tools they need to become the confident, outspoken individuals you know they can be.

Schools can also be supportive when it comes to helping children to feel more confident. This prep school in London offers many strategies to nurture children and to help them grow into confident young adults.

Note: This is a collaborative post 

Journaling for children is growing in popularity and as more parents realise just how powerful this quiet hobby is, sales of journals and associated equipment have really skyrocketed. But the best part of journaling is that in fact, no real spend is needed. Your child doesn’t need fancy paper or pens to begin – they just need paper and something to write with.

Of course, some children might love to have some extra bits and bobs to make their journals more exciting but that’s up to you as a parent. There’s no need to spend a lot. Cheap stickers, pictures cut from old magazines, these are all great additions to a fun journal.

Journaling can also help children with their literacy skills. This independent school in Woking employs many different creative means to assist children in their journey towards fluent reading and writing.

The point of journaling

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Why journal? In short, it’s a wonderful way for children to get their thoughts, frustrations, fears, joy and creativity out and into one place. They’re great to look back on as your child grows too! Parents can see a visual record of their development and how they change as the journals progress.

This is also great for children – offering a way to make sense of events in their lives which at the time might not seem very important but which later, they come to realise were pivotal moments.

Getting creative with journaling

One of the most attractive things about journaling is that there are no rules! Children can choose to fill a page with words only, or with words and images or even just one word if they so choose.

Whatever helps them to express themselves is a positive addition to their journal. Children can feel immense pride and satisfaction through journaling and whether they add to it daily, weekly or less, the great thing is that they can choose – it’s up to them, unlike homework!

Support your child in their journaling by ensuring they’ve always got ample equipment including pens, stamps, stickers, papers and pencils – this helps to inspire them and keep them filling those pages in!

Note: This is collaborative post

Chores are a vital part of any child’s home experience. Why are they so necessary? In short because a child who has no understanding of basic household chores will struggle to manage their own life successfully once they leave home for university.

Children also need to participate in the mundane portions of home life – not just the good bits! That means they have to be shown what needs doing, how and when to do it!

Why chores help children learn faster

The fine and gross motor skills needed to undertake simple tasks such as tidying away toys are vital for smaller children’s learning.

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From a very early age, children can be taught how to tidy away toys and where to put them.

The physical activity and organisational skills which are honed during these simple actions will stand your child in good stead for learning effectively once they begin kindergarten or school.

Children at this pre-school in Lincoln take on small chores daily and this gives them a sense of responsibility. At school, small children are expected to help tidy up and take on small duties – if your child is already practiced in this, then they will feel confident and pleased to be able to help with little intervention.

As your child grows and begins to take on more responsibility at home, the same rule applies. They know they’re trusted and capable at home so they feel that they are also these things at school.

Older children and chores

As children approach adolescence they are sometimes a little less willing to help at home. It’s important that you ensure your child understands that these things are non-negotiable. There’s no ‘doing it later’ and no swapping jobs with siblings – their jobs are their jobs and that’s that!

This will ensure that as they grow, they will continue these responsible practices and carry them into other areas of their life including revision, part-time employment and hobbies. Make sure your children get the best start in life by giving them their own chores from an early age.

Note: This is a collaborative post

Thinking of starting your own home business? In order to keep your business organized and productive, you’ll need to make sure that you’ve invested in all the right tech. Below is a brief guide to all the essentials you need when running a business from home.

The right devices

First, you need to consider which devices you need. No matter what type of business you’re setting up, certain devices will be necessary for communicating and carrying out general admin. But which devices do you need?

• Desktop?: Desktops are stationary computers that allow you to keep your work in one place. A powerful desktop computer is typically a lot cheaper to buy than a laptop of the same power. That said, you’ll need to buy a separate monitor, keyboard and mouse. And more importantly you will need to make sure you have a comfortable desk and chair to house it all.
  

  Pic Credit: Soges

• Laptop?: If you want to be able to work from different locations, a laptop could be a better option than a desktop. Just bear in mind that if you need a very powerful laptop, it is likely to be a lot more expensive to buy than a desktop computer of the same power. Some business owners own a desktop and a laptop. 

• Tablet?: Tablets provide added on-the-go use – you can use them sitting down or standing up. They’re generally not as powerful as laptops and you may not want to use them for tasks like writing (unless you’ve got a wireless keyboard).  

• Smartphone?: Most of us already own a smartphone. Such a phone will allow you to take calls and answer emails on the go. It could be worth buying yourself a separate work phone to help separate your business and personal life. 

On top of these basic devices, there could be other gadgets worth considering. A few gadgets to consider include:

• A desktop camera: Plan to conduct video calls? A desktop camera could give you better video quality. You can even consider doing some vlogging on it for your business.

• A microphone: Having a microphone could allow you to take hands-free calls at your desk. This could be a desktop microphone or a headset microphone. 

• A wireless keyboard: Wireless keyboards can be linked up to a range of devices including your tablet – which could be useful for any writing tasks.

• A wireless printer: A lot of modern businesses are now going paperless, but a printer is still handy to have for those times when suppliers or clients want a physical copy of a document.

• A portable charger: When it comes to working on the go, a portable charger will help to keep your devices powered up.

The right software

Once you’ve invested in the right devices, you should consider the types of software you’ll need.  A few aspects of you business that you may want to download software for includ

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e:

• Accounting: Accounting software could be necessary for recording and calculating your taxes.

• Employees: There could be various types of software worth considering if you plan to hire employees such as mentoring software and payroll software. 

• Marketing: Marketing software could allow you to manage your website, social media and emails all from one place. 

• Security: Strong cybersecurity software is a must for protecting your business from viruses, network attacks and ransomware. 

A lot of modern software is cloud-based, allowing the same data to be accessed from multiple devices. It’s worth looking into scalable software that can grow with your business – a lot of free software generally isn’t scalable, which could mean having to go through the hassle of migrating to new software at a later stage.

There will likely be software you need that is specific to your industry. This could include graphic design software if you’re planning to start your own graphic design company or ecommerce software if you’re going to be running an online store. 

A strong internet connection

A lot of your work is likely to be done online. So that your work runs smoothly, it’s worth investing in a strong home internet connection. Ethernet cables and wi-fi boosters could be other options if your current wi-fi is a little shaky but you don’t want to upgrade it.

It could be worth also investing in a portable internet connection if you want to be able to work on the go. This could include a portable router that plugs into your devices or upgraded data plan for your smartphone. 

Consider using a VPN to keep your connection secure – especially when working from somewhere remote. If you’re using public wi-fi, this will prevent hackers gaining access to your data. 

Note: This is a collaborative post