Think about the times when you have walked away from a store, coquina shell restaurant or experience

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What was the inspiration for your business? My grandmother always had some form of candy in her bag when I was a child (and she still does) and I wanted to share that flutter of absolute enjoyment I experienced coquina shell with every piece of candy, with everyone.
Why did you start a home-based business? I love the flexibility of being able to still fully participate in my children s lives, you know the little things- school assemblies, sports practices, and working from home allows me to fit work in around my life, rather than me trying to fit my life around work.
What has been your greatest challenge & how have you overcome this? Actually taking the leap of faith to begin my business. I originally began this business while still studying my Psychology degree (and later my teaching coquina shell degree). We needed to bring additional income into the household and my husband was already working full time. However with being a Mum and studying full time, conventional work just didn t offer the flexibility I needed to fit in around class times and childcare. I was very hesitant, however, as it is quite scary to go into a business especially when I didn t know if and when I would see a return. I took that leap though and began very small, attending weekend markets and I have slowly over the last 3 years built my business up, and I have never looked back!
What’s coquina shell your best marketing advice? When you are starting out grab each and every opportunity to exposure your product, service, business to as many people as possible, because the more your product is seen the more memorable it becomes. This exposure doesn t have to be fancy, expensive or on a big scale. Try to find as much free advertising opportunities as possible, engage with your community by supporting fundraising activities, participate in community events coquina shell and branch out from there. Local newspapers are often more than happy to run editorials on new businesses; school communities are great, especially for word of mouth referrals. Almost 65% of my customers are from word of mouth, or from people that have seen me at events previously.
What’s your best time management advice? Working from home can be a blessing coquina shell but also a curse! When you work from home you really need to learn how to segregate your ‘work’ from your home work. For a long time I found it very difficult to get into the routine of doing work , the dishwasher would beckon or the kids wanted to play. I have found that in order to get my work done, I needed a routine coquina shell to put me in the work mindset, coquina shell the same as if I was working in an office. So after I drop the kids off at school, I grab a coffee, the same as I would on my way to work, sit down at my desk and write down what I want to achieve for the day and work through it. I do however in order to get my housework coquina shell done, set aside 5-10mins here and there while the kettle boils to put on a load of washing or unload the dishwasher.
What’s your best advice for creating a profitable business? Perseverance and small steps. Perseverance because as much as we idealise that our business is going to be successfully, well known and profitable within the first year, it is not always the case. In business you dance this delicate tango, especially when starting up, where you take 4 steps forward and 2 steps back. You have to understand and prepare yourself for these ebbs in sales/profits/business.
Small Steps because sometimes slow and steady wins the race. I have found that you need to set business goals that reflect not only the overall coquina shell picture you have for your business, but also all those little steps that need to be achieved coquina shell to ensure that you reach the main goal. Know your limits personally and financially within your business and don t try to reach the big picture without first laying the foundations with the little, but important, steps.
What’s your best customer service advice? My best customer service advice is to treat every single customer, no matter their attitude, in the best possible way, so that they leave you feeling satisfied. There will always be a time when a customer walks into your store while still on the telephone, or react a bit snarkier than expected, however rather than letting their attitude or actions dictate how you serve them, put in practice service coquina shell guidelines that reflect how you would like to be served and how you are going to serve your customers.
Think about the times when you have walked away from a store, coquina shell restaurant or experience and have gone WOW! Try and remember what it was that made you feel that way, it could be something as little as how you were greeted at the business, to something like the person serving you going above and beyond to en