Faith and Business 101: The Nitty Gritty – Part 1

For the Next 3 Weeks, I’m going to write a series of posts to give you some step-by-step examples about how to make your Mom Business work. I know that some of you have full time jobs outside of the home, but you will find some helpful tidbits of information in these posts as well. Then in December, we’ll focus on increasing sales for the holidays and we’ll also talk about planning ahead so that you can have an enjoyable Christmas with your family (and make sure your focus is centered on Christ, most importantly!).

Here’s what to expect in this series:

Part 1: Introduction and Basics
Part 2: Social Networking
Part 3: Advertising: Paid & Free

These are the foundations that make my Mom Business work and I will show you how I use them!

The Basics

Step 1: Develop Your Business. If you need help running or starting your small business, a great resource to use is the U.S. Small Business Administration at www.sba.gov. This has some fantastic tools to use from start to finish!

Step 2: Build a Website. If you are not using the web as part of your business strategy, you are missing out! Some great, user-friendly sites to get started with are www.weebly.com (for HTML) and www.wix.com (for Flash). Both of these sites offer free web sites and hosting. You can upgrade for a very low price per month if you plan to sell anything on your site, or if you’d like to use your own domain name.

Step 3: Create a Blog. Your website should be your permanent, professional site. Your blog is where you can interact with your customers, host giveaways and share more about yourself and what you do. In my opinion, Blogger is more user-friendly for the beginner. WordPress is a great tool, but it tends to be a bit more advanced and confusing for the beginner. If you’d like to see the kind of content I use on my blog, visit www.reallyworkingfromhome.blogspot.com

Step 4: Start Promoting. This is what we’ll discuss in the next 2 weeks. How to promote your business and bring in sales through Social Networking, and paid—and unpaid—advertising!

As we delve further into “The Nitty Gritty” in the next few weeks, I urge you to take all of your thoughts and plans to the Lord. Make sure that you are committing your plans and ideas to Him and that you are doing what He would have you do. Then….ask for His blessing!

I’ll leave you with this:

“Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request.” 1 Chronicles 4:10 NIV

Until Next Time…

MariLee

Copyright © MariLee Parrish, Moms of Faith, All Rights Reserved