Brainstorms and Business Ideas

I'm sick today. That seems to be happening way too much recently, but what can I do? Of course, it's not the same illness that plagued me in the past few weeks but some new bug that's decided to visit. Stupid immune system just isn't working right!

On the plus side it gave me the opportunity to call in to the Moms Morning Show. It's on Blog Talk Radio and I simply can't resist the urge to call in whenever I tune in. I'm sure one of these days Kelly McCausey is going to say "You know what, just don't call in because you are boring". She hasn't yet, of course. It's just my own insecurities shining through.

The topic today (and all week long)
Evaluating Business Ideas: Good, Bad or Just Plain Ugly?

You can tune in to the show and listen in yourself.




So Kelly threw out this idea of creating three months worth of idea starters for blogs, articles and so on as a business model. Now keep in mind this is a pulled out of the air idea, not something that she (or anyone we know of) is planning on moving forward with.

Initially, I thought the idea was a bit of a stinker. So many questions ran through my mind. How would the seller be able to promise 80 unique topics to a wide range of clients in multiple niches? Who is going to be willing to pay for just topic ideas? Won't there be an issue with complaints if those ideas are poorly implemented? How would one establish their expertise enough to really sell the idea?

As the show progressed and I heard other opinions I began to change my mind. This could be a valuable resource if put out by the right person. How much time do I waste trying to decide what to write myself? How many days do I not write because nothing has inspired me enough to write?

(The answers are a lot of time is wasted and I don't post often enough, despite the fact that I keep trying to re-focus and put in a regular effort to post often)

So maybe the idea has much more merit than I originally thought. Maybe this is even a service that I could use. Maybe someone should run with it...

It may not be the point Kelly was trying to make, but as I began to digest the information shared after the call I realized that initial impressions of an idea or concept have to be questioned. Whether you think an idea is brilliant or a bomb, it's only by digging deeper that you can really evaluate it.

Questions have to be asked (and answered) about marketing, customer service, delivery, scheduling, skills & expertise before you can be sure that a business idea will fly or flounder. An idea on it's own is just that...an idea. It's how you choose to take the idea and germinate it that really defines whether it's good or bad or ugly. In one person's hands the idea will be bloom and in someone else's it could whither and die.

On another note, I had stated early in the show that I haven't found any shows on Blog Talk Radio that I listen to other than Moms Morning Show. I'll have to blame early morning fog for not mentioning Puddle People Hour, The Passion Project, and Dr. Sally Witt. Those are all Blog Talk Radio shows that I have listened to and enjoyed. In fact, I was on The Passion Project and will be appearing on Dr. Sally Witt's show - though the date has not been confirmed yet.

The neverending saga

I was reading over at MomMasterminds about the significant goals that some women on the board have met. One is celebrating 10 years of working at home, and another is celebrating five years of it. And I thought, I could've almost been celebrating 11 years of mostly working at home in this coming July.

That was the inspiration for this blog post. It's quite long as it chronicles my journey from the time I started my first home business to my position and vision today. It's quite the twisting tale, beginning when I was a young city mama with my first baby to now when my third baby is halfway through kindergarten. I'm sticking to the business side of the story as much as possible to aid in brevity, but it doesn't help much. It's a long one!

On July 2nd, 1997, I opened my first home childcare. I had everything arranged before my EI ran out, and opened my doors when it did. I had studied up on it and read everything I could get my hands on in the six months between my eldest son's birth and opening day...and I kept reading and researching and studying after the doors opened. I a very tentative first step in public relations during that time when I had an editor the letter published that featured my childcare name.

It was also at that point int time that I tried to add a direct sales business. I failed at it. Good company. Great products. It was just the first clue that direct sales was not my forte. At least not that kind of direct sales. That's why I always advise my direct sales clients to check with Sarah Robinson of Profit, Purpose and Beyond. I interviewed her recently for a project I'll soon be able to talk about publicly and was impressed by her straight-forward approach and commitment to excellence.

But back to the story from long ago, the home childcare closed down the day after my second son was born (Yes, the day after -great story for another time!) My husband had gotten a job up North, so we were moving on. I didn't do much in the first 6 months in the Northwest Territories, but once we moved on to Tuktoyaktuk I was ready to be more active.

I tried to open a dayhome, but the competition was family members and a preschool that had full day care available for all three and four year old's for a $25 a month snack fee. So I tried the direct sales thing again and, once again, flopped. I got on the sub list at the preschool as well as the regular school and did pull in a few days of work while I was there. I didn't think of doing anything online because it cost ten cents a minute to be online up there!

Our next stop was a reserve in Northern Alberta. I got a job there by the Wednesday after we arrived. We got there Sunday night and I was at work on Thursday morning. It was a daycare position, right next door to the apartment we lived in. It was during that six months that I started dabbling with the idea of freelance writing.

The idea became reality at our next stop, another reserve in Northern Alberta. Only at this one, there were no jobs for me. At least not initially, eventually I did sub and take on a bookkeeping position for an oil hauling company owned by the wife of one of the teachers on staff at the school.

That's where we lived when I had my first article in a major magazine published. Actually, it was a sister publication of a major magazine. Today's Parent Pregnancy and Birth published my birth story about my second son. It was a piece called Laughing Through Labor.

From there I launched The Childcare Sentinal with a partner. Yes, I know it's spelled wrong and there is a story in that too.) It was a website and newsletter for childcare providers. We eventually added a downloadable lesson and menu plan each month. It was always fresh content and we worked hard to put out something that was easily adaptable for a variety of age groups. I'm afraid I blew that opportunity. It would have paid off eventually, I know - but by the time my third son was a month old, I'd had enough.

You see by then we'd moved twice since I'd first been published. I'd given up on the freelance world when I realized that the career demanded patience. Publishing is interminably slow in the big leagues. It was that first national piece that taught me that lesson when it took 18 months from acceptance to publication. The only upside was that payment was on acceptance, but not all magazines are that way. Some don't pay writers until publication.

For a while, all I had was The Sentinal, but I think that lasted all of a week. I contemplated going into direct sales for a while, but instead I began to work at the grocery store. It wasn't much, but our eldest was in Kindergarten and so we only had to worry about childcare for 1 1/2 - instead of 2 - which makes a big difference on a tight budget. It was around that time that I began helping my husband with the school newsletter which took a huge weight off his shoulders

I worked at the grocery store until I took a position at the school as teacher's aide. It was then that I began to coach cheerleading. Not that I'd ever been a cheerleader, but I figured that a few books and a couple of videos would give me enough to teach other complete novices. I quit being a teacher's aide at Christmas break. Our childcare solution wasn't working out and I was not making as much after taxes and childcare as I thought.

The following fall we moved again, just to the next town over - my husband continued with the same school, but began commuting back and forth. That was the beginning of a new era. I still didn't have my driver's license, so even though we had two vehicles I was stuck in town. Before our youngest was born I started to read up on marketing and web design and on press releases. I wasn't quite ready to do anything with the research though.

One day, shortly after the youngest was born, I simply burned out on the Sentinal project. There were too many long hours for very little return. I wasn't losing money - but I wasn't making any either. Between caring for a newborn, not to mention the two others and the fact I couldn't keep up with the housework and I'd had to start taking in children again because the newsletter and website was not meeting my expectations. I had taken on too much and something had to give.

I continued providing childcare though I never reached capacity. The town was a small one and not many mothers worked who couldn't find a relative to care for their children. I continued to research in my pet areas of marketing and promotions. When my one long-time customer gave notice. I looked for other options and found that the school wanted to re-start the preschool program. I took up the challenge and got it going.

Meanwhile, my mind had wandered to taking University classes. I'd never been and it was becoming obvious to me that I wasn't going to find a decent job without going. I thought I'd like to be a teacher like my husband. I was in the school often enough at this point! It was around this time I started messing around with marketing a little more seriously. On a local level I started marketing services like brochure design and writing and websites.

I'm a bit embarrassed now because the websites were not professional quality. At least not up to a standard I would accept today. Still I applied what I knew at the time and what was acceptable at the time. It was at around then that I started Incredible Impressions. After all, if I was going to sell the website concept locally, I had better have one.

In November, I simultaneously launched my university semester and Incredible Impressions. I figured on working the business on the side to replace the income I lost by quitting the preschool job. I was being paid for 8-10 hours a week (I forget exactly), but I was putting in close to 40 when counting prep work and cleaning. Though I knew I couldn't put in that sort of time while taking a full course load of five courses. I thought I could handle five courses with a side business. Go figure!

I did well enough in Psychology and English, and would ha ve passed in Math had I gotten the assignment book in...but I completely bombed in Environmental Studies. I'd feel bad about it, if not for the fact that Incredible Impressions was taking off. And I'd continued with volunteer work at the school and managed to help the grade 9's win top prize in a media contest with a video that they co-wrote, co-filmed and co-edited.

It was shortly after that win that things sort of got murky. We had decided that we wanted out of the town we were in, which meant looking for a new teaching position for my husband. We thought it would be a simple transfer within the school division, but it turned into a nightmare of a job search that ended two days before the start of the next school year.

We ended up in another small town. This one was a bit closer to the city, but it wasn't much bigger than a Hamlet. Our experience there is a dark one in our married and professional lives and it was a breath of fresh air to leave it and the bad memories behind us. The one bright point of living there was that I finally got my driver's license.

And with it came the opportunity that changed everything --my job with XM105. We'd already decided to leave town at the end of the school year and we carefully deliberated what our next move would be. We decided to look at what we could do in Whitecourt.

Prospects looked very good, so we made the commitment to move and I started looking for a job. Well, not just any job. I had heard an ad on the radio for a sales rep and it sounded right up my alley. The commercial described me to a T. So I applied. I got the run around because while I wanted to give up marketing Incredible Impressions, I wanted to stay open for the clients I had already signed.

While they were deliberating over whether to hire me or not, our real estate agent called to let me know that another radio station was opening up in town and they were interviewing people for positions. The upshot of the long story I could tell is that I was hired and I began preparations to close down Incredible Impressions.

And thus ended my story online, or so I thought!

I started to venture back online once I felt solid ground beneath me on the radio sales side of things. I couldn't resist. I was finding out so many fascinating things about radio advertising and about different marketing techniques and copywriting, I couldn't wait to share them with the world. At first I searched for already existing sites, and when I found one started building my own.

As I began the building process, I reconnected with Kelly McCausey of Moms Talk Radio and ventured into poddcast advertising sales. I connected with another great person around this time and developed a working relationship on another project that will be revealed to the public soon. Things were starting to percolate and the Easy Results with Radio began to emerge with a much wider platform than I had originally anticipated.

When I found the internet landscape virtually barren of radio advice for small and home based business, I alternated between figuring it meant that nobody was interested and it's a dead market - or that I'd finally found a need I could uniquely fill.

The more I develop Easy Results with Radio, the more I believe it really has the potential to fill a growing need. The explosion of podcast (internet audio and video) opportunities is only one factor. A considerable one, as I've learned through my association with Moms Talk Radio and other podcasters online. The radio industry's move to online media is also a factor. By providing survey and list-building services and adding trackability to the proven effectiveness and high return on investment inherent to radio advertising, radio can find a place in the new media culture.

If nothing else it is going to prove to be an interesting experience to follow the transition.

If you've made it this far - bless you! I'm not sure I would've if it wasn't my own story! I'd hazard to guess that there aren't many radio account executives who can say they've been to broadcast school (that was before this particular segment of the never ending saga began) run their own home business, written for a national publication, run an online business, helped clients get into the paper and on television and marketed online. But that is how I got here from there...


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Mailbox Blessings

Usually, checking the mailbox does not make my top things to do in a day. I don't look forward to bills, flyers and credit card offers. That's all that usually lurks inside. This week though, the mailbox held so much wisdom and inspiration in one tiny little package.

The first edition of the new WC Mini Mag arrived!

It's a print magazine geared towards work at home moms. I know, I'm only half a work at home mom, now that I have a day job- but that's beside the point. After working from home for ten years, it's only natural that I still identify strongly with the work at home crowd. Especially since I do work at home, even if it's not full time.

Anyway, it was great curling up with a cup of tea offline and flipping through real pages. I am not typically a magazine reader. Most of the standard magazines out there just don't speak to me. Living in a small town, my need for fashion advice from the runways of Paris is negligible. I find mainstream parenting magazines annoying and the natural ones a bit too green. I'm not into the latest in celebrity gossip, and find that I find out the big news through the grapevine at work. I used to buy specialty writing magazines at one point in time, but I don't think they'd be considered a write-off anymore now that I'm not making a living from writing directly.

That's not to say I'm not a reader. I am a prolific reader. I love books and the library is my best friend when I don't have a zillion dollars in overdue fines due my bad habit of losing books under the bed.

I love the feel of paper between my fingertips and it's just not the same when it's something from online printed up on the home printer.

When it comes to real print, there's just not much out there aimed at work at home moms.

Except for the WC.

I couldn't afford to buy it when it was first launched as a paid subscription and I never did sign up for it when it went to a free publication, but when Kelly announced she was going back to a paid subscription I just knew I had to bite the bullet and sign up.

I am so glad that I did.

I curled up in a chair with a lovely cup of tea and absorbed the whole thing.

I still haven't listened to the CD that came along with it. That's on the roster for this weekend.

I loved what I read and can't wait for the next issue to arrive - now that's the way to put together a magazine. If you're thinking about subscribing - I'll steal a phrase from Nike here - just do it!

If you're not quite sure what is inside, you can check out the smaller online only edition to see if it's something you might like to brighten up your mailbox.