How to Stand Out Amongst Other Women Entrepreneurs

By Roz Jones

As more and more of the female population decides to start a business, it gets harder to stand out amongst other women entrepreneurs – particularly if you have a full home life that involves caring for loved ones. However, it can be done. Here are a few suggestions to get you started.

Utilize Social Media

Social media can be used for so much more than keeping in touch with loved ones. Create pages for both yourself and your business on multiple social media sites (Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.). Then, share content that shows off the things that you have to offer.

Be sure to highlight ways that you are different from your competition. For example, if you’re the only daycare service in your town that also provides transportation, be sure to bring that up in your posts.

Keep Your Promises

Clients and customers alike will notice when you deliver on every aspect of a promise that you make to them. Make sure that you finish everything that you start, and that you get it done in a timely manner. People remember that you were true to your word, and keep that in mind when deciding who to do business with in the future.

Go the Extra Mile

Doing more than is expected of you when working with clients or customers is a sure way to set yourself and your business apart from competitors in your field. If you can offer an extra feature or service that your competitors don’t, that’s an excellent point to make when trying to “sell” yourself to potential customers.

Give Out Free Samples

People tend to get pretty excited about the idea of getting something for free. Consider investing in promotional objects like pens, mouse pads, t-shirts, or fridge magnets. It may not seem like much, but gifts like this with your logo on them can go a long way toward setting yourself apart from your peers.

Listen to Feedback

Even if you are successful when you launch your business, you won’t be able to keep up with the changing landscape if you aren’t able to adapt as a business owner. Take every opportunity that you can to collect feedback from customers and other businesses that you work with.

One way to do this is to provide customers with a satisfaction survey, either in person or via email. Make sure to include a section that lets the customer fill in suggestions on how you could improve your service. Not only will this give you an idea of how you can do better, it also lets your customers know that their opinion matters to you.

These are just a few ways to help to ensure that you stand out among the sea of female entrepreneurs. Yes, competition is fierce. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t be successful. With perseverance and due diligence, chances are you’ll realize continued growth along your well-deserved journey to success.

Congratulations, you want to start a business! Once you get over the initial excitement, it’s time to break down the process of launching your startup into manageable chunks. So do you feel overwhelmed with the items on your to-do list? Not to worry; I’ve divided this startup Essential Business Bundle Checklists into the primary tasks you need to do now, and those that you can defer until later. These documents will help you navigate, structure, and create systems specific to our business.

It’s here, I am so excited to share a new caregiver app called CircleOf….This app will allow you to surround yourself with resources and experts from your community including ME!!!! As you are looking through the app, you will see my familiar face. I’m excited about this partnership and new ways to support you as you support your loved one. Here’s the link so you can explore the app. I would love your feedback and spread the word by sharing the link to family and friends.

Visit http://www.rozjonesent.com for more information on addressing mental health as a caregiver and check out my upcoming book!

How to Find Balance When Juggling a Business and a Family

By Roz Jones

Building and operating a business can be challenging, especially if you’re also in charge of your home and the care of your loved ones. After a busy morning of getting everyone else ready for their day, you may not feel as ready to get to work.

Likewise, after a long day at work, all of the tasks you have to do to keep your house in order probably seem overwhelming. Here’s a little bit of advice on how to juggle a busy life at home and at work.

Let Go of Stress

Taking care of problems both at work and at home can lead to feeling stressed or overworked, which can make it difficult to work effectively or enjoy time with your family. It may help to get a little bit of “alone time” between work and your family – whether it’s before you go to work or just after you get home.

For example, you might try leaving for work early and listening to your favorite music in the office, or go for a jog right when you get home. This will give you a chance to unwind and clear your head from the stresses of working or taking care of the household.

Find Quality Caregivers

You may have a hard time staying focused at work if you’re concerned about the care that your loved ones are getting while you’re not around. Make sure that you find caregivers that you trust completely, and that you feel are competent to be there for your loved ones while you’re away.

If you’ll be hiring help for caregiving, make a list of all of the criteria that you think are essential in a caregiver. If they’re missing anything on that list, they may not be the right caregiving provider for you.

Stay Organized

Being disorganized or planning activities at the last minute can have a negative impact on your mood and your work efficiency. Try to keep your home and work area clean and well-organized so that you don’t have to sort through clutter to get things done.

At home, this could be as simple as establishing a place to keep everything that you use regularly. You won’t have to worry about finding your keys if you put them in the same place every time you come home.

Bring the Two Together

Last but not least, preventing your home life from interfering with your professional life often means keeping the two separate whenever possible. Instead, find ways to combine the two however you can.

For example, rather than withdrawing to a home office while you try to get business-related work done at home, get your kids and your partner involved. Even if they don’t have any advice to provide when it comes to maintaining your business, talking to them about what’s happening at work will give you a chance to vent.

Visit http://www.rozjonesent.com for more information on addressing mental health as a caregiver and check out my upcoming book!

How to Make Time to Keep Learning: Tips for Women

By Roz Jones

Being a lifelong learner is an important way to enrich your daily life. But how can women, particularly caretakers, make time for continuing their education? Today, we’re bringing you four ways you can make learning a priority outside the classroom – on your timeline.

1. First and foremost, take advantage of online resources. The internet is teeming with free or low-cost learning opportunities. You can find an online course on almost any topic, from cooking to web development to financial planning. And many of these courses are self-paced, so you can learn at your own speed and on your own schedule.

2. Find a podcast in an area you’re curious about, and listen to it during your commute, when you’re picking up kids from school, or while doing tasks around the house. Not only will this help you learn something new, but you can do it while multitasking. Keep an eye out for the Caregiver Cafe podcast, coming in April!

3. Check out your local library for books, magazines, newspapers, and other resources on topics that interest you. James Clear (author of Atomic Habits) says it’s a good idea to link new habits to old ones, and eliminate decision-making in the moment. Want to read before bed? Clear advises people to put the book on their pillow, and commit to reading one page before switching out the light.

Libraries also offer free or low-cost classes on everything from computer literacy to creative writing.

4. Finally, don’t forget your local museums! Even if you live in a small town with a museum that’s open one day a month, this can be a great way to learn more about the place where you live, and hear stories you’ve never heard before.

Remember, it’s fine to learn just to encourage your curiosity. Not everything has to have a “productive” output. If it expands the way you see the world, it’s worth doing!

I’ve just launched Shop With Roz, my online store filled with supplies and gifts for every caregiver. You can find a wide variety of products in the store to help yourself and your loved one. Check it out here!

After you have a look through the store, see any products you use and love as a caregiver, and think we should share them with everyone? Let me know!

Visit http://www.rozjonesent.com for more information on addressing mental health as a caregiver and check out my upcoming book!

How to Avoid Analysis Paralysis – Part 3

By Roz Jones

Welcome back to our three-part article on how to avoid analysis paralysis for women! Today, we’re covering a more fun part of the topic: Spontaneous decisions.

But first…catch up on part 1 here and part 2 here.

Are Spontaneous Decisions Always Bad?

Some people spend too much time trying to find as much information as they can, and they miss opportunities because of it. Information is a key component in decision making. However, sometimes you simply have to decide and live with the decision you made without any information.

You don’t want others to view you as someone who makes rash decisions. You’ll lose credibility when you do this and people won’t take you seriously. However, you must prepare yourself for certain times in your life when being decisive is necessary. For instance, you may be helping a loved one consider next steps for physical therapy, and realize their first choice for PT offices is already booked up. You are given other choices but are unsure of how that will fit into your family’s overall plan. Do you enroll in those alternative programs, or wait for their first choice?

Your loved one may decide to go for the PT most readily available. If it’s a similar program at a similar price, this may end up working right into your plan. Talk to your GP and ask how to proceed after taking this new path. Of course, you could always reroute and seek treatment elsewhere if this new office isn’t a fit.

The point is that if a decision doesn’t work out, the “wrong” results can usually be fixed. Don’t be afraid to take the plunge. The shoe company Nike has a slogan that has worked for them for several decades now. That slogan is ‘Just Do It!‘

A structured living doesn’t fit well with some people. They need the excitement that comes with making spontaneous decisions. Who is to say that their way is wrong? It may not work for others, but for them, it works quite well. You may know people who are like this and are envious of them.

That isn’t the same scenario as people who don’t do much with their lives. Spontaneous decision makers are often doing many activities. You can decide to do nothing, but doing nothing won’t get you very far. Unless you are lucky enough to come from money and your parents are willing to give you that money, you will need to find something to do.

Most people will find a balance of decisions they make based on information and spontaneous decisions. The process of decision making becomes easier the more you do it. So go out and practice! Make confident decisions – I’m rooting for you!

After you have a look through the store, see any products you use and love as a caregiver, and think we should share them with everyone? Let me know!

Visit http://www.rozjonesent.com for more information on addressing mental health as a caregiver and check out my upcoming book!

How to Avoid Analysis Paralysis for Women, Part 2

By Roz Jones

Welcome back to our three-part article on how to avoid analysis paralysis for women! Today, we’re covering one way to deal with too much information: Decision Trees

Read part 1 here!

Decision Trees Can Help You Make Decisions

Decision trees are tools used by people to help them make confident decisions. It helps them lay out several alternatives in a tree-like format. They can see most, if not all, the decisions available and can even set a pro/con rating on each choice.

The concept of a decision tree is an extension of a mind map. A mind map lets you create ideas and connections to those ideas. The decision tree is much like this concept except for a decision tree there is a score added to the branches of the tree. These scores often represent probabilities.

If you have three choices, you may assign two branches with 40% probabilities, and the third branch would receive a 20% probability. The total of the branches should add up to 100%. Remember, this is your decision tree, so you are free to use whatever allocations you like if any. If your system makes sense to you, then it is correct.

Decision trees don’t have to be intricate to be useful. You can use them to list out the alternatives for a decision and end your efforts there. You can also choose to update the percentage of completion for the path that you select. Again, there are no right answers when using a decision tree for your purposes.

Decision trees will have a certain amount of subjectivity associated with them. In most cases, coming up with probabilities is quite subjective. It’s only through experience that you’ll be able to refine the probabilities. If the project you are working on is a one-time deal, you won’t get the benefit of refining those probabilities and will have to start over with a new set of subjective probabilities on the next project. However, some branches may carry over to the new project, and you’ll have a better feel for what to assign to those.

Come back in a couple of days for Part 3!

After you have a look through the store, see any products you use and love as a caregiver, and think we should share them with everyone? Let me know!

Visit http://www.rozjonesent.com for more information on addressing mental health as a caregiver and check out my upcoming book!