In the book, Christine Brown-Quinn points out how many of the skills she learnt in her business career are applicable to raising a family. Commitment, Communication and Conflict Management are all key elements to successful work and home life. Christine’s advice definitely rings true for me – I’ve found my business and family skills have developed alongside each other.

If you like this sort of book, you’ll also like Kids and Co.: Winning Business Tactics for Every Family, written by mum to three and founder of White Ladder Press Roni Jay.

Many thanks

Antonia

This easy to follow book has received rave reviews since being launched, here are a few examples of what people have been saying,

“Seriously though, the book is really great – it’s got everything you need to start blogging and there are some nifty tips for old timers too.  It’s clear, concise and beautifully presented. It’s not padding and waffle – it cuts to the chase and tells you just the important stuff. ” Exmoor Jane

“I do have to say that this has to be one of best books that I have read when it comes to blogging, it’s simple to understand and certainly doesn’t go off topic on any of the chapters, as I mentioned earlier the book is great for new and seasoned bloggers. If you are serious about your blogging then I would recommend this book to you.” Blazing Minds

Also if you fancy winning a copy of this excellent book then why not head on over to Britmums where they have three copies to give away!

Here are our top five tips on having fun with your family without breaking the bank.

1. You really don’t need to spend anything to have fun as a family. You can simply go to a local park and have fun on the swings or take a bat and ball and play rounders. Great exercise and lots of fun!
2. Look in local and national newspapers as they are always offering 2 for 1 on tickets to lots of different activities. They also have great offers on restaurants and as well as lists of activities that are local to you.
3. Visit your local museum. We recently visited one as a family and the children absolutely loved it. The great thing is they now cater for children so have interactive displays that the children are allowed to touch. They also have a wide range of activities so is great for all the family not matter what the age.
4. Check out the internet. There are many websites that offer savings on holidays, days out, meals and goods. One such site is Groupon, this is a great site as they not only have offers for the whole of the UK, you can find offers in a specific city near to you. You can also sign up and receive the offers direct to your inbox, which is great as the offers are limited in number and do also have a time limit.
5. Fancy a modern day treasure hunt?  GPS treasure hunting is a great family activity and the only expense is petrol. You go round searching for hidden containers using gps-enables devices and then you share your finds online. A great way to find new places locally and lots of fun for all the family.

Advertorial

In this post I’m going to give you three strategies for success. Pick one and TAKE ACTION today.

1. Be First

Success strategy one is be first. Being first at something gives you a number of benefits. You can market yourself as ‘authentic’ and ‘original’ and in doing so you can charge a premium. Being first you will start out with no competition at all, this will give you a chance to develop your idea before other businesses start snapping at your heels. Being first gives you the added benefit of compound effort or traction, you’ve already done a lot of the legwork and made the mistakes, other businesses have to play catch up to you. This is a nice position to be in.

2. Be Unique

Take a tried and tested business model or idea and adapt it to include tried and tested bits from other business models. Businesses that have done this include Graze, taking the veg box delivery idea and applying it to products like nuts and seeds. Break some new ground and gain some attention.

3. Be the Best

Seen a cool idea elsewhere but know that you can improve on it? What’s stopping you. Business thrives on competition. If you can’t be first be the best. Look at ways to improve functionality, efficiency and effectiveness and you’ll be on to winner. Just don’t forget to keep innovating as there’ll always be businesses trying to do it better than you.

Which can you be?

Blog reproduced from www.littlemummy.com.

If you would like to be one of the people featured on this site, do get in touch with kizzy@familyfriendlyworking.co.uk. Click here to find out about other promotional opportunities and advertising.

Guidelines for a profile

There are questions below to guide you BUT don’t feel that you have to stick to a Q&A format. Family Friendly Working covers news and short articles about you and your business. All pieces need to be 200-400 words:

IDEAS FOR WHAT TO COVER

Name of Business:

Your Name and Age:

Tell us about your family (partner, children, ages, where you live etc: whatever you feel happy sharing)

What did you do before coming up with your business idea (previous career, stay at home mum etc) and how was it making the transition?

When did you launch?

How did you get started?

What research did you do before launching?

How have you funded the business?

How do you promote your business? What has worked best?

What has worked well about your business?

What has been your biggest challenge so far? How have you dealt with it?

How do you fit in work with the family?

What advice would you give to someone else wanting to work in this area?

If you have a flexible working business opportunity, please explain briefly what you offer and how people find out more.

Your website link.

If you can offer a discount or special promotion for Family Friendly Working readers, please write it here:

Please include a link to a photograph and/or logo.

So if you are looking to earn some extra money and are passionate about about raising happy healthy children, then this may interest you.

All sales consultants will get order forms, business post cards, and some sample CD packs. All you need to do is tell people about these amazing products and in return you will earn 30% commission as well as discounted products for yourself. This is set to run along side Sue Atkins new TODDLER Membership Scheme.

If you are interested and want to find out more, pop over to Sue Atkins site or email sue@thesueatkins.com

1. Pinterest –  business as well as pleasure - Pinterest is an up and coming social media platform that can be used for promoting your business and is especially good for businesses who advertise visually.
2. How To Add A Google+ Business Page - Google+ is another new kid on the block when it comes to social media. They have just changed their format again and it now looks very similar to Facebook. Here is a great post on how to set up a Google+ business page.
3. How Can Twitter Help Grow Your Business - Twitter is a great site for sharing your businesses news and ideas as well as interacting and building relationships with clients and other businesses. Here is a post which helps you to use this medium to grow your business.
4. How Social Media Helps Promote Your Business - This post explains the ways in which social media can help to promote your business, giving ideas on how to use these platforms to reach new customers.
5. Killer Business Tools and Apps: A Roundup - Great post which has a round up of some fantastic social media tools and apps you can use for your business.
6. An Introduction to Twitter for Business - Here is a fantastic post which gives you an introduction to using Twitter for business. Great for anyone not yet using this social media platform for promoting their business.
7. Social Media for Small Businesses Made Easy - A wonderful guide on how to use social media for your small business. Easy to use and follow giving great tips and ideas on how to make social media work for your business.
8. Social Media iPhone Apps: Start working remotely - Want to have access to your businesses social media whilst you are out and about? Here is a post which gives some wonderful apps for your iPhone which makes keeping in touch with your accounts easy.
9. How to Link Up Twitter - This post explains how you can link up Twitter with your other business accounts, spreading the information you share about your business further.
10. Using Facebook For Business - You may use Facebook for social interactions with friends and family, but are you using it to promote your business and build relationships with prospective clients? No well here is a post that helps you get started using a page to promote your business.

Very shortly we are going to be launching our new course for Summer 2012. I’m telling you today so you can be prepared. Over the next few days we are going to give you a taste of the quality of information we’ll be providing on the course. As with all ACEInspire courses, our new course will include written and video material, with a combination of live workshops and work for you to do at your own pace. What’s new is that we will be covering a fresh topic and we are definitely taking things to the next level. This course is for you if you want to step up and see your business grow.

Sign up here if you want emails about this new course and some fab articles to help you improve your business