Resource Articles, Uncategorized
As parents and entrepreneurs we are dedicated to our family first and our business second. Once we have set aside time that belongs to our business, we often spend a great deal of time demystifying marketing and sales.
No matter how often we hear speakers and advertisers tell us that there is a “secret to success” no such secret actually exists, at least none that can be taught once you hand over your credit card. So I will tell it to you for free. The secret to success is
HUSTLE.
We know that this is true because we see successful people all around us, doing exactly what we are capable of doing ourselves. If you look closely you will see that success leaves a trail that can be followed by anyone. Therefore, there isn’t just one little secret that will turn your business into an overnight success.
If only good intentions were enough to bring us more sales, more income and more
opportunities, we’d all be rolling in it. ACTION is the only way to produce results. No matter what you are facing right now, I urge you to ask yourself, “What action can I take -right now- by me that will set something productive in motion?”
Sometimes it’s just going for a walk, journaling or meditating to get into the right headspace.
Or it could be crafting a new email, Posting something contemplative on social media (don’t get sucked in to scrolling!!) or updating your business plan. Whatever it is… keep moving. Hustle and flow, baby.
Resource Articles, Uncategorized
In this economy, everyone needs to have a job.
And yet, unemployment is on the rise due to COVID and other unexpected circumstances. When crisis hits, women ALWAYS bear the brunt of it.
Given a choice between losing her income or his…many families chose to give up mom’s salary because chances are she is only earning 80 cents to his dollar. Sigh.
Taking care of your kids and your household is worth a million bucks, and if it were up to us, we’d make sure you get paid for all the work you do. Finding gratitude for the little things and loving up your kiddos can definitely help you cope, but having a good attitude can only go so far. You have bills to pay, little people to feed and…well, a life to live.
It takes money to live here.
Coming into this human experience comes at a price… and no matter how unfair it seems, you have to pay to exist. So if finding a job is more difficult than you ever imagined it would be, building a business might be a good option for you.
It takes time to build a business, and nowadays, sticking it out is half the battle. But enough is enough. You are working hard and you deserve to be paid.
Pulling double duty does not entitle anyone to a salary, but creating a smart and strategic business plan will give you a greater chance of prosperity. This blue print will give you the tools to leverage your strategy and bring it to fruition.
Simply pick up a pen and create a map of the journey you would like to go on with your business. The very nature of business is that it is a collective activity. Choose to walk down a well thought out business path and you will find that you will stay much more engaged with your purpose and your mission. Intend yourself to be inspired toward actions that will bring you abundance and you will achieve the freedom that you and your family deserve to have.
Want some more inspiration? Ellen Rohr, a business makeover expert and Our Milk Money extraordinaire has a free ebook download: The Weekend Business Plan which will have you ready to launch your business by Monday.
Chris Loprete, daddysden, Dads
Okay, we can all agree that we love our kids, they’re the best thing that ever happened to us, they light up our lives blah blah blah. But to quote a friend’s response to a particular angry Facebook post of mine about my five year old, “We alway love ’em, but we don’t always have to like ’em” That made me feel so much better. So I’m here to let you all know. It’s okay. Everybody wants to kill their kids at one time or another. Those that say “How can you say that?!” don’t have kids. Those that have kids and say “Not me. My little angels are always good as gold” are either lying, in denial, or are suffering empty nest syndrome because their kids have moved away.
Our parents are loving this by the way. Montezuma could only wish he had this kind of revenge. I remembered telling my father how ungrateful my kid was after all of the gifts, trips to Disneyland, the zoo and so forth. With a sarcastic and unsympathetic tone he said, “Tell you what. I’ll send him the piles of thank you letters I got from you when you were his age. That’ll show him.” Touché and point taken.
I think we have it tougher than our parents did though. Seriously. With so much more media available to our kids like the Internet, video games, Smart phones, etc., there seems to be more of a sense of entitlement. Which brings more of an attitude. And at a much younger age too. I keep saying to my kindergardener, “I’m gonna have to put up with you when you’re a teenager, I shouldn’t have to put up with that mouth now!” To which he stares blankly at me and then asks if he can play with my iPad. So I know they’re too young to get it and on my end I’m probably making HUGE gaffes in discipline and parenting which may be partly responsible for his behavior, but it’s nice to know that parents for generations have gone through the same thing. It’s just taboo to talk about it for fear of being labeled a parent who doesn’t love their child with every fiber of their being. Yes, we do…as soon as they wipe that damn smirk off their face!
Author’s note- I never apologize for my blogs, but this one seems more grumpy than usual. I sound like angry old man Loprete who lives in the run down house next door. So I’ll write something happy next month. Now if you’ll excuse me, there are some damn kids playing in my yard!
Chris Loprete, daddysden, Dads
I know that doesn’t seem like a very provocative title or interesting subject of a blog so let me raise the stakes a little. My wife is reading this for the first time too. When my wife and I have some domestic dust up, I’ve always been pretty good at turning it into a humorous story or blog. Even she gets a kick out of it. Well, I’m taking a chance this time and flipping the scenario. I’m confessing something publicly and hoping she laughs it off BEFORE we fight about it. Will the gamble pay off? Well if it doesn’t…on the bright side I may already have next month’s blog.
So I’ve been ridiculously busy at my job this last month. Lots of late nights and weekends. My department is always busy this time of year because of a big annual presentation the president of our company gives to advertisers and media buyers in New York. Once the presentation is over, we can all breathe a sigh of relief on a job well done. Well, the presentation was given on a Tuesday morning and it’s tradition for our team to take the rest of the day off. Now my wife had an important meeting with her literary agent that night. She was going to take the kids to the supervised play at their preschool and I was going to pick them up. No problem. So I thought…”What would be the harm if I just went to a quick matinee? I haven’t seen a movie in so long. I don’t know when I’ll get to one. I’ve worked very hard at work as well as at home with the kids on the weekend (including giving my wife Mother’s Day weekend off)…why not just go to a movie and I’ll be home to take care of the kids tonight?” Now I’m pretty sure my wife would have preferred that I come home even earlier and help her with the kids. So why didn’t I call my wife and let her know that I was heading to the movies? Um…please save all questions until the end.
I drive to a movie theatre about 5 minutes away from our house. That way I can pick the kids up faster than if I went to a theatre near work. In fact I’ll still get them earlier than I would have if I worked the whole day. Am I a great Dad or what? I pay my ticket, grab my 3D glasses and head in. The movie begins and I’m usually vigilant about turning off my phone because I can’t stand when people talk or text during a film, but this time I kept it on vibrate…just in case. Good thing too. Sure enough because the Universe loves to screw with me, at about the half way point of the movie my phone begins to vibrate in my lap. It’s her. I started to perspire as I did something I would never dream of doing before. Pushed the “ignore” button. If it’s important I’m sure she’ll leave a voice mail and I’ll duck out of the theatre in a minute to check it. BZZZ. BZZZ. She’s calling back. Ooookay she’s looking for me. Duck out the theatre NOW. I scamper out of my seat. Luckily the theatre was mostly empty because most people were working or home with their families. I’m starting to hate myself as I write this. I hurry out to the lobby so she won’t hear the obscenely loud sounds of Thor saving the planet. “Hello?” “Hi” Oh God. She’s been crying. “Is everything okay?” “I’m sorry to bother you” she says. “You’re not bothering me at all” I say. (TELL HER!)”What’s up?” (YOU FOOL!) She then goes on to tell me about what a miserable day she’s been having and she’s thinking of calling off the meeting with her agent. I ask her if she wants me to come home. For the record I meant it. I would have left the theatre right then and hurried home.
Of course it would have confused my wife because I would have been home about 40 minutes before I usually get home from work. “No”, she said. “I just need a pep talk.” Now I’m REALLY good at breaking my wife out of her funks so I go into my best spiel. Please believe me when I say that I wasn’t b.s-ing her just to get back into the theatre. I really meant everything I was saying and I was telling her everything she needed to hear. I was even ignoring the curious glances from the people in the lobby. I’m sure they were impressed by this man who must be a motivational speaker. Not so much. Turns out they were looking at a lunatic having a very animated conversation on his cell phone…who had forgotten to take off his 3D glasses. I can imagine how many dinner conversations that night that started with “I saw the strangest thing in the lobby of the movie theatre today…” It worked though. My wife stopped crying, she said she felt better and she thanked me. I hung up walked back into the theatre glad that I had cheered her up, but feeling like pond scum. I watched and enjoyed the rest of the movie but I was obviously distracted. You gotta understand. My wife and I don’t lie to each other. We don’t know how. On the few occasions we have been deceptive it tears away at both of us like Poe’s Tell Tale Heart. In my case the heart beat under the floor boards was as loud as Thor’s hammer.
May I just interject here and say that last month Arnold Schwarzenegger confessed to fathering a child over a decade ago with his maid. I went to the movies. Just putting it in perspective. Okay back to the story. The movie ended, I picked up the kids, fed them, bathed them, and put them to bed. My wife got home from the meeting and told me it went well and she was glad she didn’t call it off. I considered telling her right then, but it seemed a little soon. No. Best to do the most cowardly thing imaginable and wait two weeks to tell her in a blog. So there it is.
This is my warped way of apologizing. I’m sure a therapist would have a field day. They say the truth will set you free. I am about to seriously put that theory to the test. You may not even be reading this. I have to send it to my editor first…who is also my wife.
So if you are reading this, one of two things has happened. Either I’m right and she is laughing this whole thing off…or I’m dead and she has posted this posthumously as a warning to other husbands out there. We shall see…
Julianne Wish, Member Contributions, Member Spotlights
Married more than 20 years with 3 children, Tim & Andrea began baking for friends and family at the holidays and it proved so popular that they decided to offer McLaren’s for purchase as gifts for the Christmas and New Years Holidays. They continued to grow and now MacLaren’s products are available year round.
The delicious Scottish Shortbread has been a tradition in their family for at least five generations; both sides of their family have their roots in Scotland, through the McLaren & Forbes Clans. The family recipe was passed down from Tim’s great-great Gran who lived in Glasgow, Scotland. Each batch is hand-made, baked in clay trays and hand packaged.
In 2020, the couple retired and sold the business… and so the tradition of hand-made Scottish Shortbread, Curds, Jams and more continues! Faithfully using the same recipes and methods, the new ownership continues providing customers with the best products all through the year. This is an interview from 10 years ago, reposted!
1. Tell us about your business and the service that you provide:
McLaren’s is a specialty gourmet food business, focused on hand made foods with a Scottish, British or civilized flair, for afternoon tea, dessert or any special occasion.
We make all of our products by hand, with the finest ingredients available. Our products include:
Original Scottish Shortbread
Ginger Lassies
Lemon Curd, Lime Curd, Orange Curd
Specialty Jams, Jellies, Marmalades
Traditional Scone Mix
Maple Scone Mix
Old World Gingerbread Cake Mix
We sell individual products as well as beautiful gift baskets. We also offer corporate gifting, weddings favors and special event bids.
To specialize gifts we have an ever-changing inventory of new, vintage and antique teacups, teapots, biscuit barrels and more.
Product Descriptions
Original Scottish Shortbread-
Ginger Lassies (a spicy chewy ginger cookie, 2 varieties, hot or mild)
Lemon Curd, Lime Curd, Orange Curd- no fillers or thickeners, only eggs, sugar, butter and fresh squeezed citrus juice
Specialty Jams, Jellies, Marmalades- all of our fruit is purchased from local growers, fresh and in season (with the exception of one jam whose fruit comes from Oregon) We purchase from local growers, not only to assure quality and freshness, but to support our local farmers as well.
We also sell 3 mixes to bake at home.
Traditional Scone Mix- this makes a light fluffy proper scone, and should be eaten warm, the day it is made.
Maple Scone Mix- this mix is sweetened with pure organic Maple Sugar and includes additional Maple sugar for a glaze. This makes a light fluffy proper scone, and should be eaten warm, the day it is made.
Old World Gingerbread Cake Mix- Our Gingerbread mix makes a fantastic dessert or teacake! This is not a gingerbread cookie mix, but a gingerbread cake, best served warm with fresh whipped cream, or better yet topped with your favorite Jam.
2. How did you decide to get started?
I am a teacher in the CA Community College system and Tim is a mortgage broker, so…. 2 years ago, when the market crashed and my class load was severely cut, we needed to do something to make money to support our family. That first Christmas season, we knew that our cookies were popular with friends and family, so we put out a little email and BANG! We sold over 1200 lbs of shortbread with very little marketing. We decided to take his family shortbread recipe public and expand into a legitimate business. So we moved from our home kitchen into a commercial kitchen and off we went, into the world of farmers markets, serv safe, sampling permits, and Scottish Festivals.
3. What kind of background of expertise do you have in your field?
We had no commercial baking/cooking experience. We did know that we and our friends preferred fresh foods with no preservatives and no additives.
4. What trends do you see in your current industry?
Customers want delicious foods, made with real, fresh ingredients and are willing to pay more for great quality.
5. What things do you find to be most demanding about your job?
We go into the kitchen at night, after we finish our other jobs. We travel to Farmers markets, Scottish Festivals and Craft shows all year, it’s tiring.
6. What do you find to be the most rewarding about your job and your day-to-day routine?
One of the most rewarding things for us is that we are able to pick up our kids from school, and be home with them after school. Also, let’s not forget the look on customer’s faces when they try our products! They love them. One of the greatest rewards ahs been being able to keep our home.
7. What advice would you give to someone else who is interested in starting a business like yours?
First, get ready to work very hard, long hours. Find a product that you believe in and that you know other people like and will buy. Try to find a mentor in the same or a related business, do not ask someone who sells the same product that you want to sell. Find out the laws and regulations in your sate and county, before you invest a dime! (CA- Take your Serv Safe class first, then get your DBA while you look for a commercial kitchen.)
8. What are you most proud of as a parent-preneur?
I am very grateful that I have been able to be home for my kids and that my kids have helped out, learned to bake and cook right along side us. I am grateful that as a family, we worked together to build this upstart business and my children have learned the value of hard work.
9. How have you been able to manage your time between work and your family?
By soldiering on. It has been very hard to balance everything. Some days it is more work and some days it is more family. We do the best we can. The idea of balance is a myth, perpetrated by pundits and magazine writers who have no children. Life is more like a crazy pendulum, but it eventually will swing back the other way.
10. What has been the most effective way for you to promote yourself?
We have built our business on our reputation for the highest quality products and the customer satisfaction we have built at Farmers Markets and Scottish Festivals. We also use Constant Contact, have a web site, Facebook, Twitter and a blog.
Finally: What does your “Milk Money” provide for you and your family?
It saved our home and continues to provide a growing income for our family.
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