Welcome to A Woman With A Business!

Hello There! Welcome to A Woman With A Business! I hope you will find a comfortable spot and join us for some fabulous conversations! Navigating the business world as an entrepreneur can be scary, exhausting, and hugely rewarding! You probably have fears, questions, doubts, and a ton of energy to move forward in your venture! Or, maybe you have found us after years of slogging along, doing the hard work, celebrating your successes! You are all welcome here!

We are here to talk about business! Although, as most experienced entrepreneurs know, you don't get to forget about your personal life when you are in business! So, we hope you enjoy this blog, learn, laugh, celebrate, commiserate, and cheer each other on!

We are always on the look out for contributors, collaborators, and interviewees, so feel free to get in touch with me at awomanwithabusiness@gmail.com.

A little about me! I am April, and I live with my kids and husband on almost 7 acres of land in central North Carolina. I have been a work at home mom since 2002, and became an entrepreneur in May of 2005. I started out doing craft shows and running my own website, and added my first Etsy shop in June 2008. I now have 3 Etsy shops, one stand alone website, and still do craft shows. I have sold on many platforms, including Amazon Handmade, Artfire, and even wordpress using shopping cart plug ins. While I don't sell on these places now, due to the time involved in running my business, I encourage you to find the right selling venue for you!

Starting in April 2019, I will begin teaching classes on selling on Etsy, and hope to add additional topics as requested. I have taught classes on Etsy for others over the last 10 years, and finally decided to write my own classes instead of just being a guest speaker.

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Slowdowns and Slumps - When to freakout, When to take action, and What to do about it - Etsy Stats

This week I am talking about Slumps and Slowdowns ... how to know if you are really in a slump or slowdown, when to freak out, and what to do about it! Today is all about analyzing stats. Over and over I have witnessed people freaking out about slowdowns because their stats are down from a day ago, a week ago, and a month ago ... but just this is not enough information to know if you are really experiencing a slowdown. Retail sales are cyclical, and you need to know your cycles. If you cannot deal with the natural cycles in your business, then you need to develop a new product line that will work opposite those cycles in your current business. Trying to even out cycles in your current business is much harder than creating a product line that you market to a different market to fill in slow cycles. Also note, that cycles in business will fluctuate year to year, and your sales should be increasing during these cycles year to year. Although as your bus...

Managing your Expectations - Part 3 - Where are you going and how will you get there

When starting a business, a lot of people will tell you that you need a business plan. However, a lot of people starting a business simply start with an idea or just simply wanting to supplement their current income. A business plan isn't something that they think is necessary. Business plans are thought of as something that only large businesses trying to get funding need. However, business plans can provide an important road map for even the smallest of businesses. In a lot of cases, people spend more effort planning a dinner or lunch date, than they do on planning their business. It starts with an invite to eat, should you invite others, what time will you meet, what restaurant will you eat at, where is the restaurant, map the location on your GPS, do you need to make reservations, how long will it take you to drive there, do you need to make arrangements for parking, how expensive is the menu, what will you wear, and how long will it take you to get r...

Time Management - Tips for Women Entrepreneurs - Part 3 Prioritizing Your Time and Your Activities

This is Part 3 of the Time Management series you can find part 1 here , and part 2 here . Mapping out blocks of time to dedicate to your business is very important, knowing what to do in those blocks of time is even more important. Today we will be talking about both prioritizing your time and your activities! So, you are ready ... you've found blocks of time during your day, now what do you do with that time? The first thing you need to do, is evaluate when your magic hours are. This is the time of day that you are your best. Your brain is clear, you're at your highest motivation, and you are ready to go. For me, those hours are first thing in the morning, however, I know others whose peak hours are late at night. This is the time of day that you need to do the items that require the most of your brain and energy. Since I know these hours happen for me in the morning, I adjust my schedule throughout the year to maximize this time. It...

A Woman With A Business

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