Moms In Business

Cut the Rope - Holiday Gift: Fun, Free Game for iPhone and iPad

If you're looking for a fun free game you can play by yourself or with your kids on your iPhone or iPad, check out my new favorite -- Cut the Rope: Holiday Gift.

But I warn you, it's addictive! 

Social Media Goodies from Linda's Desk for 10/30/10

Here's some of the social media goodies I found recently just in case you missed them on my Social Media Coach Facebook page or my Twitter feed.

Enjoy!

Linda Locke
Moms in Business


Why You Aren't Getting Noticed on Facebook http://ht.ly/31XwX


Helpful Stats: Study Reveals Why Consumers Fan Facebook Pages http://ht.ly/31JkR


‎26 Twitter Tips for Enhancing Your Tweets http://ht.ly/30gPI


5 Incredibly Useful Research Tools Your Competitors Don’t Know About http://ht.ly/2ZC0F


Want To Change Your Facebook Page Name? You May Soon Be Able To http://ht.ly/2ZAqU


Three Tools for Hyper-local Social Media Marketing http://ht.ly/2YziP


Small 'B-to-B' Companies Find Social Networks Not Always the Best Marketing Tool - WSJ.com http://ht.ly/2Y6Hg


Lots of great tips and insights here: The Brand of You: How To Monetize Your Personality Using Social Media - by Mari Smith http://ht.ly/2XNCf


Handy tips: How to Backup Your Social Media Life | Fast Company http://ht.ly/2VSmv


9 Ways to Use Social Media to Inspire Your Writing http://ht.ly/2VcNX


‎6 Ways to Revive a Dead Social Media Channel http://ht.ly/2UUE0


10 Do's and Don'ts for Facebook Pages http://ht.ly/2U9fx

Essential iPad Apps for Business Moms

I've had my iPad for over a month now and I've downloaded and road tested lots of apps. Here's 7 apps that I think are essential for business moms on the go:

It's not free ($1.99), but the Social app is the best I've found for recreating the full Facebook experience on your iPad. I use it every day to keep in touch when I'm out and about.

Flipboard is a free app that lets you view your social media content in a magazine type format. It gives me a whole different perspective on the info that my Twitter and Facebook friends are sharing.

Dragon Dictation is free and very cool. Just tap the screen and talk and your words appear on the screen.  And it's surprisingly accurate. You can now capture all of those wonderful ideas that you never have time to write down.

The new, free Twitter app takes full advantage of the iPad's touch and swipe capabilities. You can add multiple accounts, view your lists, DMs, mentions and click on links to instantly view the content.

Bump is another free, fun and useful app that lets you share stuff by bumping your iPad to another iPad or to an iPhone to share photos, contacts, calendar events or become friends on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

The free Kindle app is my favorite. It lets you download and read any of the books in your Kindle library on your iPad. The book covers are displayed in color making them easier to find if you have a lots of books in your Kindle archives and reading them on the big screen is very satisfying.  Illustrations look exactly like the ones in the original printed books, which is a great improvement over the tiny pictures you see on the Kindle itself. You can move quickly through a book using the slider bar on the bottom of the page and easily search within the book from any page. I'm reading all my Kindle books on the iPad now.

The free Gotomeeting app lets you join any Gotomeeting wherever you are on your iPad just by tapping the link in your invitation email. You can't start meetings with it yet, but hopefully they will add that soon.

If you've found other great iPad apps, please share them with us in the comments!

Linda Locke
Moms in Business

Social Media Goodies from Linda's Desk for 10/9/10

Here's some of the social media goodies that I've been posting on my Social Media Coach page over at Facebook this last week. Please come over and visit us this week and join in the conversation!

Enjoy!

Linda Locke
Social Media Coach
http://www.facebook.com/socialmediapage

Great tips: The Mystery of The Facebook News Feed: How to Optimize The Hidden Jewel of Facebook http://ht.ly/2JSDy

How to Create Social Media Business Guidelines | Social Media Examiner http://ht.ly/2FhcN

Focus on Getting Followers, Not Friends http://ht.ly/2Ibxt

5 Ways to Develop Meaningful LinkedIn Connections http://ht.ly/2IbGS

Search Marketing as a Core Local Business Strategy http://ht.ly/2IKS1

18 Types of Posts That Get More Comments | The Blog Herald http://ht.ly/2IKZI

6 new scientific findings about Facebook users - The Week http://ht.ly/2Ku04

Facebook is about interaction, it's not about sales http://ht.ly/2MmsB

Facebook Ads: Success Secrets From a Facebook Insider http://ht.ly/2MmQb

10 Do's and Don'ts for Facebook Pages http://ht.ly/2QEIu

Linda Locke - Social Media Coach

Persistent, consistent job search strategy works for back to work mom

If you've been on the job hunt for a while with no luck, here's some inspiration on how a back to work mom changed her scattered search into a more strategic one to land a job.

"In October 2009 - when thousands of people were losing jobs - Woody was hired as communications manager for Association Headquarters Inc. in Mount Laurel, N.J. She says she learned of the job through a former colleague on Facebook.

"There are jobs out there," Woody says. "You just have to be connected and not give up. You have to talk to everyone - even other moms you meet at story time with your kids."

Read more here: Need a job? Search strategy must be consistent, persistent

 

 

 

 

8 Online Business Ideas for Moms

If you are still thinking about starting a business online, here's some great ideas and resources to check out:

8 Ways to Make Money Online - WomansDay.com

Is Your Business Mom Friendly?

If you want to make your business more mom friendly, here's some ideas from Lisa Druxman the Mompreneur blogger at Entrepreneur.com on how to do it:

"1. Offer flex time. Does it truly matter what hours an employee works, so long as the job gets done? Consider offering positions that can be done anytime, rather than during traditional office hours. Of course, it won't work for every position, but it works for many.

2. Offer job shares. You may be able to get two moms to share one position. What's the benefit to you? Loyal and passionate employees. Plus, you won't have to offer full-time benefits.

3. Nurture a guilt-free workplace. Create an environment where employees can go home to care for sick kids, attend school plays, etc. Consider office hours that fit with school hours and, if possible, close the office during school holidays. Our employees know they can go "be mom" when they need to without guilt or excuse as long as they get their work done later.

4. Encourage BYKTW (bring your kid to work). If possible, create a child-friendly work environment where employees can bring their kids to work. Offer nanny share or child care so your employees can feel close to their kids but still be able to get their work done.

5. Go virtual. Offer your employees web-based business centers such as earnware.com, web meetings such as livemeeting.com and web-based phone systems such as skype.com so they can easily work from anywhere."

Source: Make Yours a Mom-friendly Business

Mom Goes Public with her Secret Life as an Escape Artist

If you have a dream and have been putting it on hold, this story will encourage you to go for it, now.

Donna Purnell is 48 and the mother of three, and she used to have a big secret.  But when she was forced to shut down her day-care business of 16 years because of the economy, she went public with her secret life as one of only four female escape artists in the world. Her husband posted a video of one of her escapes on YouTube last year and it got over 10,000 hits. Her secret hobby wasn't a secret any more.

Now she's doing her escape act in public and has plans to take her show on the road. Using her stage name, Alexanderia the Great, she recently appeared as part of Boston’s GreenFest in City Hall Plaza in her version of Houdini's Milk Can escape. Bound with handcuffs and padlocks, she escaped from a water-filled recycling bin in about 3 minutes.

You can see one of Donna's amazing escapes in the video below and read more about her here: Mom’s great escape! - BostonHerald.com

 

 

 



How to Beat the Summertime Business Blues

It's the middle of summer and lots of people are singing the ain't got no business blues. But if you work it right, summer can be a wonderful time to get new business, make new contacts, and set some goals for the fall. Here's some ideas for kicking the summertime blues out of your life and making the most of the rest of the summer.

1.  First things first. Take some time off!  It may seem counter intuitive, but taking some down time is crucial to the health of your business.  A change of scenery, new experiences, and a chance to slow down and really relax will help you to recharge the little gray cells and increase your creativity.

Be sure to keep a little notebook (I use Moleskin journals in bright colors) or voice recorder (I use the Recorder app on my iPhone) handy to keep track of those smashing ideas that will come up during your down time.

2. Do some training. Summer is the perfect time to take a class and learn a new skill or master a software program that will help your business grow.  Check out the offerings at your local community college or university, subscribe to an online training site or take a teleclass. Some ideas -- if you want to learn some new software, check out the online tutorials at Lynda.com.  If you want to expand your entrepreneurial mind, consider a teleclass with Barbara Winter of Joyfully Jobless on brainstorming or outsmarting resistance.

3. Network everywhere!  Just because you are on vacation doesn't mean you can't network. Stay open to connecting with people no matter where you are and always be sure you have your business cards and info with you to exchange with your new friends.

4. Set some goals. Summertime is perfect for creating or rethinking your business goals. Use this time to write down your goals for the rest of the year or check the progress of the goals you've set and tweak them a bit.

5. Host a fun summertime sales event!  Do something fun for your customers to increase business -- if you have a retail store throw a customer appreciation party and invite your customers to come and bring a guest. If you have an online business, you can run a contest or offer a free teleclass.

And if you're on Twitter, you could host a Tweetup (an impromptu real world meeting with your local Twitter friends).

Finally, be bold this summer and break out of your comfort zone. Your bottom line will thank you for it!

There's an App for that Mom!

Linda Locke
Editor, Moms in Business

I've had my iPhone for over 2 years now and I've got to say it's my favorite tech gadget. I wanted a SmartPhone to help me keep track of my busy life, but my iPhone does so much more than that -- it's a magical device that helps me run my business on the road, entertains me when I'm waiting in a long line, takes photos of family events and trips, and inspires me with an endless supply of useful apps I didn't know I needed, but now can't live without.

If you just got a new iPhone and are wading your way through the gazillion apps available for it, here's some of my favorite apps to help you get started. Enjoy!

Social networking: HootSuite, Tweetie, FaceBook and LinkedIn. 

Dictation and Voice activated search: Dragon Dictation and Dragon Search

Reading digital books: Kindle Reader and eReader

Keeping things level: MutliLevel

Finding a great place to eat at home or on travel: UrbanSpoon

Calculating tips: Tipulator

Finding what's playing at the movies at home or on travel: Flixter

Connections: Bump - it lets you connect two phones by simply bumping them together to exchange phone number, photos, or compare friends and

Communications: Skype

Photo Sharing: Flickr

Google Apps: gmail and Google Sync

Taking Notes: Evernote

Don't see your faves listed here? Share them in the comments!