Hot business owner tips!

I have decided to write a business blog for all the people out there wanting to start a business who might benefit from reading this. This blog is sponsored by XERO which is one of the highly recommended tools I use but don't worry I won't be talking about finance for the entire blog! 

Below I will be sharing all of the things I have learned in the 4 years of successfully running The Milk Boutique as well as my personal Instagram brand Tammi.tmb. 

So let's get into it.

These are all the applications and software I use for TMB that I have always loved and still use today!

1.    XERO Finance/bookkeeping/invoicing/reporting - it's so user-friendly!

2.    Canva - Graphic design/social media posts/branding

3.    Shopify - Website platform 

4.    Klaviyo - Email campaigns 

5.    Trello -  Organisation for the days/months ahead. 

6.    Pinterest - Visualisation/branding/ideas 

My hot tips on getting a business started. 

1. Have a business idea? Or already have a business but can't get a clear visualisation on your next product/collection/branding or how you can expand and grow as a business? Transfer all of your ideas in a Pinterest board and see colours and ideas get sorted/named and come to life! Sometimes getting it out of your brain and onto paper or into a board really helps move and ideas into execution! 

2. Be innovative to make your business or product stand out and be unique. Look outside of the box and don't be afraid to be different. 😍

3. Stop waiting for a good time to start! Sometimes the best lessons are made through experiences and jumping in the deep end, in return you act quicker and become more proactive. To be honest you will never feel "ready" to start and if you are just honest and sincere with customers then they are usually very understanding. 

My hot tips for a business that has started (from my experience) 

1. Your energy and time is just as valuable as money to keep your business operating and thriving! Protect your boundaries and don't be afraid of delegating/outsourcing jobs.  If you are burnt out doing jobs behind the scenes, you may resent your line of work and fall out of touch with the reason you started in the beginning. 

2. It's okay to "do it all" at the start but if your business is getting too busy for you to handle then that's a really good sign that it is scaling. To keep up with growth, you might need to hand over the reins a little because your business needs you at your best. 

3. Consider a business coach or advisor if you are struggling with scaling the business or time management etc. Once I hired my business coach (who I aligned with really well and who had the same taste and vision as me for my brand), TMB really took off. If you decide to look for a business coach, make sure you are really picky! It's your "baby" they will be involved in and if they sound expensive that's okay, they are still worth considering because in reality, they should be able to pay for themselves in a short amount of time if they are worth their value. 

4. The last thing anyone feels like doing is bookkeeping, it's not a fun topic to talk about or even think about but I will tell you, one of the biggest lessons I have learned is that having your accounts up to scratch for the sake of your EOFY/BAS and to know whether your hard work is actually profitable/sustainable for you and your family is so important, do not neglect this part of your business! For me the easiest way to keep on top of my accounts is by reconciling daily/weekly with XERO and having my accountant log in and work his magic when required. Bookkeeping with XERO is ridiculously easily especially when it matches invoices for you and has a transaction memory so all I'm ever really doing is "one-tap" reconciliations. It's so user-friendly and gives you a huge amount of reporting and insights on how well your business is tracking!

I hope this short blog containing my top tips helped to motivate you in some way and if you would like to hear more business chat or everyday mum life chat please remember to come and check out my personal handle on Instagram for daily stories and posts, feel free to comment or DM me any questions! (tammi.tmb)

Thank you to XERO for being a part of my content and for being such a user-friendly, easy platform for our business to use on my laptop, or on my phone and between workers and accountants! We highly recommend XERO.