5 Tips to Prepare Your Family for Entrepreneurship

*Coordinate your schedules. Each week, sit down and coordinate your work/errand/family schedule with your husband’s, so there are no surprises.

*Your marriage is a partnership; don’t try to do it all alone. Ask your husband for help with the housework and the children.

*Carve out family time every weekend, so you can maintain a sense of balance, and your children and husband do no feel pushed aside.

*Schedule quiet time during the day when the kids are home for the summer. Ask them to read or play quietly for an hour, letting you focus on work. Follow it with family time.

*Let your children help. Helping you out in your business, even in very small ways, will encourage their support and understanding.

5 Tips for Effective Business Planning

1. 
   Clearly define your business idea and be able to succinctly articulate it. Know your mission.
   
2. Examine your motives. Make sure that you have a passion for owning a business and for this particular business.
   
3. Be willing to commit to the hours, discipline, continuous learning and the frustrations of owning your own business.
   
4. Conduct a competitive analysis in your market, including products, prices, promotions, advertising, distribution, quality, service, and be aware of the outside influences that affect your business.
   
5. Seek help from other small businesses, vendors, professionals, government agencies, employees, trade associations and trade shows.