Newlyweds Dish
The Newlyweds Dish team is on vacation until March, but we’re still accepting new writers and editors to join our dynamic team of newlyweds, new moms and food enthusiast after the new year!
If you’re interested in submitting written work, joining our video bloggers or have ideas you’d like to share email editor@newlyweds-dish.com
Have a wonderful holiday season and a beautiful new year!
See you in a few months!
The Newlyweds Dish Team
Aubrey is 8 ½ months old now and since she arrived she’s more than doubled her birth weight, grown 5 inches, gone through 3 sizes of clothing and has gained controlled movement over her whole body. That’s a lot of change for such a little person! But she hasn’t been the only one who has changed. Jon and I have changed as well. We’ve gone from exclusively playing the roles of husband and wife to adding the roles dada and mama. Everything we do or decide to do is weighed now with Aubrey in mind.
Before she was here, we looked at most scenarios in a hypothetical form. But now all the “what ifs” have become realities; Jon and I have had to have some tough conversations about the realities of financial planning, retirement plans, life insurance policies and living wills.
We used to spend our Saturday nights talking about what movies to watch, or something we saw on TV. Now we share family dinners around the dining table with Aubrey in her high chair. She doesn’t eat grown-up food yet, but we want her to hang out with us and get used to dinners where we talk at the table without TV.
We’ve also tried to figure out the future for us as a couple and family. We want to build something that can provide a great life for our us and allow us the opportunity to take family trips around the country and across the globe. Last summer I wrote about our search to find the cloth diapers for when Aubrey arrived. It was an intensive search and we learned a lot. But we learned even more once Aubrey came into our lives. We figured what we liked, what we didn’t like and made some changes. Since then we’ve started using brands we love and have found so many of our friends make the plunge into cloth.
We decided to take our passion for cloth diapers and make a business out of it. This summer we launched Bubbalooch to teach couples about the benefits of cloth diapers and help dispel the notion that cloth diapers are difficult and messy! Modern cloth diapers have come a long way! While researching cloth diapers for Aubrey I learned that education is key but keeping it simple is a necessity. Bubbalooch is set up to bring diapers into your home with fun parties to learn about cloth, the different systems, accessories and laundering. We know so many more families would try it out if they knew a bit more about them and weren’t scared that they were the old-school methods our parents and grandparents were used to.
Right now, Jon and I are pouring ourselves into this business and hope to see the fruits of our labor later on. We’re working hard everyday and watching Aubrey grow and enjoy the small treasures along the way: her smiling face in the morning, and after naps, her love for nature and animals. We want to be role models for Aubrey and show her that hard work, dedication and passion in what you believe in will pay off. We also want this business to be something that allows us to be financially stable while being able to spend more time with our little girl.
Newlyweds-Dish.com’s Managing Editor Sabrina Enayatulla sat down with the owner of Bling Diva Designs and Bubbalooch Melissa Dell and Mysba Lonesome-Regis, marketing manager at a Fortune 500 company to talk about how to start and market a small business.
Check out Mysba and Melissa’s take home points below and join the conversation! Are you a small business owner? What have you learned about running your own business? What marketing strategies have you found most effective?
Leave a comment below and share your thoughts! Login to your account, register, or sign in via facebook (use the gray bar at the top of the screen) and share your thoughts and advice!
Mysba’s take home points:
Have a great product
If you have a great, solid product for which there’s a need and a want in any market then you can feel confident that you’re going to be successful. But it all starts with a great product. Know your audience and who you’re marketing to.
Share your idea on the Internet!
Why do I care if a tree fell in the forest if I don’t know about it? Tap into social media; use sites such as Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter to get the word out about your product and build a good Web site! You have to have a place to send people where they can get more information.
Focus on functionality and a streamlined process
Are you selling something? If so the functionality of the product to be purchased needs to be exact and you have to streamline the purchasing process. No one is going to stay on your site (or buy your product) if they have to re-enter their shipping and billing information over and over again. Explain your product(s) clearly and make the check-out process swift.
Melissa’s take home points:
Research
Check to see how much it will cost you (materials, time, etc.) before diving in. This could be researching the branding information (logo design, website, etc.) that you might take on yourself or it could be researching to see if it would take less time and money to hire a professional to help get you started.
Get the support you need
Building your own business can cost a lot of time and having the support of family and friends will help keep you motivated. Support can come in the form of a listening ear to bounce any ideas off of, someone to help you prioritize and of course the every day cheerleaders you’ll need throughout this process!
Know when to say NO and be honest with yourself
Networking events are SO important when you’re building your business. But too many can take away from other aspects of your life. Â Learn to say no regarding the actual life of the business. Â If you’re investing personal money, set a limit (ahead of time) of how much you’re willing to contribute to get it off the ground. If you reach that point earlier than you thought, you might need to go back and say no to other things, including if the business is the right thing for you at this specific time, or at all.
Keep business finances separate from personal finances
Open a business checking account or get a business credit card, but whatever you do, keep all your personal money (except for initial investment or subsequent investments) out of the business funds. Â It should be clear cut for future IRS reportings
Have fun!
Your business should be your passion. Live, breathe, sleep the business. Â It will be a lot of personal sacrifice but the outcome will be amazing!
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So we’re half-way through the year and I want to know if you’ve kept up with all the beauty resolutions you had for 2012! In keeping with more of my must-have beauty products for this year I thought I’d share a few more of my favorites – this time for your face and body.
For your body:
I am a fan of Dove products which always provide skin conditioning elements. I use Dove deodorant and body wash as I have extremely dry and sensitive skin. My favorite body wash is the Dove Deep Moisture Nourishing Body Wash.
When it comes to lotions, Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream is my daily body lotion. It is fragrance free and moisturizes my skin nicely. I even use it on my face sometimes. During the winter time, I add a little bit of Palmer’s Vitamin E Skin Therapy Oil with my lotion to even out my skin and provide hydration. And throughout the day, I like to apply Johnson’s Baby Cocoa and Shea Butter Creamy Oil to my hands; who doesn’t want baby soft skin?!
When it comes to your feet, let’s be honest, sometimes we neglect our them until it’s sandal season. But why not have pretty feet year-round? I fell in love with these socks from Bed, Bath, & Beyond. At first I was a little skeptical, but I gave them a shot and love how my feet feel afterwards. Unfortunately, the shea butter doesn’t last forever but now I apply the Palmers oil with my lotion before putting the socks on and voila, it is just as good. They feel like a little treat for your feet!
Okay, so I’m a makeup junkie and my obsession has gotten a little out of hand. I like to try new things and I never really get to finish what I already have. I decided to go through all of my makeup and get rid of things I had way too much of. Wow, how much pink lip gloss does a girl need? I think I own every variation of gold eye shadow on the planet. On the flip side, my sister appreciated all the makeup she got for free.
With 95 percent of my makeup gone I wanted to start fresh by investing in palettes that were versatile and take up less room. My go-to palette is the Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette. I can’t tell you how awesome this palette is. It is a neutral, cooler palette with a range of colors that can take you from day to night. The lip gloss is AMAZING – not gooey or thick. This is an investment and totally worth every penny. Why you ask? There are 12 shades in which you can create infinite looks, it comes with lip gloss, the case is sturdy and great for travel, and you get a double sided brush. Plus, the black eye shadow included is perfect for creating that smokey eye. It has everything a girl could ask for and more. I’m all about versatility, convenience, and time saving routines that will make me feel good inside and out.
So how have you kept up with your beauty resolutions for 2012? Let us know by leaving a comment below. Log into your account, register, or sign in via facebook (use the gray bar at the top of the screen) and don’t forget to subscribe to Newlyweds-Dish for regular updates!
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