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Home » Business And Finance Articles » Work At Home Moms Start Your Business With Found Money

Work At Home Moms - Start Your Business With Found Money

Think you can't afford to start your own Home Business? Think again! I have been able to budget the start up expenses of my own Home Business. I have to admit in the beginning I thought I would not be able to afford starting my own Home Business knowing it would take a small investment to get it moving.

So what I did was kept track of all my spending habit for a couple of weeks. Was I surprised as too how much money I spent foolishly. Money I swore I didn't have because I could never afford anything. Well, Ladies and Gentlemen you would be in shock if you realized just how much money we spend on entertainment alone. That is where my biggest expenses were at. So I decided that I would rather put that money (the money I didn't even know I had) to better use and start my own business.

I would like to share just a few of these short cuts that I have taken to help budget my business.

First of all I realized I was spending way too much money on eating out. Every morning taking my son to school we made a stop at the local donut shop. I mean really, who can start a day without a donut? Well at the donut shop I usually spent around $4.00, cause you know we needed orange juice also. Then for lunch I was so busy running around doing errands that I would usually get me a meal deal at a local fast food restaurant which averaged out about $5.00. Now just that alone is already $9.00 for just one day. Well, 9 times the 5 days of the week is $45.00 for the week. Even scarier is that was $180.00 to $225.00 a month depending on if it was a four or five week month. My first initial thought was, NO WAY, I don't have that kind of money. But apparently I did. So now, what I have done is I buy the dozen donuts from the grocery store and that is what we have in the morning. The box cost about $3.00 and last the whole week. I no longer stop at the fast food places, I make it a point to eat lunch at home. So I cut that expensive tremendously. I now spend $12 to $15 a month. Much better!

Next, is movies. Who doesn't love to go see a movie on the big screen. I know I do. Well, we would go to the movies every Sunday night. Just for us to get into the movies was $26.00 for a family of four. Once we got in there it was straight to the snack bar. We had to have popcorn ($3.50) and a large soda ($3.50) and of course we all shared cause it was so expensive. So our Sunday trip to the movies was running about $33.00 a week. A month that was about $132.00 to $165.00. Wow, for someone who couldn't afford much I sure was spending alot. So now we rent a video ($3.50) and buy some microwave popcorn ($2.00). We now spend $5.50 a week.

Do you see where I'm going with this, I was spending well over $300.00 (that I never knew I had) a month, on things that were really not necessary. So not only have I drastically cut my expenses, but have also found other ways to make extra cash as well.

You know those aluminum cans that we throw out after we finish our soda's? Well I don't throw those out anymore. I began to save them just to see if I could really make any money on recycling them and to my surprise I get about $25 a month just from that. Also, I have put my sewing machine to work for me and have made some extra money just by hemming up pants for friends and neighbors.

So you see, if you think you can't afford to start your own business, then you should really evaluate your spending habit like I did and you will be amazed at how much money you have that you thought you didn't have. Next time you are at the movies or stopping at a fast food restaurant ask yourself, if any of that will help you become financially independent. Wouldn't you rather invest in "Your" future, instead of someone else's? But yet each and every time we stop at those places that is what we are doing, investing in their success. We are the one's making them successful, so why not turn it around and invest in yourself.

Don't get me wrong an occasional movie or burger is fine, just as long as you are investing into your future as well.

And here is another random article you might be interested in...

Results of Poor Cross Cultural Awareness

Having a poor understanding of the influence of cross cultural differences in areas such as management, PR, advertising and negotiations can eventually lead to blunders that can have damaging consequences.

It is crucial for today's business personnel to understand the impact of cross cultural differences on business, trade and internal company organisation. The success or failure of a company, venture, merger or acquisition is essentially in the hands of people. If these people are not cross culturally aware then misunderstandings, offence and a break down in communication can occur.

The need for greater cross cultural awareness is heightened in our global economies. Cross cultural differences in matters such as language, etiquette, non-verbal communication, norms and values can, do and will lead to cross cultural blunders.

To illustrate this we have provided a few examples of cross cultural blunders that could have been avoided with appropriate cross cultural awareness training:

An American oil rig supervisor in Indonesia shouted at an employee to take a boat to shore. Since it is no-one berates an Indonesian in public, a mob of outraged workers chased the supervisor with axes.

Pepsodent tried to sell its toothpaste in Southeast Asia by emphasizing that it "whitens your teeth." They found out that the local natives chew betel nuts to blacken their teeth which they find attractive.

A company advertised eyeglasses in Thailand by featuring a variety of cute animals wearing glasses. The ad was a poor choice since animals are considered to be a form of low life and no self respecting Thai would wear anything worn by animals.

The soft drink Fresca was being promoted by a saleswoman in Mexico. She was surprised that her sales pitch was greeted with laughter, and later embarrassed when she learned that fresca is slang for "lesbian."

When President George Bush went to Japan with Lee Iacocca and other American business magnates, and directly made explicit and direct demands on Japanese leaders, they violated Japanese etiquette. To the Japanese (who use high context language) it is considered rude and a sign of ignorance or desperation to lower oneself to make direct demands. Some analysts believe it severely damaged the negotiations and confirmed to the Japanese that Americans are barbarians.

A soft drink was introduced into Arab countries with an attractive label that had stars on it--six-pointed stars. The Arabs interpreted this as pro-Israeli and refused to buy it. Another label was printed in ten languages, one of which was Hebrew--again the Arabs did not buy it.

U.S. and British negotiators found themselves at a standstill when the American company proposed that they "table" particular key points. In the U.S. "Tabling a motion" means to not discuss it, while the same phrase in Great Britain means to "bring it to the table for discussion."

In addition to interpersonal cross cultural gaffes, the translation of documents, brochures, advertisements and signs also offers us some comical cross cultural blunders:

Kellogg had to rename its Bran Buds cereal in Sweden when it discovered that the name roughly translated to "burned farmer."

When Pepsico advertised Pepsi in Taiwan with the ad "Come Alive With Pepsi" they had no idea that it would be translated into Chinese as "Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead."

American medical containers were distributed in Great Britain and caused quite a stir. The instructions to "Take off top and push in bottom," innocuous to Americans, had very strong sexual connotations to the British.

In Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated the name into "Schweppes Toilet Water."

In a Belgrade hotel elevator: To move the cabin, push the button for wishing floor. If the cabin should enter more persons, each one should press a number of wishing floor. Driving is then going alphabetically by national order.

In a Yugoslavian hotel: The flattening of underwear with pleasure is the job of the chambermaid.

In a Bangkok dry cleaner's: Drop your trousers here for best results.

In an East African newspaper: A new swimming pool is rapidly taking shape since the contractors have thrown in the bulk of their workers.

Detour sign in Kyushi, Japan: Stop--Drive sideways.

At a Budapest zoo: Please do not feed the animals. If you have any suitable food, give it to the guard on duty.

In conclusion, poor cross cultural awareness has many consequences, some serious others comical. It is imperative that in the global economy cross cultural awareness is seen a necessary investment to avoid such blunders as we have seen above.

For more information on how Kwintessential can aid you in your cross cultural needs please visit http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/cross-cultural/cross-cultural-awareness.html