There's plenty of noise in the media about the global economy. For any
business it's a worry but for the kitchen table tycoon who doesn't feel
very savvy about the economy, its quite anxiety making.

First of all, breathe. No one (not even the very best economists) know
what's round the corner for us so, as my mum would say, you are
wasting a good worry.

Secondly you could easily be a business which actually does well in
uncertain times.

Did you know, for instance, that sales of lipsticks go up when the
economy has a wobble? It's because we treat ourselves with little
luxuries (lippy) rather than big ones (handbag).

This week I read about an American study that showed that sales of
nappies had dropped in the US ( they are doing it so very tough there)
but sales of nappy rash cream had gone up. Makes sense I guess, to
save money Mums are changing nappies less often but it means the poor
wee bubs are getting sore bums.

It wouldn't hurt to think about your business- can you find a way to
position yourself in the manner of  lipstick/ nappy cream, that might help you worry less about the
wobbly economy

I was just reading an article on Forbes Woman about the word "Momprenuer" which I think sounds even worse than our Mumpreneur! It's an interesting article about whether the Mumprenuer term is derogatory, and whether it's relevant. I popped a comment on the post which I'm including below. 

I do think the distiction between a Mumpreneur and a run-of-the-mill entrepreneur is important

"I think the point is this: Because of circumstance, a woman who is running a business and is the main carer of (especially young) children approaches her business differently to other entrepreneurs.

Most entrepreneurs I know (and that is many) are exceptionally driven and focussed and think nothing of investing 14+ hour days in the success of their business.

A Mum simply can’t do that – although many of them would like to! So a “Mumpreneur” business is one that has to be designed around another job – parenting. It doesn’t make it any the less of a business, it’s just one that can not be the sole focus of the entrepreneur.

So a Mumpreneur business is not one making baby stuff, it’s not to do with running a business with a baby on your knee. It’s acknowledging that the founder has two very important, and time consuming roles in life.

All that said, the actual word “Mompreneur”/”Mumpreneur” is awful."

It’s Masterchef season and according to a funny article by Mia Freedman  while we are all getting into the kitchen we are only doing it to conjure up fancy-pants chef dishes. That’s right you won’t find the Masterchef generation cooking basic food for the family every day not because they can’t do it, but because it is boring to do so – they are chefs!

And then of course there are those of us  - yep, most often Mums  - who have to ‘plate up’ every day for their families. The food is often predictable, rarely exciting (in my family anyway) but it’s healthy and turns up with awesome regularity every single night. We are cooks.

In business, as in food, there are cooks and chefs.

A business chef is energetic, enthusiastic and brimming with ideas and strategies. She is very driven and boy is she on a mission; but let’s be honest - she get easily bored with the day-to-day stuff of the business and is not known for her attention to detail.

A business cook on the other hand is a quieter and more measured soul who brings to her business the most essential of ingredients – discipline. The business cook is the woman who gets stuff done. Perfectly. Every day.

Naturally many business founders are chefs. Chefs have the energy and ideas to grow the business but because they lack attention to detail, chef-led businesses often struggle with financial management and product/service quality can be a bit iffy too.

If you are a business-chef your best bet is to hire cooks. You don’t have to actually employ them - you can just buy the bits you need – and I’d start with a decent bookkeeper.

There are also many small businesses founded and managed by cooks. Cook businesses do what they do very well but rarely progress to be larger businesses. The reason for this, of course, is that cooks spend all their time perfecting the ‘in the business’ stuff and are less inclined to work on strategy.  

Having a great small business isn’t an issue  - in fact for many of us a profitable small business is the Holy Grail - but if a cook wants to grow a mini goldmine she will need to tap into her inner chef for a bit of creativity. What if she can’t find her inner chef ? Well again she can hire some help, but in this case rather than outsourcing the task she might want to hire a business coach help her unleash her own abilities.

Which one are you - cook or chef?

When you start your own business and pop CEO on your business card you’re likely to feel it stands for Chief Everything Officer rather than Chief Executive Officer. And if you are running a family as well you probably feel like you’re Chief Everything Officer of that too.

My thinking is this: as CEO you need to make sure that everything gets done, but you don’t need to do everything yourself.

“How can I get paid for the stuff I love doing so that I can pay someone else to do the other stuff?”

If you are making a cake the end product is only as good as the starting line up.  Fine flour, fresh eggs, room temperature butter and the right process will yield a great tasting cake. But even the best Kitchen Maid mixer or other equipment won’t be able to turn less-than ingredients into an awesome cake.

Same with the product/service you are selling. Great ingredients (quality raw materials, good manufacturer, well trained staff, decent packaging) will set you up for a great product.

Of course you might not want or need to sell a great product. But if you do, here’s a tip: check the freshness of your ingredients. And it goes to follow that if you want to bake a great business, the ingredients going into that need to be pretty good too.