No matter what the reason being a single parent can be one of the hardest things to tackle. You now have so many issues to face and you are to face them alone. You begin to doubt your ability as a parent, whether it is the right thing for your child, how you will survive not only financially but also emotionally. 

 

The most important thing to remember is that you are a strong human being. If you are a single mum you have given birth to another human being – that in itself shows strength, courage and determination. If you are a single dad you have had to face the world with a brave face and show that you can be as good a parent as a single dad – again showing determination, strength and courage.

 

Have faith in yourself and your ability to raise the next generation on your own. Believe that you CAN and you WILL. There will be many trying times, money will probably be tight, there will be times when you have no-one to lean on and really need a shoulder to cry on, there will be times where the pressures of raising children just become too much.

 

It is important to remember the following:

Money is necessary for the basics in life. It is essential for food, clothes and shelter for you and your children but it is not essential to ensure that your children grow up in a loving environment. Homes without a lot of money often have the most amount of love to give. Show your children by example that they can enjoy life and make the most of their situation without a lot of money.

Take time for you. Your children need you – nobody will dispute this but you will be of much better use to them if you have some time out for yourself. This doesn’t need to mean that you have to spend a lot of money or even go out without the children. Make sure you allow yourself some time, even just half an       hour a week for you. Tell the children that the next 30 minutes are Mum/Dad  time. Put the housework aside and spend 30 minute reading, resting or doing something you love. 

Seek Help!  Nobody can raise children alone. Lean on the support systems  around you.   If family and friends are not available there are other avenues. Join a single parents club, take advantage of free parenting courses in your area or even phone community support programs such as Parents Helpline. You do not  need to tackle parenting alone.

 

Ultimately nobody can tell you how to raise your children – they are your children and you do what is right for them but DO NOT forget you in the process.

 

Kathie Holmes is mum of two teenage daughters, previously a single mum for 4 years and now owns and operates a number of online businesses from home, one of which is www.WallDecals.com.au which specialises in wall stickers for kids rooms.

I'm not good at writing, how can I produce a Newsletter?

 

For a lot of people, the foray into running their own business can send them into a state of panic when it comes to the tasks they are not familiar with. Writing a newsletter seems to be one of the biggest roadblocks that business owners face.

 

I often hear "but I don't know what to write!" as a reason for not sending a newsletter.

 

These are two of the easiest problems to overcome.   When it comes to content for your newsletter - the internet becomes your best friend. Put yourself in the shoes of your client/customer - what would you want to see in your Inbox each week/fortnight/month.   The old saying "do unto others as you would have done unto you" is never truer than when it comes to receiving emails. 

 

Make your content relevant to your site and therefore your target market. If you sell baby clothes for example, look for articles that give you tips on caring for designer baby wear or how to best use a modern cloth nappy. As long as you give credit to the Article writer and use their bio box then you can include these items in your newsletter.

 

Reflect on your own experiences with a product, share what you like and don't like about the product. Get friends to review a product and add the review to your newsletter.  

 

Sites like You Tube are fantastic for How to videos? Perhaps your site focuses on furniture; search You Tube for a video on how to look after timber furniture - there is a video on almost every topic imaginable. Use the link provided and share it with your database.

 

Add a weekly special or competition and all of a sudden your newsletter or ezine becomes interactive and has your customer taking part.

 

Showcase a guest Author – ask someone from a complimentary business if they would like to write a piece for your newsletter. This gives you good content and gives them the respect of being a published author which builds their credibility with your market. This is a great way to build each other’s credibility without any costs involved.

 

Without actually having to write too much content yourself, you can easily create a sought after Ezine/Newsletter. Drawing on the skills of others is a great way to boost your newsletter. Remember; do not copy someone else's work unless you give them credit for it. Instead, take the good points and create your own article or paragraph. Sign up to other Ezines that fit your target market and see what your competitors are doing. Look for what you like and dislike about their Ezines and use that as a basis for building yours into a better, more informative newsletter.

 

Article submitted and written by Kathie Holmes, owner of www.EcommerceDesignStudio.com.au and www.Fix My Business.com.au

A start up business is often funded by one or more of personal savings, loans from relatives or use of credit card debt. These sources are used first because they are usually readily available. Family loans are often available at no or low interest cost and repayments are usually very flexible.

 

However these sources of business finance have shortcomings. Personal savings and family loans are usually limited in amount. While it is possible to extend credit card limits, the cost of credit card debt is high, with interest rates between 10% and 19% pa. Record keeping for income tax purposes is also more complicated if the same credit card is used for both business and personal expenses.

 

So, while the initial sources of finance help establish a business, at some point the proprietors may have a need to expand their business. High demand for a product may require investment in more stock or in a manufacturing capability. Extending the business to a wider market may entail additional advertising. High growth in a service business can lead to employing (additional) staff. Any of these reasons for business expansion requires additional funds. The limitations or expense of start up finance makes it unsuitable for business expansion.

 

A sometimes overlooked source of additional finance is borrowing or extending a loan against property. Many business owners are also home owners. While the home usually still has a mortgage over it, it may be some years since that loan was taken out. Two things will have changed since then. The mortgage will be lower by being partly paid off. Secondly, the value of the property will usually be higher. Depending on those two amounts, an additional loan could be taken out to be used in the business.

 

Example: Original property value: $200,000 Original Loan: $160,000 (80% of property value)

Some Years later: Current property value: $250,000 Current Loan value: $150,000

Potential additional loan: ($250,000 x 80%) - $150,000 = $200,000 - $150,000 = $50,000

 

The business could obtain a $50,000 loan using the increased value of the property as security.

 

There are a number of points to note about this strategy:

 

 

 

As with any major decision affecting a business, professional advice should be sought and considered before a commitment is made.

 

 

Mitchell Holmes is the proprietor of several online businesses including Fix My Business. Mitchell is a CPA and has worked for over 20 years as an accountant in a number of businesses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Profit & Loss Statement (P&L) is a summary of all the income and expenses for a business over a given period of time. At the end of a period a profit or loss for the business is calculated by deducting total expenses from total income. The period in question can be any length of time but is typically a month, a quarter of a year (3 months) or a full year. Both income and expenses can be shown listing the amounts for each account or else in summary form. A P&L not only reports whether a business is profitable or not but a detailed P&L can indicate why a certain result is achieved. The amount for each type of income and each type of expense can be compared to a standard. The standard may be a budget or a financial ratio or an industry comparison. These concepts will be dealt with later in the series.

 

A balance sheet (BS) shows the assets, liabilities and equity of a business at a particular point in time. Again the point in time can be any day but is typically reported at the end of a month, a quarter or a year. A BS shows at any point in time what the business owns (assets), what the business owes to others (liabilities) and the net position of the business (equity). The balance sheet equation can be represented by:

 

Assets – Liabilities = Equity

 

In other words if total assets is greater than total liabilities then the owners of the business have positive equity or positive ownership in the business.

 

A trial balance is a listing of all transaction accounts (income, expenses, assets, liabilities and equity), their balances at a particular point in time and whether the balances are debits (Dr) or credits (Cr). A trial balance, as its name suggests, will always have an equal balance of Dr and Cr.

 

 

The General Ledger (GL) is a list of all the transactions, by account name, entered over a period of time. The GL contains all the transactions of a business and is used to examine the detail in a particular income, expense, asset or liability account.

 

The Debtors ledger and Creditors ledger are types of subsidiary ledger. They are so called because they are subsidiaries or part of the GL. The debtors ledger, also called the accounts receivable (AR) ledger, details all customers who owe money to the business. Details include all sales made, all payments received and the balance owed by each customer at any point in time.

 

Conversely, the creditors ledger, also called the accounts payable (AP) ledger, details all suppliers to whom the business owes money. Details include all purchases made, all payments paid and the balance due to each supplier at any point in time.

 

Article written by Mitchell Holmes, BCom, CPA.  Mitchell owns and operates Fix My Business - a small business advisory service.

Many bookkeepers use programs such as MYOB and Quickbooks relatively successfully without understanding the underlying accounting entries they are processing. This causes difficulties when processing important but infrequent transactions such as loans or major asset purchases or when transferring to a larger accounting system such as Great Plains or Navision. One reason this occurs is because MYOB and Quickbooks allow transaction processing without a necessary understanding of double entry bookkeeping. Larger systems are not so forgiving. Manual bookkeeping, which formerly taught the skills of double entry bookkeeping, is now almost unknown, except in high school and TAFE bookkeeping courses.

 

Double entry bookkeeping is simply a method by which every transaction is recorded by entries to two or more accounts, where the total of the debits (Dr) is equal to the total of the credits (Cr). The concept of what accounts usually attract a Dr and which usually attract a Cr is sometimes confusing. The table below represents all possible situations:

 

 

 

Examples:

 

A payment for a $100 telephone bill is made from the bank account. The entry is:

 

Telephone expense (expense increasing) Dr $100

Bank Account (asset decreasing) Cr $100

 

A sale of goods for $250 is made to a customer on account. The entry is:

 

Accounts Receivable (asset increasing) Dr $250

Sales (income increasing) Cr $250

 

A new computer is purchased on a business credit card for $3000. The entry is:

 

Fixed Assets – Computer (asset increasing) Dr $3,000

Credit Card (liability increasing) Cr $3,000

 

 

This article was written by Mitchell Holmes, CPA and Consultant Accountant with www.FixMyBusiness.com.au