Holiday Season Business Ideas

Do you smell Christmas in the air? The “ber” months begins! The Philippines must be the only country that starts the holiday season once September kicks in. It is also my favorite time of the year since this season is the busiest time in any business. Today I want to share with you some business ideas for the holiday season.

Here are some great holiday business ideas that you might try this season:

1. Party Planner

The Holiday season is the season for parties. However, many people are simply too busy or otherwise not inclined to plan their own affairs. The Holiday season is the perfect time for starting a party planning business. You may need to enlist the assistance of a few friends and family members, or even hire contract wait staff, but you will likely find many people who would be glad to pay for the convenience of a party planner this season. Remember, most businesses have some type of holiday party for employees and even customers. Market your new venture to local businesses, too.

2. Outdoor Lighting and Decoration Service

Many people would love to see the outside of their home festively decorated for the Holidays, but the task is just too much effort for most. Start a business that will decorate yards and homes with lights and outdoor decor. Don’t forget to offer tacking down the decorations for an additional fee!

3. Holiday Interior Decorator

Most families are tasked to the limit during the Holiday season. One service most households could use is a seasonal interior decorator to make their home a winter wonderland without the hours and hours of effort. Offer to set up and decorate the Christmas tree, apply all decorations and make each home a Holiday fantasy. If you create your own decorations and crafts, you could incorporate these into your decor, too.

4. Personal Shopper

So many people consider holiday shopping a chore that the season is a great time for starting a Personal Shopper service. Consider charging an hourly rate for your service and you may find that you have more business than you can manage. You may even need to hire a helper or two.

5. Gift Wrapper

Each year, we suddenly remember just how time consuming the task of gift wrapping really can be, especially if you like for your gifts to have a special touch. This Holiday season, try starting a gift wrapping business. This is another business that may just take off so much that you need assistance from a helper or two. You can offer to come to the homes of clients to wrap their gifts. Charge an hourly fee with an extra charge if you supply the wrapping materials. You may even ask local retail outlets if you could set up a table in an area of high traffic to offer your services.

6. Hand-Made Crafter

During the Holiday season, everyone wants those special, little hand-made items, such as cute wreaths, baskets and little Christmas towns. If you have a penchant for creating hand-made crafts, consider selling your crafts. Offer your wares at craft shows, flea markets and community centers.

7. Holi-Daycare

A great time to open a daycare or babysitting service is around the Holidays. As parents need to shop for their children, they need a safe place where the children will be well cared for during the shopping excursion. Offer holi-daycare for parents who need some time to shop or even those who just need to get out for a while or attend that Holiday party. 

8. Personalized Gift Basket Service

Gift baskets are a popular gift idea for just about anyone. You can offer to create personalized gift baskets based on the recipient hobbies, profession and personal preferences. A personalized gift basket is simple to create once you have an idea of what the recipient likes. Start a business creating personalized gift baskets for your customers to give those on their lists. You can express your creativity and make some holiday cash at the same time.

9. Personalized Holiday Cards

If you have any graphic design skills this one may be for you. Imagine meeting with a family that wants to send our unique cards to their family and friends. You can discover exactly what they want and offer three separate design concepts. Your customer chooses the one they want and you have the cards printed by your local printer.  People will pay for a service like this because it’s one less thing they need to be concerned about. If you implement this idea don’t forget to triple check for typos and have your customer sign off on the design before you send it to the printer. You don’t want to be stuck with cost of a reprint!

10. Sweets and Baked Goods

If you have the passion for baking cookies and pastries you can turn that passion into a profitable business this holiday season. I love to cook a lot and whenever I have extra time during the holidays I make puto, brownies, cup cakes and leche plan and had them posted online for sale.

11. Christmas Decors

You can sell christmas tree and decors online like what i did every holiday season. I posted them online and I offer delivery service right at their door steps. 

This sounds like fun, doesn’t it? I hope these ideas inspire you get started on your holiday business today. I wish you and yours a wonderful and prosperous holiday season.

Persian Kebab by Chef Emz

I love travelling and eating different cuisines and one of these favorites of mine are Korean food since their food is so flavorful. Today's article is about the Persian Food Kebab which is popular here in the Philippines. I have tried a few Kebab and Pita wraps here in Manila yet I was never satisfied with the taste. Yesterday despite our busy schedule from the office my husband and I decided to visit a former client of ours who manage a Kebab Food Kiosk located in Starmall Food Court Shaw Boulevard Mandaluyong City.

 I ordered my favorite Beef Pita Wrap it was truly flavorful and delicious compared to other kebabs, not only that it's also affordable. If you are craving for something new better try this and you won't regret it! Believe me it was soooo delicious.

Beef Pita Wrap by Chef Emz of Persian Kebab

Beef Keema with Rice by Chef Emz of Persian Kebab

For orders you may call 0915.532.3687

Home Based Business Ideas for Stay at Home Moms

Being a stay-at-home mom or full time housewife is no longer fashionable in this present age. The reason is because the economy is getting tougher. Nowadays both parents needs to work to sustain the needs of their growing family. But who should look after the kids? As a mother of four it was too difficult balancing my time for my family and business since we are having a hard time getting a reliable baby sitter. I was just lucky to have a supportive husband not just as a partner in raising our kids but in managing our business as well. 

"Two are better than one, for they may well enioy the profit of their labour." Ecclesiastes, 4:9,

Having been through a lot of hardship, "I realized that when there is extreme difficulty it also comes with extreme opportunity." So now let me show you some business ideas that are suitable for moms who want to spend more time with their family while working.

1.  Start a daycare center

A daycare center is one of the best businesses you can start from home, especially if you love being around children. Operating a day care center allows you to spend a great deal of time with your own children while taking care of other people’s children as well. This business is a good choice for moms and women who are already experienced in caring for children.

2.   Start making novelty gifts and party favors from home

If you are a creative individual, and you have an eye for good art designs; then you can start making party favors from home. With proper marketing, you are sure to make a lot of money on Christmas, Baptismal, Wedding, Birthday, etc.

3.  Start selling home baked goods

If you are skilled in baking and making snacks, you can as well consider going into the business of selling home baked snacks. This business is lucrative especially when you become a known brand within your neighborhood. You can start by baking cupcakes, pies, cookies, homemade bread, etc.

4.  Become a freelance contractor

Doing freelance jobs is another great way to earn money from home. In fact, this business is very profitable. If you reside in countries such as Philippines, Nigeria, Ghana, China, India, etc; then this is an opportunity for you to earn an extra income because jobs are now been shipped out of the U.S. Example of jobs you can do online from home include writing, typing, editing, script writing, animated video production, etc.

5.  Offline and Online Tutoring

This field no longer only caters to struggling children or those people with learning disabilities. Rather, parents are now flocking to tutors to help their children get ahead and learn much faster. Times are changing indeed. Another tactical approach to this business is to take your teaching skills online. Do you know that there are a lot of people online willing to pay to learn English language? Do you know that the educational trend is now moving towards online learning? Well, I leave you to your thoughts.

6.  Start a business coaching service

Do you have administrative or management experience? Have you been through trying times and overcame? Then you can become a business coach. When the economy gets tough, business owners need all the help they can get to move ahead. As a business coach, your duty is to empower these business owners and managers, and help them improve their work performance; through personal development and change.

7.  Start an elderly care service

A growing population of elderly citizens means big opportunity for non-medical home care service providers. Your task in this business is to help the elderly people go through their daily lives. Examples of services you can offer include house cleaning, transportation, dietary assistance, bathing, etc.

8. Start a web designing business

In today’s technology driven world, business owners are realizing the importance of having their businesses on the internet. In fact, running a web based business is a trend that has come to stay. So, if you have got the technical know-how and the skills, you can build a career as a web designer right out of your closet.

9. Start a candle and craft production

Making and selling these handicrafts is a great way to make good money. If you are good at making attractive crafts, you can have your children help you create these items while you market them easily from your home. You can also venture into small scale candle production as candles are always in demand throughout the year.

10.  Start a catering service

Catering can be a good idea for that mom who loves cooking and entertainment. Most of the work can be done in your home while looking after your children. You don’t need to rent a space and you can only spend a minimal time out of the house; that is if you plan adequately and have a competent staff.

11.  Start offering nanny services

Another business you can do from home is a babysitting business. You can fulfill your dream of working from home by rendering nanny services to busy mothers who do not have enough time for their babies, as a result of their job or other things.

12. Publish your own book

Yes. You can become a publish author without even leaving your home. Instead of spending your free time gossiping with other jobless housewives or chatting online, why not write a book. You can either publish through a traditional publishing company or you can self publish online through Amazon and Kindle. J. K. Rowling, author of Harry Potter series became a billionaire right from home. If she can do it, you too can.

13.  Start an event planning business

Do you possess good organizational skills? Do you thrive under pressure? Do you have a flair for putting together beautiful events? If yes, then you will succeed as a event planner. You can even take your business further by putting it on the web.

14.  Start a carpet cleaning business

Only but a few people are willing to let their carpets get dirty but unfortunately, they don’t have time to clean their carpet. This is where you come in. You can help people clean their carpet and you get paid for the service that you have rendered.

15. Start a housekeeping service

Housekeeping services is all about helping people maintain and keep their houses in order. You can start around your neighborhood and with time, you will get to extend your services to other areas. Extra services you can do alongside your housekeeping service include housecleaning, lawn care, etc.

16. Start a buy and sell business

You can start your buy and sell business by selling the stuffs you don’t need found in your home. I used to sell unused items and turn it to cash then used this to purchase an item which is in demand. “All i do is supply a demand” like diapers which will i buy in bulk then unsold items can be used by my kids, detergents soaps, big bikes which my husband trade for cash, furniture, gadgets and more.

16. Start a laundry business at home

You can start your laundry business at home. I started my own laundry shop from home with a little capital because everything i needed to run this business was found in my own laundry room. Starting a home laundry service is a great way to make money without having to sacrifice a lot of your time. 

Raspberry Laundry Capri Oasis Renovation

From the typical blue and white interior paint now Raspberry Laundry in Capri Oasis has its new look.

We paint the walls in ocean blue, rose pink and green semi-gloss finish. 

                                          
  We retain the counter in blue and white laminated finish with blue cove lighting.

 The laundry cabinet is painted in white ducco finish.

Donardo's Chili Garlic Sauce Anghang Sarap!!!

Chili sauce is an incredible condiment that adds spice and flavor to a wide range of dishes, from Asian recipes to Western favorites. It can be used as a wonderful dip for finger foods of all kinds, a side condiment to add more spice to your food (just as you might add salt & pepper), or even as a handy cooking ingredient (a great substitution for fresh or dried chili!). In most Asian countries like China and Korea, no table setting is complete without a bottle or jar of spicy chili sauce!

The Advantage of Asian chili sauce is that it can be used with nearly anything you might be eating or cooking, including western dishes like hot wings or spicy pasta dishes. I cook a wide variety of international foods at my home, but keep only one or two chili sauces on hand which work wonders with all types of cuisines. Try our very own Donardo's Chili Sauce Proudly Philippine Made!Donardo's Chili Sauce is available at all leading supermarkets nationwide like Puregold, The Landmark, Shopwise and more.

For more details you may call (+632) 366.23.81

Entrepreneur's Guide to Hiring Employees

Hiring staff can be time-consuming, but if you cut corners, there's a good chance you won't get the right employee. Today I want to share with you some vital tips to recruiting a good employee which I learned from the book "The Mafia Manager". If you have not read the book “The Mafia Manager”; then you are definitely missing some unconventional business lessons. If you are ready to learn, then please read on.

1.            It is not necessary to have a large family with many soldiers and button men. In fact, the fewer employees you have, the fewer betrayals or disappointments you will experience. Many employees, many betrayals, many disappointments and also higher overhead.

2.            Your staff must be of the highest possible quality in critical positions. One good man is, of course, better than a hundred fools.

3.            For a truly responsible job involving others in its performance; don’t hire someone just out of school, no matter how impressive his record. Hire the person who already has demonstrated an ability to work with others.

4.            For jobs less critical to the success of your organization, you will want to hire a good attitude before experience. Attitude reveals itself in a number of ways. For example, if an applicant asks about salary early on in his first interview; his is a bad attitude and moreover, he is stupid.

5.            For a truly vital job, don’t hire a high powered expert; no matter how impressive his credentials. Experts care only about their credentials and their fees; and their caring never stops.

6.            Don’t hire more than two members of a household (except possibly your own) and never hire lovers or husband and wife; no matter how necessary their individual skills may be to your organization.

7.            Before you hire, you will interview. Knowing what skills and performance you want from the person you will hire give applicants time to think about your questions on those matters.

8.            Be specific in your questioning. Generalities begat general (thus useless) responses. Require applicants to be specific in their answers. Use the questions “why” and “how” to follow up responses.

9.            As for the interview strategy itself, seat applicants beside you if possible; rather than across the desk from you, in order for you to better gauge his reactions. Pick up his/her resume, frowning every now and then as if pondering on something. When this bit of play acting is finished; and the applicant suitably is unsettled by it, begin by asking the applicant why he wants the vacant job and why he feels qualified to do it. Let him sell himself as much as he wants to; interrupting only with specific questions. Finally, if the applicant is presently working, ask him why he wants to change jobs.

10.          If the applicant should frown, squirm or stroke his cheek with apparent concern while you are outlining the job difficulties; you should begin kissing him off. In polite language, let your feelings be known to the applicant. Unless the applicant tries to sell himself back into contention, do kiss him off. Tell him you have others to interview and you will let him know, one way or the other in a day or two.

11.          Also kiss off any applicant who is full of questions about his career’s future with you.

12.          In any case, close interviews when you have found out all you need to know; whether this takes five minutes or fifty.

13.          When an applicant seems worth another look, check out his business references and employment history. Forget about personal references; he’s not going to list someone who will bum rap him. If you happen to know one or more of his personal refs, a call or two may get you some useful inside info.

14.          Bring in the most likely candidate for a second interview, preferably at lunch and at this meeting; zap him with whatever you may have turned up bogus in his business references or employment history. If those doubts; real or imagined are resolved to your satisfaction, sell the job to the applicant.

15.          Sell the job; make no promises of future raises, promotions or broadening of responsibilities. What the applicant gets is what he gets; nobody, not even you have the crystal ball that works. Let him do the job applied for and we’ll see what happens.

16.          Following your selling of the job, pose a few hypothetical problems the applicant may encounter on the job and ask him how he might go about meeting them. If the applicant passes muster; make an offer and hire him. If not, back to the office to schedule a second interview with the next most likely candidate.

And lastly, never you hire someone of the opposite sex in hopes of future erotic reward. It might be the beginning of the end for your business. 

Food Cart Business

Food is one thing that will never cease to be in demand as long as life is in existence. Food is needed at every point in time or country and food cart is one of the easiest way to make food readily available. It is also one of the affordable ways to enter into the food business.

One of the greatest advantage of this business is that it is mobile and you tend to sell faster because you are taking the food right to the door step of your customers. Another advantage is that if you find yourself in a poor location, you can easily move your cart to a better location where you will be able to make better sales. From an entrepreneurial standpoint, kiosks and food cart have a lower overhead than restaurants and can be moved if one location does not generate enough business. Rather than having to determine where to open a restaurant and worry about the old real-estate adage "location, location, location," the owner can actually drive to a new location if business is poor.

The third advantage is that the start-up cost for this business is cheaper than a restaurant. So, if you are planning to start a small business but don’t actually know which business to start, you can as well give food cart business a trial. But before you start, you have to start off on a good note, here’s how to start a food cart business.

1. Conduct a feasibility research

The first thing to do before starting a food cart business is to conduct a research. The research should include your start-up cost, projected expenses, revenue projection, marketing strategies, human resources and a list of the challenges the business will have to overcome to achieve success.

2. Decide on your business location

Areas of high traffic such as schools, malls, large commercial areas, busy intersections, terminals and supermarkets are good locations to operate your food cart business. But make sure you carry out a thorough research in the area of your location because it is your location that determines the level of sales that you will make.

3. Register your business

In other to ensure an easy and undisturbed running of your food cart business, you have to register the business with certain government bodies like DTI for sole proprietorship or SEC for partnership, bureau of internal revenue, food regulatory authorities, etc. You have to also get a clearance from the department of health.

4. Construct your cart

For a start, go for an affordable but admirable cart but before constructing your cart, you need to consider the type of food you want to sell. If you intend to sell burger or other foods that requires you prepare it on set, you might require a larger cart.

5. Brand yourself

After getting your cart ready, the next step is to brand your food cart with your business logo or business name. Consult a graphic designer to help you in designing your logo or color scheme on your cart.

6. Get Connected

Running a food cart business is not all about vending food on a mobile cart during lunch hours in a crowded area. You may need to advertise yourself both online and otherwise. By so doing, you get to connect your business to vast corners of the world. So many food cart business owners make their money by catering special event and cooperate functions.

7. Hire highly motivated personnel

Great care must be taken when hiring the right employees to help run your food cart business. You need to hire a hardworking and trustworthy person with a good hygiene. You must ensure the applicant is good in simple arithmetic. Lastly, a cheerful attitude and a presentable appearance is important to draw customers.

A food cart business is an easy business venture and it is advisable for young entrepreneurs. This is because it requires little capital and it is easy to run.