Making Good Better
by Tammy Harrison

I often ponder what I can do to make a good business even better. It is simple for me to look at other businesses, while I drive to and from town, and have an opinion on what they could do to enhance their business. 

Where we live, we are known as the cheese capital of the state by those experts who study that type of thing. This is great because this family sure seems to consume a lot of cheese! Most of the local cheese plants have their own outlet stores, and I can run into them and pick up any type of cheese that they produce at a far better price than I can at the grocery store. 

I went into the local cheese outlet store last weekend to stock up on our favorites and was not shocked to see that it was jam-packed with people doing just as I was - avoiding the higher prices at the grocer. This is great for the cheese plant as they do not have to ship the product to a warehouse and then to the stores, saving costs that are eventually passed down to the consumer. But, I wanted to know what they could do to improve upon a good thing. I finally decided it would be really nice, for moms like me, to have a drive-up window so I didn't have to unload all of the kids, try to curtail them while I picked up the necessities and then load them back into their car seats while juggling my purchases. 

Then I look at my own business to see what I can do to improve upon it. One thing I have done is to increase my volunteering. Just last week I presented a proposal to a newly formed association and, after looking at what I submitted, they asked for my standard contract. I will handle the responsibilities of this job on a volunteer basis until the association is up and successfully running and bringing in an income to support the things that I will do. Although I am home-based and most of my work comes from clients who are not in my state, it is necessary to stick close to home to help those around me in whatever ways my expertise lies. 

But, with those extra hours I will be putting in as a volunteer, I must also look at what I can do with and for my family to make a good thing better. As I processed another dozen loads of laundry this weekend, I took the time to enjoy my youngsters. We have all suffered this week with a nasty virus and none of us have felt up to par about anything. So, this weekend, we made necklaces and we made popcorn. We read books together, we played with blocks together and we folded clothes together. No matter what I did, I made sure to do twice as much with the kids. Of course, that meant I didn't accomplish much work, but I figured it was the weekend and I was allowed a little family time now and again. 

As a business owner, it is important to continually study your business model and improve upon those things that could be better. As a mom, it is even more important to remember all of the things that our children need to grow to be successful. Trying to make a good thing better is simple when it comes to a business - but, the only thing that will make our children better is us!

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