If you run a home business then it can be tough to sell your goods or services. But with the internet, it's possible to make more sales from home. There are many tools used to sell on the internet and today we will be focusing on the application WhatsApp.

WhatsApp is one of the most used applications in the world. Many people buy smartphones first of all to have access to WhatsApp. This application is such a trend right now and has even resulted in people referring to the technology generation as the 'WhatsApp Generation'

This application is no longer just a communication tool between friends and family. It has also become a marketplace. A lot of home business owners are making constant sales using WhatsApp and after observing them for a while I found out what they do on WhatsApp to make sales. 

Here is how they do it

4 Ways To Use WhatsApp to Sell Goods & Services From Home

Your Whatsapp status

Are you still not using your WhatsApp status? Even those who are not selling online are using it to share excerpts of their day, funny images and videos.

WhatsApp status lets you post pictures, notes and videos about anything you think are relevant to your contacts. You can choose who to see or not see your status on WhatsApp.

Many home business owners use their WhatsApp status to show their products and services to their contacts. It can be a video, a photo of the product or a written note explaining what your business does.

Your status expires after 24 hours and you can see the people who saw your post. Your contacts can also respond to a post you made on your status to ask about the product you are selling.

Whatsapp groups

This method has been existing for a while now. There are groups created specifically to sell items. Before posting in a group on WhatsApp make sure that selling or marketing is allowed because not all groups have the same objective. You may have to speak to the admin or group members before posting your goods and services.

Your Profile pictures

You can use your profile to advertise or showcase your products on WhatsApp. Remember that your contacts are people you know and are definitely interested in your life so when they notice you changed your profile picture, they will want to see it closer. So use this to show your products and services.

Through Private Messages & Chats

You can contact people in private to sell to them. Don't be all sales though. It would be nice to show that you care about them genuinely too. Talking with people directly can help you sell more than talking with a group but you have to be tactful. Don't send them messages only when you want them to buy from you. Show interest in their lives. Remember WhatsApp is primarily just a communication tool and not a market.

Be human

This is related to what I just said in the previous point. Be human. Don't post only your products and services on your status and profile pictures all the time. Show your human side. Post pictures of yourself, your day, and what you are doing or eating. You may not like to show your life to others but remember that these people you advertise to on WhatsApp are people you know and the best way is to communicate and care about them.

I know it is a real struggle out there to make a business grow and succeed especially when we don't have the means to rent a shop. We may have no choice but to start selling from home and getting our first clients can be a real struggle.

I hope this post helps you get more sales for your business and please feel free to share your feedback with me. All the best in your business activities whether at home or in a shop.

From the moment that I wake up in the morning until when I go to bed, I am reminded that this is a man's world. For women to thrive in a man's world, they have to be smart.


I have always believed that women have to work twice as hard to make it. This is because the world expects us to be wives and mothers while achieving any other thing in life. And the good thing is we do this and still excel properly. Like Beyoncé said "Bear the children then go back to business" we can do all things as women.

But to do so, we have to be smart.

Here are ways to become a smart woman

Volunteer or do an internship in order to learn a skill or become better at a skill.

Possess great and timeless virtues like hard work, patience and kindness.

Read books blogs and take classes to develop your mind and knowledge.

Learning about other people and cultures it's great for starting conversations and networking.

Network and interact with others to learn from their experiences.

Upgrade your etiquette to be on your best behaviour.

Believe in yourself.

So you own a small business or a side hustle? If the answer is yes, then you should be looking for ways to be as professional as possible.

One of the major ways to do so is to better present your message online. Everyone wants to look as professional as possible in order to attract their clients. A well-organised timeline and good images are necessary to do so.

In this post, I will enlighten you on how to have a professional-looking brand online using an app called Canva. This post is not sponsored. I have used Canva so many times for my blog and business to create images and other business-related documents.

This is how.

Canva for a professional social media account:

Canva can be used to manage your social media accounts.

For a professional timeline

You can use Canva to make cute images for your Instagram, Facebook and Twitter accounts. You can also use it to make creative thumbnails for Youtube videos. The images respect the size and format required by the various social media apps.

For interesting stories

You can make your stories more fun and interesting with Canva. There is a section to create Instagram stories which enables you to be fun and creative.

Canva for a professional way to stay in touch with clients:

Canva can be used to help you stay in touch and share your contact with people.

For invitations

Are you hosting an event for your business and want to invite people to it? Then use Canva to create invitations to your taste.

For Complementary cards

Canva has a section where you can make business cards. It has various options and designs you can choose from and modify.

Canva for publicity:

You can also use Canva to make ads for your business.

To make posters and banners

Use the poster and banner section to create catchy ads for your business and events.

Basic tips for using Canva

If you are wondering if these services are free then know that they are free. Canva only charges you when you use an image which is being sold.

Canva has templates which are what you will modify to create your own image. These templates have texts and images in them. Some images used on these templates are being sold. That's why some templates are labelled as free and others have a dollar sign on them.

If you are asking yourself if you can use a template with a dollar sign on it the answer is yes. When you delete the image which is for sale then Canva will not ask you to pay when you are about to download your image.

Canva has a lot of images that you can use according to your subject or theme. So pictures on the templates can be replaced and moved. There are various filters to be used on your images and templates as well.

Word from Editor 

Hello Smart Ladies,

It's a pleasure to meet you again this month. This edition of our magazine is brought to you with love and care as usual. If you haven't ever read The Smart Woman magazine, then I invite you to do so now by clicking the following links.


In this edition, we are giving you more tips to foster your career as an employee or an entrepreneur. We have in the spotlight Beyoncé and there's a very important lesson to learn from her. We also discuss how to make your career idea a reality, how sleep is good for your career and what etiquette to have during a business dinner.

Learn and enjoy!

News

Hi, Smart Ladies,

This is what made top news during the month of April 2019. The world of tourism couldn't cry enough for the burning of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, France on April 15th 2019. The historic church which was completed in the 13th century is one of Paris' most popular attractions, drawing an estimated 13 million visitors a year as reported by CNN.

Spotlight: Beyoncé and her work ethic.

Hello ladies and welcome to the spotlight of the month which is the famous, the beautiful, the hardworking, the one and only Beyoncé.

*Applause

For someone to be introduced that way, they should be quite a force to reckon with. Most of us heard about Beyoncé at the time she was with the famous group Destiney's Child. She was the lead singer. Though it is quite easy to love the lead singer of a group more than the others, she continuously earned the love of her fans from Destiney's Child till she went on to sing solo.


This woman has served us Lemonade, girl power and strength in her songs and has also produced a film that is trending on Netflix. This film has got people like Michele Obama to share powerful comments about it on Instagram.

Let's get a little bit into her career success

Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter is an American singer-songwriter, born and raised in Houston, Texas. She performed in various singing competitions as a child and became famous when she became the lead singer of the group Destiney's Child.

Beyoncé has sold over 100 million records worldwide as a solo artist and 60 million records with Destiny's Child, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time.


She has won 23 Grammy Awards, in 2014, she became the highest-paid black musician in history and was listed among Time's 100 most influential people in the world for the second year in a row.

She is also an actor, a wife to Jay-Z and a mother of three.

Lessons to learn from Queen B

If there is only one lesson to learn from this amazing and successful woman it is HARD WORK.

That is the focus of her movie Home Coming which she released on Netflix. In this movie, she shows what it takes and the work and practice it takes to put together a two-hour performance at Coachella. She shows us that there are no shortcuts to becoming who you want to become. And that you have to do the work in order to succeed.


That was our spotlight for the month ladies. Hope you learned something from this brilliant woman.

Career: How to execute your ideas with ease

Making your ideas come to life can be really challenging because you may be on your own and don't know where to start. It's amazing to take your simple idea and turn it into reality. Here are some tips to help you execute your ideas easily and get out of the fear of starting something.

Do research

Do research about your ideas. Find out if there are others who have tried it before and how they went about it. This will guide you on what to focus on and see what is possible.

Write down what you need to do

Now that you are better informed, write down what you want your end result to look like.

Find out what you need to do to get the results you want.

Do some more research and ask questions about how you are going to get your expected results. Write them down as goals.

Do it.

Start executing. Start doing. It doesn't have to be perfect. You will correct this as you keep working towards your goal.

And that's how you bring your ideas to life.

Health: The importance of sleep to your career

We all know that sleeping well is healthy, but do you know that having proper sleep time can directly affect your career. Sleeping is a great way to recharge and here is how it makes you better at your work.

It increases your productivity

The best time to be productive is right after a good sleep. That's when your mind is fresh and ready to work efficiently.

It helps you get away from distractions

When you begin to get too distracted while working, then it's time to take a nap so that your mind can forget the distractions for a while.

It improves your memory

A fresh mind can retain better than a sleepy one.

It helps you to make better decisions

Sleep helps you to ameliorate your judgement so that you can make only the best decisions. After a good sleep, your mind is reset and your ideas flow easily to help you make the best decisions for your work and career.

It helps you not get sick 

Sleep is like medicine to your body. Resting helps your body fights diseases better thus preventing you from getting sick often.

Sleep also makes you more confident at work because you feel like you can do all your tasks without any problem. It also makes you more focused and present and this is important if you work with a team so that you can be a better teammate.
Hope you add sleep to your daily to-do list at work from now on.

Culture: Table etiquette during business dinners

Don't put your cell phone, keys or purse on the table. It may distract you and your future business partners. It also kind of suggests that you are in a hurry and may leave soon.

Dress nicely, with little or no cleavage, and no rough-looking outfits. Your dressing may take away the focus of the dinner which is business.

Don't start a business conversation before the end of the first-course meal

Ask to be passed something which is not within your reach. Don't reach across the table with your hands over the food of others.

Don't yell at the waiter. It shows bad character and may not impress your future business partners

Excuse yourself when going to the toilet. It's polite.

Complement your guests while waiting for food to be served. Especially after placing your orders.

Speak slowly and don't speak over people's food.

Closing words from our editor

Thanks for reading this edition of the smart woman magazine. You can leave your feedback in the comment section and support us with topics you will like us to discuss in our next edition.

How I exfoliate my skin weekly

How I use the scrub

How I use the sea salt

How I brighten my skin with sea salt

How I use the gloves

Easy Self-Care Ideas For Moms To Do At Home

Shower

Products I used and how I did it

I used the OLIVE NO-Lye hair relaxer which comes in sachets and I used two sachets for my hair. My hair is short but thick so I needed two of those.

I had someone apply the relaxer on my hair after evenly mixing the relaxer and the activator.

My hair was sectioned into four parts and then the relaxer was applied to each section before joining the sections altogether.

I stayed with the relaxer on until I felt it was time to wash it. But by the time I washed it, it was burning my scalp.

I used the Schwarzkopf GLISS KUR hair repair shampoo to wash out the relaxer. 

The relaxer I got didn't come with any shampoo or any other hair product so I used this one I already had.

My hair has not been in the best shape lately and I struggled with keeping it healthy so I used this shampoo to help repair my hair. 

I washed my hair until it didn't feel slimy then I knew that it was quite clean. I really loved the way it looked after washing.

Like I said the relaxer doesn't come with any other products so I used a conditioner, mouse and hair moisturizer which came with another relaxer that I used in the past. That is the OLIVE OIL relaxer which comes in a carton. I also added the Dr Miracle's leave in conditioner.


                                 

I also oiled my hair with cow milk oil. I hate the smell of this oil but it's so good for hair, trust me.

With all these applied, I styled it simply by combing it all to the back and making it smooth. I had some burns at the front and back of my head so I wanted to focus on letting them heal before doing any serious style with it.

About two weeks later, I went to a hairdresser and she did me simple braids with just my hair. 


Yeah, I know. The braids made me look so young. Lol. I actually looked like a school girl on a bus. But I loved my braids. 

Another reason I didn't want to braid my hair as soon as I relaxed is that the hair is usually fragile after relaxing. It's better to let it rest for a while before doing any pulling on your hair especially braids.

That's how I relaxed my hair at home. 

Today I want to share with you my special playlist of the moment which motivates me every day whether I listen to it or sing it. All of them are sung by Nigerian artists (they too dey find money, lol). But in this life, we all need the money.

So here is my playlist that fuels my energy to get rich and make it in life.

1. Victor AD - Wetin We Gain

CHORUS:
“If we no make money
Wetin we gain o? (Wetin we gain?)
My brother wetin we gain (Wetin we gain?)
If we no buy the benz
Wetin we gain? (Wetin we gain?)”


I no wan take the same step wey I take last year wey no work for me oh

Lord you know wetin me and you don talk make e manifest oh baba

The street na by grace, no be who hustle pass dey carry first oh

Oluwa bless me 'cause I no fit dull oh

I need the kind money wey go make Dangote say "Who be this black skin man wey dey worry am?"

2. Burna Boy - Dangote

CHORUS:
Dangote, Dangote
Dangote still dey find money o
I no dey, I no dey
I no dey sleep on the money o
Who I be?
Who I be?
Wey make I no go find money o
I no dey send anybody o
Me I dey hustle gan gan

The first time I saw the title of this song, I wondered what Dangote had done or why Dangote as the title of the song. But after listening it made a lot of sense. Burna Boy is simply telling himself (and us) that Dangote the richest man in Africa and the 64th richest man in the world is still working to earn more money. Therefore he who doesn't have enough money should also be out there hustling to make money for himself. 

This song shows us that we can overcome poverty with hard work and perseverance.

These phrases got me:

Still I go hustle till thy kingdom come

Dangote dey find money o, Why me no go find money

You can get the song Dangote by Burna Boy on Amazone here:

3. Rude Boy - Reason With Me

CHORUS:
You don forget back in the days
I been dey beg you to try, reason with me
If I no get today, I go get am tomorrow
Abi you want make I die?
E no easy for me
If I no get today, I go get am tomorrow
Say one for the money
Two for the dough
Three for the shawty
Now I don blow

This song narrates the story of a man who lost his love because he was poor. While in a relationship with her he begged her to reason with him and be patient as he made efforts to get out of poverty. But she left him. And when he eventually made it she tried to come back but he said no. 

This song gives like a glimpse of how it would be in the future after you have succeeded and those who never believed in you will come back knocking. 

This phrase really reasoned with me:

If I no get today, I go get am tomorrow (If I don't have today, I will have tomorrow)

4. Teni - Uyo Meyo

CHORUS:
Uyo Meyo
Uyo Meyo
O Uyo
Uyo Meyo leun o san o kan mi o e
Uyo Meyo
Uyo Meyo
Oh Uyo
Uyo Meyo leun o san o kan mi o e
Eh yeh

(Chorus meaning: the joy I have expressed for others shall be my portion too)

This song encourages us to believe in our dream and strive hard to realize it. The words are so clear and the melody is wonderful.

Here are the phrases that touched me so much:

Everybody's born a winner, If only you just believe yea eh yeh eh

Cause if you work hard, you can get it if you work

If you strive hard, you can be just what you want

If you work hard, you can climb the mountain tall

Cause nothing is too small, and nothing is too big

Don't let them tell you "You Can't"

Ibi ti Daddy mi o de, Ma de be ma tu koja (What my father couldn't achieve, I will achieve and  surpass)

Ibi ti Mummy mi o de, Ma de be ma tu koja (What my mother couldn't achieve, I will achieve and surpass)



Here are the links to these songs on YouTube if you want to check them out:

1. Victor AD
2. Burna Boy
3. Rudeboy 
4.Teni

You can visit Youtube to watch the videos and go to Amazon to download them (I make a small commission when you use the Amazon links in this post to purchase any of these songs. Thanks). These songs are a combination of wonderful melody and a good message.

I hope you got inspired and motivated as I do each time I listen to them. I play these songs every day and trust me it ginger's me to keep grinding.