Laura Sultan is the founder of Muslimah Speaks, a website featuring various Muslim women delivering information about Islam and the qur’an in various ways including lectures, naseeds poems and contemporary rap.

I wanted to speak with Laura to learn more about what inspired her to start the website. She was kind enough to grant me a phone interview, and I’d like to share our conversation:

Muslimahs Working at Home: What was your inspiration for creating Muslimah Speaks?

 Laura Sultan: Well, I first started investigating Islam in I guess 2005, 2006… I created this site at the beginning of this year [2012], so it’s fairly new. Being online all the time I did a lot of research online. I found sites like Halaltube.com and a few others with video lectures. But I found there [are] almost none with women speaking.

It took me literally years to find good resources for Muslim women. You know, I don’t mean just resources for Muslim women. I mean to really discover all of the Muslim women that are out there online. This was five, six years ago, but it was different then – you know; it’s kind of exploded with social media. But it was much harder to find.

I read a lot of books and learned a lot from the Internet, but I was still longing to hear what other women had to say about Islam. I had a lot of questions, and it really didn’t satisfy me to hear a man answer them. I really wanted to hear what other women had to say about it. That was the initial spark [that lead to] the website. I wanted to create a resource for women who are learning about Islam, or new reverts.

Now it’s kind of evolved to not just include lectures and interviews with scholars and popular public speakers, but to also include everyday Muslimahs – from all over the world – just giving their ideas, their opinions, and their art. We have a lot of spoken word poetry on the website and some videos that are talking about sports. I want to have a website that really shows the diversity of Muslim women. In American culture, there’s kind a single representation in the Western media of Muslim women.

I wanted to show that Muslim women are not all alike, first of all. We have very different beliefs. I don’t want to limit the site to ultra-conservative Muslims or, on the other end of the spectrum, more liberal or feminist Muslims. I want to show a full spectrum of Muslim women.

Muslimahs Working at Home: You’re actually leading into one of my other questions. Who is this website targeting? It looks like you’re trying to break open this box the American media has placed Muslim women into; and you’re trying to break it open and show we don’t fit inside that box. There are women in Islam that have different philosophies and different beliefs in Islam.

Laura Sultan: Different levels of education, different levels of commitment to their faith, different like, dislikes, interests…that sort of thing. Yes, as I said, The initial motivation for the website was to target people like me five years ago who were really searching for the Muslim women’s voice online. I’d been to many conferences where there’s not a single female speaker.

Muslimahs Working at Home: It’s funny that you say that – that really stood out.I actually have to credit you for introducing me to Yasmin Mogahed.

Laura Sultan: Yes, Yasmin Mogahed

Muslimahs Working at Home: I love her –  I listen to a lot of her lectures now. I saw you Tweet a link for her. I sent it to a good friend of mine who’s living in North Carolina right now – she’s Muslim, and she grew up Muslim. She’s been going through a really difficult time and she was so excited because she listens to lectures all the time. She said, “I can’t believe this sister is speaking on these topics!” and it’s a big deal getting this information from her.

Laura Sultan: It really does make a big difference. I’ve heard, or probably read – and I could not tell you where – conference organizers who say, “Yes, you tell you want more women on the panel, Muslim speakers, but there just aren’t any; and that’s not true – that is so far from being true, In fact, if you go to the website, women who speak from the qur’an and the Sunnah; people speaking who are scholars themselves – They are there  – it’s just no one knows who they are. There are women speaking locally, who have every bit as much expertise that the male speakers that speak at these conferences.

 There are a lot of Muslim women scholars out there that I am not putting on the site because they don’t speak English. Unfortunately, my husband speaks Urdu, but I do not, for example. I listen to each and every one of the videos posted on the website. I can only post what I’ve actually listened to. But also I also want to target primarily a Western audience, but specifically I want to reach those women who are not a part in close proximity to a vibrant, Muslim community.

I became Muslim in a town where there are no other Muslims. My experience with other Muslim women was very myopic. We went to one mosque generally with maybe 20 sisters on Friday for jummah prayer. The majority of those sisters did not speak English and I did not speak any other language. So it was very, very difficult for me to get to know these sisters and really talk to other sisters and become part of that community.  That’s not the case now, but it was five or six years ago when I was trying to learn and understand, what does it means now that I have taken shahadah and I am a Muslim woman?

Muslimahs Working at Home: That has to be difficult.

Laura Sultan: It’s such an identity crisis – it’s an identity crisis for any revert, but it’s a real identity crisis if you do not have any Muslim sisters around.

Muslimahs Working at Home: Yes, I agree.

Laura Sultan: Yeah, I really hope the website is a resource for those sisters in the West that don’t have access to a Muslim community.

Muslimahs Working at Home: It’s really needed, and I agree with you about the myopic view of Muslim women. I grew up in a town I think had quite a few Muslims, but they weren’t seen. I’ve moved back and I do see a sister wearing hijab every so often, but it’s rare unless I’m at the masjid. I was just telling my husband that when I go out, brothers and sisters will give me the greetings because they see me covered even though they’re not. Some are, but this is a different town – I moved from Atlanta where I’ve seen sisters going around wearing niqab even. It’s funny to come back here and see it. Ironically one of my best friends in high school was Muslim, but I didn’t know what that meant because I had no experience with Islam back then.

I remember once going to her house and seeing the qur’an on the stand and asking “What kind of bible is this?” She laughed and said, “That’s not a bible, that’s the qur’an!”  It’s just so funny in hindsight. They weren’t really practicing. There was nothing other than seeing the book there, I knew nothing of it [Islam] until I moved and was exposed to it.

I do think it’s important, because especially post 911, there are a lot of people who are curious because it’s constantly in the news and some people want to  know about it – especially Muslim women because we’re seen as so much of a “mystery” I guess.

Laura Sultan: Right. That’s not my primary audience for the website, but I do hope it can act as a vehicle for dawah, insha’Allah.

Muslimahs Working at Home: Insha’Allah, insha’Allah.

Laura Sultan: I want to dispel a lot of the myths.

Muslimahs Working at Home: Now, I’m curious – how did you choose the mediums through which you share the information? You have qur’an recitation, you have video lectures, you have poetry, naseed and some blogs – how did you choose those channels for providing the information?

Laura Sultan: Well, initially I was thinking lectures and interviews – you know very scholarly, and I still want it to be predominantly scholarly with the videos; but I also wanted to have the qu’ran recitation on there. We listen to a lot of qur’an recitation in our home. There are very few videos of women reciting qur’an. I know why, but it’s still very frustrating because it’s so difficult to find.

I looked at the videos that were out there before starting the site. I searched and I search, wrote down names, bookmarked videos, and these categories just fell into place based on what was out there. At first I didn’t have the rap and the blog categories, but as I started discovering more and more of what was out there, I just felt like I really had to add them. I mean there are a lot of blogs out there.  There are a lot of women that have some very important things to say. Some not so important…everything else just falls under miscellaneous.

Going back to the website – I was talking about the qur’an recitation… if you don’t hear a women reciting the qur’an and you’re new to Islam, you can develop this mistaken assumption that it’s only men who recite the qu’ran. That it’s just a male role in Islam. As I learned more and more about Islam over the years, I know that’s ridiculous; but if your only access is primarily through the Internet, you could [arrive at] that assumption very easily.

Muslimahs Working at Home: Yes, yes – there’s so much information out there. Like you said you could easily get hold of some very one dimensional information and run with that.

Laura Sultan: Yes.

Muslimahs Working at Home: I like that you have these different areas where people can get information. I think it’s very timely, and that it appeals more to people today to click on a link to see different blogs or listen to some spoken word.

Laura Sultan:  Yeah, I’m a big fan of spoken word poetry.

Muslimahs Working at Home: Me too!

Laura Sultan: The first one I came across was from Amal Ahmed Albaz, and I was floored. I told my daughter who is an aspiring writer herself, “Come here, come here! I want you to listen to this!” I wanted to inspire her with the poetry. And then I discovered there are a lot of Muslim women who do poetry, and they’re just amazing.

Muslimahs Working at Home: Yes, there are, there’s so much talent out there that it just blows your mind!

Laura Sultan: I’ve come across some comedians – just a lot of amazing women out there. Not just speakers. You know, knowledge is disseminated in so many different ways. I’ve thought about adding articles and guest posts, but right now I don’t want to dilute the brand. It may expand at some point or spin off to another website, but there are other websites out there like that.

Muslimahs Working at Home: For right now, I can see why you’d keep it that way for now. They can get what they need – It’s information that’s easy to take in, easy to digest. You can always add more down the line if you want to.

So, your tag line, which I really like, is: “Amplifying the Muslim Woman’s Voice.”  I see one of the topics listed is “Islamic feminism”. That’s always kind of a touchy topic in the communities I’ve been a part of – even online. Some women feel like Islamic feminism needs to be really discussed and fought for, and some feel it’s not necessary because Islam has given women these rights. Although you could go back and say though that there are Muslim women who are not being given their rights. What do you think about that?

Laura Sultan: To give you my take on it I’d have to give you a bit of my back story – pre-conversion. I was a big time, Western-style feminist in college. I had women’s studies minor and took all these classes – one of the classes I took was feminist theory, so I was a hardcore feminist which is why it took me years and years and years to learn anything about Islam; because I believed what the media was saying about Muslim women – the stereotype about Muslim women being oppressed and all that. So it was the biggest shock to me to learn what rights Muslim women were given over 1400 years ago.

So to go back to Islamic feminism – it is different than Western-style feminism. There’s a branch of Western-style feminism that would probably not have a problem with Islamic feminism, but not all of them. But Islamic Feminism is not saying women have to be like men to have value. Where western feminism is more along those lines – women have to try as hard as possible to emulate men and  have an attitude like “anything a man has I want it. Anything a woman has, I don’t want it.” Any rights naturally given to women are somewhat denigrated.

I know the label “feminism” causes heart palpitations in some people. I personally have no trouble reconciling feminism with the rights women are given in the qur’an, but the fact of the matter is it all depends on how you define feminism. There are probably a hundred different ways. The argument about feminism in Islam generally comes down to your [own] definition of feminism.

As far as this website is concerned, I’ve got some topics that are womens rights, treatment of women, women in Islam, women in public – not all of the topics that fall under women’s rights fall under Islamic feminism. Because I think that almost all, or the majority of Muslim women, would agree that Islam gives women tons of rights. But not all would say Islam is a feminist religion.

So there’s a distinction. The truth of the matter is, as I’ve said before, it depends on how you defining feminism. When I’m talking to other Muslims, I could be saying the exact same thing to two different people; but if I say feminist to one person and don’t say feminist to the other person, they may react completely differently. It’s one of those words that you have to be careful how you use it depending on who you’re talking to.

Muslimahs Working at Home: Yes.

Laura Sultan: Did that make sense?

Muslimahs Working at Home: Yes, it makes perfect sense, because I’ve experienced it. I’ve seen some pretty heated debates go back and forth over that word.

Laura Sultan: Yeah, kind of need to take the temperature [laughs].

Muslimahs Working at Home: Yes, It can really get heated; so yeah it depends on their interpretation of that word, and I guess sometimes it depends on the way they’re practicing too – it depends on a lot of different things really.

Laura Sultan: As far as [whether] we need Islamic feminism, or whether it’s necessary- I look at to see how change has occurred in society. There are definitely cultures – even Muslims in the U.S. who do not accept or acknowledge the rights women were given in the qur’an. They downplay or completely ignore the parts of the qur’an that do give women rights.

So yes, there is a need for feminism. Is there a need for an extreme within feminism?  Sometimes I feel in order for things to come where they need to be, sometime we need to go to the other extreme – sort of like a pendulum. I may not agree with what some of the extreme Islamic feminists do, but coming from a historical, sociological point of view, it’s almost necessary to go beyond where we need to be to find that balance – that middle ground. Even though I may not agree with what some people are doing, I do understand the need for it from a sociological perspective.

Muslimahs Working at Home: What you’ve [just] said about Islamic feminism lead to this next question – Have you had anyone respond to your website in any way that was negative? I’ve noticed you try to as you mention earlier, you try to provide a good variety of Islam. Have you had anyone say anything about you posting information about someone who’s more “progressive?”  Have there been any issues or has it been well-received?

Laura Sultan: So far I have not had one negative comment. I expected it, so I’ve been very surprised. The opinions of the women in the videos are not always the same as mine. I struggle sometimes with some of the videos – of whether or not to put them on there, I feel like I need to take my own beliefs out of it and provide a full spectrum. Now there are certain things I will not post – if it’s full of hatred against a certain culture people or country, I won’t put it up. I do have a line – that’s why I watch all videos before posting.

Muslimahs Working at Home: Have you thought about how you want the site to evolve or are you just letting it organically “happen”?

Laura Sultan: I’ve thought about guest posts and articles, but for now I think I’ll just let it happen. I do want to add good quality content –specifically video with women scholars. Unfortunately, it’s just really hard to find right now.

We are always hearing everyone else talking about Muslim women – You have the media talking about what Muslim women are like, and Muslim men talking about what Muslim women are like. It’s really time for the Muslim woman’s voice to come to the forefront, when it’s about Muslim women.

Today was Take Your Child to Work Day at the children’s school. I’d planned to participate this year, but since my daughter has missed so many days of school because of illness, I regretfully decided against it. Instead I rescheduled it for this Saturday. We’ll spend half the day discussing entrepreneurship and how it can be a viable option for earning a living.

Why Isn’t Entrepreneurship Covered In Schools?

This is what I missed as a kid. Entrepreneurship wasn’t discussed in my school. We were essentially educated in order to put our smarts to work for someone else. I never questioned it. My father worked for the same company for over 30 years. My mother was a teacher for over 25 years. It was expected that I would some day grow up, get good grades throughout school, earn a Bachelor’s degree (at least) and convince some nice, stable company to hire me. What my parents and I couldn’t foresee is how the type of job security they enjoyed would eventually become a rarity, if not non-existent, by the time I entered the job market.

Two months after graduating college, I was hired by a major newspaper publication and immediately relocated to a new city. It was a good experience for me, masha’Allah – especially since I didn’t leave home to attend college. It was my very first “white collar” job. Up until that point I’d mainly worked retail jobs because they offered the flexibility of scheduling around my full-time school schedule. Having weekends and holidays like Memorial Day and Labor day off was a novelty I’d long been denied.

Chasing Job Security

About nine months into my new job, I realized the corporate environment wasn’t for me. I finally achieved the secure job I’d been taught to work for, but I was miserable. I found the office politics, gossip and micro-management exhausting. I’d started meeting people who were self-employed and the idea of working for myself appealed to me, but I had no idea how to get started or even what to do. I didn’t feel confident enough in my ability to earn a stable paycheck so I continued on with the newspaper for seven more years. It’s amazing how quickly time passes…

Fast forward to today, and I’m happily self-employed, alhamdullilah. My husband and children appreciate my ability to be with them when needed while earning a living. It involves A LOT of hard work. It can be unpredictable sometimes, but it’s a lifestyle that suits me best. There’s a real sense of accomplishment in being able to provide a quality product or service others need, and make your own living doing it. An added benefit is being able to provide a job for someone else through your business (something I aspired to, insha’Allah). About three years after I left the paper, the economy began to collapse. That along with the Internet caused newspapers everywhere to struggle. A string of layoffs at my old job eventually lead to the elimination of my old department.

Providing Children With Choices

My children are young, but I want my them to start thinking about their futures. They need to know their options. If one of my children wants to pursue a career as an employee, then alhamdullilah. If they choose to work for themselves, I’ll support that as well. As long as it’s halal and they’re happy, I’ll be ecstatic.
Is entrepreneurship something you would encourage your child to consider?

This week was absolutely chock full of useful information for both budding and existing home business owners. I’m sharing some posts that really stood out to me this week. I hope you’ll find this useful for your own home business as well, insha’Allah.

Useful Tips for an Entrepreneur to Increase Traffic from Twitter

Brand Against the Machine: Take Your Brand to the Next Level

Pricing Your Products Correctly

5 Habits Every Business Owner Must Adopt to Become More Successful in 2012

Entrepreneur Training for Entrepreneurs

About five years ago, when I started my first business providing SEO content to businesses, I realized I needed a website so that people could find me. I also needed an online portfolio with samples of my writing, an explanation of the services I provided and my rates. I knew absolutely nothing about building a website, so I asked around a couple of forums and found someone very cheap. I didn’t have much money, so cost was a major factor.The website was a simple, professional design and I was quite happy with it.

A year later, I needed to update the services I provided and my rates. There was just one problem – I didn’t know how to change the content on the website. I had no idea what type of platform she used to build my site. Bottom line: I needed to contact the webmaster in order to change the content. Unfortunately there was another big problem: the webmaster was nowhere to be found. I was stuck with a website that offered clients services and rates that I no longer offered.
So now I needed a new website, and this time it needed to be able to control the content myself. I poked around online and found a free website builder. The pros: My website information was back online and up to date. The cons: My website promoted the sale of the website templates fee-based products, and the site’s coding resulted in terrible SEO ranking in the search engines. I continued to research options and finally settled on WordPress, and I haven’t looked back.

WordPress is one of the best free blogging software programs available to both technical and non-technical online entrepreneurs.

For the purposes of this article, I’m speaking of the WordPress blogging software that you can install from within the c-panel of your web hosting company.

In what follows, you will learn many of the benefits to using WordPress for your website/blog:

1. You do not need to know computer code – such as HTML and PHP to create your own site. This means that you can get your site up and running very quickly, even without this knowledge.

2. WordPress is not only for bloggers – You can use WordPress to create very attractive websites with static pages that don’t even look like blog pages. You can even use WordPress to create a website with a separate blogging section on it. Furthermore, you can use it to create e-commerce sites.

3. Numerous free WordPress plugins are available – These plugins allow you to do so many other things to your WordPress site. For example, there are plugins that allow you to add photo galleries to your site (NextGen), ones that increase your exposure in the search engines (All-In-One SEO), others that allow you to control the appearance of your site (Exclude Pages), and so many others.

4. Excellent paid WordPress plugins are also available – You can find some good paid plugins such as the WP-Estore, which allows you to create an E-store and sell products on your website. Again, there is no fancy code needed to set this up on your site. Pretty Link Pro is another paid plugin that allows you to redirect and cloak your links to decrease theft of your affiliate links.

5. WordPress is used globally – Because WordPress is so well recognized throughout the globe, it is easy to find programmers online who are familiar with it, and can make any desired modifications to your website.

6. It can save you a lot of money – If you have some time and the desire to learn how WordPress works, you can save a lot in hiring a website designer. In addition, once you learn WordPress, you don’t have to hire someone every time you need to update your website or blog.

7. A number of WordPress themes are available – Many themes have been created; some are free while others are not. The various themes allow you to set up the appearance and layout of your site. There are also inexpensive software programs that you can purchase to create your own WordPress themes from scratch, without needing to know HTML.

8. WordPress is SEO-friendly – WordPress contains many built-in search-engine optimization tools. For example, you can use keywords in the permalinks/URL’s of your posts and pages. You can also categorize topics, and use tags in order that search engines can better index your site.

WordPress offers many advantages when building a website and/or blog.  Technical and non-technical people across the globe find it suits their needs and is quite user-friendly.

Are you serious about creating a home-based business that you can run from home? Then let me share an important secret for success: Having laser sharp focus is crucial to your long-term success.

Having a good idea and sticking with it until it either succeeds or fails is actually a vital skill – A skill that many entrepreneurs unfortunately lack and fail as a result.

Results Come with Persistence, Not Singular Spurts of Effort

Entrepreneurs often feel powerful spurts of desire, of determination, of feeling like they’re willing to do whatever it takes. Feeling that way for a few days or weeks isn’t an uncommon feeling.

However, to really succeed you need to be able to stay motivated and inspired about what you’re doing for months and years at a time.

Business is not a short term game. You have wins and you have losses. It’s a matter of persisting through all the ups and downs to the final result of real success. That takes time and focus.

Improve Your Focus With Productivity Systems

Your habits play a big role in how focused you are.
One habit that many successful business people have is planning their day at the beginning of the day. When you wake up, the first thing you do is get out a sheet of paper and write out exactly what you want to accomplish today.

Then, write out what you want to accomplish this year. Then your five year goals, your 10 year goals and your 25 year goals.

If you have inspiring goals set, this will help you stay focused on both the short term actions and the long term picture. Doing this every day will help you stay totally motivated to do what you need to do to succeed.

Be Focused, But Stay Flexible

As an entrepreneur, it’s important that you’re able to adapt to your environment and do what’s necessary to make your business succeed. This and staying focused may sound like contradictory concepts, but they’re actually quite complimentary.

Most experienced business people agree that business seldom goes as you expect. If you have one plan to generate traffic, one plan about what to sell, one plan about how your business should look and you’re not willing to change strategies, chances are you won’t make it in the long run.

However, don’t confuse flexibility in strategy with actually bouncing around completely different paths. If you bounce from trying to do PPC affiliate marketing to trying to be a top blogger to trying to trade Forex online, you are certainly destined to fail.

On the other hand, if something isn’t working then don’t bash your head against a wall trying to make it work. Instead, be willing to be flexible and adapt. Being able to hold both focus towards a goal and flexibility in the method of getting there is crucial to success.

Know your goals. Know what’s important to know. Know what you need to do on a day by day, week by week, month by month and year by year basis. Stick to your plan and stay focused.

I’m setting the bar for my business goals higher this year. One of my biggest goals is to grow a passive income stream to my overall business. Passive income is money you are not directly involved with creating.

I love that I’ve been able to earn a living working at home. The downside is the more clients/projects I get, the more time I spend getting everything done. Bottom line: if I don’t do the work I don’t get paid. I want to be able to reduce my actual work hours and spend more time with my family without earning less. There are quite a few bloggers who have successfully turned blogging into a money earning business.

With passive income, your direct involvement is not required to earn profit. I’d love to be able to do it by blogging which is what lead me to the ebook “Publicity Spark, a website providing information and education on all things public relations. Ponn is also the founder/publisher of American Muslim Mom.

Affiliate marketing allows you to make money online by boosting awareness of businesses and the products or service they sell. When you promote a product or service, you earn a commission in return. Commissions can either be a percentage of the sale, or a fixed rate.

Ponn and Janet’s ebook does a great job of explaining affiliate marketing in simple language for those who may not be familiar with the term. The ebook is specifically written for bloggers who would like to turn blogging into a profitable venture. The ebook with an explaination of affiliate marketing and provides step-by-step instructions to generating an income.

The first step in the guide is titled “Change Your Mindset.” Here’s where Ponn and Janet explain how critical it is to think of your blog as a business from the onset. They encourage readers to understand the real money-making potential of blogging, and to take a strategic approach to building a foundation for long-term residual income.

Ponn and Janet also discuss the importance of being transparent and honest with your readers, and I agree. I have purchased lots of recommended products and online. I don’t like the overly hyped sales approach. If someone I know and trust makes a suggestion, nine times out of ten, I can make the purchase with confidence that I’m getting what I’m paying for, and that’s important to me. You should always be 100% honest when reviewing a product/service of making a suggestion about a product or service.

The authors use Ponn’s American Muslim Mom blog as an example throughout the book which gives readers a realistic point of reference. They show how Ponn has turned her own blog into a profitable business following the steps outline in the book, and you can too.

The success of affiliate marketing greatly depends on putting effort into building a trustworthy relationship with your readers and the subscribers on your list. If you establish a good relationship with your readers, a reputation for honesty and provide them with relevant, useful information about products/services you know about, it can be a win-win for everyone.

Success with affiliate marketing via your blog also depends on building a decent level of traffic to your site as well. I say this to drive home the point that there is work required even when building a residual income stream with your blog. You can’t just sit back, do nothing and watch the money come; but as you put key systems in place, less hand-on work will be required.

This week was a hectic one for me: client projects, coaching clients, a Skype meeting with my own business coach (that’s right, the learning NEVER stops), administrative business tasks, doctor appointments and taking my mother to run her weekly errands. The week ended on a high note however – an amazing, potential joint venture opportunity literally fell into my lap thanks to time and energy spent networking and connecting with others in the work-at-home niche. I’m making dua’ that things work out, if Allah determines that the opportunity is best for me; but even if it doesn’t, I’m definitely open to the idea of joining with other businesses for joint venture projects in the future, insha’Allah. I think other businesses could benefit from this type of partnering as well.

What is a Joint Venture?

About.com has one of the best definitions of this type of partnership: “A joint venture is a strategic alliance where two or more parties, usually businesses, for a partnership to share markets, intellectual property, assets, knowledge and, of course, profits.”
Businesses with identical, or complimentary markets, products and services come together to provide a product or service to markets they may not otherwise be able to reach without making significant investments (time and money). Here are a few examples:

• You make your own all-natural skincare products and for a joint venture agreement with a local salon, or natural health shop, to carry and sell your products to their customers.
• You bake deserts and form a joint venture relationship with a local restaurant who agrees to sell your sweet confections to their customers.
• If you’re a copywriter, you could write an ebook about creating persuasive content for business websites, and have a successful web design firm sell it for you.

How to Set Up a Joint Venture

Not everyone will make a good joint venture partner. As with any important decision, it’s important to do your research and ask probing questions before initiating a partnership. You want to team up with a business that’s serious and already has a track record of success.

It’s also important to have a contract agreement in place that spells out every detail of the arrangement – from the role each partner will play and how much each person receives from sales, to how you’ll be paid and how often. You’ll also want to clarify intellectual rights, etc. It may be wise to seek legal advice when making this type of arrangement.

Pros and Cons

It would be dishonest for me to only discuss the pros of entering into a joint venture relationship. The fact that you can penetrate new and/or larger markets, the ability to collaborate together on business decisions and finances through this type of business relationship is certainly a plus. However, the potential for fitna does exist. Conflicts and disagreements can occur. You may have differences of opinion about how to managing business activities, promote or enhance profitability. These are the details that need to be hashed out in detail in the legal agreement.

Have you ever participated in a joint venture? If so, what was your experience?

They say it’s finally over. According to @cnn on Twitter, the Blackberry blackout fiasco is officially over (as I type this, my mobile email is being flooded with backlogged messages. Thanks, Blackberry.). According to Money.CNN.com, the company actually referred to it as the “largest-ever network disruption.”

But why did it happen? RIM founder and co-CEO Mike Lazaridis explained, “ the BlackBerry service’s infrastructure ‘suffered a hardware error,’ and then the problem cascaded. A backup system ‘did not work the way we intended.’ I’ll say it didn’t.

I spend most Wednesday’s away from the office so I can take my mother to run her weekly errands. I’ve grown to depend on my Blackberry to manage email and maintain communication during these times. On that particular day, I was expecting time sensitive emails from a couple of new clients.

I remember at one point being amazed that I hadn’t received one message in either of the three email accounts I constantly monitor. I went on Twitter (for some odd reason I could still receive and sent tweets) and immediately saw updates of a “Blackberry blackout.”

I understand that sometime things just stop working. First my laptop and now my so-called smartphone. Since I couldn’t rush mom through her errands just to get back to my home office to check my emails, I had plenty of time to think. Maybe my constant need to stay “plugged in” is the real issue. Unfortunately technology has spoiled me and taught me to expect the instant gratification my Blackberry has brought into my life. When I was forced to put my laptop in the shop for repair, I relied more heavily than ever on my mobile connection when I needed to be away from my office – which is quite often since I am mother to four children with a flourishing schedule of activities.

The Blackberry fail brought me back to the basics of running a home-based business; after all, I was running my business before the advent of smartphones. Home-business owners must remain calm, flexible and adaptable under the most trying circumstances.

Are you a Blackberry owner, and if so, did the blackout affect your business?

In Part 1 of the Plan Your Finances for Self-Employment series, we covered the importance of knowing how much money you need each month to cover your living expenses. Part 2 of this financial series delved into the importance of acquiring health insurance to protect your family and your finances from unexpected medical emergencies.

Plan Your Finances for Self-Employment, Part 3 will cover how you can establish financial security as you get your business up and running by building up a significant savings.

In most cases, a new business needs a certain amount of capital to get up and running. Many people assume that a home-based business doesn’t involve any real financial investment. Even if you pursue entrepreneurship through an established company like Avon or Mary Kay, or a home-based franchise, there is typically some investment involved. In addition to any initial investment required to get started, you’ll also need to purchase necessities like a desk, computer, printer, software, Internet service, phone service, materials, inventory, etc.

Some entrepreneurs turn to bank loans or credit cards for start up capital, but as Muslims we are expected to avoid riba (interest). You may be able to contact a bank institution that specializes in halal (permissible) financial options for alternative funding solutions. Some business owners find investors willing to provide the necessary financial assistance you need. Others resort to using their own funds to finance the beginning of their venture.

Some people advocate pushing past the fear many typically feel before taking the leap into entrepreneurship. I’m all for facing your fears and going after your goals, but common sense should play a major role in a decision this important. There’s no sense in making things more difficult for yourself than you need to. Not having savings in place could put your business on the path to failure.

Having a sufficient savings in place will provide you and your family with peace and security during those sometimes volatile early days. You’ll be able to sleep well at night and can focus on being creative without worrying about how you’ll pay this month’s power bill or rent.

How much money should you save?

Your number depends on your financial obligations. Are you your family’s only wage earner? Does your spouse cover all of your living expenses? Are you responsible for a certain portion of your household’s income? Revisit you income and expenses analysis to help determine how much you need to set aside in savings. The more you are relied upon to contribute to your household income, the more you’ll need to save. If you are not responsible for covering household expenses, you can get away with saving a smaller amount.

It’s not unusual for entrepreneurs to struggle financially in the beginning. I remember going through quite a few feast or famine cycles myself. It takes time to build up a steady, profitable business. Having savings set aside helps “fill in the gaps” when you need it.

If you’re thinking of starting your own home-based business and it involves quitting your current job, stop whatever you’re doing and pay close attention: you need a transition plan. The current economic climate is more than a little bit shaky right now, so the smartest move you can make when your family depends on your income to survive is to create a financial plan to help you get from employed worker to self-employed as seamlessly as possible.

You have something you’re passionate about, and you’ve done the research and know there’s a demand for your product or service. You realize the profit potential of owning your own business, and how working at home can benefit your entire family. That’s good; now let’s start with examining your current income and expenses:

There are a few brave souls who jumped right into working for themselves, no plan in place, and done well with their businesses; but being prepared with give you peace of mind, and it’s the most responsible way to proceed, especially if you have children depending on you for their survival. The three areas your plan needs to cover are: income and expenses, insurance and benefits, and savings.

If you’re thinking of starting your own home-based business and it involves quitting your current job, stop whatever you’re doing and listen very closely: you need a transition plan. The current economic climate is more than a little bit shaky right now, so the smartest move you can make when your family depends on your income to survive is to create a financial plan to help you get from employed worker to self-employed as seamlessly as possible.

You have something you’re passionate about, and you’ve done the research and know there’s a demand for your product or service. You realize the profit potential of owning your own business, and how working at home can benefit your entire family. That’s good; now let’s start with examining your current income and expenses:

There are a few brave souls who jumped right into working for themselves, no plan in place, and done well with their businesses; but being prepared with give you peace of mind, and it’s the most responsible way to proceed, especially if you have children depending on you for their survival. The three areas your plan needs to cover are: income and expenses, insurance and benefits, and savings. This Plan Your Finances for Self-Employment will be a three part series beginning with examining current income and expenses.

Consider your current financial situation. How much does it take each month for your family to cover all necessary expenses? Start by listing your monthly expenses:

• Mortgage/rent (include taxes, mortgage/renters insurance)
• Food
• Car payment
• Utilities (combine electric/gas/water)
• Car insurance
• Gas (car)
• Phone/Internet
• Cell phone
• Car insurance
• Health insurance
• Cable television
• Daycare
• Savings

Add up all of these expenses to get a clear idea of how much you need to make to make it each month. If you have a husband who is working, covering these expenses will be much easier, masha’Allah, and you will have less of a transition to becoming self-employed. Likewise if you have accumulated a significant savings to cover 18 months (recommended) or more of your monthly expenses.

Once you face the reality of how much you need to live each month, you can begin taking steps to reduce it even further. Some expenses like your mortgage, rent and car payment may not be under your control, but food, utilities, phone, Internet, cable, car/health insurance can be reduced. You can reduce your food bill by planning meals around the weekly grocery sales flyer and clipping coupons, and lower utility, cable and insurance rates by researching competitors. You may even be able to eliminate certain expenses altogether, like childcare; but it’s a good idea to have a backup childcare plan in place just in case you need it.

Take a careful look at your lifestyle and see if there are any changes you can make to lower your cost of living. Do you like to shop with your friends and have lunch out on weekends? Stop for a latte every morning after dropping the kids at school? Cutting back on these activities can make a big difference. Maybe spend a day in with friends having a potluck with movies, or indulge in your favorite specialty coffee drink once a week instead of every day.

We all have our weaknesses, so be honest about yours and how they may be affecting your bottom line.