Home Business – Be Your Own Boss and Don’t Even Leave the House

These days there are an increasing number of businesses being run from home. Due to the huge boom in e-commerce and mail order, people wanting to run a small business find it increasingly practical to do so from the comfort of their own home.


Picture a person who has a talent for sewing and a good eye for design. They might be put off the idea of trying to turn their skill into a business because of the cost of renting a building and the worries of choosing a location where their skills are in demand. Instead, this person can start a home business. All they need is the raw materials to turn their sewing skill into a product (handbags, clothing, whatever they prefer) and a way to advertise the business, usually a website. Now they can advertise their designs online, receive orders, make the items and deliver them to the customer by mail order.


Home businesses cut a lot of costs but there are also disadvantages. It is important to check several things, which can be found on government and business related websites. You should check that your mortgage or tenancy agreement does not prohibit running a business. You should confer with your insurance company in case you need to pay more insurance. If you need to make structural changes then you will need to speak to planning permission department of your local government, and health and safety usually need to be consulted. The rooms you use may be charged business tax rates. Lastly, a home business can cause problems with domestic life and is not a choice taken lightly.


A home business is still a great way to start up a small business that can always grow larger in the future. Start up costs are drastically reduced, as is time to start up. You are not tied into any agreements with property agents. You can set your own working times to allow more family time, and of course you can get help from your family if they want to chip in with production or administration. Best of all, you don’t need to travel to work!

10 Things You Will Like About A Home Based Business

Here's a few things I've discovered along the way that you will like about owning your own home based business.


1. You Are The Boss
How many people endure a Boss that undervalues your contribution to the organization? Or one who takes credit for your work. More than you might think! Own your own business and you are the boss! You take the credit win, lose, or draw.


2. Work The Hours You Want
That's right! Suppose your spouse works the late shift, you would rather be home during daytime to take care of the children. And you would prefer not putting the children into day care? If you are self employed, you can easily re-schedule your work to fit your family situation.


3. No Long Commute
A friend once spent 4 hours commuting to work each day. Talk about stress. She was tired before the work day began! Say goodbye to the long commute when you are self-employed. Your longest commute might be from one the bedroom to your home office.


4. Goodby Office Politics.
Have you experienced office politics? The co-workers positioning themselves with power figures to move up in the organization. Say goodbye to office politics!


5. Less Stress
Working in a familiar home environment will reduce your stress load. At home, you work at your own pace. If work gets hectic, you take a break. Put your feet up and relax.


6. Dress Codes
No more confining business suits, uniforms, or conforming to a stiff dress code. If you handle all your business over a computer or the telephone Dress The Way You Like!


7. Spend More Time With Your Family
This is a great opportunity to get the family involved in your business. And spend more quality time together.


8. Use A Skill You've Never Had The Opportunity To Use
You have ample opportunity to use your marketing skills, managing skills, accounting skills, people skills, sales skills, computer skills, and many other task you've been itching to try.


9. Realize Your Business Goals
You've taken that first difficult step toward personal and business success. By Striking out on your own and starting a home based business.


10. Boost Self Esteem
You now have more control over your financial and personal future. This will lead to a boost in your self esteem on many levels.


These are only a few of the things you will like about owning a home based business. Once you've started your own business you will add many more to the list!

Seven Tips For Work-At-Home Motivation

Considering a work-from-home business? Clients often say their biggest fear is loss of momentum. Here are seven tips to keep yourself motivated and productive.


(1) Build structure into your day.


Create a schedule and To Do list every evening for the next day, before you sign off for the day. (And yes – it is important to sign off, even if you return later to complete a project.) Include breaks and email reading time.


(2) Define goals by numbers ("write 1000 words") instead of time ("2 hours on Mega account"). One of the joys of working at home is you get to quit when you're finished ahead of schedule.


(3) Train friends and neighbors to respect your working hours.


Clients tell me about neighbors who say things like, "I told the UPS truck to leave the package at your house since you're always home." Discourage phone calls with a prepared response, like "I will call you after four o'clock today." You will be tested. Prepare to hang tough.


(4) Get the family on board.


Deal with their concerns before you start and be prepared to show how you are creating a win-win situation. Clarify what counts as an emergency – a valid reason to interrupt while you are working - and what can wait till dinnertime.


(5) Build breaks into your schedule.


When I started my own business, I was warned, "Plan to get out of the house! Otherwise you'll never leave your desk."


Frankly, I didn't get it.


Why wouldn't I take breaks? Now as I find myself answering just one more email, or adding two more paragraphs to an article, I see the clock move and realize I must stop if I want to get to the gym or the store before closing time.


Bonus Tip: A dog will force you to get moving, no matter what else is going on in your life.


(6) Make promises you will be motivated to keep.


My weekly ezine motivates me to write at least one article a week. You may be energized by company and client deadlines.


As your responsibilities grow, you will tend to accumulate more and more "real" deadlines and it's easier to stay motivated. But in the early stages, you're isolated, you're working hard and results don't appear immediately. That's why some people hire coaches and consultants to create accountability.


(7) Give yourself time to test your commitment.


Not everyone enjoys the work-at-home option. My clients tell me they need six to twelve months to decide how they are responding to this arrangement. You may decide to return to a workplace where you can see real people everyday. Or you may get hooked on having a dog-friendly, gossip-free workplace where you can open the windows all year round.

How to Get Customers to Recommend Your Business to other Customers!

Do you contact your customers after they have made a purchase?

If you don't then you really should.

Today I will show you how to get customers to recommend your business to other customers simply by contacting them.

For example, a while ago I called penny, one of my customers to see how she was getting on with some of my products. She said that she was doing very well and was very happy. I asked Penny if there was any way that I could improve my services to her. She said that she was more than satisfied with my service. I also used this opportunity to ask her if she had anyone in mind that she felt would benefit from my products and services, she recommended tow more customers to me.

So ask your customers to recommend you to a friend or colleague. You can use a business card for this or simply just ask them.

If you do use a card ensure that you tell your customer to add their name on the reverse. you can offer your customer a gift as a show of your appreciation, if you like., Gifts can include; business promotional items, flowers, chocolates, dinner for two, vouchers, what ever you feel appropriate. You must not ignore this method of stimulating more referrals as it is very effective and works many times over.

The Secret of Getting Your Customer to Say Yes!

Have you ever been at the point when your customer is just about to buy something and they decide not to, or simply say no?

If you are like me then this would have happened to you more than once.

Today I will show you a way to encourage your customer to say yes and actually make that purchase.

My hubby and I went to a fish market very early one morning a couple of weeks, to buy a large fish. If you have not been to a place like this before, allow me to set the scene for you:

Indoor warehouse with several market stalls with market traders selling every type of fish you can imagine, you also imagine the smell, not the kind of place that you would like to spend to much time in!

The funny thing is that quite a few of the stall owners are selling pretty much the same thing, at more or less the same price.

My hubby and I are never quite sure which stall owner to purchase from. So we go around each stall comparing prices and receiving sales pitches from each or the stall owners.

One particular sales pitch till this very day comes to the front of my mind after my wife asked this particular fellow, "how much is this box of fish?" After a few moments of giving us the price he iterally started packing the box into a bag and then concluded by saying "would you like on box or two?" You see, this sharp fishmonger worked on the assumption that we were definitely buying from him, and it was just a matter of us deciding on how many of fish we wanted.

So don't say "would you like it or not?" say "Which one would you like?" or "how many would you like". This powerful sales marketing statement was used very well at the point of sale.

You see you do not leave room for the customer to say no. It's either one sale or another. On the other hand if you ask them, "would you like to buy this or not", then they can easily say NO.

As a business owner which would you prefer?

Give this a try, it really does work.

How To Prospect For New Customers In Chat Rooms!

If you're like most people, when you think of chat rooms, you probably think about a bunch of people who get together and talk about dating, relationships, etc.

Well, you'd me only half right, because chat rooms are so much more! In fact, let me give you the true definition of a chat room, and you'll understand what I'm talking about.

A chat room or forum (There is no difference. They're one-in-the-same) is a web site, part of a web site, or part of an online service, that provides a venue for communities of users with a common interest to communicate in real time.

Now the 2 key words in the above definition are "common interest". It doesn't have to be a dating chat room. There are a thousand different type of chat rooms out there. you can chat with other people who like the same things you like, whether it's Internet marketing, automobiles, babies, bowling or pets. Whatever the topic, there's probably a chat room for it somewhere.

Here's how chat rooms work: Chat rooms allow users to communicate with each other in real time (or live), as opposed to the delayed time you get with e-mail. A user enters a chat room, types a message into the computer, and sends it. The message is instantly displayed on the computer screens of the other users in the chat room.

Sometimes these venues are moderated either by limiting who is allowed to speak (not very common) or by having moderation volunteers patrolling the venue watching for disruptive or otherwise undesirable behavior.

So how can you profit from chat rooms? First of all, go online and find a chat room of interest to you, that ties in perfectly with your website. For instance, if you go on Google and type in the words "business chat rooms", Google will present you with more then 90,000,000 pages. As you can see, the possibilties are virtually endless!

Once you find a chat room you like, start participating in the discussions. Develop a friendly relationship with other users. Eventually, the other users will get around to asking you what you do. Now this where you have to tread softly. Go ahead and tell people in general don't like being "sold", especially from someone online they've never met. That's why it so important to give people a chance to see you in chat rooms and get to know you check out your website and view posts on a bulletin board. You have to build a reputation with them first."

It's important to appear in the chat room at the same time every day or at least several days per week. Let visitors know what your chat room schedule is. If you play your cards right, you can become the "resident expert" visitors and regulars turn to for advice. And that's very good for business!

Advertising Your Home Busindess On A Budget

When you are starting out in a new home business and no one knows who you are, one of the greatest challenges you will face is how to drum up new business.

If there were not people in your community or marketplace that you knew who needed your products or services, you probably would not have started your business to begin with. But, once you have talked to those who you personally knew who needed your what you offer, then your next task is to find others who will help keep your doors open.

May people know that theymust turn to advertising at some point in the future, but they hope that day will be long down the road. For some, this utopian concept will come to fruition. But for the rest of us in the real world, we must come up with creative solutions for meeting our home business advertising needs while working within our budget.

Most people have a misconception about having to spend lots of money in order to advertise their home business. When you start out, you honestly will not have much money available for advertising, and if you do, you should still spend it wisely.

Before you jump headfist into the world of advertising, let me share some of the lessons I have learned concerning this most important topic.

LESSON 1

It does not have to cost an arm and a leg to advertise your home business, unless you fail to plan and fail to test.

As much as is possible, you should always test your advertising. If you jump in and start dumping tons of money in to advertising without first testing your advertising, you might find yourself broke and without sales at the end of the road. Most people who commit this error write off thier failure on the home business they chose or the economy or any of a hundred other excuses. But, if they are unwilling to take responsibility for thier mistake, they will never learn from thier mistake. Don't let this be you.

LESSON 2

All testing should be done in blocks. If you being to advertise simultaneously in newspapers, radio and television, how will you know which advertising is bringing people to your cash register? You won't. All you will know that something might be working, but you will not know what is actually doing the trick.

Even if you tell people in your advertising to tell you how they found you, my experience shows that fewer than 10% of the people ever will tell you anything - and those people who do not even get the facts straight! You cannot rely on your customers to tell you what advertising is working for your home business.
You must put in the extra effort to know for yourself.

LESSON 3

Only when you have a proven and solid advertising portfolio should you venture to drop big bucks in an advertising campaign. Even then, you should be careful to keep further measurements to determine how much the maximum advantage of an ad would be. Sometimes you might be able to reach ten times as many people, but depending on the kind of media and other factors, the additional exposure will only generate twice as many sales. Keep your eye attuned to situations like this to get the most from your advertising dollars.

LESSON 4

As Lesson 3 illustrates, sometimes your best advertising investment may actually cost you less money. When you are first starting out, whether you are running a home business or a business outside of your home, you need to be able to get people talking and thinking about your business.

If you are busy testing ads in media's such as the newspaper, magazines, radio and tv, you need to learn ways of promoting your business that do not require large cash expenditures. A few examples are:

• Word of Mouth



• Business Cards
  

Here is more information about each type of low-cost advertising:

WORD OF MOUTH

This of course is the cheapest kind of advertising on the planet - it does not cost you anything. Ask your customers if they know anyone who could also use your products or services. When they are happy with your offerings and service, they will be willing to tell you whom you can contact, and they will pass the word for you.

BUSINESS CARD

You can usually pick up 500 business cards for about $20. When you do, hand them out. Do not give more than a couple of cards to each person. If they need more cards from you, they will ask.

Some people are known to network with others on a regular basis. Some of these people are also known to be always looking for an extra few bucks. With these people, you can suggest to them that if they write their name on the back of one of your business cards and the card is presented to you, then you will pay a referral fee to them. You do not have to offer much - sometimes one dollar is enough. Look at your home business and your offerings and decide how much would be a good referral fee.


In Conclusion

When it comes down to it, there is a lot to understand about advertising, but when you have the basic knowledge down pat, everything will fall into place and bring more dollars to your bank account.

The Customer is All-Important

A layman thinks that a business begins with the construction of a factory, buying of plant, machinery and raw materials, and employment of men. But this is a misconception. Recently a very talented engineer set up a model factory for manufacturing a small-sized printing machine which was a technical marvel. But when it was placed on the market, there were no customers and production naturally came to a standstill. The firm had no money to pay wages and buy raw materials. You cannot go on manufacturing things which nobody is prepared to buy. Without customers, production has no value. It is sheer waste. Marketing has therefore primacy over production.

Advertising Your Home Business On A Budget

When you are starting out in a new home business and no one knows who you are, one of the greatest challenges you will face is how to drum up new business.

If there were not people in your community or marketplace that you knew who needed your products or services, you probably would not have started your business to begin with. But, once you have talked to those who you personally knew who needed your what you offer, then your next task is to find others who will help keep your doors open.

Many people know that they must turn to advertising at some point in the future, but they hope that day will be long down the road. For some, this utopian concept will come to fruition. But for the rest of us in the real world, we must come up with creative solutions for meeting our home business advertising needs while working within our budget.

Most people have a misconception about having to spend lots of money in order to advertise their home business. When you start out, you honestly will not have much money available for advertising, and if you do, you should still spend it wisely.

Before you jump headfirst into the world of advertising, let me share some of the lessons I have learned concerning this most important topic.

LESSON 1
It does not have to cost an arm and a leg to advertise your home business, unless you fail to plan and fail to test.
As much as is possible, you should always test your advertising. If you jump in and start dumping tons of money in to advertising without first testing your advertising, you might find yourself broke and without sales at the end of the road. Most people who commit this error write off their failure on the home business they chose or the economy or any of a hundred other excuses. But, if they are unwilling to take responsibility for their mistake, they will never learn from their mistake. Don't let this be you.

LESSON 2
All testing should be done in blocks. If you begin to advertise simultaneously in newspapers, radio and television, how will you know which advertising is bringing people to your cash register? You won't. All you will know that something might be working, but you will not know what is actually doing the trick.

Even if you tell people in your advertising to tell you how they found you, my experience shows that fewer than 10% of the people ever will tell you anything --- and those people who do may not even get the facts straight! You cannot rely on your customers to tell you what advertising is working for your home business. You must put in the extra effort to know for yourself.

LESSON 3
Only when you have a proven and solid advertising portfolio should you venture to drop big bucks in an advertising campaign. Even then, you should be careful to keep further measurements to determine how much the maximum advantage of an ad would be. Sometimes you might be able to reach ten times as many people, but depending on the kind of media and other factors, the additional exposure will only generate twice as many sales. Keep your eye attuned to situations like this to get the most from your advertising dollars.

LESSON 4
As Lesson 3 illustrates, sometimes your best advertising investment may actually cost you less money. When you are first starting out, whether you are running a home business or a business outside of your home, you need to be able to get people talking and thinking about your business.
If you are busy testing ads in media's such as the newspaper, magazines, radio, and television, you need to learn ways of promoting your business that do not require large cash expenditures. A few examples are:
Word of Mouth
Business Cards
Press Releases
Non-Primetime Ads on Radio and Television
Here is more information about each type of low-cost advertising:

WORD OF MOUTH
This of course is the cheapest kind of advertising on the planet --- it does not cost you anything. Ask your customers if they know anyone who could also use your products or services. When they are happy with your offerings and service, they will be willing to tell you whom you can contact, and they will pass the word for you.

BUSINESS CARDS
You can usually pick up 500 business cards for about $20. When you do, hand them out. Do not give more than a couple of cards to each person. If they need more cards from you, they will ask.
Some people are known to network with others on a regular basis. Some of these people are also known to be always looking for an extra few bucks. With these people, you can suggest to them that if they write their name on the back of one of your business cards and the card is presented to you, then you will pay a referral fee to them. You do not have to offer much --- sometimes one dollar is enough. Look at your home business and your offerings and decide how much would be a good referral fee.

PRESS RELEASES
Press Releases are a good source for generating news about your home business. The business editor at your local newspaper is always on the lookout for a good business story to fill the business news section of the newspaper.

Of course, the business editor understands the economics of running a paper and is more inclined to run your story if you buy advertising in his/her publication, but will still print stories for special events and openings.

The important thing to remember about Press Releases is that it must be constructed in the form of a news story. Even if you are a sole proprietorship, quotes from you should be written in a third person format: John Doe said, "Your quote here."
A Press Release should pack the most important information at the beginning of the copy, and leave extra details towards the end.

You should always provide the reporter who gets the task a simple and easy way for him/her to contact you directly. Often the reporter will want to contact you to get details that will enhance their take on your story.

NON-PRIMETIME ADS ON RADIO AND TELEVISION
Believe it or not, some of the best rates for radio and television are on the overnight and non-primetime venues. These target times are not a total waste as they can easily keep the infomercial people in business.

These off-hours are just less populated than the primetime hours.
Don't be afraid to check your local radio and television rates for non-primetime hours to see what bargains may exist. With television, primetime is 7pm to 10pm. With radio, primetime is 8am to 5pm. This sure leaves a whole lot of hours available to advertise your home business at discount rates!

IN CONCLUSION
When it comes down to it, there is a lot to understand about advertising, but when you have the basic knowledge down pat, everything will fall into place and bring more dollars to your bank account.