Running a One-Man Show
Transitioning from working in the corporate world to working from home requires a lot of adjustments, but the biggest one is probably organizing your time. Because, in a very real sense, it is your time now. It’s not your boss’ time or the companies’ time—you answer to yourself. That’s a tremendous amount of freedom, but it’s also a great deal of responsibility.
You’re now in charge of every aspect of your business. It’s your job to find your clients, as well as to deliver your services to them. It’s your job to collect the money, pay the bills and make the office run. You’re not only your boss, you’re also your secretary, your marketing department, your tech support, your accountant, and the list goes on. Without a support staff backing you up, time-management becomes critical to your business success.
5 Tips to Make the Most of Your Time
It’s imperative that you have a plan and that you follow through with it:
1. Schedule your days, and stick to your schedule. Assign certain times for certain activities and projects. If you don’t put yourself on a schedule, it’s very easy to find yourself wandering aimlessly and waste the entire day without really accomplishing anything. Or to forget some important task until it’s too late.
2. Make a to-do list each day and be diligent about crossing everything off. If you don’t get something on today’s list done, it should go right back to the top of tomorrow’s list. Rosalind Resnick, founder of Axxess Business Centers (http://ABCbizhelp.net), says, “That’s one very good way to stay focused…otherwise 5 o’clock rolls around and it’s time for dinner, and [you’ve] got nothing done.”
3. Set aside time to market yourself. Promoting your business is essential, so schedule time for whatever it is that you do to bring in new customers.
• Consider using the first hour of the day to make phone calls to potential clients, send out emails, etc., before you get busy with all your other business.
• Resnick recommends using lunch as an opportunity for networking: “Everybody has to eat, so… have lunch with either a client, or a potential client, or a consultant, or professional services provider who could provide [you] with leads to the client, at least three out of five days a week.”
4. Have a place in your house designated for business purposes only, whether it’s the spare room, the den, or the basement. There’ll never be a shortage of distractions when you’re working from home—the kids, the fridge, the TV, even the solitude—to pull your attention from the work at hand. If possible, set up your office somewhere that has a door you can close. Make sure your family understands that your workspace is separate from your home space and when you are “at work,” you’re unavailable for non-emergencies.
Just being good at what you do doesn’t guarantee you a profitable home business. If you want to be successful, you’re going to have to take control of your time. If you discipline yourself and organize your time according to your needs, you’ll really put yourself in a position to achieve your goals.
Take Charge Of Your Time, Take Charge Of Your Business - Budgeting Your Time To Be More Successful
Budgeting for a Home Business
If you are considering starting your own home business, one of the first things you must think about is budgeting and planning to find the money you need. You can start the planning process from your kitchen table if necessary. You'll need a telephone with an answering machine to handle calls while you're budgeting and planning. It is important that you project a favorable image. So in addition to the phone, you will need good quality business cards, which should include your name, the company name, phone number, web site and e-mail address. A computer with appropriate software is a necessity for internet marketers. A calculator and a file cabinet would be nice but can wait a while.
Once you are organized and have an internet marketing plan, your next move will be to begin your home business budgeting and planning to find the money you need to get started. Once you get the word out that you are ready to open your business, you can begin to try to locate a source to provide the capital you need. Some internet marketers build a successful business with no start-up money, but in general you will need at least a small amount of money to get started.
There are many individuals who are willing to invest in small internet marketing venture. Their willingness to invest depends upon the likelihood of your success, so be sure you explore all the options and choose your type of online business wisely. An investor is, after all, in business for the same reason you are, which is to make money. You can begin by advertising, personally contacting investors who want to make a profit during the process of lending you money. The old saying, "if at first you don't succeed, try, try again," applies here because if one lender is not willing to lend you money, chances are someone else will.
The more you advertise your services, the more likely you are to find the money you need as indicated by your budgeting and planning process. One way to begin is to run an advertisement in the "Investors Wanted" column in the classified section of a local newspaper. It might read like this: "Money needed internet marketing venture. Call 555-555-5555."
You should run your ad as often as you can in all the newspapers in your area for at least a month if you can afford it. The money for these ads will come out of the advertising budget that you created during the budgeting and planning process. This budgeting and planning for your home business is necessary in order to for you to find the money you need to become a successful internet marketer.
An additional or alternative ad could be run simultaneously with the other ads you are running. The purposes of these dual ads will be to reach as many potential investors as possible. You will possibly attract more than one investor, which will enable you to compare their terms and repayment options.
When you place your ads, you can list them under any or all of the following categories in the classified section: "Business Opportunities Wanted; "Financial & Loans Wanted;" or "Money to Loan." When you have responses to your ads, it is time to set up individual meetings with the potential lender. Your home business and budget planning, if done properly, can result in finding the money you need to become a successful and highly profitable internet marketer.