This week during a coaching session, one of my clients shared her ongoing struggle with managing "breaks" throughout the day. Whenever she felt the need to get up from her desk and stretch her legs, she found herself in the kitchen.
As a result of this habit, she is now 20 pounds heavier, very uncomfortable and extremely unhappy with herself.
Unfortunately this phenomenon is all too common among entrepreneurs who transition from the outside work world to working from home.
Home business presents challenges not normally experienced while working in the corporate or "outside" world and managing breaks is a big one.
When you work outside of the home, a break might be spent by a water cooler, in a lunchroom, or outside on a bench chatting with a co-worker. When you do spend your break in the company lunchroom, you seldom find a fully stocked fridge and cupboards chock full of food at your disposal.
When you work from home, your break locations aren't quite as extensive and because it's very unlikely you would spend this time sitting in a bedroom or talking to yourself in the bathroom mirror, the kitchen is the most logical destination.
How you spend your breaks at home requires a little creativity and A LOT of discipline. By giving yourself options, setting limits, and creating healthy habits, it won't take long for you to re-direct yourself when you find yourself drifting towards the kitchen.
Here are 7 simple options to get you started:
1. Grab your remote telephone, head outside for a lawn chair and call a friend. This not only addresses the "break" issue but also combats the feelings of isolation that often affect home-based business owners. The important thing to remember here is set limits for yourself. Institute a 15-minute break rule and enforce it, otherwise you can lose an entire afternoon.
2. Pick up your mail. Whether the mailbox is at the end of your driveway or just down the street, this is the perfect opportunity for you to stretch your legs and get some fresh air.
3. Play your favorite CD and listen to song that takes your mind completely off your work. Enjoy a cool class of juice or a tasty cup of tea while you immerse yourself in the music. If you're feeling a little sluggish, pop a lively tune into your boom box and kick up your heels! There's no better energy boost than a good boogie!
4. Take a walk around the block. Take your puppy with you and light two candles with one flame. Get to know your neighbors, keep your pet healthy, and enjoy the great outdoors.
5. Meditate. There's nothing like a midday meditation to free your mind and relax the body. The benefits are immense and impact all areas of your life and business.
6. Set kitchen hours. Establish certain times throughout the day when the kitchen is off limits and stick to them.
7. Sweep the entryway or vacuum the living room. It may not be exciting but it will give your mind the break it needs, and will save you time elsewhere so you can spend it with family and friends. A few little cleaning breaks throughout the day really add up.
What other ideas come to mind for you?
Your success and wellness all boil down to discipline, creative thinking, and being gentle with yourself. Don't beat yourself up if you've created habits that are counterproductive. Instead, seek solutions and take appropriate action.
It's all about developing structures and processes and when you realize you have the power to design your own activities, you will create amazing results for yourself.
2006 © Laurie Hayes - The HBB Source
7 Ways to Manage Breaks As A Home-Based Business Owner
Whiners Anonymous: (aka The Successful Home Business Owner Association)
Tired of your job? Stop whining and do something about it. Those who whine often see little change. Those who do not whine seek a way to make things better, and then a new idea and business is born. Suddenly we have an entrepreneur, and if the thinker is a great money manager, a millionaire is born. How do these individuals move from a place of dissatisfaction to entrepreneur? It all starts with a great idea and blossoms with motivation and the desire to succeed.
The dissatisfied non-whiners will start small. They test their idea with friends and family. They talk to a smart business man or mentor about the idea and seek educated, informed opinions. These non-whiners weigh the advice of the wise carefully. They do not jump in with both feet, but they start slow and small. Once they have tested the idea with a mentor, they test the business on friends and family. They ask for a test group from those who will give them honest feedback. If the idea tests well with the test group, they move into the open market. This entire time, the typical non-whiner still has an income-producing job. He does not just quit his job one day and decide to test an idea. But he uses his income from the cruddy job to fund his idea, thus increasing his chances of success.
Once the non-whiner discovers that he has a successful product in the open market, he works hard to continue to market his product smartly, and he stays out of debt. What? Don't good businesses borrow other people's money to make money? Not really. A good business owner will work from the ground up and will only invest the money that he or she has instead of borrowing and hoping to pay back his or her lender. While this may cause the business to grow slowly, it gives the home business a rock solid foundation. The day that business declines due to a slow economy, the business owner can rest easy because he owes no one anything.
Finally, the successful small business owner continues to keep working. He never quits, and he never slows down. When business is going great, he does not just quit and believe that he has arrived, but he always searches for a new angle, a new way to meet the needs of his consumer. He looks for gaps or holes in his current product, and he seeks ways to serve his clients.
Ultimately, successful home business owners are a smart, savvy, hard working group of individuals. Anyone can join them, but doing so takes discipline and wisdom. And we can only gain that by hanging out with the wise and disciplined. Thus if you seek to succeed in the world of home business, find the wisest, most disciplined business owner you know, and ask him or her if he or she will mentor you. Then sit down, and soak in some knowledge.
The 3 Core Competencies of a Successful Home-Based Business Owner
Success at home-based business is dependent on many factors including:
- specific skills
- specialized knowledge
- an efficient and functional work space
- structures and processes
- ongoing learning
- a strong support team and mastermind group
- a genuine interest and love for helping people
- a vision and a plan
All of these elements and many others play an integral role in your success, however, if you don't have the following three core competencies, the above elements alone will not guarantee long-term success and fulfillment from your business.
The three core competencies you must possess are:
1. discipline
2. desire
3. belief
The absence of any one of these three competencies will create struggle, overwhelm, confusion, frustration, fear, procrastination and eventual failure in your quest to build a profitable, reputable, enduring home-based business.
Discipline – The ultimate test of this competency is created when you transition from the corporate or "outside" work world to operating independently from the comfort of your own home.
The exhilarating rush of freedom and permission to make your own decisions on your own terms can so easily consume you that you don't initially realize you're allowing yourself to become distracted and deterred by the activities of daily life.
Accepting personal phone calls and visits during work hours, taking extended breaks, accepting invitations to go shopping or for lunch may be regarded as rewards or treats to yourself for your accomplishments, however, it's important to maintain strict rules of conduct, business hours and a professional mindset as you build your business.
Working from home creates an automatic feeling of comfort that can easily overlap into your business performance by nurturing a laissez-faire attitude. Working from home might also provide you with a continuous reminder of the laundry sitting in the hamper, the dust on the bookshelf and the dirty dishes by the sink.
If you're contemplating starting a home-based business, honestly assess your level of self-discipline. Even if you regard yourself as highly disciplined, you will be put to the test on a daily basis, especially during your first couple of years.
Evaluate this competency in depth before quitting your job or investing serious time and money into a new business. No level of specialized expertise or creative genius will compensate for lack of discipline if you want to achieve business success.
Desire – How strong is your desire to not only run your own home-based business, but to work in the specialized niche you have chosen? If you're in it for the money, this is rarely enough to carry you through the hard times, challenges and setbacks that are a natural part of business life.
Desire fuels your energy and keeps you going when everything else around you seems to come to a grinding halt. Desire keeps your spirits up and keeps you motivated and willing to be and act in ways that may at first seem uncomfortable or unnatural.
Desire will give you strength and persistence when naysayers try to sabotage your efforts or undermine your actions. It will also help you seek out creative solutions to unusual challenges, give you courage when situations warrant, and an unwavering determination as you travel through areas of discomfort and unfamiliarity.
Without this core competency, it will be very difficult to get through the hard times with a positive outlook and the resolve to press on. Make sure you have a strong desire to succeed at the particular business and niche you have chosen. At times it may be the one thing that keeps you going.
Belief – How strongly do you believe in yourself, your business and your right to succeed, enjoy wealth, have beautiful things and be happy? Your mind is your most powerful asset, yet can be your most powerful adversary.
Your beliefs alone can make or break your success in life and business, and you would be amazed by how many intelligent, gifted, creative, dynamic people fail because they don't believe in themselves.
Self-limiting beliefs and negative self-talk can be the poison that kills your dream, so it's important to look inward and take an inventory of your beliefs in the areas of your personal rights (what you're entitled to), money, relationships, your role as a mother, father, son, daughter, life partner, human being, entrepreneur, etc.
Many home-based business owners fail because they are continuously measuring themselves against others, focusing on their personal limitations, kicking themselves for not having all the answers or for not being perfect.
Some have a subconscious belief they don't deserve success or put a limit on what they think they're entitled to, so they unknowingly sabotage their own efforts keeping success at arm's length.
Can you see how no amount of specialized skill; the perfect workspace, structures or processes will be enough if you don't have the discipline, desire or belief to support the entire process?
As you contemplate starting your own business or if you're having difficulty bringing your business to the next phase of growth, assess your levels in these three core competencies and determine their impact on your decisions and actions.
Are you willing to make a shift where needed to produce the results you seek?
Might a lower level in or non-existence of one of the competencies indicate the need to perhaps change direction or look at alternate options?
A lower level doesn't indicate a deficiency on your part, but may provide a clue that you need to look in a different direction or to open yourself to options you may have never considered.
Conduct this self-evaluation not to judge yourself, but to provide a benchmark or a compass that will guide your decisions in a direction that will give you real happiness and genuine success.
2006 © Laurie Hayes - The HBB Source
The Power of Testimonials for the Home-Based Business Owner
Including testimonials on your web site and in your marketing material is a great way to establish trust with your potential customers and boost your credibility.
Giving a testimonial to someone else is also a good way of building your business, and getting visitors to your site.
When a potential buyer is considering whether or not to buy from you, testimonials may reassure her. Use testimonials on the back of your business card, in your brochures, web site, letters, e-mail, and so on.
Include the name of the person providing the testimonial, otherwise people might think you just made it up. Also, print the provider's full name, company name, and city, state/province, country, etc.
Provide links to their web sites and if you can get a picture of them, even better.
Testimonials like the one below will do very little to add credibility or believability to your business ...
"Thanks to your help in getting clear on my goals, I am moving forward much quicker than I was before we started working together. - J.S., New Zealand"
Not only is the testimonial void of any significant content, it's very difficult to accept the provider as being real. There's no way for us to confirm he or she even exists.
Here's a testimonial I received a week after promoting a new book. Notice how it is detailed and provides full info on the provider so you can verify that yes, she is a real live person and a trustworthy source. (Personalization has been removed for the purposes of this article.)
"I've been a subscriber to your ezine for over a year and love the information and ideas you provide.
I wanted to thank you for sharing special products and offers and to let you know that as a result of a promotion you sent out, I won an 8-month coaching certification program valued at $6,000! - What an incredible gift!
I'm already a Professional Certified Coach and run a full-time business from home, and I'm the first to acknowledge there's so much in the world of coaching to learn. I am thrilled at this opportunity and thank you for creating it for me!
Writer's Name, Occupation, Country
Company name
Company website address
Picture of writer "
I posted the complete testimonial on the newsletter sign up page of my web site. Do you see how this will add credibility to the benefits this ezine provides?
If you're just starting out and don't have any professional testimonials under your belt, get personal ones.
When I first began as a Life Strategy Coach, I asked friends and acquaintances for testimonials. What their testimonials did was add to my likeability and trust factor, and helped portray who I am as a person.
When a prospective client is looking for a coach, one of the first things they're looking for is someone they can connect to, someone they're attracted to through certain characteristics, energy, etc.
Even though I since transitioned to coaching entrepreneurs to build thriving home-based businesses, the forming of our relationship isn't only about results. It still boils down to chemistry, how well we connect, trust and likeability.
Achieving results is paramount, but as a client or customer, you need to feel closeness and trust with the person you hire. The personal testimonials I collected helped create that trust in the beginning, then the professional testimonials I collected in the years following, provided the additional credibility.
As you begin to promote yourself, start asking friends, acquaintances, co-workers, whomever you can think of who can provide a testimonial that will portray your strengths, skills and character.
Ask their permission to provide their full name, town, state/province and a picture for added integrity.
As your business grows and you gain satisfied customers, ask every single one of them for testimonials and include them in your marketing materials.
This one practice alone will pack a powerful punch in your business building efforts.
2006 © Laurie Hayes - The HBB Source
Deductions For The Business Owner
Congratulations on becoming a business owner. Whether it is your first business or your seventh business it is an exciting time. When you begin a new business, you are filled with ideas beyond your wildest imagination and often cannot even sleep at night for all of the thoughts swirling in your head. You are thinking of ways to market your business, advertise and even ways to get clients. The momentum is unbelievable because you would almost bet money that you are running on sheer adrenalin.
This is one of those times as a business owner; you do not care if you get sleep due to your level of motivation. The key is to keep up the excitement and momentum for your business. It is not necessarily easy to run a business; however you have taken on the challenge and dream of owning your own business.
As a business owner, I am sure one of the things you have thought about are operating expenses. What is it going to costs you to run your business for six months, a year and even two or three years? This is one of those areas that business owners generally think of in addition to start-up costs. I applaud you for thinking these areas through.
What you might not have considered are the different deductions a self-employed business owner have? When you are employed by a company or organization, there are certain items that are deducted from your paycheck. This reduces what you have to consider as a deduction. The work has actually been done for you. Now that you have decided to work for yourself, who is going to educate you on this matter? Will you read books or attend local business classes? I have to tell you that there are people that probably still do not know what business deductions they are allowed because they are not talking with anyone about their business. Or they believe it will not make a difference in their tax situation.
I am here to tell you from first hand experience, as a self-employed business owner, there are many items that I would not have even imagined were deductible and they are. Do not mistakenly disregard self-employed business deductions. That could make the difference between your owing money or receiving money back. If you are at this point and are interested in finding out more about self-employment tax deductions, go to my website at http://www.journeytowholeness.net/index.php?pr=Products
Blogging And The Business Owner
There’s a booming business in freelance writing and it’s in the realm of business blogging (b-blogging).
Why is this the case?
As businesses begin to see the marketing benefits of blogging they are reaching out to skilled freelance writers to develop material on a variety of topics that can be plugged into a business blog.
This can be a benefit to three separate parties. 1) The blog owner. This individual gains the benefit of quality professionally written material t...
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There’s a booming business in freelance writing and it’s in the realm of business blogging (b-blogging).
Why is this the case?
As businesses begin to see the marketing benefits of blogging they are reaching out to skilled freelance writers to develop material on a variety of topics that can be plugged into a business blog.
This can be a benefit to three separate parties. 1) The blog owner. This individual gains the benefit of quality professionally written material that can work to instill trust in the business represented by the blog. 2) The freelance writer. This individual gains the benefit of meaningful writing assignments and gains the satisfaction of seeing the ultimate success of the blog. 3) Most importantly, the blog readers. These individuals are often content consumers and having consistently updated material on the blog is an enormous benefit to these individuals.
Perhaps you have considered developing a business blog, but feel that you may not be able to withstand the pressures of developing new material or you may not feel as if you are gifted in writing. This is where a freelance writer can assist you. A freelance writer can take your ideas and bring them to life. Depending on your needs they can work to locate links for online articles you want to include and they can write to a specific word count.
Business blogs have also benefited from the use of free-to-use articles found in many locations throughout the web. These articles must be listed with the original author, may not be altered and must include a linked bio at the end of the article. These articles can be a great supplemental source for topic specific blog articles in addition to any original or freelance blogging you may make available to your content consumers.
Freelance writers have become very adept at learning the skills needed to develop content for websites, content for press releases and the more conversational business blogs. In many respects these professionals act as content chameleons.
The end result is business owners who can harness the power of written words as a marketing tool in a manner that satisfies the consumer, is cost effective and allows the business owner to focus attention on other necessary aspects of marketing.
The good news is a business owner can still provide as much or little content as they like for their business blog. Business owners can even develop a panel of experts that can rotate on blog content development. No matter what direction you select the prevailing thrust is improved marketing capabilities – just what every online business owner wants.
Business Owner's Essentials - The 5 Biggest Challenges for Today's Business Owner
Copyright 2006 Andy Warren
Some of these challenges have been around since business began and others are new ones that are being faced as technology and the marketplace evolves. As a business owner, you need to be sure that you are handling each of these effectively and looking out for where they might destroy your business.
1. Cashflow Management
This is the number one essential for all businesses, no matter what stage they are at. Even the most successful businesses can fail if they take their eye off the ball on cash. Your cashflow is the difference between how fast money comes into your business from your customers and how fast you pay it out to your staff, your suppliers and the tax man.
Many business owners don’t realise that their cashflow can be at most risk when they are growing fast or taking on big orders. This happens because, in most businesses, products and raw materials have to be bought and paid for before they can be provided to customers and billed. This is also similar for services, where your employees and contractors have to be paid at the end of the month but the client may not be billed until the following month or when a job is completed. And they may not pay you until some time after that.
In periods of high growth your costs can go up and out of the door long before the cash from the increased sales comes in. And suddenly you find you have a cash crisis on your hands.
2. Your staff
Your employees can make or break your business. When you choose the right ones they can massively add to the value of your business. When you get the wrong ones they can be a drain on your time, your money and they can hold back your business.
The usual mistakes made include recruiting people who are not as smart as you so that they make you look good; Hiring too fast and firing too slowly; Not investing in training and development for your staff; Not listening to what they’re telling you; Not taking up proper references when recruiting; Not adopting good, consistent and fair HR policies within the company.
Many business owners find that employee issues are the number one drain on their time and attention. And often the issues don't get resolved and lead to litigation and expensive legal bills.
The first key is to recruit high quality people, who are smarter than you, who are motivated to build and grow your business and who come with a good track record. Also, always take up references and carefully check CVs or Resumés for any gaps or inconsistencies.
The next key is to treat your staff fairly and reward them for good work. Whatever you measure and reward will get done more, so consider this carefully. Create clear and consistent policies for employee development and training and make sure you allow good time for one-to-one reviews where the discussion is allowed to be open and frank.
And above all, keep the lines of communication open and clear and trust them.
3. Getting Noticed in a Crowded Market
You may have a great product or service but unless your potential customers know what you provide you’ll never have a great business. You need to get out into the market and deliver your message to the people you want as customers.
The challenge comes with the fact that today people receive an average of 3,000 marketing messages a day. And they’ve become immune to many of them. Your job is to be able to cut through all those messages and stand out enough to get noticed by your customer.
The best way to achieve this is by focussing on a niche. This way you can target your marketing with a laser focus to match your desired customers directly. And when you specifically target your prospects with a message that is tailored to them and their needs, they’re far more likely to take notice and listen.
The standard reaction to this is to worry that by focussing on one niche you could miss out on other customers. The reality is that the scatter gun approach that throws your message out to anyone and everyone is extremely hit and miss in its results. And it rarely works now because the message becomes so generic that no-one believes it applies to them. Remember, you can always select another niche once you’ve worked the first one. So you can eventually get to all of your potential market in a far more effective and targeted way.
4. Poor planning
It’s said that when you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there. This means that without a clear plan and objective you can get distracted and diverted all over the place and never achieve what you really want for your business.
When businesses fail to plan they find themselves losing money, losing staff, losing momentum, losing customers and losing business.
Without a plan, you won’t know whether you’re on the right track and you’ll have no guide as to whether you need to go faster or approach the business in a different way. Stumbling through simply doesn’t cut it for a good business.
Making plans allows you to prepare for more eventualities. It allows you to foresee potential problems and avoid crises. It actually gives you more flexibility because you can flex around your plan and revise it as you go. It also makes it easier to make decisions because you have something to judge the outcome against. You’re able to assess whether taking a specific decision takes you further along your plan or moves you away from it.
5. Neglecting customers
The final challenge that is faced by every business in this supposedly service oriented world is neglecting customers.
After all the uphill struggle of finding a prospect, telling them about your product or service and closing a sale, are you just going to let them go? Many businesses do. They are so focussed on making new sales that they forget that the best source of additional sales and new business referrals comes from their existing customer base.
They also forget that when you neglect a customer and lose them, they will tell others. And as a customer with experience they will be believed and that can knock a significant hole in all your marketing efforts.
It costs significantly more to find and sell to a new customer than it does to keep and sell more to an existing customer. Make sure you get your customers' contact details, look after them and keep building and strengthening the relationship. The first sale should be just the beginning.
And a happy, satisfied customer can do more to market your business than almost anything else.
10 Keys That Every Home Based Business Owner Should Implement For Success
1) Attitude--
One very important factor in running a business is your attitude towards it. You should treat your business like a business.
This is very important whether you work your business full-time, or part-time. A very close friend of mine, who is also a colleague, is a mother of 4 who works her home business around her family. In this case, she has put her family first, and at the same time, still been able to develop her business.She works part-time, but she has a full-time attitude. To put it another way, if you have a lacking attitude, you'll have a lacking income. However, if you have a business attitude, you'll have a business income.
Keeping your attitude in mind while running your business is one of the first steps to ensuring your success.
Being successful working part-time on your business, or working full-time, is more than achievable. However in saying that, it is highly unlikely that working in your "spare time" will achieve you success.
2) The Environment In Which You Work--
Keeping with the attitude principles discussed above, it is necessary to remember that while you are working from home, you should make sure that you have a space to call your own; your own "business at home" office, free from distractions.
Keep the theme going with a comfortable office chair, and a well laid-out and organized desk. Stationery supplies will also be of assistance, so be sure to include the following in your "home office":
- Pens
- Highlighter
- Hole Punch
- Stapler
- Sticky Tape
- Note Book(s)
- A system which will enable you to easily and efficiently store your physical files and documents.
- Ring Binders
- Manillia Folders
Do you have a fast internet connection? If not, consider the use of a broadband internet connection. Anything you do will take a certain amount of time, and your time is a very valuable assest. Faster internet means you will have more time for other things.
3) Schedule--
Dividing up your spare time between your business, your family, or your "significant others" will require a carefully planned schedule. Just like office hours in which you would work, when you allocate time for work, make sure that you work during this time. Equally important is to make sure you have time for other commitments - time with your family, exercising, education, and leisure time are all equally important factors in your life. Its also a good idea to keep in mind why you are doing what you are doing. For example, if you are starting your home business to spend more time with your family, you don't want your work time consuming valuable family time.
With a home business, the only "boss" you have is yourself and your schedule. Lets say for instance that you are working during your allocated work time, and you have unexpected visitors, or people calling you. You have to make a choice; are you really commited to running your own business? Are you commited to business success? Your choices in these types of situations will govern whether or not you have a "business attitude", or a "hobby attitude".
However, you may need to adjust the way you make your choices. This is especially true in a family environment. In this instance, it may be necessary to discuss with your partner and/or children an agreed period of time which is classed as business time, in which you will not be interrupted. It may also help to print or write down this schedule and place it somewhere prominent so as to inform all family members of your work schedule.
4) Describing Your Business--
Make sure that when asked about your business, you are able to describe it concisely; a strong and powerful one or two sentence about your business that someone can repeat easily about describing your business to others. A company slogan or "tag line" can also be invaluable for promoting your business; take the time to create a unique and memorable tag line or slogan.
5) Knowledge Of Your Services Or Products--
You now have your product and your service in which you sell, whether or not you actually use your product or service you sell, it is a wise decision to make sure that your knowledge of your product or service is intimate and well-founded. For instance, if you sell ebooks, then ensure you know the content and the value in which it holds; if you sell software, ensure that you know how it works, "inside and out". In doing so, your reputation will develop as someone who provides quality information about a product or service, and because of this knowledge, you yourself can become a preferred supplier.
However, it may not always be practical to use certain products (as an example, a man may choose to sell wedding dresses), in which case the seller wouldn't be a product or service user, though in saying that, the seller can still have extensive knowledge of the product or services benefits and features.
6) Administration--
It is essential to implement good record keeping practices.
This can include tasks such as consulting a tax advisor who can advise you on the best and most optimal way to set up and store your financial records, as well as which records need to be kept. In addition, your advisor could also recommend record keeping systems which can help you in achieving a more efficient and simpler means of organizing this aspect of your business.
You may also be told advice on the most effective arrangments and set ups for your banking necessities. In doing so, you will most likely be advised to seek out seperate bank accounts for your business.
If you use various logins, passwords, and usernames, it would be a wise decision to keep track and store this various information.
The tools and methods in which you track these are varied; from a simple paper notebook to free and commercial software.
7) Protection For Your Computer--
Your computer houses all your important business data, and is also the lifeline of your business dealings. In saying this, it is vital that you protect your computer.
Pieces of software such as virus scanners, personal firewalls, anti-spyware and adware, and even an email scanner, should all be implemented to help with the protection of your computer.
8) Obtaining A Domain Name--
For any home-based, online business, it is more than just essential to have a domain name for your business, it is vital. There are many domain registrar companies out there. Take your pick.
9) Processing Of Your Payments--
Any online business will need to the ability to accept payments. Payment processors such as Paypal, 2Checkout, and Clickbank, all offer multiple ways to accept payment, including the ability to accept credit card payments online.
As an online business just starting out, this is the most effective, effecient, and economical way to get started in accepting online payments. As your business starts to grow and develop, it may be necessary to look into obtaining your own merchant account for transactions.
Also, it may be worth while taking into account other forms of currency online, such as eGold.
10) Email Accounts--
The more professional and trusted your online home business appears, the more likely your customers are going to do business with you. One of the most easiest and simplest ways to do this, is to use an associated email account. After obtaining your own domain, it is possible to create your very own associated email account.
Final Comments--
In finishing, I'd like to leave you with the following comments regarding the running and owning of your internet business. Conduct your business ethically, ensure that your customers receive the best service, and be proud to put your name to the products and/or services that you sell, and you will soon seen the fruits of your efforts. Taking into account this last statement, and the above 10 key points, you'll find yourself on track to developing a trusted, professional, and sustainable long term internet business.
Business Owner Or Employee - What Are You?
I have often heard business owners say that they could never imagine working for someone else, because they love the freedom that business ownership offers. On the other hand, I have heard employees say that they would never want to have their own businesses. They believe that there are a lot of hassles associated with being a business owner.
I have been both an employee and a business owner, and have noticed that business owners and employees have two different ways of thinking. Some of these key differences are explained below, and may help you determine where you fit in.
BUSINESS-OWNER MENTALITY
1. Solve a problem for someone else and create business for yourself – For example, the person who created the automatic car starter that starts your vehicle without having to step outdoors, solved a problem for many people. It has allowed residents of cold climates to start up their vehicles from inside a building, thus allowing the interior of the vehicle to warm up before even getting into the vehicle.
2. Enjoy flexible hours – If you need to, you can adjust your work hours to attend your child’s soccer game or school fieldtrip. You may also be able to decide what time of day you work. My girlfriend’s husband has his own business from home, and chooses to work in the evenings. This allows him to be home with their children when she is at her job during the day.
3. Realize that retirement is not based on age – In his book entitled “Rich Dad Poor Dad,” Robert T. Kiyosaki explains that ability to retire is actually based on your financial situation. And if you have a business that brings in a lot of income, retirement at any age is a real option. So instead of waiting to win the lottery, there are other ways to bring you wealth.
4. View operating expenses as an investment in your future – It is important to remember that “you have to put wood in the stove to get heat.” So if you pay to take a course that will bring you more business, then you really cannot look at it as an expense.
5. Accept that income can vary from month to month – You realize that it is the total income at the end of the year that is most important.
EMPLOYEE MENTALITY
1. Less flexible work hours – You trade hours for dollars. You are also happy working from 8:00 until 4:00. Once 4:00 comes, you are on your own time. What did not get done today at work can wait until tomorrow or may be able to be passed on to the next shift.
2. Accept that you are paid what the employer has decided the job is worth – If the top of the pay scale is $30,000 per year, that is all that you can make with that job.
3. Accept that raises in your salary are not under your control – Therefore, you look forward to the next raise, even if you only get it once per year.
4. Only people ages 50-60 can retire – Some employers have retirement plans in place, but you can only get a full pension cheque when your age and years of service at that job equal a predetermined number.
5. You like to know what your cheque is every month – You are not comfortable with cheques that change.
In summary, there are differences in how business owners and employees think. Based on what I have just explained, it can help you decide which category you fall into – business owner or employee.