Archive for the ‘Work At Home’ Category
How Do You Define Success?
How do you define success?
The website http://dictionary.reference.com defines success as:
the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors
- the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like.
Successful people don’t always “terminate” their attempts or endeavors, and success doesn’t always mean wealth or honors. How else could this word be defined?
Your belief about whether or not you are successful may influence your future plans. For example, if you have been in business for yourself a couple of years and have not made as much money as you think you should have, it may make you want to give up. You may start to doubt yourself and question why you ever thought you could succeed. You may suddenly think you’re not going to be able to reach the goals you set for yourself.
There are many levels of success. Those who start a home business while working full-time and are able to quit their jobs in six months can definitely be thought of as successful. Likewise, someone who makes six figures after a year or two in business could also be thought of as successful.
But someone who put up a website with no knowledge of HTML is also a success. Someone who knocks on hundreds of doors and picks themselves up upon receiving one rejection after another is also successful. Someone who puts in an hour or two a day while working full-time is successful just because they are staying in the game.
Success is about the journey, not the destination. It’s about hanging in there when you want to quit. It’s about believing in yourself when all those around you start telling you to go back to your day job. It’s giving yourself a pat on the back for each small accomplishment, and getting up the next day to try again.
Why You Need A Mentor
One of the most important requirements to succeed in network marketing or any other type of entrepreneurship is a mentor. The word mentor is defined by http://dictionary.reference.com/ as “a wise and trusted counselor or teacher”. One of the most significant words in that definition is trusted. When you are learning a new skill, whether it is network marketing or any form of home business marketing, it is important to put your trust in those who are already successful.
If you are starting an online business, it may be difficult to know who to trust. The nature of internet marketing is that everyone claims to have the answers that you are looking for – for a price.
If money is no object, you may want to hire a paid mentor, but this really isn’t necessary. Although paid coaching and mentorship programs may be helpful, the best mentors are people who are willing to pass on what they know for free.
The best place to find this type of person is by spending time in forum. Whatever your niche, there is a forum where people are discussing it. Within every forum, it is possible to find experts. Not only that, in forums people openly discuss who they look up to, who they have learned the most from. By listening to and participating in these discussions, you will most likely find someone you admire and that you want to emulate and learn from.
Having a mentor may eliminate years of trial and error. There is no wiser person than one who can learn from mistakes others have already made. You may be able to save yourself both time and money by listening to one or two people with more experience than you have.
Truthfully, there is a very fine line between success and failure. Finding a trusted mentor may make all the difference.
Investing In Your Business
As a home business owner, you have to invest in your business. Many people interested in starting a home business have very limited funds. One possibility to solve this problem is to borrow. But if you don’t have money to invest and either can’t get a loan or don’t wish to get a loan, what is the solution?
If you want to start a business with little or no money, you still have to make an investment. With little or no financial investment, you have to invest time. What this means is if you quit your day job, don’t expect to work less hours than you worked in the corporate world. In fact, you probably will have to invest long hours to get your business up and running.
For example, if you start an online business or blog, your initial task is to choose a niche that has a reasonably high demand and not a lot of supply. Once you’ve done that, you need to choose your monetization method. How will you make money? Whether you are planning to make money from affiliate marketing, Adsense revenue, or selling physical items, you will need to make an investment of either time or money to drive traffic to your site or blog.
For most new online business owners, time is all they have to give. If you still have a day job, you may not have a great deal of that either, but if you’re serious about your business, you have to find time to invest somewhere. Give up an hour of sleep or an hour of television or both. Time has to be spent on article marketing, free advertising, social bookmarking, and getting to know other marketers in forums.
The more focused time you invest in your business, the more chance it has of being a business that survives and prospers.
Alternatively, you can invest money. Traffic can be drawn to websites using pay per click advertising. Learn more about this in my next post.
The Importance of Focus
For a lot of new business owners, their biggest mistake is lack of focus. Getting started isn’t the problem. Staying on one path is. They are constantly starting multiple projects, purchasing the newest ebooks or joining new membership sites. They work on one project for 20-30 minutes, only to abandon it to check emails or run off in a different direction.
I’ve known people that have purchased web hosting and spent two years not even coming up with a niche or a domain name. They’re constantly researching and planning, but never actually committing to anything. Their train of thought seems to be always interrupted by the newest kid on the block offering the product that will turn their lives around.
Having too many ideas and goals at the same time is kind of like being on the freeway chasing multiple cars. First there is a Mercedes that you think is going where you want to go, so you follow it a while. Then you spot a Porsche, so you change lanes to follow it instead. But wait! There’s a Lamborghini – and off you go chasing it instead.
All you’ve accomplished is a lot of lane changing, but not getting anywhere near where you want to be. Just think, if you’d stayed behind the Mercedes, you’d probably be at your goal by now.
The point is, choose one goal and stick to it. Make a list of the steps you need to take to achieve that one goal. Don’t allow yourself to be distracted by anything else. Above all, don’t let yourself start a new project until you’ve really given the one you’re working on an honest effort.
The way to stay focused is to plan ahead. Know exactly what you’re going to do each day before you get started. Next time: Daily Planning.
The Fear of Pursuing Your Dream
What are you afraid of? Chances are fear is a factor in your life. Many people are afraid of failure. They don’t take risks at all because they’re sure they’ll fail. Or they take very cautious risks, like dipping their toe in a swimming pool, afraid to dive in. Other people are afraid of success and stand in their own way, fearing a complete change in their self-image.
Taking the leap from the corporate world to one where you are totally responsible for your own day is a pretty scary thing. Sure, it sounds great: work only when you want, report to only yourself, work in your pajamas, etc. But when faced with actually being your own boss, many people become choked with fear. What tasks should they do first? How do they prioritize which tasks are most important? How do they develop the discipline to accomplish anything at all? How can they be sure they’ll have enough money next week or next month?
The only way to get past these fears is recognize them for what they are. Pay attention to your feelings, and know that you have the power to change.
It’s important to have total faith in yourself and what you’re trying to accomplish. Many people who start their own business get negative feedback from those around them. People will imply that you’re not going to make it, that you should stay in the rat race with them. Courage isn’t the absence of fear, it’s acting in spite of fear.
As Eleanor Roosevelt said, “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.”
The key to getting past your fears is deciding you’re not going to let them defeat you. Equally important is staying focused on exactly where you’re going. I’ll talk more about staying focused in my next post.
Pros and Cons of Working At Home
What are the pros and cons of working from home? If you hate the 9-5 rat race, you may think there are no disadvantages to working from home. Chances are, all you can think of are the pros, such as the following:
Avoiding rush hour commute. Most people who have to sit through traffic wish they didn’t. For many people, avoiding exposure to road rage is right at the top of the list of pros.
- Flexible hours. If you work from home, you can work exactly when you want. There is no time clock to punch. If you’re a night person, you can work in the middle of the night.
- More time with your family. This one is a great pro for working at home – if it works out that way. Some people find when they’re self-employed they actually are working more hours than when they had a day job.
- Being able to work without supervision. No more bosses looking over your shoulder, no more annual review. But are you disciplined enough to handle it/
What about the cons?
No benefits. No more getting paid for holidays and vacations. No one is matching your 401K payment or contributing to group health insurance.
- Lack of a salary you can count on. You will only get paid if you work, and in the early months and maybe years of your business, you may not make much. You have to plan for your own health insurance and retirement needs.
- Lack of interaction with other adults. Some people may miss the office gossip or feel trapped when surrounded by small children all the time.
I’m sure you can think of other advantages and disadvantages to working from home. Only you can decide whether the pros outweigh the cons.
The Work From Home Dream
Why do you want to work from home? For many, the answers seem obvious. You want to be with your kids, of course. You hate your boss. You want to stop sitting through rush hour traffic. You’re tired of sitting through staff meetings.
But are those reasons enough?
What I mean by that is:
Do you want to make it happen enough?
You may say you want to work from home, but what did you do today to work toward that goal? There are many places to start. The first thing you have to know is what you’re going to do. Are you going to offer a particular service, such as dog grooming or house cleaning? Are you going to start an online business?
Make a plan.
Whatever path you want to take, picture in your mind where you’re going and how you’re going to get there. List the reasons you want to work from home. Decide what type of service you will offer, or what types of items you will sell. How much money do you want to make? Do you need a certain amount to quit your job, or are you looking to save money for a specific goal, such as orthodontist bills, or sending a child to college?
Set goals on paper. What is the next step you need to take? The next step may be deciding for sure what your source of income will be. Or it may be deciding how you’re going to finance your business. If you’ve already started a business, the goal you write down may be how much money you want to be making in six months, or how to market your business and attract new clients.
Don’t underestimate the importance of written goals. Knowing where you’re going is the only way to get there.
What Should You Sell On eBay
For most new eBay sellers, the first question that comes to mind is “What should I sell?” quickly followed by “Where can I get items to resell?”
Just about any item you can think of is being sold on eBay, from jewelry to clothing to electronic items to computer software to collectibles to toys. How do you choose what you should sell?
For any type of home business, the best thing to focus on is something that you are knowledgeable about or something you are passionate about. Some people will know instantly what that is; for others there may be more of a struggle and a sense of confusion as to what direction to take.
It’s helpful to know what the market potential is for any particular item you may be interested in selling. Spend a good amount of time on market research. Watch trends in what types of items are selling and for how much. What are customers actually searching for and what are they buying?
eBay offers quite a few selling tools that can be very helpful in your research efforts. From eBay’s home page click on “Site Map” on the top right hand corner. Under Selling Resources, click “Seller Central”. To find out what’s in demand, click “What’s Hot”.
Also be sure to review the Hot Items. Here’s how:
- From Seller Central, click “Resources”.
- Under “Seller News”, click Hot Lists by Category.
eBay also offers “Marketplace Research” under Advanced Selling Tools, also from the Seller Central Resources.
Once you have narrowed down what category or what item you may want to sell, spend some time reviewing completed auctions to see how much of a market there is. Under search options, click the box that says “completed listings.” This will show you which items actually sold and for how much.
These are some suggestions as to how to find out what people want. Once you know what you want to sell, the next step is to decide the best way to obtain your inventory.
“I want it that way” by the Backstreet Boys is parodied by the excellent Weird Al Yankovic “Ebay” song - synched to the videoclip. I must admit Ebay is very much the way he describes it in the song. Don’t take it too seriously; just enjoy! btw I actually love ‘Star Wars’. Honours #5 - Most Discussed (All Time) - Australia #3 - Most Discussed (All Time) - Music - Australia #1 - Most Viewed (All Time) - Australia #1 - Most Viewed (All Time) - Music - Australia #1 - Top Favorites (All Time) - Australia #70 - Top Favorites (All Time) #1 - Top Favorites (All Time) - Music - Australia #53 - Top Favorites (All Time) - Music #22 - Top Rated (All Time) - Australia #14 - Top Rated (All Time) - Music - Australia #22 - Most Linked (All Time) - Australia #6 - Most Linked (All Time) - Music - Australia
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Should You Open An eBay Store
Should you open an eBay store? There are a lot of advantages to opening an eBay store, and if you are serious about using eBay as a vehicle to eventually quit your day job, opening an eBay store is one of the steps you should probably take to help you achieve your goals more quickly.
For one thing, an eBay store allows you additional exposure to your listings. According to eBay, within three months after opening a store, store sellers typically see an increase of 25% in sales. If you have a large number of listings, you will see a dramatic reduction in listing fees.
You will definitely save time by opening your own store. More tasks can be automated with an eBay store. For example, if you have been listing a lot of items individually, having an eBay store will save you time, because store inventory can be set to last for longer periods of time, such as 30, 60, 90 or 120 days, or “good until cancelled.” There is also automatic renewal of unsold items. You can also automate asking for feedback and keeping track of your orders.
Having an eBay store will allow you to have more exposure both on and off eBay. You will have your own web address (URL), so you can establish a web presence and drive traffic to your URL. You can actually establish a relationship with repeat customers by having a store newsletter. By using this tool, you will be able to remind your best customers what items you have available, what items are newly added or on sale.
To open an eBay store, you need a seller’s account and a feedback rating of at least 20. You must be ID verified or have a PayPal account. For anyone who is serious about making a full-time living on eBay, opening an eBay store should seriously be considered. A good rule of thumb is if you’re selling at least 20 items a month, an eBay store will increase your profits and save you time. It will definitely help you grow your business.